i: overture

It is the thirty-first of May in the year 1933.

"Miss Saitō, your mother would like you to come downstairs to discuss your wedding plans. Your grandfather is also here." The hoarse voice and obvious suppression of coughing and sniffling of the family butler resonated from outside the dark cherry wooded door of the young mistress's bedchamber, prompting the latter to cease her work at her desk and look towards the door.

"Yes, I will be down soon. Do not forget to take your medicine, Yamada-san." Suzume, her voice silvery and euphonious, reciprocated mellowly in genuine respect.

"Of course, Miss Saitō. Thank you for kindly reminding me. I will be on my way now." And the thumping of his footsteps edged away from the door.

With a sigh full of wist, she pushed her long sable hair behind her ears as she turned back into a normal position in her chair and stared down at the elaborately designed stationery on her desk that was meaningfully tainted with her words of warmth and endearment neatly inked onto the pages in English cursive.

Prudently, she perfumed the stationery with the sweet fragrance of hyacinth, folded it up, and slipped the letter into a pre-addressed envelope before locking it into her left upper drawer.

Why must I comply with this? She had asked herself for the millionth time within the month. Because you want to please your family, of course.

Suzume finally arose from her chair and sauntered towards the door to her bedchamber, exiting the room into the hallway. The young miss did never get tired of strolling through the halls of her home as it was filled with many fine paintings and vases and enchanting arrays of whimsy.

And out of all the fine paintings and vases and enchanting arrays of whimsy, her favourite piece was a gift from a Chinese bureaucrat which was an exquisite handscroll painting of a foggy mountainous landscape that was dense and flourishing with trees of red, yellow, and orange blossoms. Although less extravagant than the other works in the home, its beauty had never failed to captivate the likes of her. It reminded her of the fascinating essence of nature this world had to offer.

Finally reaching the peak of the grand double staircase which was located right in the foyer of her western-styled home, Suzume slowly inhaled and exhaled before gliding down each step of the left staircase with complete and utter ease, her midi length white chiffon dress softly flowing along with her movements. Upon reaching the bottom, she had ventured off to find the living room her family had chosen out of many to occupy.

Knock, knock, knock.

"Come in, darling." Her beloved grandfather's voice was sweet and fruity as he called out to his dear granddaughter, which was very much unlike the usual tone he used while serving duty to Japan as Saitō Makoto, the prime minister. She grinned, giving a small chuckle that showed how content she was in his presence. She twisted the glass door handle and entered the room finding surprise that her parents weren't in the room as well. 

"Good afternoon, Grandfather. Might I ask, where is Mother and Father?" Suzume asked as she took a seat on the blue victorian-style couch parallel to him.

"Your mother went to go fetch some tea from the maids, and your father is getting...something special. A wedding gift." He softly smiled at her while reaching over for her hand. "You've grown up beautifully, darling. I find it hard to believe that you'll be twenty-four tomorrow, and you'll be married off to a good, respectful man very soon."

"Yes, such a shame that I will no longer be available in the market." She joked making her grandfather laugh in a boisterous matter.

"You've got that right!" He exclaimed while wiping the tears from his eyes with his handkerchief.

The door then opened.

"Who has gotten what right?" Suzume's mother, tray of tea in hand, asked in amusement as she strided over and placed the tray onto the table before sitting next to Grandfather Makoto.

"Nothing, Setsuko. Your daughter is just very charming." Grandfather Makoto laughed.

"She definitely gets it from you, Father-in-law." She lovingly smiled over at her one and only daughter. "Now, where is your father?"

"I'm here!" A suited man shouted as he entered the room holding up a small box in the air with a goofy grin plastered on his face. His wife smiled and rolled her eyes at him and motioned him over in which Grandfather Makoto stood up and transferred next to Suzume so that his son could sit next to his wife.

"It's about time, Akihiro." Grandfather joked, his son chuckling.

"Haha...I know."

"Sometimes I wonder how you managed to get Setsuko to let you put a ring on her." He pondered off.

"Because I am fortunately handsome and a gentleman, and I'm considerate, charming, and loving?" Suzume's father asked with slight sarcasm as his grin widened.

"Damn right! And who are you to thank for your good looks and character?" Grandfather edged on as his son a fake beard

"Mother."

"You damn rascal..." Grandfather mumbled while laughing.

"Of course, I'm just kidding. Thank you, Father, for your grand efforts in raising an amazing child. Greatest apologies to you, Mother." Suzume's father looked up at the ceiling while apologizing to his mother and his hands were together in a praying form.

"You do get your narcissism from her, however. But that was one of the reasons why I loved her, you could say." Grandfather looked longingly at his son before snapping back into the current reality. "Akihiro, the box."

