Dear Cupid

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

A leaf fell majestically off a tree like a grand queen descending the stairs after a coronation. It twirled gracefully in the air a triple time and then fell with poise onto the ground, hailed by hundreds of fallen leaves browning on the ground. It did a double turn before being blown off by the cruel, cold, sharp wind blowing from the west, and the regal leaf, along with its subjects, became scattered all over the ground like a conquered city. More than once, the wind hailed the leaves high up in the air, only to toss them back onto the ground again, farther from its source of life, the giant oak tree. The crown leaf, along with a scattered few, got blown to the barbed wires near the fence, where it proudly stood, stuck and helplessly flapping along with the wind, watching as the others got blown off to the road and trampled on by humans.

Nicky sat on the park lawn staring blankly at the leaf. Her long, blonde hair that was straight as a needle, with a full fringe almost covering her eyes, flew all over the place because of the wind. She got up and picked the crown leaf, scrutinized it in her thin, goosebump-infested hands, fascinated by the little veins that had once pumped life into it. Once vivid, once so youthful and precious, the leaf was suddenly demoted to the gutters. Reality kicked in as soon as she felt the cold really getting to her bone and a shiver ran down her spine. It was almost 4pm, yet Harry wasn't here. She had been waiting for him for over an hour now, and despite the cold and the impatience, she badly wanted to see him. She had last seen him months ago when he left for Canada. For the umpteenth time, she checked the time.

"You got stood up..." the thought crossed her mind not for the first time, and Nicky shook it out of her head once again. Today was Valentine's Day; he couldn't possibly stand her up. Or could he? Nicky sighed and as she did so, the shrill of her mobile phone invaded the chilly late-winter evening atmosphere and the little dilemma she was having. She really needed to change that ringtone of hers; it was too depressing. She obliviously chucked the leaf she had been twisting in her hands onto the ground, where the wind had been waiting to give it its final test. She didn't see it being punished by the tempest, or when it breathed its last as a woman arguing with her husband stamped on it. Nicky looked at the screen of her mobile to see who was calling, although in her mind she already knew who it could be; Harry. Her fingers froze and a huge lump formed in her throat and she nearly choked on it. Slowly, her heart beating at a hundred miles per hour, she lifted the phone in her delicate, manicured fingers up to her ears and spoke.

"Hey, baby!" Harry's voice was too chirpy for her liking, and in some ways the drunken undertones displeased her even more.

"Hi." Nicky sighed, wondering what other lame excuse he had for being late. It was the norm in their relationship: he stands her up, she sulks, he apologises and they make up. She never complained, oh no! She feared that if she did, he would simply walk out of her life. Her friends always asked her, whenever they had the chance to see her at all which was rare, if not never, why she let Harry treat her like she was a vixen he picked from a brothel, and the most astonishing thing was why she stuck with him anyway. She was beautiful; there was no doubt about it. She was also lovely and intelligent that any guy would love her with all his heart- any, except Harry.

"Sorry I'm late. Sam and the others wanted to grab a beer so I got with them." Harry's tone of voice showed anything but remorse. Nicky wasn't too surprised, mates came first in Harry's life; they always did. Any other girl wouldn't sit around waiting for a guy who didn't know his priorities, but she wasn't any other girl. She was a victim of one Cupid's wicked arrow; trapped helplessly in love like a damsel in distress. This Cupid definitely needed to retire.

"Okay. So?" Nicky said, growing impatient with each passing moment.

"So, come to the pub 'cause I've got something important to tell you." Harry slurred. Nicky's heart missed a beat. Her spirits lifted and she couldn't help breaking into a smile.