The sun that loves all and the Lion who loves only the sun

A journalist gets off the train with his suitcase in hand. He observed the people who had an air of being loved by someone; who were waiting for them to arrive, greeting a loved one when they arrived, or who left their loved ones behind. The journalist was none of these loved people. He had no one and he was content with no one. It is not that he liked not being loved. It’s just that he was used to it and came to accept the fact that he was not meant to love or be loved.

            As the Journalist makes his way to the entrance of the train station, an old man sitting on a bench catches his eye. The old man wore a yellow jacket, yellow pants and a yellow bow tie that was so bright it seemed like it could blind you. He also did not have the air of those who were loved nor did he have the air of the journalist who was not loved and did not love. He was an anomaly in the journalist mind and that may be why he was intrigued by the old man because in his mind there are only two types of people in this world and they are the loved and the loveless. 

            The journalist sits next to the old man and asked him was he loved or loveless. Many would find that odd if someone asked them that question but the old man found this question normal so normal that he answered the question like he asked himself every day. The old man said “I am someone who was loveless but loved the most and was loved the most. I lost love but in a way I still have it so I am neither and I am both.” The journalist did not understand his answer. How could a man be loved and loveless? Before the journalist said anything else the old man told him a story from his past. About a boy who only loved the sun and a girl who loved everything.

            The old man, as he told his story, started to reverse time back to when he was youthful and back to when a girl who loved many, lived. It was 50 years from the present and a war stricken the land with fear. People were beaten from all the sadness that weighed on their soul. No one loved because they were scared to love. Among these people was a poor 17 year old boy name Leo. Leo was not his real name, but no one remembered his real name so he was given Leo by a girl of the same age name Sunny.

Sunny, like her name was always bright and lovely. She was raise with Leo when her parents found him on the street when they were five. Many loved Sunny and Sunny loved many but not as much as she did Leo and even though Sunny was the only one who was able to shine a light in Leo’s loveless heart.

Leo did not acknowledge loving Sunny instead he skipped from girl to girl the only one he did not touch was Sunny. He felt that Sunny would not be happy with him because he had nothing to offer and he knew she could find someone better. Leo was wrong though because Sunny did not find someone better. She did not want anyone else only Leo. Leo ran away from her love but Sunny did not stop loving even when he was sent off to war. Sunny waited every day at the train station waiting for him to return even after years passed she still waited.

Years later he comes back and he sees Sunny waiting for him on the bench. When she saw him she glowed with light that was brighter than the sun. She ran to Leo and kissed him and Leo could not help but kiss her back. He then looked at her eyes and said the three words he never thought he would say. She said it in return before her eyes closed and her body went limp. The light, that was her soul, disappeared and the only thing left was Leo holding her body and a smile still left on her lips even in death.

Leo soon found out that Sunny was dying from a disease she had since she was a child and that it was a miracle that she lived so long.

At the funeral Sunny’s mother thanked Leo for keeping her alive so long. Leo told her that he did not understand and all she said was:

                                 “She was waiting for you.”  

The story ended and all went back to the way it was. An old man and a Journalist sat on a bench in the train station with the loved and the loveless passing by. The journalist took his leave even though he did not understand the man answer even after the story. How could a man who was loved so much by one person be loveless? Like that old man was reading his mind he called after the man and said “I am loveless because I did not let her love in until she could not give it.” The Journalist left the old man with a nod as he disappeared into the crowd.

The old man sat there on the bench in his yellow sunny attire and said:

                               “Welcome home Sunny.”

The old man looked at the bright and beautiful Sunny who took his hand and they ran to make their train and as the old man ran with his Sunny time began to melt away.  He became a boy who did not love anyone except the girl with the heart as bright and warm as the sun.

The journalist comes back later that day and finds the old man has left with only a smile on his face. The journalist soon writes the old man’s story and now if you go to the train station you will find a bench that is engrave:

“Here is where the loving sun and the Lion, that only loved the sun, finally met and fell in love all over again.”