"Ah, yes. Of course." Suzume's father cleared his throat as he looked over to his wife before turning to his darling daughter. "Suzume, when you were a child, I had never thought the days you would become a young lady would come by so quickly. You have made me so...happy."

His eyes teared up with pure joy. "Oh, look at me. I'm crying already. Suzu-chan, this box contains a very important piece from the Saitō family which has been passed down through the generations. Because you are now getting ready to join Nobuyuki-san in holy matrimony, I believe it is time that I...that we, your mother and grandfather and I, present this to you."

Suzume reached both her hands out, receiving the small laquer box. Her breath hitched and she felt at the box with hesitance, glancing over at her family. She propped the lid up revealing an ornate diamond wedding ring that layed on a bed of fine silk, and there was a tinge of terror in her heart.

"Mother's wedding ring?" She looked over at her mother's left hand to see that she indeed was not wearing her ring.

"Well, yes. However, It was originally your paternal great-great grandmother's ring." Suzume's mother warmly replied. The young bride-to-be's mouth was agape as she was struck in imense astonishment.

"I am grateful. Thank you so much."

"Of course, darling." Her grandfather softly replied, holding onto her hand as he gazed lovingly at her.

"On the topic of the wedding, we never did settle on a western-style wedding or a traditional Japanese wedding..." Her mother looked off.

Everyone in the room knew that Suzume would have absolutely and strongly desired a western-style wedding, but they all knew they would be obliged to a traditional Japanese wedding for the sake of the groom and for Suzume to remember her own roots.

"You all know what I'd like...but I'll elect the traditional wedding, I suppose." Suzume slightly mumbled.

"Then, it's settled." Her father beamingly confirmed.

"May I be excused?" Suzume respectfully inquired to no one in particular, not allowing herself to make movement until someone had responded, and her lips were almost quivering trying to quell the brittleness in her voice.

"Yes, you may. But...darling, you are already a grown woman. Just inform us of your whereabouts." Grandfather advised for future reference, not wanting his beloved granddaughter to be forever dependent on permission. 

"Alright, Grandfather. I'll be on my way to see Chiyo." She stood up and smoothed her dress out.

"Be back before it gets too dark, Suzume." Her mother bidded to her.

"I will do so. Goodbye for now." With that, she exited the room and asked of Yamada to prepare her coat. Then, she made her way up the grand staircase and walked the halls back to the congenial confines of her room.

The exact moment she taken her seat at her desk, her composure finally eroded away completely and she began to silently weep. Stop that, will you? She scolded herself for allowing herself to cry. You can't cry like this. Please stop, Suzume. However, no matter how much she attempted to remove her feelings of melancholy, they only sank in deeper into her soul as if it was a patch of quicksand.

Needless to say, she was drowning in this miserable pool of disconsolate emotion and she just could not escape. It was as if these emotions would be the ultimate, unheroic death of her. She strongly did not want what her family wanted. She did not want to marry the man, by the name Nobuyuki, whom she chose out of the men her parents and grandfather had selected as prospective suitors about nine months ago.

Suzume did not want to marry herself off to anyone unless he was the man whom she was in love with. She was quite certain about that, and nothing could ever change her mind. Not Mother, not Father. Not even Grandfather could. This predicament was just something she had to face with her chin held up high.

Five minutes had passed and she had ceased her tears at last, taking out a handkerchief from the desk and cleaning her face. 

Suzume simply sighed as she unlocked her upper left drawer and removed the envelope containing her wholehearted letter. Subsequently, she had closed the drawer, left her room, and went back down the stairs to meet Yamada in the foyer.

"You will be back soon?" Yamada wanted to make sure of things as he helped the young mistress with her coat.

"I'll be back before dinner." She confirmed firmly with a glisten of her eyes and a warm smile.

Yamada opened the door for her, bidding her a farewell with his handkerchief in hand, parallel to a mademoiselle, as she stepped into the backseat of the car belonging to the family's chauffeur. A relieved Suzume was finally able to breathe the fresh air of the outside world.

"Miss Saitō, where shall I be taking you?" The chauffeur asked while beginning to drive away and through the gates that guarded the manor despite the fact that he had already knew her initial response.

"The usual place, Kasumi-san. Chiyo's shop, please." Suzume hands gently rubbed together in the moment that she began to stare out of the small window of the car. A minuscule expression of hope made its way onto her face.

"Certainly." Kasumi held up a thumbs-up and turned the car to the right.

On this simple car ride, the young lady indubitably had far more complex things to put her thoughts upon. She wondered what would have occured had she admitted her true feelings to the love of her life when she had the opportunity to have done so rather than through the usage of letters that took substantial amounts of time to deliver and receive despite him writing back his own mutual feelings. If only she had mustered up the courage before he left. She wondered what would have occured had she completely rejected the idea of her mother's arrangements to marriage, what would have occured had she told her family she was in love with a man that she was not supposed to be in love with.

