need you to understand something. I did not marry you because I thought you had no past. I married you because I thought I could know you. I don’t need you to erase the people you loved before me. I would never ask you to do that. But I cannot build a future with someone who believes that keeping me in the dark is the same as protecting me.”
Kenji listened without interrupting.
For the first time since she had met him, he seemed unable to find a clever response.
“I was afraid,” he admitted.
“Of what?”
“That if I told you about Aiko and Hana, you would feel that you were entering a marriage with two ghosts. I worried you would think I was comparing you with them. I worried that every memory would become a problem between us.”
Yuki took a slow breath.
“And what did you think
