He was used to talking on his own. Since Silvanna was only a listener most of the time, many internal mono-dialogues would take place inside the hospital room. While he was reading a book, he learned a new life and the story of people, and when he was talking, he also learned the art of delivering a speech. Even for Silvanna; to be able to tell stories with a more effective and more fluent voice, had read a lot of books about the art of oratory, watched videos, and practiced for many hours.
''Now that I think about it, Silvanna is the miracle of my life.''
" How could I remember that poem at that moment, I wonder? I can bet all my money that I won't be able to repeat what I've been saying all my life. In the eternity of the cycle, I felt as if I was in the concept of a momentary mood, where even the concepts of peace, the trust had lost their meaning. ''
Aldrich was very excited. He was getting married today. He was talking without even knowing what he was saying, throwing the words into the air but this kind of situation --talking to oneself or talking nonsense-- was not a very alien activity for him.
"What a concept is this, love. İt makes you crazy, makes you a wise, makes you a monarch, makes you a prisoner or slave..."
When Aldrich remembered the physical condition of Silvanna that he had seen yesterday, his eyes began to blush. He waved trembling hands and legs around his body.
Aldrich combed his back, straight and black hair one last time to make sure he looked better. He rubbed his cheeks quickly with his hands, and a little blush came over his face. After Aldrich had roughly smoothed out the wrinkled places of his white shirt with his hands and examined the ring he was holding tightly in his hand again and again as if he were seeing it for the first time, he took a deep breath.
He didn't know if he would be able to breathe soon.
"Come on, lion.''
"It's the time.''
''It's your time to shine!''
The names of the two love birds were written artistically on the inner parts of the ring, which had a ring shape. The white ring had Aldrich's name on it, and the ring that was Blue had Silvanna's name on it. On the two rings, on this dark and cloudy day, it was the candles that would light up the faces of the two love birds.
Blue and White.
The ocean and the sky.
They are separated from each other, but they are always together.
They'll never get back together.
They cannot meet, and love happens.
The two fall in love.
The ocean and the sky.
He stood in front of the door of the room located at the very end of the corridor on the second floor of the hospital, a few steps away from meeting Silvanna. If he took any more steps, his rapidly beating heart would kill him. Everything he had been going through with Silvanna during the time he had stepped in was slowly playing on his mind.
His heart was beating louder and faster every time he took a step.
In a foreign country, where they went as tourists, they boarded hot air balloons. At the time when the sunset began to watch the whole Earth, they sang that they loved each other like birds in the sky. The sweet memories of the lovebirds were witnessed only by the wind, which gently raised the feathers on the lovebirds' heads into the air. As the wind stroked Silvanna's hair, she had a very beautiful smile.
Unlike today, they helped a pregnant woman give birth on a day when daylight illuminated the whole world. There was a lot of traffic on the road and it was unlikely that an ambulance would arrive. While people around were shouting for a knowledgeable person or a doctor, Silvanna had bravely stepped forward. Her beautiful face filled with panic and fear came to his mind. When everything ended well, when a new life cried out tearing her lungs out, Silvanna's smile lit up her whole soul. At that time, he was wondering how beautiful Silvanna was, even with bloody hands.
They tried tango once. Aldrich would have given an average grade from tango for himself, but Silvanna... She was the worst but sexy dancer he had ever seen. If she didn't have the body to bite like a ripe red apple, there would be nothing attractive about her dance. The funny thing is, when everyone applauded her, she thought he was praising her dancing skills...
Of course...
Sometimes Aldrich felt that he was being overprotective. While Silvanna was dancing, it was normal for her to think so, since there were no other men around but Aldrich. There were men, but Aldrich may have intervened a little. It might look a little scary. The ladies around were just jealous of Silvanna's beautiful figure and when Aldrich said the ladies were jealous it was their applause to say 'I'm not jealous'. In fact, people are always positive towards jealousy. Appreciating is mehhhh... Let's get jealous first, then appreciate.
They once wrote poems to each other while sitting in a cafe. It was a momentary impulse. They had pens and white pages to get dirty with. There were hot coffees with smoke visible in front of them and snowflakes falling outside, visible from the window.
One day after leaving work, they were very tired. The bus was very close to arriving. They had a running contest with each other... Aldrich was 'defeated' because he was always behind Silvanna. No one could blame him. Silvanna was very talented. Every time he tried to pass her, his attention was very well distributed. It would be relative who won.
Remembrances.
Memories that resonate with every step he takes...
Silvanna's bright smile, Silvanna's eyes that don't see anymore, Silvanna's brave but charming air, Silvanna's body with bones and skin left, Silvanna's voice that is like a free bird, Silvanna's crying as she lies on her hospital bed...
" I don't want a souvenir.''
Lup dup. (The sound heard between s1 systole and diastole.)
Lup dup . (Heart rate sound effect)
Lup dup. (The sound heard between s2 diastole and systole.)
Lup dup . (Heart rate sound effect)
Aldrich's father was engaged in olive growing. At that time there was poverty in the village. In his poor days, after doing all the work that needed to be done, he would be busy reading a lot of books and walking around thinking.
One of the days, the weather was cloudy just like today. Dark clouds had covered the entire sky and brought smiles to the farmers' faces. According to the joy of the farmers, it rained that day as if it had been emptied from a glass. The raindrops had integrated with the brown soil, revealing a smell peculiar to rainy days and showing the praise of nature.
His father, who was sitting under an olive tree, gave him the ugliest and most rotten olive he had ever picked up from the ground and said this. He didn't know why his father was saying these words to him that day because he was small, but a few days after that, his mother had passed away.
'' My Son. Aldrich. Do you know the name of the olive tree? ''
''No pa. '' The somewhat childlike voice replied.
