Scene 05

INT. VALENTINE'S ROOM - NIGHT

Valentine is at her table, her white plate with a few wrapped, green pods in front of her. On the corner stands a vase with a white flower picked from the garden. Her eyes wonder off to the row of framed art on her white wall.

One of the frames shows a picture of a baby with the naval string (umbilical cord) clearly visible. Another shows her smiling as a child, being led at a leash by her father. The third frame is empty.

Valentine pushes her plate away and grabs her white serviette from her lap and starts rolling it up really tight. She ends by sliding the serviette ring around it.

-- LATER THAT NIGHT --

A pile of envelopes sits on the table. Valentine, wearing glasses, turns the page of the letter and follows the characters with her finger to the last one. She taps the character and grabs the Japanese to English dictionary. She flicks through the book and opens the page at the unknown Japanese character. Her nail underlines the first explanation of this character.

Shinju ; Pearl, euphemistically meaning the nipple or even the breast.

Valentine’s nail runs down to its second explanation.

Shinju ; Japanese rope bondage technique for lovers.

She raises her head and mildly bites the leg of her glasses whilst contemplating.

-- EVEN LATER THAT NIGHT --

The picture of the Japanese wife is on the sink, water starts running from the tap. Valentine washes her hair and colours it black. She folds it the traditional way as in the picture. In front of the mirror, she powders her face to a perfect white and colours her lips radiant red. From her sanctuary cupboard she lifts a kimono of the hook and tries it on. Lastly, Valentine’s finger applies perfume from the captured bottle onto her neck. She grabs the white flower and the envelopes.

The dictionary is still opened up and as a red ribbon that held the pages down is pulled away in haste.

Her door closes, as she has left her room.

[go to Scene 06]