He entered
carrying the folder.
When he saw her standing in the living room, he stopped.
“You followed me,” he said.
It was not a question.
Yuki felt her face grow hot.
“Yes.”
Kenji set the folder on the table.
For a moment, neither of them spoke.
Then Yuki asked the question that had been tormenting her.
“Who were you talking to, and what are you hiding from me?”
Kenji looked at her, and something in his expression changed.
Not anger.
Fear.
It was the first time Yuki had seen him look genuinely afraid.
“Yuki,” he began, “there is something about my past that I should have told you before we got married.”
Her heart began to pound.
“Then tell me now.”
He looked toward the staircase.
“I can’t do it in the hallway.”
“Why? Because of the locked room?”
He closed his eyes.
When he opened them again, he nodded.
