la douleur exquise
(n). the heart-wrenching pain of wanting the affection of someone unattainable.
She was exquisite, like a beautiful scarlet ibis. One that only a handful of people have ever seen and he was one of the lucky ones to witness her beauty. He absorbed as much as his eyes could grasp every waking moment he was standing next her. Staring at her longingly as she caressed another man's cheek. His heart burning with rage and jealously, forcing himself to calm down before he broke out and started something he knew he would regret.
Although sometimes, he would catch her staring back at him. Giving him a crinkle of a smile as she continued doing her daily business. Whether she was just lounging around in the control room reading the latest magazine from the year 3000, or putting out the plates in the kitchen table for their traditional fish fingers and custard. That little smile she gave was the one that made him want to freeze time and just let the moment sink in for the rest of his life. It was the smile only reserved for him, and that alone was what mattered to him. The thought of having something belonging to him that someone else didn't have the chance to encounter. That little crinkle of a smile was all that was needed for his terrible mood to go into instant happiness and bliss.
She was a light to his darkness. She brought out the good in him. without her, he was just wandering around inside the dark mess in his mind.
Her lucent scarlet hair and gorgeous green eyes made him want to snatch her up, lock her in box and never let her go. For she was a rare, delicate flower that deserved to be admired by many, and only got to be loved and touched by one. Sadly that one was her husband. He was an admirer, a watcher, a seer, and she was put on a pedestal. one with a sign that said "look, don't touch".
Every memory he ever shared with her, was one that he cherished and held close to his heart. His very being was nothing without her. She was the missing piece for this regeneration. he was a unfinished puzzle, until that fateful night when he landed in her garden over twenty four years ago. Fourteen years without him and ten spent with him. How the time has flown by for the time lord.
And then she left. Just like that, like she was never there in the first place, as if she was a figment in his imagination.A fictional character he created in order to fill up the hole of emptiness that was nestled in his two hearts as he went on wandering. Being there since the beginning of time to the end. Never leaving, just walking.
Maybe she wasn't supposed to stay with him. Maybe she was just supposed to give him hope. Oh how the universe loved to play games with him. Have a lonely traveler pass by a beautiful woman who he shall love, only to have her love another.
That was tragedy of unrequited love.
And that would be his downfall.