The scenery was quiet and a cool breeze wisped across his face. Scents of floral roses fled the room as Royston Smith faded back to several years past.

He was a keen and sleek man with charisma. His hair was a faded quiff tinted with a serene dark shade. His face was as attractive as it could get, his eyes were windows of endless conversations and passion, obscured by a pair of aviator sunglasses. He was what every teen looked up to: slabs of muscles extravagantly protruding under a leather jacket as dark as obsidian, with warm cologne overlaying his pale white crew neck-shirt. He walked across the diner as his dark shoes clattered against the checkerboard tiles and his denim trousers reflected on the vintage walls.

Royston jumped in a seat exuberant as he settled and sipped a glass of bubbly fizz. He nonchalantly enjoyed his young blood until a divine glimpse caught his eyes. Luscious strands of amber hair swiveled across the room in rhythm with the retro music. He took another glimpse and was taken aback. Her hair was heaps of gold and it glimmered brighter than the skies. Her eyes were shadows of mystery, darker than midnight melanite over her rosy cheeks of warmth. 

With a bright face, Rosyton approached the lady in the violet blouse. 

“Hey! Do you mind getting a meal with me?” He exclaimed as she turned to him. That moment their eyes met, locking perfectly as if they were meant to be. 

         She responded, “Hey! Nice to meet you, I’m Rosa Giubelo, I’d really love to hang out with you!”

They both shared a passionate platter of delicacies as each day, the universe always found a way for them to meet.

An evening together at the park or on an early dawn leisure walk. They would always meet and spend sweet honeymoon-like days together. He always enjoyed and looked forward to meeting Rosa every day. He used the most charming accessories and styled his wardrobe to what Rosa liked. The same can also be said otherwise. Rosa would try a different hairstyle every day to see the one that Royston liked but no matter if it was braided, tied in a ponytail or free-flowing he would love her every way she looked.

“No matter what happens, I’d love you and I’d die for you,” he said, declaring his oath of love to the universe that intertwined their destinies together up to that very moment. 

“Me too sweetie, me too,” she simply responded.

            But not all good things could end joyfully.

The horizon turned dark as gray clouds soared above their turquoise-tinted bugatti lowrider. A thunderous roar emerged as roots of voltage traveled up the skies. Abruptly, the clouds shed tears of endless downpour as the roads became drenched and hazardously slippery and then — a massive eruption of lightning rammed through the couple as an injured Royston climbed over the depressing carcasses of failed love. He took a broken ring out of his pockets as he combed Rosa’s hair one last time, enveloping her in a warm hug scented with Rosa’s flowery perfume.

When Royston awoke from the slumber with a dying Rosa, she was suddenly gone. A closed-casket funeral was held but why? How? He just couldn’t wrap his mind that Rosa, the angel he’d loved the most, was gone. He went on a massive search believing in rumors and hearsays of madness stating that Rosa actually faked her death.

Time passed and nothing was ever the same. He lost everything for her, his personality, his charm, his muscles and attractiveness all disappeared but he didn’t care about them. He lost the most important treasure in life — ‘love’. 

Royston pulled out the cracked ring with strands of amber hair perfumed by the lingering scent of fresh roses as a memorial of a love that the universe denied. A loud bang snapped him back to the present and he realized,

“Love is the strongest yet most twisted cursed bliss.”

Image credit: Tithi Luadthong on shutterstock.com