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[Name] closed the book she had been reading and let out a long breath. It was already past seven in the evening. She glanced at her phone screen for the umpteenth time, then sighed again when she found no new messages.
Their relationship had been going on for several months, and the Ticket Taker's presence had become part of her routine. Yet, the man remained difficult to understand. Sometimes he appeared every day, other times he vanished without explanation. Even so, [Name] didn't know since when she had grown accustomed to waiting. As time passed, she realized that she had become attached to that man.
[Name] often felt a warmth whenever she remembered how the man treated her. The Ticket Taker always held the door open for her. Always walked on the outside of the sidewalk, closer to the road. Always made sure she got home safely, even remembering small things that [Name] had long forgotten. As if every detail about her was something precious to him.
To others, such attention might feel excessive. But for [Name], that was the Ticket Taker's way of showing affection. The man was never good at expressing his feelings with words; he always showed them through actions. Yet in reality, it had been a full week since the man disappeared without a word. Something very unusual, considering how calm and controlled the man was almost all the time.
[Name] stared at her phone screen before finally placing it on the table with slight annoyance. Still no reply. The last message she sent three days ago hadn't even been read.
"Did I do something wrong?" The question echoed again in her head.
At first, she tried to be mature. She had always been able to get through her days on her own, never dependent on good morning texts or goodnight wishes. [Name] also never counted how long someone had gone without contacting her. Maybe the Ticket Taker was busy. Maybe something urgent came up. Or maybe, the man simply didn't feel like talking to anyone.
But because he had been gone for a week without explanation, various grim possibilities began to gnaw at her mind. What if the man was bored? What if all the attention he had always given her was just a habit, not because he truly loved her?
[Name] closed her eyes. She hated herself for starting to doubt everything. Deep in her heart, the young woman knew the Ticket Taker was not the kind of man who would disappear without a reason. And that was precisely what scared her. If there was something capable of keeping the Ticket Taker away for this long, then that reason surely couldn't be something trivial.
That night, the café closed early because the rain wouldn't let up. [Name] walked home alone. Usually, the Ticket Taker would be waiting for her at the end of the street with his black umbrella. Sometimes they didn't talk much, just walking side by side through the night. This time, the woman found the corner ahead of her empty.
Upon arriving at her apartment door, [Name] stopped in her tracks. She found an envelope tucked into the gap beneath the door.
Slowly, she bent down and picked up the envelope. There was no sender's name written on it. However, the handwriting on the front immediately made her [E/C] eyes widen. She recognized that handwriting very well.
Her hands began to tremble as she unsealed the envelope. Inside was only a single sheet of paper with one short sentence, written hastily:
My dear [Name]. I'm sorry for making you wait. But please, don't look for me. I will definitely come back.
[Name] leaned her back against the tightly closed door, then slowly slumped down until she sat on the cold marble floor.
She clutched the letter tightly to her chest. [Name] gazed at the quiet corners of her apartment. Usually, at this hour, she would brew some warm tea and tell the man about her exhausting day through short messages. Tonight, there was only a suffocating silence.