You've been gone in England for so long. How long has it been? Since the February of 1928, you have left me. I miss you.

Suzume remembered when she first actually met her beloved.

It was the November of 1923.

She was the tender sanctity of fourteen years of love, and he was the daring embodiment of fifteen years of joy.

One crisp morning after having had breakfast, Suzume took the fine opportunity to unwind in solitary in the majestic family garden that lied in the rear of her home. It was very rare that she could have such a moment by herself as she was usually bustling about with her attendance at gatherings and parties and balls and with lessons of the sorts to better her character and mentality.

Being in the garden, she felt that life was mere, and it felt wonderful. For the first time in a long time, she was able to run through her precious flowers with the butterflies fluttering about around her beautifully before they went on ahead on their winter journey. Suzume remembered the delight that she felt in these moments in which she smiled the brightest.

It was then that she first met him. He was standing just a moderate distance away, clearing his throat and looking at her in astonishment with a simper etched onto his face.

"Now, who might you be?" The young Suzume asked cautiously in the spirit of inquiry until she remembered that her father's best friend would be visiting that day with his son. "Ah, aren't you Uncle Joonmyun's son?"

"You're correct. Byun Baekhyun is the name." He placed his left hand onto his abdomen while his right  was placed behind him and he bowed to the young lady in his presence respectfully. His voice was severely husky and full of strength, frankly causing a stir in Suzume's soul. "And your name?" 

"Saitō Suzume, but please just call me Suzume. I've had enough of being called Saitō-san to last two lifetimes." She answered back simply also bowing in return.

"Mm...Suzume-san, from the way things look, you seem to be named appropriately, huh?" He smiled down softly at the latter.

"Please, drop the -san, and just what do you mean by that?" Suzume raised an eyebrow with a tilt of her head.

"Suzume, by the looks of it you seem to very much value your freedom, you are highly respectable, by how your father praises you you seem to have potential to become very successful, and you are very...adorable. Much like the sparrow you were named for." He stated in confidence to which the younger tried to hold in her laughter.

"Byun Baekhyun, are you trying to impress me?" Suzume asked bluntly.

"What if I was?" Baekhyun countered, extending his face towards Suzume's.

"Well, I wouldn't mind." She chuckled at him, pushing his head away with her hand before turning around and strolling away, stopping after a few strides to look back at him.

"Good. Because I actually was trying to impress you." He walked up to her right side and extended his arm so that she could take it.

"Aren't you a gentleman?" Suzume smirked before linking his arm with her right and resting her left hand on his bicep.

"That's what I strive for." He replied with undertones of humour. The pair then took off on a walk around the garden, utilizing the time to exchange personal knowledge to improvingly know each other and build up a companionship.

Suzume was soon removed from her everlasting thoughts of merriment by the sound of the car nearing to stop and Kasumi called out to her, "Miss Saitō, we have now arrived. When shall I expect to pick you up?"

She pondered for a bit, giving it grave thought. Then, she got out of the car, walked in front of the car and to the driver's side, tapped on the window, and when it rolled down, she finally voiced her decision. "I will be ready in three hours if that is fine with you?"

"Anything is fine with me if it is with you. I will see you then." He nodded and shooed her away.

"Goodbye for now." Suzume waved him off, and Kasumi drove off.

She stepped onto the sidewalk and looked up at the modest shop standing proudly in front of her as a smile tugged on her rosy coloured lips. Chiyo's shop was the one place in the whole entirety of the world in which Suzume could find solace away from her life of stress and obligations. Most everyone closely involved with her knew that.

Clink, clink, clink.

The delicate tinkle of bells rang out into the space as Suzume pushed the door open and stepped inside, peering around. Engaging arrays of displays full of elegant jewelry and gems were scattered in aesthetic manner amongst the room. She chuckled when she heard the accustomed reverbation of clothing swishing and bare feet thumping along on the floor in a rushed matter.

"Suzu nee-chan!" A child, clad in trousers, a dress shirt, tie, and waistcoat, came running towards the latter in vast excitement, the child wrapping their arms around Suzume's waist tightly.

"Hello there, Ichiro-kun. Excited to see me?" She the boy's head, and picked off a piece of thread from the sleeve of his dress shirt. "You look very handsome in those garments. Now, what ever happened to calling me Auntie Suzu like you decided you would?"

"Nee-chan suits you better!" Ichiro exclaimed in the moment of releasing her waist.

"Ah, I see. That makes sense." Suzume pretended to ponder with her lips slightly puckered as she an invisible beard which triggered the adoring giggling of the young boy in front of her. She smiled down at the boy and crouched down to meet his height. "Say, Ikkun, where might your mother be?"

