There was a girl and a boy who loved each other for a decade. One day, the boy decided to leave, and so before he goes, both of them agreed to meet and brought some of the things and memories they have. They put all of it in a box and they called it Memories and decided to lock it and to never open it again, but they only have one key. The boy said to the girl that he does not want to keep the key to the box, and the girl said she also doesn't want to keep the key because she's afraid that maybe she cannot contain herself and open it again.
And so, they left the box under a tree. Locked it up and left the key, still attached to its padlock. The boy left, and the girl not wanting to leave all of the memories, chose to stay a little longer.
Days turns into weeks and weeks turned into months.
The girl finally left the box under the tree and both of them have forgotten the box.
The boy had a new girl, and the girl had a new boy. The girl still sometimes think about the boy, but she knows he is happy.
A year have passed, one day the boy came back to the village where he grew up. He met all of his old friends and acquaintances, and on his way home he stumbled upon the tree and saw that the box is still there with the key and padlock in it. It was full of dust.
He suddenly have an urge to open it and take a look inside.
As he was looking and unboxing everything that was on it, he started to feel sad and cried. He knew he made a mistake of leaving the girl. He realised that he had left his one great love for a freedom which he thought would make him very happy. He thought that leaving the girl, he can be as happy as he wanted to be without knowing that the true happiness lies where he left it.
He was searching for happiness and freedom without realising that he already found it. And now he thought it was too late. He does not have true friends. He lost his best friend. His life were unstable. He wanted his life back, he wanted the girl to go back so desperate that he wrote a letter to her, saying all his past regrets and sorry for all the pains he've cause when he left her on the time she needed him. Pouring his heart out to his letter, he didn't notice that a storm is coming.
The wind blew so strong and scattered the memories from the box. All the things which they have put in there. Old letters, pictures, movie tickets and so on. The boy tried to catch everything but the wind was so strong he wasn't able to catch all. He gathered what was remained and decided to close the box unlocked. He wished for something impossible. He wished that the girl might show up there, so that he can give his letter to her. He waited.
One day, two days.. one week but no girl came. So he decided to leave his letter on the top of the box and put a rock above it, he was hoping that maybe one day the girl would somehow visit the tree and see his letter for her.
But a storm came, and the letter was blown away by a strong wind and rain.
News reached to the girl about the storm coming in her village, so she went to visit her family and see if they were all okay. She stayed there for a week.
On the day she was leaving her village, she dropped by the Tree convincing herself "I would like just to have a look. I will not go near it, I just wanted to see if the box is still there."
She keeps on battling to herself if it is a right idea for her to visit the Tree or not, but in the end she went along. She looked at the tree from a distance. She didn't dare to get closer to it, for she feared that she might unlocked it. She saw the box, still sitting there, unmoved. A little tear outside, maybe because of the storm and the wind but it still stand there. She noticed from the distance that the lock is open. And the key was not there.
On her way home, she wondered if the boy took the key. She wondered if he had somehow unlocked the box. She wondered if the boy still thinks of her. If so, why he hadn't keep in touch. She wondered if he is really happy with his life now. She wondered why was the box unlocked. She wondered if all their memories were inside, if it still there or it is just an empty box sitting under the tree. She was full of questions but afraid of what might the answers.
But after a while, she moved on with her life and leave the thought behind. She thought it is not necessary whether the box is locked or not because it would not make any sense after all. She has to focus on the now. Memories are just a memory.
It has been a year and 8 months since they both left the box they called Memories.
On the 2nd year, There was a big wedding celebration in their old village and a lot of people were invited. It was a wedding of one of their close friends and the girl and the boy were both invited.
Both decided to come. Both wished that the others would come. Both wanted to see each other. Both missed each other.
And so the wedding day came, they saw each other but both was too shy to approach each other. Just a polite wave. The boy would just stare at the girl from afar. The girl would snatch some distant look.
