"Is there nothing that can make you stay?" their friend asked.

She pondered over the question once more. She had been asking herself the same question over and over again.

Finally she let out a light smile and shook her head. With the passing of her parents, she did not have any bond to tie her to this land of her birth. For her remaining years. she wished to spend them at a place where she had been most carefree and innocent. Although the landscape and atmosphere of that foreign land had changed too, she still felt more freedom there. 

Still there was one thing, one person that could make her stay. However, she knew he would never asked her to stay. At the prime of their careers, he was too busy acheiving his goals to give her his time. Today he had too many people relying on his acheivements for a living, he simply could not let go and leave with her. 

"Sorry, I'm late." She heard his voice and felt his hands on her shoulders. She turned her head and smiled boardly at him. She gestured for a chair and a space made for him next to her. As the waiter placed a glass of wine in front of him, she whisperd into his ear, "Can you send me home after this?" He then asked the waiter for a glass of iced water instead. 

------

The drive to her home was silent. Atypical of their usual interaction.

She gestured for him to walk her to her apartment. At the door of her apartment, she gestured him to enter. In the apartment, she made them a pot of lavender tea.  

-------

She was unusually quiet tonight. But he was grateful because he wasn't sure if he could deal with her chatty self at the moment. He was choking on his own unspoken words. He didn't want her to go. Although they weren't together, it was always a comfort to know that she was within reach. Seeing her cheerful posts on social media cheered him up. He wanted to reach out to her and held her tight. He wanted her to stay. But he knew he could not give her what she needed at the moment. She needed freedom. He knew that she wasn't really happy with the increasing stifling environment. She was holding out for her family but there was nothing to hold her back anymore.  

Once again, she did something he didn't have courage to initiate himself. She embraced him tightly. She hoped against hope that he might uttered that two words. But she only heard him asking, "Are you all ready to go? Do you need anything?" 

"You," she breathed out very softly near his ear. This was his last chance.

"Do you want me to send you to airport?" He had chosen to act ignorant once again.

She closed her eyes tightly, steeled her heart once more. She pulled away, pecked him lightly on his cheek, then shook her head. 

------

We are fated to meet each other this lifetime, but we don't share the same destiny.
If there is a next life, I want to meet you again and share my destiny with you.

21.05.2023