Silent Love - A Short Story 🥰

I am Adele, 24 years old and a black & white in color.

Present Day at Starbucks

I'm standing at the register waiting for my sandwich as every day.

And His name is Walter, an 18 years old, a colored
cashier. Walter hands over the sandwich to me, which turns to black and
white when I pick it up, and I ask the price of the sandwich.

$3 thanks, Walter said.

I hand over the coins, which change into colour as soon
as it leaves his hand. There you go.

Walter said, Thank you. Have a good day .

You too.

I walk to the door when another black and white
person, Hans, walks in. He holds the door open for
me as we smile at each other. Hans goes straight to
the newspapers. When he picks it up it turns to black and
white. He already has the coins out and hands them over to
Walter. Once again they change to colour as soon they leave
his hand.

You enjoy your day, Walter, Hans said.

Will do Hans, you enjoy yours as
well, Walter said.

Hans holds up his newspaper in the air.

Already am, Hans said to Walter.

Hans exits the Starbucks and walks down the footpath. He has a
bounce in his step and is looking quite happy. Eventually, he
sees his favorite park bench, but sees the girl from the
Starbucks, I'm already sitting on the bench. He goes to
sit down anyway.

We are at opposite ends of the bench. Hans is reading his
paper and I'm eating my sandwich. I look over and
recognises him from Starbucks. I want to say something
but I can’t muster up the courage. Hans notices me looking
and also cannot find anything to say. We instead just
smile at each other as we did before.

The Next Day

The next day Hans approaches the bench with a smirk on his
face. I sit down on the bench and pulls out a sandwich to
eat. He then approaches the bench and pulls out a
newspaper as I sit down. We share another smile, but
still cannot find the courage to say anything. Each time
Hans looks at me and I goes to look at him, he pretends
that he wasn’t looking at me and vice versa.

Hans has gone back to his newspaper and I have gone back
to my sandwich. As Hans is reading, he subtly slides over
a little. Once he has slid over his shoes turn to colour.
I see this and also slides over a little and my shoes
also change. Hans sees this and smiles. I also smile,
but then can’t keep eye contact and quickly looks forward
again.

This time we both start from where we finished the previous
day. We both slide over again. Now both of our legs are
in colour. Hans thinks one more slide is in order. I
obliges and slides over only leaving one persons width
between us. Now the only body part that is in black and
white is our head. Hans continues to read his newspaper as
I sit with a grin on my face.

Hans is approaching the bench looking determined to finally
talk to me. As he gets close to me he sees that
I'm back on the end of the bench in full black and
white. He is confused to see this, but as he gets closer he
sees a colored, old man, TOM, sitting in the middle of
the bench.
Hans sits down on the other side of the bench, which turns
him back to full black and white. Each time he tries to look
over at me, Tom thinks he is looking at him.

What are you looking at? Tom said
Hans goes back to reading his paper, embarrassed that Tom
has pointed him out.

Yeah that’s what I thought, coward.
I may be old, but I could still
beat you, Tom said.

I snickers and tries to cover up by putting my sandwich
back up to my mouth.

You laughing at me, girl? Tom asked.

I shake my head. Now Hans is trying not to laugh
underneath his newspaper. Tom reaches down and grabs some
bread to feed the birds.

Hans and I are back at each end of the bench like on the
first day. There is awkwardness now and neither look over to
the other. Hans is doing the puzzles in the newspaper and
I'm looking straight ahead whilst eating my sandwich.
Hans gets up to leave, he walks past me and drops a
post-it note near me. It turns yellow as soon as he drops
it. I pick up the paper and goes to say something, but
still cannot find the courage to speak. I am amazed that
it hasn’t turned back to black and white. I read what it
said and smiles. I stick it on my sandwich container and
I say ’Will you have dinner with me?’

One month later...

A newspaper is seen up close. As it is lowered it is
revealed to be both us Hans and me reading together in full
color. Hans has his arm around me and we both are smiling.

Hans kisses me.