Delicate

“There is something very unique with you.” The Old Man said to the Young Man. The Young man sat on the bench with his bouquet of flowers on his side while looking up at the rain,

“Is there something unique about this world?” 

The Young Man said with disdain in his voice with an angry after-tone. The rain wetting his eyes as if he was crying into the sky

“There is something interesting about love, young chap. You just have to accept it, what happened, Young Man?”

The Old Man questioned, the Young Man looked at the Old Man with redded eyes,

“There is always a girl, always.”

“I see, Young Man, what do you think I have under my coat?”

The Young Man looks up and down the Old Man’s coat,

“A broken heart is what you have under that coat of yours.”

“That you are wrong, Young Man, I have a patchwork of a heart.”

The Young Man starts laughing and covers his face, 

“Patchwork of a heart!? Once a heart is broken, it can never be put back together. You are a fool to believe so.”

The Old Man reaches out a hand and ask the Young Man to join him under his umbrella,

“Come, Young Man, shall we go to a place where we can talk for a while?

The Young Man agrees and takes the Old Man’s hand while picking up his bouquet of flowers. While looking for a place to talk, the pair walk past a few places that the Young Man recognises. 

A cinema where the Young Man first held hands with his former lover, the park where they had their first passionate kiss with no one looking but the stars and the moon, the Young Man’s first apartment where he and his former lover spent the night counting stars and slept in each other’s arms and their usual restaurant where they had their chatter and laughter at.

Then the pair enters a diner and the Old Man orders coffee for both of them, the Young Man looks down at the coffee and tears start rolling down his cheek, 

“They used to bring me coffee like this in the morning, now they only bring coffee for another love.”

“Do you think there is anything to love about you?”

The Young Man looked at the Old Man with shocked eyes, his heart pierced by that question,

“What makes someone loveable? What do you think makes you loveable?”

The Young Man looked out of the diner with eyes thinking of that question and he looks back at the Old Man

“I don’t have an answer, what do you think makes me loveable?”

“When you stitch up your heart, when you love life more than anything in this world, When you love the person who stabbed you in the heart, when you hold onto that love so long that burns your hand that you have to let go of it.”

The Young Man looked at the coffee and thought about it, 

“What if I am unable to let go of love?”

“It will turn sour and into hate and resentment, it will hurt but you can do it, I know you can because you remind me of me.”

The Old Man looked at the Young Man,

“It’s time for me to go, Young Man. I hope you know what to do.”

The Old Man disappears from the table and leaves the diner, the Young Man looks at the barely touched coffee on the Old Man’s side of the table and looks back at the outside only to not see the Old Man anywhere.

“Turn sour and into hate and resentment, does it?”

The Young man thought to himself, he leaves the flowers on the booth of the seats in the diner, paid for the coffee and leaves the diner.

The Young Man walks to a phone booth and dials a number to call someone, the feeling of dread arches over the Young Man as the dialing tone rings in his ear. When someone picks up the phone, it was a voice that greeted the Young Man in a cheerful tone,

“Hello!!! Who’s this?”

“Hello? Is this Leslie?”

“Oh, it’s you. What do you want?”

The tone of indifference hits the Young Man, he looks down and smiles nervously,

“You’ve moved on from me and I’m trying to move on from you so it’s best that we don’t come into each other’s life. I know you have a new person already, someone that I hope you can spend your whole life with, I wish you well and goodbye.”

The Young Man hangs up the phone, he grabs his chest as if to hold in something pouring from his chest then a sudden rush from relief fills him up. The Young Man walks to the nearby park and sits on a bench under the moonlight, a Young Woman sits a bench apart from him, he looks at her and sees the Young Woman crying, he walks over to sit beside her, 

“Are you okay?”

“Is anyone okay these days?”

The Young Woman says with disdain, the Young Man smiles and says,

“The moon is watching us, shall I help you?”