I have heard a saying that you only get one shot at life, I think it’s the same with love, once it’s lost, it’s gone forever. Because that would be the only explanation as to why I don’t think I will be able to love again or maybe it’s my mindset cos whenever I think of falling in love again I realize that I don’t ever want to be in love with anyone but you.
I still remember that day you walked into my mother’s shop looking like a mess your face had this look like you had no care in the world. You wore a big T- shirt over some baggy shorts, your wig was all over your face even with the head warmer you had ontop you looked really ridiculous but in all I saw the prettiest woman I ever set eyes on, maybe I should have looked away and ignored you but I was already drawn to the pretty girl standing in front of the counter, paying for the things she bought. I tried to start a convo with you but you weren’t interested so I kept quiet and watched you leave, maybe next time I thought.
It seemed fate didn’t want me to wait till next time because few seconds after you left I saw that you had left your key on the counter, it was a single key and had no key holder. I saw another opportunity to talk to you and I took it, I searched for a key holder I had kept away, after a long search I found it, took your key and ran out to search for you. Luckily for me you had discovered you left your key behind because I saw you few steps away from the shop walking back. I walked up to you and showed you your key, you collected it from me and said thanks. Then I told you to get a key holder for the key so you won’t lose it again, you nodded and said okay. You turned to walk away but I stopped you when I said, “Lucky for you I have a key holder for you”.
You asked me why I would give you a key holder when I barely knew you and I told you that maybe it’s my way of trying to be friends with you thereby knowing you. Then you told me that I was better off not knowing you, maybe I should have listened to you then but instead I said “Too late I’m already interested in you”. I could swear that for a split second I saw you blush but you were quick to mask it with your ‘I don’t care' look.
You gave me back your key so I can fix the key holder to it, as I was fixing it I saw you smile and I asked why you were smiling you said that you were only wondering why a big boy like me will have a teddy bear key holder. I smiled and stared at the key holder which was a small teddy bear with a holder then I told you that the key holder was a souvenir from one of the goods my mom bought for the shop and I had kept it away since I had no use for it, I only remembered to bring it out today because I wanted to help a damsel in distress, you laughed and I was glad I made you laugh.
I gave you back your key now with the key holder on it, you collected it and thanked me saying you would return it back but I told you to keep it that it was yours now. You said thank you and made to leave. “My name is Austin, what’s yours?” I asked. You turned to me and said “Joy” with a small smile on your face, you walked away and I watched you leave with a new feeling of joy within me.

Boredwriter:

I have heard a saying that you only get one shot at life, I thinks it’s the same with love, once it’s lost, it’s gone forever. Because that would be the only explanation as to why I don’t think I will be able to love again or maybe it’s my mindset cos whenever I think of falling in love again I realize that I don’t ever want to be in love with anyone but you.
I still remember that day you walked into my mother’s shop looking like a mess your face had this look like you had no care in the world. You wore a big T- shirt over some baggy shorts, your wig was all over your face even with the head warmer you had ontop you looked really ridiculous but in all I saw the prettiest woman I ever set eyes on, maybe I should have looked away and ignored you but I was already drawn to the pretty girl standing in front of the counter, paying for the things she bought. I tried to start a convo with you but you weren’t interested so I kept quiet and watched you leave, maybe next time I thought.
It seemed fate didn’t want me to wait till next time because few seconds after you left I saw that you had left your key on the counter, it was a single key and had no key holder. I saw another opportunity to talk to you and I took it, I searched for a key holder I had kept away, after a long search I found it, took your key and ran out to search for you. Luckily for me you had discovered you left your key behind because I saw you few steps away from the shop walking back. I walked up to you and showed you your key, you collected it from me and said thanks. Then I told you to get a key holder for the key so you won’t lose it again, you nodded and said okay. You turned to walk away but I stopped you when I said, “Lucky for you I have a key holder for you”.
You asked me why I would give you a key holder when I barely knew you and I told you that maybe it’s my way of trying to be friends with you thereby knowing you. Then you told me that I was better off not knowing you, maybe I should have listened to you then but instead I said “Too late I’m already interested in you”. I could swear that for a split second I saw you blush but you were quick to mask it with your ‘I don’t care' look.
You gave me back your key so I can fix the key holder to it, as I was fixing it I saw you smile and I asked why you were smiling you said that you were only wondering why a big boy like me will have a teddy bear key holder. I smiled and stared at the key holder which was a small teddy bear with a holder then I told you that the key holder was a souvenir from one of the goods my mom bought for the shop and I had kept it away since I had no use for it, I only remembered to bring it out today because I wanted to help a damsel in distress, you laughed and I was glad I made you laugh.
I gave you back your key now with the key holder on it, you collected it and thanked me saying you would return it back but I told you to keep it that it was yours now. You said thank you and made to leave. “My name is Austin, what’s yours?” I asked. You turned to me and said “Joy” with a small smile on your face, you walked away and I watched you leave with a new feeling of joy within me.

