Who Wants to Live Forever: A BBC Radio 2 Book Club Pick by Thomas Uose Hanna

Author:Thomas Uose, Hanna
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Octopus
Published: 2025-03-27T00:00:00+00:00

Four days later

Sam tried to catch Yuki’s eye, but her gaze kept flitting about, taking in the handmade soaps and wonky ceramics of the indoor market. He felt himself recede, becoming invisible. Perhaps she was just being careful – they were in public, close to home, and there was a chance of bumping into someone they knew.

He ran his hand over the sharp diagonal of an architect’s drafting desk, as a trader in an old army jacket looked on. ‘Perfect condition, that. Took me a long time to find.’

‘I can believe it,’ said Sam.

‘That’s very you,’ said Yuki, coming up behind him.

‘Isn’t it.’

Sam itched to wrap an arm round her, kiss her. Holding himself back was pure torture. He remembered the long hair, checked skirt and platform shoes from the night they met. How attracted he had been to her then. But now – God, she was gorgeous, cleaving close to the woman he’d always known she would be. She wore a long, crinkled dress, a close-fitting shirt and sweater over it, her hair grazing her shoulders. To have the chance to know her now – at forty-one – felt like a privilege. Even if he never saw her again, he was grateful to have seen this incarnation of Yuki.

And what would that be like? To never see her again? Resistance balled like a fist in his chest. It wasn’t something to think about now. There would be some resolution to all this – he just didn’t know what it was.

Yuki considered a green ruffle-edged vase. ‘Is this me?’

‘It’s an abomination, is what it is.’

She laughed and put it down.

It had only been five days and they were already playing house, looking at antiques for a home they no longer shared.

‘What did you do with the high-back chairs?’ Yuki asked.

‘In the old kitchen?’

‘Yes.’

What had he done with them? They were nice, those chairs. ‘I think I sold them on Gumtree.’

‘Fuck.’ Her face dropped with disappointment.

‘You said you didn’t want any of it.’

‘I know, what a waste. I would’ve taken them if I knew you were going to sell them.’

Considering how intent Yuki was to move forward in life, it hurt that she expected him to remain surrounded with the wreckage of their old one. ‘Shipping them would’ve cost twice what they were worth.’

‘I don’t know why I thought of them. I don’t even have a dining table in Tokyo. I eat on the floor, sleep on the floor. Who needs chairs?’

They shuffled past displays of twisted candles, greetings cards and homemade brownies wrapped in ribbon. His fingers brushed against hers, but no more than that. Earlier, he’d withdrawn his hand when Yuki reached for him across a pub table, two packets of sweet chilli crisps torn open on the wooden slats, spilling out their guts. Her assertiveness surprised him – she’d always waited until he reached for her.

She lifted a brass paperweight and measured its heft. For whose desk?

‘What will you do when you get back?’ he asked.

‘To Tokyo? More of the same, I guess.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.