He always walked past her house with the letter in his pocket…. He knew one day he would be able to give it to her…. one day she even saw him and came to the gate… he smiled at her and said he was just passing by…. he put his hand in his pocket and felt the letter but could not manage to take it out and give it to her….

As time passed and the envelope and letter in it became a part of his body…. like a lucky charm… he carried it with him always… he never gave it to her… she never knew he had such a letter…. even when they finally fell in love, he never gave her that letter… they dated for a long time and then got married…. still he did not give the letter… he did not even mention its existence….

He would every night take it from his pocket and hide it…. then morning after dressing up he will carefully take it and put it in his pocket… kiss her and leave for office…. he had become obsessed with that letter… he had forgotten what was written in it but he always took good care of it… time went by and they had children and the children grew up got married and moved out… he retired and remained home… he still did not give the letter to her…

He continued the routine… he would take the letter whenever he went out and safely keep it in its hiding place on return… One day when he went out he forgot to take the letter…. he came back and checked his pocket and found that it was missing… he thought it must have fallen from his pocket…. he told his wife that he has lost something very precious that day…His wife asked him what it was but he did not reply…..

The next day he got up and looked all around when his wife came and handed him an envelope….. He looked at her…
She said “This is for you… take it”
He took the envelope and opened it…. there was a letter in it….. he opened and read it…. it was a reply…. a reply to his lost letter….. she had detailed in it every bit of how much she loved him….
He looked at her and she smiled and then gave him the letter he had thought had gone missing…
She said “I got it yesterday and I opened and read it…..”
He did not say anything….. and she continued
“You had not mentioned any name in it….. but I assumed it was for me…. because it had a date and I know during that time you never knew my name…..” She smiled

He kept both the letters side by side…. He felt that his life has just made a complete circle… he looked at her as if he was seeing her for the first time when he passed by her house… she looked young and beautiful…. he knew he was in his seventies but she appeared to be in her twenties and he knew they both had a long beautiful life ahead of them…
He smiled back at her….. She smiled back may be seeing a young man in his twenties…….

Categories: 365 Flash Fiction, Flash Fiction, Stories

Tags: Flash Fiction