Sunrise and sunset, flowers blooming and withering. The street before her door became the town square, and newlyweds moved in next door. The wardrobe at home had to be thrown away because of moth damage, but the blanket he had draped over her when she fled her wedding and came to the island was still preserved inside.
Without her noticing, the house was connected to gas and steam pipes. The daughter born to the couple next door had grown old enough to knock on her door and ask whether she had any candy. Blue flowers now covered the grave of the little dog that had died many years ago, yet when she stood alone at the window and gazed at the Snow Mountain, the one she had been waiting for still had not returned.
The town outside the house changed day by day, and the house itself grew older by the day. The girl who looked into the mirror inside it gained wrinkles at the corners of her eyes, white hairs on her head, and a gradually stooped back. Yet those vivid memories of the past continued to replay in her dreams every night.
More than ten years ago, her nephew came to the island to see her. Back then, she had entrusted the house to her neighbors and briefly returned to her parents' home on the Old Continent. Before they passed away, her parents had forgiven her for eloping all those years ago. But that had been back when the little girl next door still mischievously climbed onto rooftops.
"When I briefly left town to return to my parents' home, I wondered whether, when I came back, you might be waiting for me at home."
The old woman, her face gilded by the sunset, said with a smile. As