Always | ✓

41. Bent Arrows

This Sunday morning, I walked to the shop, deciding to get there earlier than usual.

It was a nice morning, with the air, cold and crisp. I felt like it was the kind of weather that would be perfect for a walk and also to clear my thoughts.

Following my usual route, I was heading to the store, only to stop at the one beside it. It was a hand-crafted jewellery store, one that I always walked by and couldn't help but glance at.

However, this time it was different. I spotted a little pendant in the store, one that for some reason I felt drawn towards.

Unable to help myself, since I just had to take a closer look at it, I walked into the shop.

When the door opened, a little bell jingled. Closing it behind me, I walked straight towards the pendant, eyeing its beauty.

From what I could see, it was a thin, silver chain. But what attracted me the most, was the pendant attached to it, what looked like a bent arrow.

"Like this one, do you?" I heard a voice ask.

I turned around and saw an elderly man beside me.

When I looked at him, I recognised him as the man who ran this shop. Someone whom I've occasionally seen and offered a smile towards. He always smiled back.

"Yes, I do. For some reason, I can't look away from it," I told him honestly, whilst he just smiled at me.

"It comes with a story, would you like to hear it?" He asked and I nodded, curious to know the story behind the pendant.

He also kind of me of someone. One of my old neighbours from when I was little. He was an old grump for everyone else, except me. I always thought he was the sweetest.

"A very, very, long time ago, there was a boy, who was very much in love with a girl. He was so sure that she was destined for him. Every time she would smile, laugh or even just look at him, his heart would soar. He knew that she was the girl for him, that she was his true love. As they got older, he became more and more convinced that she was his. He loved her like no other could and would wait for hours just to get one look at her, one which would make his day," the elderly man began to tell me his story.

"However, one day, he found out that her parents had arranged for her to be married to someone else. In those times, you couldn't object to your parents and being in love was considered shameful, especially if they weren't of the same class. The girl was a lot richer than the boy and he didn't have much to give her, except his own heart. He always thought that Cupid's arrow had hit them and that they would always be together, but then seeing her get married to someone else, it broke his heart in an indescribable way."

"This pendant was then made by him, from his tears, his pain, his sorrow and most importantly, his love. He vowed to never love another, not wanting to feel that same way again."

When he said those words, a frown came over my face. I had hung onto his every word, but hearing that part was awful.

"That's so sad," I commented, glancing at the pendant momentarily.

However, he looked at me with a smile, before taking the pendant in his hand and staring at it intently.

"The story isn't over, my dear," he said.

I looked him with eager eyes, like a child waiting to hear the next part of their bedtime story. I just needed to next the part.

"Years later, the boy carried around the pendant with him, as a reminder of the love that he had and the love that he lost. Twenty years go by and then one day, he goes back to his old town, only to hear that the girls' husband had passed away many years ago and she now lived alone in her old house. Hearing this, he raced to her home and stood at the doorway. When she opened the doors, she still looked like an angel, as she did when he last saw her."