And as the celebration was close to an end, friends from old village began gathering around, took photos as a memory and one of their old friends decided to take a photo of the two together.
They were all gathered in a small group drinking. As the night would soon come to an end, the boy needed to leave and suddenly wrapped his arms around the girl and whispered "i miss you" before he left. The girl was surprised she didn't know what to say. All this time and the only words that come out of her mouth was "take care." And that ended the night.
For the next couple of days, they stayed in the village, when one morning as the girl was taking a walk around town when he saw a familiar face under the tree. It's the boy. Seated on a rock it's as if he was waiting for her. She hesitated for a moment. Thinking maybe It was a wrong tree. Maybe she was just hallucinating. She tried to close her eyes and open it again after a few seconds, but the boy is still there. Waving at her, asking her to join him.
So there they were, under that same old tree, with the box of Memories they once gathered. They talked. They reminisce. They were both laughing and smiling as they delicately unboxing all the memories they packed together. They wondered how they are still comfortable as if not 2 years have passed by between the two of them. The same comfort. That same familiarity. It's as if they never left each other. They talked about their lives after that. They talked how they were. They talked about their old plans together. They talked about their jobs and how they were coping. They were happy, happiness they somehow forgot to remember. Happiness they never got to experience on their everyday life since that day they left the Tree. They longed for each other. It was clear. But they couldn't be together.
The meet up continued for three days. They talked, they did what they did before when they were a couple. They eat up on their favourite restaurant. They sang. They dance. They watched a movie, visit old friends, visit old places they once hang out. And they drink. The girl had the courage to ask the boy why he took the keys on the box. The boy told her about what happened on the day of the storm.
The girl was shocked. She couldn't believe what she just heard. She was speechless. The boy learned that he was a week too late.
The girl told the boy that she was also under that same tree, waiting for him. A week before the storm came. She told him she was having second thoughts on her boyfriend. That she knew she would take him back again only if he ask her. That she realised that it was him she still want to marry and that she couldn't love another man more that she loved him. But days passed, there was no sight of the boy and she thought there were no sense waiting on something in which there are no signs of coming back, a storm was coming on that day so she had no choice but to leave that Sunday afternoon.
The boy said that he heard of the coming storm and thought of the box of memories under the tree. He wanted to protect it. He wanted to keep it where it is safe. He went there on a Monday morning. But the box was too heavy to carry. So he decided to wait for her, maybe the girl would also care about the memories and will help him to carry it on a safe and dry place.
He told her that some of the memories were scattered by the wind as he could not get all of it. He also told her about the letter he wrote. And they both cried. The girl never had the chance to read the letter.
There were so many things they wanted to say to each other, but time seems to fly so fast,
Both of them needed to leave the village, but decided to keep in touch. The girl knew that the boy is still with his girlfriend. The girl didn't tell to the boy that she ended her relationship with her boyfriend. She didn't feel the need to tell him, and he also didn't ask.
So she left it like that. As they both leave, they both have the copy of their picture together at the night of the wedding day. They took it along with themselves because that was a new memory for them.
They both moved on with their normal life ahead, several miles away from that village, away from that tree, away from the box they called Memories but somehow there was a piece of them that stayed. Both were wondering about the box that was left unlocked. And the wind still brings back the scattered memories of them every now and then.
You see, the problem is, the boy left the box unlocked and the girl was left wondering if she would gather the memories together and keep it locked again in the box and throw the key where both of them will no longer can open it or if she would just leave it there, unlocked, until it gets weary and old. Unknown. Forgotten.
Would one of them choose to gather them all again?,pick up the pieces where they left and try to fix it again or would they just choose to leave it old and dusting under the tree and let the wind and the storm carry it to someplace they can no longer reach. Would they start to take a new box a name it "New memories"?, or would they just have their own box and fill it with nonsense with someone they never wish to be with in the first place but then have to? Because one of them is not sure of the other. And neither of them were asking if they would this time choose to stay or permanently leave.