"Steemit Challenge s28wk3: When Hope Returns

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Ronny stood at the edge of his balcony one evening, at the same spot where he was hopelessly watching the city. But this time, the city lights didn’t feel like a reminder about everything moving forward without him, they felt like witnesses quietly watching, waiting, holding stories of people who had broken, healed, and tried again, or chosen a different path.

Yet Ronny wasn’t thinking about healing or trying. He was just breathing, and listening to the soft hum of life below, letting the memory of that once-dead tree go through his mind. It was strange how life used ordinary things to tell its greatest lessons.

The day he resumed work, he wasn't expecting nothing but routine, the familiar sound of keyboards, and the polite greetings from colleagues that filled the office. But then Nina walked into his team, looking small, graceful, with her eyes that seemed to notice everything without trying. She laughs softly, in a sincere manner, and it unsettled Ronny in ways he didn’t want to admit.

At first, he kept his distance, and answered her questions politely, even helped her settle into the office, but still maintained the emotional walls he had carefully built. Falling and caring again wasn’t part of his plan. He had already written an ending for his emotional life and sealed it.

But Nina wasn’t trying to break any walls. She was just present with her kindness, present with her neat little notebooks filled with doodles, present with her habit of standing by the window at lunch and watching the sky like it held some secrets. Ronny found himself stopping beside her one afternoon, asking what she was looking at.

“The clouds,” she smiled gently. “They look heavy, but they’ll clear. They always do.”

He felt something shift immediately, just the same way it happened when the gardener spoke to him. Not a spark of romance, not a sudden rush but just a gentle reminder that some people carried light without even knowing.

Days passed, weeks came quietly as Ronny and Nina began sharing small conversations about lunch, about music, about silly office problems. He told her about the tree in the park, the one that bloomed after looking dead for months. Her eyes softened when she heard the story.

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“It didn’t bloom because someone forced it,” she said. “It bloomed because it had time.”

Time. A word that had once felt like an enemy now felt like a gift.

But something was different inside Ronny this time. He wasn’t pushing to fall in love, he wasn’t trying to prove anything to himself or anyone, he was only learning to exist again, to feel without expectation and to breathe without fear.

One Saturday morning, he went back to the park and found the gardener trimming another tree.

“You again?” the gardener smiled.

Ronny laughed. “Seems I keep ending up here.”

The gardener nodded knowingly. “Some people keep returning to the place where they first learned to hope.”

Ronny looked at the blooming tree. Hope. Yes, he had found that again.

But he didn’t want it to lead him into another relationship. Not yet. Maybe not ever. And strangely, that felt okay for him. Healing didn’t always end with falling in love, sometimes it ended with choosing yourself.

On Monday, Nina stopped by his desk. “Coffee later?” she asked casually.

Ronny looked at her kind, warm, steady and he felt no fear, no rush, no trembling heart. Just a peaceful acceptance.

“Not today,” he said with a smile that held no apology. “But maybe someday.”

She nodded, understanding more than he said. “Someday is fine.”

As she walked away, Ronny felt something profound, he realized that he didn’t need to be in love to feel alive again. The tree had bloomed. His heart didn’t have to follow the same script.

Sometimes, the most quiet twist in life is choosing a different ending than the one everyone expects.

And for Ronny, that ending filled with peace, possibility, and a quiet return to himself, was more than enough.

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I invite @mariami @eliany @lhorgic