The End of an Era (A love story)

"The end of an era goes unnoticed by observers"

It was the end of an era, the end of their so-called relationship - an abrupt end that remained unseen by the observers.
They were the envy of the whole town, their chemistry the subject of every conversation. Everywhere they went, people just assumed that these two (whom for the sake of anonymity we'll call person A and person B) would make a fantastic couple, that they looked real cute together. When children saw them walk past playgrounds hand in hand, they often felt envy toward an A who had found such a beautiful B to spoil, later dreaming of the sleepless nights that they would spend with their own lovers, perhaps in the near future, touching and kissing beneath the dome of the sky, their minds at this age unaffected by the fragility of such momentary cliches. Unaware of platitudes, these little kids would then sit up in bed, some motivated to go out there and find true love, others crying for they thought if they didn't find true love, their lives would amount to nothing more than a series of meaningless moments. One way or another, they were under the spell that A and B had casted in the wake of their steps.

It was the end of an era, the end of their so-called relationship, and not one conscious being in town knew of the rift between A and B, or what caused it, for A and B decided to maintain appearances by holding hands and kissing each other in public more often than they used to, just to preserve the image that they were still in love, not knowing that by doing so, they only widened said rift. Thus they kept the reality at bay. Their love became a formality, their eventual heartbreak an inescapable necessity they both tried to escape. From the view of an indifferent passerby, however, A and B had already surmounted the wall between casual dating and boundless love; when they saw A and B saunter into their visual field, hand in hand and engulfed in calm silence, they would smile and say to themselves, "Well, seems like these two are happy together. I wish my relationships could be like theirs." This thought would then be followed by a sigh, ushering the passerby back to whatever reality it was that they had been pulled away from. Unbeknownst to themselves, A and B had in fact planted the seed that true and silent love does indeed exist. Yet this caused the townspeople to feel sad and alone because, despite constantly putting their trust in love, they only felt betrayed by it. If only they could learn the secret of true love from A and B...

"Excerpts from A&B's conversations, letters, and memories, unfiltered"

"Years and years from now when they ask me about the best night of my life, I will tell them about a night that is rather ordinary in nature. I will tell them about the sleepless night you and I spent together in a hotel room high above the ground. Being so high up made me think that I was untouchable. I had left all my troubles in the lobby, right at the foot of the elevator. Nothing could threaten the sanctity of our hotel room. Life began at the doorway and ended where the window provided a little display of a reality beyond our reach. I wanted nothing to do with that reality. So I crawled under the sheets and buried my head in your breasts. I felt your chest heaving beneath my cheek. This was it, the rhythm of our reality. I wanted nothing to break that rhythm. But sadly, weariness overpowered my desire to watch you breathe, and I soon closed my eyes without realizing that with each second toward dawn, I was getting closer to the life I had so desperately tried to hide from."

"Something is happening. You're pulling away from me. When I kiss you it feels weird. It's real, it's passionate, but it almost feels as if you're trying to show off in front of other people. How about you don't show so much affection when we're in public? Maybe I'm not comfortable doing s**t like that in front of total strangers. If we do it all the time in public, it just makes it less meaningful when we display affection in private."

"What is the matter with you? Why don't you respond to my messages? You know I love you with all my heart. Can't you just trust me? I can't keep loving you if you're going to mistake my curiosity for a sign of indiscretion. Please, put some faith in me. I love you."

"So one day you told me you were at this crossroad and didn't know which path to take and I said, well, don't worry, this s**t happens to everyone. Then you said this is hard because both paths look appealing, and I said, yeah, all paths in life look appealing for those who can see the beauty in everything. The more acute your ability to spot beautiful things, the more difficult it is to settle down and make a choice. But perhaps that is the only way to live a fulfilling life. Perhaps you were right, my dear, and I was wrong. Maybe you were right in walking two paths at once, daring to do something not many people dared to do, which was to trust your own uncertainties and insecurities. I wish I could tear myself in half and walk both paths with you, but I am too tired, my dear, of even treading my own path."

"So is this really it? You're never going to talk to me again? Wow...I really don't know what to say, except that you can't make up your mind and keep breaking my heart over and over again. You said you would support my decision to follow my own paths and be myself, but now you're backing out again. I really don't know what to say...."



"Last excerpt, present day"

"My dear, I know that your wedding day is near. I myself also have a fiancé. We're due to get married next July. I would say I am quiet happy with our relationship, and I am also very happy that you remembered me, let alone invite me to your wedding. I will be there for sure. I wouldn't miss it for the world. It will warm my heart to see you happy after all that we've been through. Again, I am glad that you sought me out. I will see you on your wedding day.
P.S. I hope this is not too inappropriate, but last week my fiancé and I went to the same hotel that you and I once stayed in. It was a wonderful night of passionate love-making followed by comfortable silence, but something felt...strange. Only when I put my head on her chest I realized that what I longed for the most was the familiar rhythm of your heartbeat.
A rhythm I will never be able to hear again."