murakami, haruki - Norwegian wood

oyfriend of hers, Kizuki, killed himself. Her family should have seen
it, and she herself should have realized that something was wrong. Of
course, things weren't right at home, either ..."
"They weren't?" I shot back.
"You didn't know?" Reiko seemed more surprised than I was.
I shook my head.
"I'd better let Naoko tell you about that herself. She's ready for some
honest talk with you." Reiko gave her coffee another stir and took a
sip. "There's one more thing you need to know," she said. "According
to the rules here, you and Naoko will not be allowed to be alone
together. Visitors can't be alone with patients. An observer always has
to be present - which in this case means me. I'm sorry, but you'll just
have to put up with me. OK?"
"OK," I said with a smile.
"But still," she said, "the two of you can talk about anything you'd
like. Forget I'm there. I know pretty much everything there is to know
about you and Naoko."
"Everything?"
"Pretty much. We have these group sessions, you know. So we learn a
lot about each other. Plus Naoko and I talk about everything. We don't
have many secrets here."
I looked at Reiko as I drank my coffee. "To tell you the truth," I said,
"I'm confused. I still don't know whether what I did to Naoko in
Tokyo was the right thing to do or not. I've been thinking about it this
whole time, but I still don't know."
"And neither do I," said Reiko. "And neither does Naoko. That's
something the two of you will have to decide for yourselves. See what
I mean? Whatever happened, the two of you can turn it in the right
direction - if you can reach some kind of mutual understanding.
Maybe, once you've got that taken care of, you can go back and think
about whether what happened was the right thing or not. What do you
say?"
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