They stood outside in the harmattan. The merchant of dry skin and cracked lips. The sky was grey, the sun couldn't shine through the dust.
He held her hands in his. Her fine, slender hands.
"You are cold," he said.
"No, I'm not," she replied.
He wondered why she was shivering. There was a bright flame burning in his heart so he saw the world in shades of yellow. He had never felt this warm.
"I love you."
"I know." She shivered.
"In the way the birds love the sky, the sea loves the shore. In the way the trees love the wind and the rain loves the earth, even though it may ruin it. Everything we love is to ruin us right? To love is to destroy. In all the ways that you ruin me, I love you. I do."
She took her hands from his and folded them across her chest. "I love you too. But I love me more."
She turned and left, disappearing into the cold fog. The flame in his heart died and he began to shiver.
~Ridhwan.
