Second Chapter LoveLove: Chocolate
Chocolates like me seem to have some connection to love and relationships. And like dark chocolates, love can also be bitter. I learned this sad truth through the one and only experience in my life.
This experience started when I was bought by a guy in his late twenties. One late night when there was a full moon and he was walking with his girlfriend in the local park..
“Will you marry me?” he said as he got down on one knee in front of her.
Tears welled up in her eyes as she replied with a simple “Yes”.
“We will get married in a month’s time. My gift to you, for now, is this box of chocolate.” He took me out and held me in his hands for her to see. “There are exactly twenty-eight pieces in it. I want you to eat one piece a day. Every day, you will have a little piece of my love and be one day closer to our wedding day. Can you do that for me, my love?”
She nodded her head and hugged him as tight as she could. Both of them were crying and smiling at the same time. I felt a warm feeling in me at that moment. I think it was happiness.
The next two weeks were the happiest two weeks of their lives. They went out together every day just for the company of each other, if for nothing else. Every night, she would come home, open the fridge and eat a piece of me. By the end of the two weeks, only half of me remained. I was happy to sacrifice myself for the love of these two humans. Their individual lives had entwined and it was becoming a living fairytale.
But you see, the problem was that fairytales don’t exist. Exactly two weeks before their wedding, he crashed his Mitsubishi into a streetlight. He was critically injured and the accident rendered him comatose. His family was understandably very distraught and paid for the best doctors to cure him.
All the doctors said the same things. At most, he had a month left and he might never even wake up before that time came. His only hope was through prayer and support from family and friends and a miracle might happen.
However, the strangest thing was that she, his fiancee, didn’t seem the least bit upset. She did visit him daily for the whole of the following week but for never more than 5 minutes. She also stopped eating a piece of me every day. I was pushed further back day by day as she put more things into the fridge.
The visits to the hospital became less frequent. She was living her life as though she never met him and went out shopping with her girlfriends. On the day of the supposed wedding, she went to visit him - because her supposed mother-in-law had begged her to.
During the 5 minutes that she was there, a miracle did happen. He woke up from his deep sleep. He smiled when he saw his family and friends standing around him, some were crying and some were just too stunned. She stood among them emotionless. Nevertheless, she was the first person he talked to.
“Hello, dear. How long have I been asleep?” he tried to joke.
“Two weeks.” A short and direct reply.
Realisation dawned on him. “That makes today our wedding day! We should get married right now in the hospital!” He rambled on, “Mom, Dad, could you please get our pastor here to marry us? I’m very excited to..”
She interrupted him. “I didn’t finish it.”
“Pardon?”
All eyes in the room were on her now. She continued, “I didn’t finish the chocolate you gave me. I think we’re not right for each other. We should start seeing other people.”
He didn’t reply. He couldn’t reply.
“It’s over.” And she walked out of the hospital room and out of his life.
He died in the hospital that night, when the moon was full. It was strange because the doctors had expected a full recovery when he awoke from his coma. She didn’t attend his funeral the next day.
As for me, I will continue living as long as the fridge is supplied with electricity. I don’t think she will ever notice me hidden behind the butter compartment. Sometimes when I feel down, I think of it as a blessing in disguise. Most of my chocolate mates no longer exist, while I remain in this world, without my other half.
Human love does not last forever, it has an expiry date just like the one I have.
Written by Adrien