He looked into her eyes, but she averted hers. He took a deep breath to calm himself. It wasn’t the time to argue.

‘Would you listen to me first?’ Shoji asked.

Yoko didn’t answer.

‘Let’s have a fresh start, all right?’ he said, reaching for her hands. ‘Today marks the beginning of our new relationship. I promise I’ll be honest with you. No more secrets. I trust you, and I want you to accept me for who I am. The good, the bad, everything … and …’

‘Shoji …’

He gave her hands a gentle squeeze. ‘I want to know everything that happened in your life, but you only need to share it with me when you’re ready. I won’t force you, and I want you to know that I’m here for you.’

She kept quiet.

‘Yoko, there are still so many things I want to tell you, and there are so many things I want to do with you.’

‘What else is there to do?’

‘A lot,’ he said. ‘For instance, I want to go to the aquarium together. I live in Tokyo. We can go to the Shinagawa aquarium every weekend if you want to. I also want to take you to my favourite restaurant. They serve a great smoked beef brisket. And I have my own apartment now. We can drink coffee and talk into the night, the way we used to. Maybe eat crisps and laze around all day.’

He waited for her to respond, but she remained silent.

‘Just come back to me, Yoko,’ he continued. ‘We’ll find our way forward together.’

Taking a deep breath, he brought her closer to him. They embraced in silence. How he wished they could stay like this for ever. They belonged to each other. It wasn’t too late. When they were separated, time had stopped, and now that they were back together, it had finally begun to flow again.

On the bedside table, the coffee Shoji had made remained untouched.

Dear Yoko,

You told me you couldn’t see me off at the airport. When you said that, you were averting your eyes. You were never any good at lying, were you? But I know you must have had your reasons.

You said we couldn’t move on if we didn’t let go of our past. I do agree with you, but I never said I wanted to move on. I don’t want to let you go.

If I could turn back time to when we started going out, I would do so many things differently. I would talk to you more about my past, and my feelings too. I would insist that you shared whatever was troubling you, instead of letting you carry it on your own. If I’d done that, perhaps we would still be watching that small television in our old apartment in Akakawa, both of us cradling a cup of coffee, yours unsweetened.