Through My Window

Original Edition: 63. The Farewell (Final Chapter)

63

THE FAREWELL

The day has come...

The day he has to leave, that he will go from being a few meters away from me as my neighbor to being hundreds of miles away. Silence reigns between us, not uncomfortable, but painful, because we both know what we are thinking: the inevitable reality. The sky is beautiful, the stars shining in their maximum splendor, perhaps it is an attempt to illuminate this heartbreaking sadness.

There is a certain inexplicable pain in the inevitable, it is much easier to walk away from someone when they have broken your heart, when they have hurt you, but it feels impossible to do so when there is nothing wrong between you, when the love is still there, alive, beating like the heart of a newborn, full of life, exhaling future and happiness.

My eyes fall on him, my Ares.

My Greek god.

There he is, with his hair tousled and his eyes red from the long night and yet he looks beautiful.

My chest tightens, shortening my breath.

It hurts...

"Ares..."

He doesn't look at me.

"Ares, you have to..."

He shakes his head.

"No."

Oh, my unstable boy.

I struggle with tears filling my eyes, my lips shake. My love for him consumes me, suffocates me, gives me life and takes it away. His flight leaves in half an hour, he has to enter the area where he waits to board the plane, where I can't enter. We are in the waiting area of the airport, where we can see the sky through the transparent glass of the place.

His hand brushes mine gently before he takes it firmly, he still doesn't look at me, those blue eyes focused on the sky. Instead, I can't stop looking at him, I want to remember every detail of him when he's gone, I want to remember what it feels like to be by his side, to feel his warmth, his smell, his love. Maybe I sound intense, but the love of my life is about to get on a plane and be separated from me for who knows how long, so I have the right to be cheesy.

"Ares?" Apolo's voice sounds behind us, it has that same sense of urgency and sadness that my voice had when I reminded him it was time to go.

Ares takes his eyes off the sky and lowers his head.

When he turns to face me, I strain to smile through the tears forming in my eyes, but I fall short on a sad smile. He licks his lips, but says nothing, his eyes reddened, and I know he can't speak, I know the moment he speaks he will cry, and he wants to be strong for me, I know him so well.

He squeezes my hand tightly and tears escape my eyes.

"I know."

He wipes away my tears, holding my face as if it will disappear at any moment.

"Don't cry."

I laugh falsely.

"Ask me something a little easier."

He gives me a short kiss but filled with so much emotion that I cry silently, the saltiness of my tears blending in our kiss.

"Don't give up on me, chase me, but don't forget me, please."

I smile against his lips.

"As if I could forget you."

"Promise me that this is not the end, that we will try until we can't anymore, until all resources and means are exhausted, until we can say we have tried everything and still try a little further."