Cursed

Once upon a time there was a young man named Aiden, who lived in a forest training as a lumberjack. Every day he would chop down a tree for his training, and every day he'd walk back to his cabin afterwards. The walk back to his cabin got longer and longer each day, since each day he walked along that same path of chopped down trees to get to the next tree. One day, a young lady named Nocti stumbled upon Aiden as he was finishing up for the day and decided she'd walk back to his cabin with him. They talked about nothing in particular and they both appreciated the company that they didn't know they even needed until then. It went like that for a few days until they each realized they had fallen in love with each other. One day Aiden asked Nocti if she wanted to stay with him as a couple, there in the forest with him. Even though Nocti wanted to love Aiden, she was cursed at a younger age when she had tried to love another. When she kissed what she thought was her first love, a curse was put upon her by that same person such that any lover she would ever try to have would end in tragedy. And in a cruel irony the only way to break the curse was by true love's first kiss. So Nocti had to refuse out of fear of her curse and not wanted to bring harm to Aiden, but Aiden was resilient and continued to show Nocti just how deep his love ran day by day. Eventually Nocti could not deny it any longer, she did love Aiden, but just as she thought she had made up her mind about accepting his offer to marry him, she remembered her curse and decided to flee and never return to Aiden in order to protect him from tragedy. Aiden was confused as to why Nocti no longer accompanied him on his walks back to his cabin. After a couple of weeks of her not showing her face, he fell into a deep depression and gave up all hope of her ever coming back. When she was with him, Aiden hadn't even realized how long his tree stump path had gotten, but now it seemed like he would never make it back to his cabin every day when he would walk back. But one fateful day, Nocti returned to Aiden, and Aiden broke out in tears. Nocti explained that she had to protect him from the curse, she intended never to come back, but she missed him too much. She explained that she had tried to love yet another person during their time apart, but that too ended up in misery for Nocti. Nonetheless, Aiden still loved Nocti, and Nocti him. Aiden asked one more time if she wanted to marry him, and Nocti, tired of all the nonsense brought upon by that stupid curse said yes, and they kissed right there on the spot. But there was no seal being broken, no curse magically being lifted. The only thing Nocti felt is the sparks of when something is meant to be. In fact there was no curse at all, the truth was, Nocti was just afraid, afraid that all her lovers would turn out like her first, and so she fled at the first sign of feelings being developed so as not to get hurt herself, but that was no more. She had her true love, and together they headed back to Aiden's cabin, and they lived happily ever after.