LOYALTY

Fright

"Where there is love, there is hate. Where there are expectations, there is disappointment too." He turned to her as well, chuckling lightly at her even more confused expressions." What I meant was, love comes with a lot of expectations and when they are not fulfilled it turns to have a bittersweet feeling to it." He gestured to the guy in the painting." Maybe his expectations were crashed too."

Akira pondered on his words, thinking deep." What about the threads, strings or whatever they are around his head?"

"He is in chaos."

"What?"

"His mind is in utter chaos. They symbolize his state of mind."

"How come he finds peace in it?" The more he revealed about the painting, the more confused she got.

"Its all about perspective, Buttercup. Some people can find peace in the hustle, crowds and noises of the urban cities while the others feel at home when surrounded by a quite atmosphere. Take wanderers and this artist as an example. The people who explore the world cannot stay at the same place for too long, they love to indulge in the chaos of the outside world. How do you think this artist would have made this painting? Try to imagine the process. The canvas you find so pretty to look at now was once a chaos of colours."

"Woah! You should become a philosopher. I'm not even kidding." She was floored at the amount of depth he had to his thinking. It was just a mere painting and he was able to narrate essays on it just like that.

Mujin who had gone too deep into his own conscious snapped back to reality.

"Okay. Just one last question." Akira raised her hand up like a child. He chuckled and gestured her to speak further.
"The love that brings pain with it, isn't it toxic. Its suppose to set you free not make you weak. If it does, shouldn't he move on?"

"Its conditional." He stares at her.

"Sorry?"

"If you love something or someone with a hope or expectation for it to make you happy, for it to return the same amount of efforts you put in then that love is conditional, its weak."

"But-"

"Love someone so fiercely that you won't ever need a condition to keep loving them. If I fell in love with you I'll love you even if you love someone else cause my love is unconditional. Its boundless. Its fine by me if I'm not the main character in your story. I'll be the knight in shining armour if I can't be your Prince Charming." Akira's breath hitched at the intensity his eyes held, as if he was speaking from the bottom of his heart, as if the words coming out of his mouth were something he had experienced.

She had nothing to say. The words had such meaning that she realised her love might have been weak. The definition of love he just gave was so beautiful. It made her want to love like that.
She will love like that.
I'll love you, unconditionally.

                                .............

Mujin and Akira walked side by side with a can of coke in their hands.
Akira hummed along the tune of a song she heard in the hallway of the museum.

"It was a good idea to come here. Wasn't it?" Mujin smirked at her knowingly.

"Yeah, yeah. It was fine. Just fine. Nothing extraordinary. I wasn't able to understand half of the things there." She huffed, annoyed. She was literally asking him about every small detail. She would drag him away to clear a query. They were acting like a student-teacher duo.

"Admit it already. You enjoyed it."

"I said-" her footsteps halted. She stared at something behind Mujin. He too turned around to take a look.