To be continued

Boredwriter:

To be continued

Continuation
You came to the shop regularly and I always created a conversation with you and you were always interested to talk to me. We started off being friends, you started coming to keep me company in the shop and there were lots of things to talk about with you, we had no dull moment together, you told me how you finished high school a year back and you were planning on applying to the university, I also told you that I finished high school 2 years back and all the times I have been applying to university I haven’t gotten my dream course which was architecture, you laughed at me and called me a block head. I had feigned anger and you started apologizing but I couldn’t keep up with the pretence and I laughed and you hit me.
Those times we were together I was at my happiest because just like your name you radiated Joy and just like that you became the joy of my life. You were a natural with people, mom loved you, she always liked to have you around. You also introduced me to your family, I met David your brother and we clicked immediately, you parents wanted me to come around every time.
I fell in love with you without knowing, you were so easy to love and deep down I knew you loved me too. I loved our friendship but I wanted to not just be called your friend, I wanted us to be more than just friends.
I remember the day we were lying down at the little garden in your father's house, we were laughing at a joke you had shared, and suddenly I sat up and told you that I loved you. Then you sat up and stared at me, I noticed a sudden gloom in your face and then you said that you had something to tell me but before you could say something, mom's call came in and requested my presence in the shop immediately because she wanted to go somewhere.
I told you to come with me but you refused saying you will talk to me some other time, I saw the sadness in your eyes but I couldn’t fathom why. I asked you to see me off but you said you were tired that you won’t be able to, I let you be cos I know you get tired easily, I always joked around calling you lazy bones and you would say that you agree and laugh about it.
So I left you with hopes to talk to you later but I couldn’t get to you until evening the next day when David called to tell me you had collapsed and was rushed to the hospital. I wondered what could have happened but then I remembered your look when I left you that afternoon so I thought maybe you wanted to tell me that you weren’t feeling well and I made a mental note to visit you the next day at the hospital.
I came to visit you at the hospital, I met your dad and he told there was something I needed to know before I went in to see you he told me the worst news I could ever receive when he said you have been battling leukemia all this while. You were at the final stage and there was nothing that could help you, the doctor had said you had three months left to live but you outlived 3 months and instead you have lived for 5 months and those 5 months are the months we've known each other.
I couldn’t believe what I heard so I rushed to the room you were in and there you were on the bed sleeping, you looked so weak and frail and for the first time I realized how weak you always looked and I hated myself for not seeing the signs even when they were there. I felt terrible for always teasing you when you complained of being tired after a short walk and I called you lazy, I teased you that you were made of bones the times you refused to eat saying you don’t have appetite, there was also times you almost fell because you felt dizzy but you always said that it was nothing.
Maybe I should have probed deeper on why you were like that but I ignored and now I’m just knowing that it was not nothing as you had said, I wondered how you were able to smile through all that pain. I felt the tears roll down my cheek and just then you opened your eyes and smiled, even in your weakness you found the strength to smile, I weeped harder.
I sat close to you so you held my hand and asked me why I was crying, you called me a crybaby. I told you not to act like that, I told you not to act strong, you turned away from me and I could see the tears even as you tried to hide it from me. Still holding your hand I turned your face towards me and cleaned your tears.
