A fool's love

Once upon a time, there was a little girl with all the love she could get. She was borned with a blessed love from the High Priest her father had summoned for her baptism. She grew up with the unconditional love from her two healthy parents and four protective brothers. They lived in a majestic castle up on the hill overlooking the vast kingdom her father had conquered for his children. Every waking moment, she was showered with the fullest gifts of teddy bears and fresh flowers. Yet. Deep in her heart, she knew she was not content, and would never be.

She was the saddest girl the day she turned 18. Amidst the mountain high gifts from the young men from neighbouring kingdoms, she was not happy with the love that was there all along anymore. While her family were busy preparing a feast for her coming of age, and the bachelors sat in the guest rooms hoping she would come talk to them, she instead put on a ragged cloak and flee the castle.

The sun hung high above her head as she made her way through the crowded market in search of something her heart desired but her mind had not a clue of. She felt the sweaty man's fruits. She heard the blind lady's songs. She saw the hungry orphan's bare feet. The day was about to be over when she chanced upon a tent with colourful stripes cascading down to the ground. It was a call neither her heart or her mind could decipher, but her legs carried her into the mysterious tent. She sat down on the carpeted floor and an old gypsy greeted her by clasping her youthful hand in between her wrinkled ones.

"You are ready to love." The gypsy said. And she gave the 18-year-old girl a present she would come to treasure above all the expensive gifts from foreign lands.

The girl was shooed out of the tent before she could thank the old gypsy. She was entranced by the silver locket of a heart, bloated to the brim. Just like the love inside of her wanting out. She turned around, hoping for some elaborations, but to her surprise, the colourful tent was gone. And the market had grown quiet and dark. All she could see was the castle atop of the hill all lit up for her 18th birthday.

That night, she put on the necklace and danced with all the charming men in the hall. They made her laughed. They made her happy. As she felt the smooth surface of the hart-shaped locket, she came to realise that there was hope for the kind of love she had been longing for.

But. The night ended and the young men returned to their respective kingdoms. The young girl stared out her window every moonlit night and felt her heart slowly lost its ember. Too many times, she had sneaked out in search of the old gypsy. Yet every time she returned home defeated, for the old gypsy was nowhere to be found. There were rumours circulating the markets that the gypsy had passed on. Since that day, she gave up looking for the gypsy. She retreated to her room and caught on a broken heart disease.

Her father sent words to neighbouring countries for the best doctors in town to cure his ill daughter. Her mother sat beside her bed crying every night when she refused to eat. Her brothers questioned the young men who were invited to her 18th birthday and went out hunting for the man responsible for passing on the disease. This went on for two years. Until one night, the young girl gathered her family into her room. She told her father to stop seeking medical attention. She asked her mother to not weep for her anymore. She said to her brothers there were no men to crucify for there was never a man. After her family retreated to their own abode, she unclasped the gypsy's necklace around her neck and hid it in her drawer. The next night, the young girl would be turning 20.

As spring came and gone, and winter fled for the mountains, one by one, the brothers found humble wives to marry. One by one, they parted with their parents to build their own kingdoms in lands out of the sight of the majestic castle. Finally, it was the young girl's footsteps haunting the too many empty rooms. Her parents were growing old. The day her parents died, was the day all love drained out of the castle. Her brothers came back for the mournful festival. While the entire kingdom wept for a lost love, the young girl packed her clothes and stuffed the gypsy's necklace in her pocket. She passed the grand gates out into the forest without bidding her brothers goodbye. That night, she turned 21. Her brothers were too caught up in their parents' passing to remember the important celebration. But. Even if they remembered, she would have been gone too far away to return.

For countless days she roamed the thick forest with puffy eyes that wept too long and a heart that bled too much. She forgot the feeling of the fruits. She forgot the song of the blind lady. She forgot the sight of the unfortunates. Until one day, a familiar sight bore her sad eyes.

She stepped into the same striped tent and met the old gypsy a few hairs whiter and a few wrinkles fuller. The girl, not young anymore, held out her hand gripping the 18-year-old heart. She would have blamed the gypsy for this curse. But on those night she laid in bed diagnosed with broken heart disease, she came to realise that she had been cursed all along.

"Wait." The gypsy called out as the girl left. The girl trembled at the old woman's crooked voice. She had found sadness in every breaking twig and every raining sky and every dying animal.

The old gypsy placed in the girl's hand another necklace. And said. "Until you have found the intelligent and courage to love another, you shall bear only one heart and love only the heart of your own."

She woke up lying on green pastures. On her right grasp she held the necklace with two hearts, one of them detached from the chain. On her left grasp she held the 18-year-old necklace. The gypsy and her colourful tent were nowhere to be found. That day, she would grace into her 22nd year. She returned to the kingdom she abandoned to find the youngest of the brothers living in the majestic castle. He welcomed her with forgiving tears and opened arms. Unfortunately. The love he grew had grown foreign in the girl's heart. If ever there was an old love flowing down her stream, she would taste it stale rather than sweet.

The girl sat by her window at a night shimmered with moonlight. Her fingers touched the heart-shaped halo and looked at the detached locket on her other hand. She sighed, for she would be wearing only one heart for a very long time.

The End.

Have a nice Valentine's Day. I hope your significant other made you feel special today, as did you to him/her. If not, do not be too calculative. For the caring and loving heart he/she held out for you as you stay together, is more than enough for a silly teddy bear and a huge bouquet of roses on this day. You are already luckier than you think. For the singles, do not despair, but choose this day to love yourself. Because nobody else is going to do that for you today.