Could it really be that of all the lessons I'd learned, the hardest one lay just...

Could it really be that of all the lessons I'd learned, the hardest one lay just ahead of me? Would I really have to take each of my hopes and put them away where no one would ever see them again, where not even I would ever see them?
"Go back to the okiya, Sayuri," Mameha told me. "Prepare for the evening ahead of you. There's
nothing like work for getting over a disappointment."