Steemit Challenge s28wk3: When Hope Returns

The city below moved on just like nothing inside Ronny had shattered. He sat on the balcony. He was watching the routine flow of life. But his own life was stuck. The breakup had been clean but the wound was still there. His friends stopped calling him. Silence became his only companion. It was wrapping around him like a second skin. Every morning he woke late. He though if love had only been a trick of fate.

Image by Tom from Pixabay

One grey morning Ronny walked through the park. A gardener was tending to a barren tree. Ronny asked why are you working here on a dry tree. His tone was sharper than he intended. The gardener smiled. He said this tree is not dead. It is resting and it will bloom again.

Ronny looked at the lifeless branches. It looked foolish to believe in ghosts or miracles. But something knocked inside him.

He came back the next day and so on. The gardener continued his quite working. Ronny started noticing the small things such as the smell of the wet soil and the warmth of the morning light. The sounds of the birds were rehearsing their own comebacks. His grief did not disappear but it was softened. It became something he could hold without breaking.

After some weeks when the spring started the same tree burst into pink. Ronny felt something blooming inside him too. It was something he thought had died forever. After that returning to the work was easier. The office looked different. At that time he met Nina.

She had a soft laugh that filled spaces. She reminded him of Sameera in the way she paid attention to details. Unlike Sameera, Nina did not rush. She did not demand. She existed quietly. She was like a sunrise which we do not notice until it warms our face.

They started talking to each other normally. They shared work updates, jokes, and coffee. She spoke about her strict apartment building that did not allow plants. Ronny told her about the tree and the gardener. Nina said that is a beautiful reason to keep going. She said that a blooming tree is proof that life returns.

They started moving in the park on weekends. Nina would kneel beside him. She helped the plant bulbs and to trim the bushes. Their hands often brushed while exchanging tools. There was a tenderness in their shared silence. There was something unspoken but alive.

But Ronny hesitated because of his past experience. What if history repeated itself?What if he became too attached.

One afternoon he found the gardener planting a young sapling. Ronny asked the gardener how do you know it will survive. The gardener replied you just have to give it what it needs and it will start growing. The answered hit inside him.

Then a twist came for which he was not prepared. Nina got a letter that she had been selected for a good fellowship abroad. Her face was bright but dimmed with uncertainty when she looked at him.

She softly said that I did not expect it. For a moment the chest of Ronny tightened. He looked at her helpful and nervous to try not to shrink her joy for his own comfort.

He understood that love did not mean stopping someone. It means to allow the growth. He asked under the blooming tree that what will we do. Nina replied we let life happen and we stay connected it it still feels right.

There was no any dramatic confession or a cinematic kiss. They were just agreeing to let things grow at their own pace.

Her last week was gentle. They exchanged small gifts. She gave him a packet of seeds. He gave her a pressed blossom from the tree. They promised an honest connection.

When she left he was again alone but this time it was different loneliness. Ronny watered the balcony pots daily. He wrote long messages and received longer ones in return. Their conversation grew like the roots.

After some months when he checked the soil in the pot he saw a small sprout pushing through. It was a seed he did not plant consciously. Probably it was dropped from a fruit he had eaten.

Ronny smiled. He realized it was not a sudden miracle. It was slow, patient, and stubborn just like the spring. It was like that little tree in the park which was also learning to bloom again.

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I would like to invite @mahadisalim, @issambashir, @yenny47 to join this contest.