a journey 4

London. Monday, 3 March 2008. 10:35

"From Zurich?"

"Yes, from Zurich," the postman nodded, thrusting the mail bag towards me again.

I took it from him.

"I need you to sign here…and here. That's right, thank you very much and have a nice day," he said before taking his leave.

I turned the mail bag over and saw the name of the sender. And smiled. It was an old acquaintance from my summer spent in Zurich as an exchange student. Was it 3 or 4 years ago?

We had briefly flirted then, but it was never serious, at least on my part. Because there was someone whom I loved a lot here, even though we had broken up. I guess it was the same on his part, because I wouldn't be staying; I would leave with the arrival of Autumn. Anyhow, it was more a case of two lonely people seeking solace in each other's company.

Isn't that always the case? People need people, so they come together.

I opened it. Inside, was a card, and something wrapped carefully in white paper. I opened the card, and a small piece of paper fell out. My eyes briefly followed its descent, before returning to the card, reading it.

"Dear Corrine, how are you? I am doing well. Of course it would always be better if you could come back here. But do take care. Regards, Frank. P.S. here's something for you. I think you missed it a lot, and will be glad to see it again."

I bent down to pick up the piece of paper which had fallen out.

"I lost my heart here."

My own handwriting. How could I not recognize it?

I remembered that evening. We had gone out in a group, and had a lot of fun. But my day was pretty much ruined after I discovered that I had lost something very precious to me. What was worse, I didn't know how it could have fallen out of my phone pouch. I searched the places I had been to, to no avail. On the tram back, he noticed my depression and asked what was wrong. Not really wanting to talk, I had taken out my notebook, wrote on it, tore off the page and handed it to him.

I lost my heart in Zurich, a long time ago.

I turned the paper over.

"I am returning it to you."

I took the remaining content of the mail bag in my hand, removing the white paper carefully.

It was a coin. But instead of any picture of any famous landmarks, or any face of any famous person on the coin, there were only three letters. SLC. I didn't need to turn it over to know what was on the reverse side. fae.

Sebastian loves Corrine. forever and ever.