A Short Love (Short story collection)

The One

There was a time when love was simple and easy, when life couldn't get in your way, when there weren't so many things to work around and obstacles that could come into your life. You were just young. Your heart was beating fast, and you got nervous when the person you held so dearly was near. But the biggest problem in your life was homework. You didn't have to think about making time for the other person. You didn't have to think about how work, family, and social life could get in your way because you had time. It might not have felt that way when you were young, but you had time. Then you grew up and realized love is so much harder. It's work. It needs to be nurtured and kept safe. It can't grow if you won't put the work in. I had to learn it like everyone else. I had to realize that young love was so easy, and then I grew up and watched the person I loved slip from my hands. I watched as he grew into a different person while I too grew away from him. My heart was still beating for him, but we weren't teenagers anymore. We were growing into adults, and we were both trying to figure out what those two adults were going to be like. It meant I lost him. It meant, in the end, we weren't able to put in the work and time our love needed, and soon he was out of my life.

He became the one who got away...

Life continued, though. My life turned into something wonderful. I became a doctor. I fell in love. I moved to Seattle and enjoyed the city life. I made friends. My life couldn't have been better, but just as I thought I knew what I wanted, what I wanted my future to look like, life finds a way to make you question everything...

***

"So, what do you think?" I asked as I held up two pictures in front of my fiancé, Liam.

He turned his head away from his phone and studied them closely before he shrugged a little and leaned back in his chair.

"They are both beautiful," he said.

I sighed deeply and groaned, a little annoyed that he wouldn't choose.

"Come on! You need to choose one!" I said. "Roses or lilies?"

Liam smiled a little.

"I like both. You choose," he said.

"It's your wedding too."

"But isn't this something you girls have dreamt of since you were kids?"

I looked at him a little annoyed, but I knew he was joking. His signature smirk spread across his lips, and I rolled my eyes.

"No, I wanted to be a surgeon and played doctor a lot. That was what I dreamt about. Me getting married is just a bonus."

"Oh, so I am a bonus?" he teased.

"I don't want to be like those bridezillas who won't even ask their fiancé what they want in the wedding. It's both our day, not just mine," I told him.

Liam smiled sweetly and then snatched the pictures from my hands, looking at them.

"You do know it's just flowers, right?" he asked.

I knew he wasn't saying it to be mean. The flowers were just not what was important to him about that day. It was about marrying me, and of course, it made me so happy, but I wanted our day to be special as well. We were getting married on Valentine's Day. Cheesy, but I was never very cheesy. This time I wanted to be.

"I know, but those flowers will be in our wedding photos forever."

"And the world will end if we don't choose, right?" he teased.

"Just pick!"

"Fine!" he said. "Here."

He handed me the picture with the red roses, and I just looked at him.