Broken pieces of the past

Alden stared straight at the person before him. He wanted to puff his chest out, keep his head high, and stand his ground. He didn't want to curl up and hide behind a shell, the shell that he had built up in all those moments he spent in his room.

That was what he wanted but, Unfortunately, things were never that simple. Alden could feel his heartbeat quicken and his legs grow weak. All he could do was lower his head and not meet the face of the woman who had once been the love of his life. He felt himself grow smaller and smaller, and he felt a weight as heavy as the entire world settling on his shoulders, causing his shoulders to droop.

"Alden? What are you doing here?" His ex asked. Next to her stood a tall handsome-looking man. He had blonde hair that was gelled up and he wore an arrogant smile on his face. Alden knew who that dude was, it was the king that had taken his throne.

"Oh, this loser. I'm surprised he even left his house. I heard he hadn't left his room ever since that time, what a joke," The man said with a haughty laugh, his eyes were full of detest and disgust as he stared at Alden, and it was as if he had landed his gaze upon some very unsightly scene.

Alden stayed silent and kept his gaze lowered. All of the strength and bravado he had when facing the shadow wolves were gone and instead of appearing like a badass ranger that could slay dungeon monsters with his fists, he just looked like an introverted coward, a coward afraid of facing the world, afraid of facing reality.

"Alden..." The girl murmured, her hand coming to cover her mouth. At that moment, Alden still looked like a very depressed and sickly individual. His arms were as thin as twigs, his hair was long and untidy, and his beard untrimmed and untidy. Furthermore, his body language made him seem even more fragile and ill. It was clear that he had suffered from much trauma, probably from being locked up in his room for so long, with only his poisonous thoughts as a companion.

Alden felt a cacophonic wave of emotions hit him like a tsunami. He could feel so many emotions building up and creeping up to every inch of his body, all of these weighed down on his shoulders and made him feel weak and burdened. Some very prominent emotions were the ones of betrayal, anger, and confusion.

The girl before him was named Precious. Both of them had been through countless impediments and vicissitudes. Their love was not one of mere affection or infatuation, it was not a love of a "destined soulmate". They never just met and got along and they were not the perfect couple, but that was exactly the reason why their love was the perfect love. Because it was a love that had been built from the bottom up, it was a seed they had planted and waited patiently, watering and caring for it so that it would grow and sprout into a tree that would finally produce the sweetest of fruits, the fruit of love.

These sorts of lovers were difficult to separate for the countless wars and battles they had gone through together had acted as the needle that stitched them together so that they were inseparable so that they were one, one piece of beautiful clothing. They say the most beautiful thing, had the ugliest past, and Alden and Sofia could attest to that.

Both of them were broken when they met each other, Sofia had an abusive parent and came from a very toxic environment while Alden was a man who had suffered countless traumatic experiences in the school environment. They were broken when they found each other but they were patient, they were patient as they treated and stitched each other's bleeding wounds, they were patient as they bandaged each other's broken parts and they were patient as they waited for the other to heal. Their patience paid off.

This was why their separation had been a poisonous dagger stabbed deep into Alden's heart. It had been not a knife in his back, but a bullet in his head. Why? because while one can recover from a knife in their back, Alden however, was not sure he could recover from that massive betrayal.

He could not recover because his eyes remained blind to seeing how something as simple as a video could tear away the one who had once been a part of him. It was as if he had lost a limb. When they were together, they'd find solace and comfort in one another and she had been the pillar that held Alden high.

But, not only had she abandoned him and allowed him to crash far down below but she decided to pair up with the man who had been one of the greatest forces behind Alden's downfall. The man before him was responsible for leaking the video and even though he had once been Alden's close friend, he had betrayed him in such a way.

Alden was not only abandoned but also betrayed.

Alden gathered the few more pieces of his fragile self that had fallen and left that place immediately, but he had forgotten a single shard, a single piece.

A broken piece he had not yet mended.