"I-…I will defeat you!"
These are her words as she shouts through her tears. Her barrier of stoicism has lifted. Everything she has felt for the past eighteen years of her life… everything she had to keep hidden…fear, loneliness, inferiority. Everything. It all surfaces.
The tears won't stop. People are beginning to stare. He rushes forward and tries to calm her. He takes her by the shoulders and looks into her eyes. But she can't look back. He wants to make things better, but he just makes it worse. All she can feel is anger and bitterness towards this man. And yet, she can't help but be touched by his concern, in a deep, dark corner of her heart. These conflicting feelings only lead to more outward animosity towards him. How dare he make her feel so… imperfect! This perfect man… the one who truly defeated her…
She swats away his hands from her shoulders and shouts. More people have come to watch. She continues to yell until there is nothing to yell about. Everything she hated about him, everything… it all comes into the open.
After she finishes, her heart feels lighter. With all of her words gone, she breaks off hopelessly, grasping for more ammunition to fire at the culprit of her failure. But all she can do is cry more.
Unsure of what to do, he inches forward. She makes no reaction to his movement. She has no more words to attack him with; her will to combat him is gone. She's just a girl.
He walks toward her openly now. She is lonely, afraid, and confused. He knows. He knows what it's like for everything that you once held dear, for your only truth, to be turned upside down and scattered onto the cold, unforgiving pavement.
It tears you apart.
But he also knows that when the shards of one's life are scattered, the only thing to do is to pick them up, piece by piece, and put them back into place, this time with a more fitting arrangement so they won't fall out again.
Sometimes, this required help.
He knows.
He outstretches his hand and softly speaks her name.
At this, she looks up at him sharply. Her mouth trembles, but she throws her arms around him. Her tears soak his clothes, but he doesn't care. The sight of her so distraught makes him want to cry with her. It breaks his heart to see this girl's life in shambles. But he knows. He knows he must stay strong. For her.
They remain in an embrace for what could have been minutes, or perhaps hours. They don't care who is watching. All that matters is the healing of her heart.
Eventually, they break apart. She mutters something about catching her plane as she tried in vain to wipe away her tears. He gently steers her towards the gates. As she is about to depart, she turns around and looks back at that man. A man who had ruined her, and saved her in one day. He gives her an uncertain smile, unsure of whether it would upset of comfort her. She returns a wavering smile. As she opens her mouth to speak, she is ushered in by one of the flight attendants. She fights against their insisting orders; there is something important she must tell him…that man. The man whom she hated and loved.
She looks back.
But he's already gone.
Without her, as usual.
She turns back around, and walks into the plane, resuming her proud march that she had lost. There is no need to cry anymore.
She will come back, better than he. And when he sees, he will learn…He will learn that she is worthy to be by him. And they will stand side by side, equals.
But now, there is something he needs to hear. It cannot wait for another day.
She is seated on the plane. As she leaves the ground, she murmurs the two most important words.
Thank you.
--
Please rate and review! Thanks!