Moving Away

Two people can lie side by side in the same bed and still inhabit opposite ends of the earth.

The psychological distance that remains between two people sitting side by side makes the distance between two shores of an ocean seem like nothing at all.

With some people, you'll have only transactional contact. There won't be much of what we call love, affection, or tenderness. Only the skin of the relationship remains, like a snake's shed skin. Yet you never realize that long ago, on some scorching afternoon under the blazing sun, the snake slipped out of that skin and escaped.

When will you realize it?

When you notice that even your smallest thoughtless moments register as faults in the other person's eyes, when your presence or touch no longer holds any significance for them.

A person's sixth sense reveals so much.

Who is merely using you, who truly loves you—you understand it all. Whether you step away or stay after understanding is another matter, but you do understand.

There's a popular saying... when people die, they rot and decay; when they live, they change. ... No, my friend, people become more lifeless while living than they ever do in death... I've seen it so many times! When you're no longer close to someone despite being side by side, when the language of eyes, the melancholy of the heart, or the fear of uncertainty can't be conveyed to that person even with words, when your presence holds no value for the person beside you—this is how a wall rises between two people, day by day, until it touches the sky. This solid wall can no longer be broken. No, people don't break down this wall—they choose not to, really.

Then... then one day, after meeting again after a long time, you'll discover that you two are merely acquaintances now, no longer dear or beloved to each other. Their words, laughter, touch—nothing reaches either of you anymore. Even at parting, neither turns back to smile gently and say "take care."

How regrettable—while we have instruments to measure the distance between planets, no instrument has been invented to measure the billions of light-years of distance that can form between two people sitting just an inch apart.

Sometimes you don't need to leave or go far away; you can journey to the infinite distance of stellar boundaries while sitting side by side.