"Mama is upstairs! Come on!" He eagerly responded before taking her right hand with his left and pulling her along with him to the back of the room where the stairs are located.

Suzume couldn't help but smile for the millionth time at Ichiro's eagerness and at the pictures hung up on the walls in the stairwell that were of Chiyo with her husband and Ichiro. She was very happy that the older woman by four years was leading a lifestyle of her own with the man that she fell in love with by her own will and their darling son without needing to please anybody but themselves. It almost made her a little jealous; however, she couldn't support Chiyo more than what she does.

She'd often think about how life would be if she and Baekhyun could get married and have children of their own. The pictures hanging on the wall were like forlorn dreams of Suzume's that no matter how much she tried to run after them, she could not reach. She did have a duty. That duty was to bring her family into joyous pleasure and honour. That duty was to maintain good reputation among the family. That duty was to marry Nobuyuki in late-June. That duty was to forget about Baekhyun and their future.

But she simply could not.

Such a thing as forgetting Baekhyun was as impossible as climbing up to the liberation of the sky to touch the moon and the stars. Because Baekhyun was simply an unforgettable person. His charm, his smile, his foolish faces that brought up Suzume's spirits, his laugh, his personality, the way his eyes sparkle when he talked about the places he had travelled to and mapped, his inviting eyes that brought warmth, his smoky voice and the way it called out her name and passionately lulled her away to a new dimension; it was far too much to even think about forgetting. To her, he shines brighter than a diamond.

As she and Ichiro were edging the top of the staircase and into the second level of the shop, the faint sound of Chiyo's reassuring voice could be heard. Suzume took her free hand and reached into the inner pockets of her coat to obtain her letter.

"No, no...Mrs. Takahashi, your order will come in some time next week. Yes- Of course, I underst- ...I will have it before your daughter's birthday. I promise. Okay, I will see you soon. Until then, goodbye." The woman clad in a casual kimono placed the candlestick telephone down on her desk and placed the phone transmitter back into place.

"Mama! Suzu nee-chan is here!" Ichiro let go of Suzume's hand and called out in the purest sense of delight to which Chiyo turned around pleased.

Suzume simply nodded her head with a small smile and remarked, "Mrs. Takahashi is causing an uproar again?"

Chiyo playfully rolled her eyes at the latter.

"Suzume, welcome back." She calmly greeted as she grabbed the latter's hand and pulled her outside to their balcony to take a seat. "I'll brew up some tea. Ryosuke had brought me white needle tea from China when he came home yesterday."

"Ah, white needle tea!" Suzume's expression became etched with contentment.

"Only the finest and rarest tea." She and Chiyo recited together in sync, causing an uproar of giggles afterward.

"Chiyo, your husband is really good to you, bringing you high quality tea." Suzume chuckled.

"I'll have to agree with you on that one, sister! He also makes good children as you can tell from Ikkun." Chiyo joked as she carried her tea set on a tray to the table in the sitting room and poured the tea into three porcelain tea cups before calling Ichiro over to come drink tea with them.

Realizing what she had additionally came there for, Suzume's smile became sad and she put down the letter in her hands onto the table and slid it over into place in front of the older woman.

"For Baekhyun? I'll have it delivered soon. Oh, and speaking of which, he called me a few days ago to have me tell you that he had a package sent off for your birthday, but it won't get here until around the fifteenth of June." Chiyo gripped onto Suzume's hand, and the familiar feeling of reassurance washed over Suzume like waves on the sandy shores of a beach.

Indeed, Suzume could not have had asked for a better friend in life. The only people in the world that even knew for sure of her love was Chiyo and Ryosuke, and Ichiro, who has heard of Baekhyun and spoken to him very briefly a few times on the telephone, could only vaguely understand what his mother and her best friend could be conversing about. Yamada had also known about it after she had confided to him, not being able to contain her true feelings. For the past five years in which Baekhyun had been absent, Suzume and he would, through none other than Chiyo and Ryosuke to keep down suspicion, would exchange their messages of sentiment and tenderness to keep close in contact.

"Oh, dear. Your birthday is tomorrow! How are you feeling about that?"

"I feel quite the same." Suzume joked in charming fashion and picked up her best friend's child, sitting him on her lap. "And I assume I'll be seeing you at the party with Ryosuke and little Ichiro here."

"Why, of course! We'd never miss your birthday for the world, dear."

Ring...Ring...Ring...

The telephone abruptly blared out into the open, longingly beckoning for someone to answer. 

"Oh, my word. Yes, yes. I know! I'll answer you soon." Chiyo began as she stood up, smoothing out the wrinkles from her kimono. The chattering of the telephone was endless. Before she entered back inside, she turned around to Suzume and proposed, "After I take this call, I'll take us all shopping."

"That sounds fine."