5...

There’s a myth that says that if you want to be with the person you love right now in the next life...

4...

Your eyes need to meet at at the exact moment a comet flashes right across the sun.

3...

She thought she waited too long for me, while I thought that the timing was always off. And I was afraid. But still, I took a chance to ask her if she wanted to go to the place where we could witness the once-in-a-lifetime thing together.

2...

For some stroke of luck, she decided to meet me. Now we stand here. She is looking towards the setting sun, while my back is towards it.

It’s almost time.

1...

Here it is. Would she look at me?

Because I was looking at her.

I couldn’t read her expression.

Would she?

Would she?

Would —

0...

She looked at me quickly and then turned away. In that fraction of a second, I saw something in her eyes. A question?

My heart rose.

I don’t know if we made it. Only the sun, the comet, or whatever being up there knows.

But should I even wait?

Should I wait for the next life, when the fleeting chance, like that comet, has appeared again?

Just as I’m about to say something, she says to me, “I think we made it.”

I smile.

“In this life or the next?” I ask.

“In this life and the next.”