Hope

He received a letter from her. The date on the letter was ten years ago. A letter from ten years ago. He remembered they did something like that ten years ago. The letter told him to go to their promised place. And there he stood, at the beach, waiting for her. He began to reminisce the past.

This was where they had their first date. It was summer at that time and there was a Summer Festival being held at the beach. He remembered the outfit she wore, the stalls they visited, the food they ate, and even the prize he won from the air gun shooting. He loved her and she loved him back.

But as they began to understand each other more, they realized that there is an incompatible difference between them. They did not break up, but rather came to an understanding to go their own ways. They promised each other to meet up again ten years later. They both wrote a letter to the other person which would be delivered 10 years later. He did not know what she wrote in her letter, and she did not know what he wrote in his. The only thing they promised to write in the letter was to meet up again 10 years later.

Now, he awaits her arrival. They were young back then and did not specify a time for the meeting. He was been waiting since dawn and it was already noon. But he waited patiently, believing that she will come. It was near sunset when she finally arrived. She stood in front of him. They said nothing except looking at each other. He handed her the letter she wrote to him and she gave him the letter he wrote to her.

His letter

“I understand that you cannot accept our difference right now. But I will wait for you. Even if you choose to not show up, I still will wait for you. Be it 10 years, 20 years, I will be waiting for you. Hopefully, see you again in 10 years.”

Her letter

“I guess we are too young for this relationship to work out right now. Know that we are not breaking up but rather a chance for us to grow up and become more mature than we are right now. Hopefully after 10 years, we’ll be able to accept each other more than we are able to now. See you again in 10 years.”

They said nothing as the sun slowly sets beneath the horizon. A flock of seagulls sail across the setting sun.

“It there ‘us’ now?”