Then you said that you were sorry that you didn’t know how to tell me, you enjoyed every moment with me that you didn’t want to kill the vibe. You were just told you had 3 months to live and you just wanted everything to end immediately. But few days later you walked in to my mom’s shop and I had smiled at you and somehow that smile made you feel warm that even though I haven’t run after you to give you the key holder you would have come everyday just to see me smile and feel the warmth it gave you but I had run after you to give you the key and the key holder. You told me that I came into your life and brought in all the happiness you never felt before so you decided to be selfish and dwell in that happiness for the 3 months you had left, thinking I will be fine when I found out about your illness after your death. But then you didn’t want to die anymore because you fell deeply for me and you didn’t want to leave me so you started holding onto life.
You said you had lived more than 3 months because I had lifted up your spirit and you decided to hope on to living longer then you actually lived more than the 3 months the doctor stated and you had more faith and hope but then it seemed you were desperately holding on to life but life didn’t want to hold on to you because even with all the hope you had, you felt life leaving you each passing day, you struggled to look good so I wouldn’t see it and you were glad I didn’t.
I remember how you smiled and said that the day I told you I loved you, you wanted to hug me so tight and tell me that you loved me so much that you lived just for me that you didn’t know when you fell but it seems it was from the moment you saw me.
I was crying so hard when you placed your hand on my cheek and wiped my tears then you told me that I had a lot of love and light to give that I should promise you that while you were gone that I wouldn’t dim the light, that I should radiate the light and love and above all I should forget you and fall in love with someone else.
It seemed you knew that what you said was impossible for me that’s why you wanted me to promise you and deep down I couldn’t come to terms of losing you so I couldn’t promise you.
I couldn’t say anything and I couldn’t look at you so I ran out of the ward with tears in my eyes, I didn’t know were I was running to till I found myself at the shop in the arms of my mom who held me and cried with me when I told her about you. I must have cried so much that my eyes began to hurt and I fell asleep.
I woke up later on and even though it was dark I ran to the hospital I wanted to see you, hold you and tell you it will all be fine but I got there too late, I met your mom outside crying and David holding her. Then I ran into the room and saw the nurse wheeling you out I removed the clothes covering you and just stared at your lifeless body. I was broken, I was in so much pain but I didn’t know where was hurting me, I just stared till your father came to get me out so the nurses can wheel you to the mortuary.
It's 5 years today and I’m here standing before your grave wishing I could tell you that it’s been hard for me since you left, I only knew you for 5 months but it seemed I knew you all my life. That I can’t fall in love with another because I don’t want to get you off my heart, I can’t live the way you wanted me to promise you because it will mean getting over you, I want to tell you a whole lot of things but instead I want to say that I wish I hadn’t left, I wish I was with you when you took your last breath, I would have held your hand and told you that I loved you more than you can ever fathom and that I was ready to do whatever you wanted, I would have promised you whatever you wanted.
I regret a lot of things but I never for once regretted knowing you or falling for you and I will always love you and hold you in my heart now and always.

End.

Pls drop your thoughts on this......

I think, author, that you captured the real essence of true love in this story. Your characters might have known each other for only five months, but in those five months they managed to see into each other's soul. Thank you for painting a picture of such undying, never fading love. Good job, author!

BlackRainDrops:
I think, author, that you captured the real essence of true love in this story. Your characters might have known each other for only five months, but in those five months they managed to see into each other's soul. Thank you for painting a picture of such undying, never fading love. Good job, author!

Thank you so much, I really appreciate this😊