Patience

He was walking away from her -- backstepping but still looking in her eyes -- when she asked him gently, 'Would you never come back?'

He smiled, pursing his lips, but didn't say a word.

She asked again, this time her voice shrill and eyes flooded with tears,

'Don't move away. Stop where you are or I will come running after you. Answer me!'

He stopped dead in his tracks and started looking at his hands. Now he said in a softer tone,

 'I am going. I don't know if I would be granted another chance to be here again.'

She now came closer, held his face in her hands and said with all the love that God had treasured in her heart,

 'My Love, I know you will be back.'

 She cleared her throat and continued, 'Your eyes bespeak my love. When I have loved you like no one ever will, and I have given you all that I had, then how is it possible that heavens would part us? I will stay right here to the end of my days. If this is decreed, I will take it as a pride to be your possession till the very last. My patience will come to fruition, you will see!'

She kissed him on his cheek and stepped back.

He stood still and could only feel a tear from his eye trickle down his cheek.