【Chi'an】All the force of his surrender

lighter

Akai unexpectedly felt something slender sticking to him when he put his hand into his jacket pocket.He took it out and saw that it was a disposable plastic lighter, white, the kind that can be seen everywhere in convenience stores.The case has many minor scratches and the previous owner may have kept it with sharp objects such as keys on a regular basis.Passed by someone's hand, now lying alone in his coat.Akai polished it habitually, letting the flames dance before his eyes.

Disposable lighters are born with cigarette cases and exist only for ignition, and lose their value when their lifespan is exhausted.He wasn't attached to it as a sort of remembrance, it wouldn't remind him of the salty smell of the tide.Akai straightened his legs and hooked the wastebasket next to the desk, with a lighter in his hand hanging in the air, one, two, three, four, five.

He still hasn't let go.

In the end, Akai lit a cigarette with it, but still retracted his jacket pocket.Smoke rings fell quietly in the air.

He was always accustomed to using matches, and never particular about it, and the matchbox was often found in the surveillance hotel room.The lighter has always been so inexplicably carried around, and it is not used for any purpose except for occasional emergency, just like when he first got it.

He wasn't thinking of the brackish water.His memory is the dark sky, the only warm orange fire on the gloomy sea, and the man standing in front of him.

What is he doing?Judy, who was passing by, asked suspiciously, and stood side by side with Kamel outside the corridor outside the door of Akai's office, looking in disbelief at the chaos in the floor-to-ceiling windows that could not be seen directly.His room looked like it had been bombed, the desk was emptied, the drawers were turned upside down, and documents and clutter were strewn about.Standing in the center, Akai inspected the ground where the carpet pattern could not be seen, and pulled his hair with his hands expressionlessly, looking helpless.

Mr. Akai said he was looking for a lighter.Kamel replied with a complicated expression.

lighter?

Yes, white, disposable lighter with a plastic case, and many small scratches on it.Have you seen it?

What is that?

Finally Akai went back to the scene of the bombing—he had been on a field trip that morning—and rummaged through a pile of sandy rubble to find it.That was not an easy task.

He occasionally has a day off.If he couldn't go back to Japan, he drove to the beach alone.The typhoon was about to land in those few days, the sky was cloudy and windy but not raining, the waves were high, and even the horizon far away was dark.

The beach was empty.Akai parked the car on the embankment, went down and leaned beside the car.The flame was blown by the wind to the last bit of purple. He protected the lighter with his palm before lighting a cigarette with difficulty.

He drove here for nearly two hours, smoked two cigarettes and left.His patience has always been amazing.Some things have no chance to regret, and it is worth spending enough time to look carefully and see clearly.

But if the distance is too far, he will be afraid that he will not be able to see clearly.

Akai considered whether to return the lighter to him, and then he decided to keep the last little secret for himself.It's like the other party thought that he was keeping a certain bottom line and had a well-founded advance and retreat. In fact, it could be leaked inadvertently from a few glances. When he was reading the newspaper, his gaze penetrated quietly and focusedly. When he raised his eyes, And moved away calmly.Akai knew it.

If there is always a side that people are not very good at, he is a fool in this respect.Maybe I didn't get much better, but you've always heard that Alphas are the ones who want to get the upper hand.Akai does not deny this.

Too stupid to let him know.

Until a day long in the future.

He came out of the room, leaning against the door frame with a smile, his eyes were shining, and he always had the characteristics of a teenager.For some reason Akai immediately guessed what he had found.

Sure enough, he said: Guess what I found?Akai looked at him silently.

He stretched out his palm in front of his eyes, a disposable plastic lighter, white, the kind that can be seen everywhere in convenience stores.Why do you keep this?He said.I remember it must be from me to you.

END