''I thought so, too. The name of this olive tree is patience. Patience is Bitter, but its fruit is Sweet. After the bitter olives are eaten, only the sweet ones remain. If you want to eat a sweet olive in life, you will eat all the bitter olives. But the bitterness of patience will always continue to give you bitter olives. And you'll keep eating the olives. ''
"Dad, don't I have the right to choose olives? I don't like olives, whether bitter or sweet.''
"Hahaha let's say your only source of food is these olives. The only source of food you rely on to survive is this olive tree. ''
" How will you know how bitter or how sweet the olive is without putting the olive on your tongue? These olives are just for you. These olives are yours. You should taste it. You can't choose what to eat. Because there are only olives. ''
" Son, you don't know if the olive you picked up is bitter or sweet, but you can see by looking at its appearance if it is rotting. You know which ones are rotten. For this, you need to see it. Looking and seeing are not the same thing. ''
"Let's say you forgot to eat one bitter olive or you didn't want to taste that bitter olive. You didn't want to taste that olive because you admire sweet things too much. Many years have passed, and that olive has rotted. And if you have to eat bitter olives again, you can smile. Your face won't wrinkle. Those who have encountered many problems in life and successfully got out of them, also overcome the difficulties that they will face later and succeed, the difficulties will not harm them. ''
Aldrich's father stood up, pushing away the land that had gathered on him. "Come on, let's go home. My sunflower has boiled the potatoes by now.''
" Is mom going to boil potatoes? Dad, I like to eat hot potatoes on a day like this!''
''You love rainy days, don't you?''
Aldrich shook his small head, adorned with his short black hair.
" See? ''
"Did I see what, dad?''
"Hahaha, you will know.''
"Dad? Come on, answer me~ " Aldrich said impatiently as he pulled the corner of his father's clothing.
Aldrich's father had not answered him. He couldn't understand what he was seeing with his small form. He had been forgotten in the ocean of his memories, for it was a time of little remembrance. Now it was like an event similar to when a lightning bolt illuminated the darkness...
"Now that I think about it, when I saw Silvanna I felt that maybe I could eat the whole olive tree down to its roots. ''
Today, on their happiest day, it was just him and Silvanna. There were neither bitter olives nor sweet olives.
Strange phenomena that appear in the news, humanity that has begun to mutate, unidentified diseases that have arisen, as in Silvanna, wars caused by extreme famine, and any problems that belong to society...
There was none.
They would not be on their happiest days. They weren't invited to the wedding.
The whole world was more insignificant than the love of two ants. At least, that was the case in the eyes of the ants. It was a small story of a relationship dec place between millions of ants. The most important thing for Aldrich was the female ant in this story. It is a small but weak ant with antennae, which is desperate and full of hope...
"I saw it, dad. I see." Aldrich murmured, wiping the tears that had formed in his eyes. Today, he had prepared to give Silvanna the biggest hug he could. He would surround Silvanna's being with his whole being. He was going to give Silvanna the greatest gift he could give her.
A tangible gift.
He should have been happy for Silvanna. He should have been happy for himself. He should have smiled all the time. Tears should have been shed from happiness.
Today would have been their happiest day.
From behind Aldrich, a voice familiar to him but familiar to everyone, belonging to the charm of the nine-tailed foxes in the eastern novels, was heard. The voice had a strange echo and an intriguing tone.
"Aldrich.''
Aldrich stopped his steps. Darkness was faintly suffocating the hospital corridor. On this dark day, the white light illuminating the corridor from the ceiling of the hospital allowed two people standing a few steps away from the last room of the corridor to see each other.
''L-Witch.''
The alluring voice and the body odor, which belonged to the scent of a fresh flower tickling his nose, invaded Aldrich's sense organs. Turning his head away, he looked at the woman who was calling to him.
She was a beauty that would fascinate those who saw her. She had a perfectly matched brunette complexion, black hair, earth-colored eyes. Her large, slanting eyes were adorned with a strange charm. The strands of hair around her ear had been pinched behind her ear. Her wish lantern-like earring, which sparkled on a cloudy day, emphasized her exotic mood and her neck, which was delicate as a swan. Her black hair hung symmetrically from the side of her head to either side, and she lifted her bangs, which fell in front of his forehead, into the air with a breath of anger. When she heard that she was called an L-witch, she involuntarily twitched her lip, which was like the most beautiful and red rose in the rose garden.
"It is not very witchcraft to wait in the shadows~ You've been watching a lot of TV shows lately. What brings you, the little witch, into these hospital corridors? Are you here to attend our wedding? Or ? ''
"You are talking nonsense. You know why I came here! You and Silvanna getting married." There was a fit of slight jealousy and mostly anger in Elfida's voice. She looked so cute as she pulled her little nose furiously.
Aldrich looked into the girl's Phoenix-like eyes. Her beautiful eyes resembled Silvanna's. Her arrogant air and cold gaze, reminiscent of a high and noble person, were similar to Silvanna's face before she fell ill.
But she wasn't Silvanna.
She was Elfida.
"Are you sure about getting married?''
"Silvanna and I are determined to marry.''
''Of course, if God allows it.''
"Aldrich..." Elfida's tone contained a slight pleading.
"Will you marry a seriously ill woman?"
She was Silvanna's sister.
But she couldn't hate this witch because of her Phoenix-like eyes. She didn't hate him because she had beautiful eyes, even if she said bad words or insulted him.
Her eyes were pure.
The eyes are the mirror of the soul.
Aldrich looked at the time clock on his arm. The seconds kept moving slowly or fast. Even the broken clock was telling the truth twice a day.
Today it was all about happiness.