from the book he was reading.
“What makes you ask?”
“The locked room. The phone calls. You leave every morning and never really explain where you’re going.”
He closed the book.
For a moment, Yuki thought he would answer.
Instead, he rubbed his forehead and said, “It’s something personal. I need a little more time before I can talk about it.”
The response was gentle, but it did not reassure her.
“How much more time?”
“I don’t know.”
Yuki sat quietly.
She wanted to respect his privacy. She also knew that privacy and secrecy were not the same thing, particularly in a marriage that had begun so quickly.
“I’m not asking you to tell me every thought in your head,” she said. “But I need to know whether there’s something that could affect our life together.”
Kenji looked at her with an expression she could not interpret.
