Chapter 4

On the night of the awards ceremony.

I did not head to the family section but rather, had taken a staff pass and perched in the shadows at the back of the auditorium.

The spotlight was cast on the center of the stage.

The signature picture, “Light”, was projected on the giant screen. Mia’s beaming smile, outlined by the light of the sparkler, was displayed for the world to see.

Elias, who was dressed in a well-tailored suit, went up to the microphone setup on stage with the trophy in hand.

He produced the script I had written for him from his pocket and began to read from it.

“Astrophotography is an ascetic pursuit of darkness.

“We dedicate our whole lives to the craft of capturing the perfect shot in absolute darkness…”

At this point, he suddenly stopped.

After an uncomfortable silence lasting more than ten seconds, he suddenly folded the card I had written for him.

With thousands of people in the crowd watching him, he tucked it into his pocket before continuing, “I was going to read from the script, but I realized this is too formal. I would like to deliver a genuine speech that comes from the heart.”

With that, he looked up and fixed his gaze on Mia, who was seated in the second row.

“Everyone knows I have an ironclad rule. Absolute, zero light pollution.

“I swear by this rule so much that I expect the people at the shoot with me to regulate their breathing to avoid disrupting the film exposure.”

While I stood in the last row and listened to the speech, I recalled how he had controlled me for the past five years.

“Today, I received a lot of questions about why I gave up on the comet that comes once every seventy years.”

He paused for a second and swept his gaze across the crowd before settling on the woman dressed in a beige dress in the second row.

“That’s because I realized that it was only a matter of time before the comet came around again. Sure, it may take seventy years, but it will return.

“But people aren’t comets. Some of them are shooting stars. You never know when they will shine, and whether they will shine again is never a given.

“That was why the moment she shone, I switched off all the equipment and scrapped my plans. I aimed my lens at her the same way the entire night sky revolved around her.”

His voice softened.

“It was at that moment when I suddenly understood that all the stars in the night sky are long dead. It was only their light that traveled millions of years to reach the Earth, and they were devoid of warmth.

“True light contains warmth. The kind of warmth you can feel when you turn around in the wild.”

Mia was crying at this point.

“That was when I willingly broke the ironclad rule I had upheld for five years.

“All this time, what I called light pollution was simply light projected at the wrong place.

“Mia, thank you for illuminating my universe.”

After that concluding note, a thunderous round of applause shook the auditorium.

Mia covered her mouth in awe. With the audience beholding her, she ran up the stage.

He had sacrificed my five years of devotion to uphold his ironclad rule of absolute darkness.

Meanwhile, Mia lighting a single sparkler was enough for him to pour out his love for her.

I did not stick around to watch them hug.

Amidst the deafening cheers, I turned and walked out of the auditorium.

I took a taxi back to the apartment we had lived in for five years.

I pushed my last piece of luggage to the front door.

Then, I went to the shelf to grab the three speckless glass bottles that had been emptied out.

I set them neatly in a row next to his camera worth a hundred and fifty thousand dollars.

I did not leave a note or any final farewell.

The one thousand and ninety-six silent nights I had dedicated to him were emptied out.

I dragged the luggage out of the front door and closed it.

Then, my phone vibrated.

It was a text from Elias.

“Mia had too much to drink at the party. I’ll be home late. Don’t wait up for me and turn the lights off.”

I stared at the text, then ejected the five-year-old SIM card, snapped it in half, and threw it in the trash.

The taxi went down the highway.

Neon lights rushed past the windows. Everywhere I looked, there was a vast array of light pollution.

There was no chance of seeing stars in the city. This was the reason he claimed he had to travel out of the city for his photoshoots.

Little did he know, the person who suppressed all her brilliance and retreated into the darkness for him was going to do the same. Tonight, all traces of her existence were going to be removed from his life.

‘Elias, you no longer need zero light pollution.’

It was about time I reclaimed my corner of the galaxy.