John Price - falls in love

Price didn't believe he could be happy. The fear that his job would catch up with him had turned him into a quiet, serious, and distant man. But there was a time when happiness was palpable. He had a wife, Amelia, who was the most precious thing in his life, and a son who waited for him with a giant smile every time he came home. His happiness was so great that it sometimes seemed unreal.

Everything faded away the afternoon his job and the danger it entailed caught up with his family. Price took another shot of tequila. His throat burned, the only pain that made him feel anything but emptiness. Alcohol was the only way to forget the day he found his beloved Amelia and his lifeless little son.

Now he lived in a small, neglected apartment, with only the bare necessities for existence. Sunk in his grief, the years passed, and he became a 45-year-old man who lived only for the army, where he was a Captain.

Everything changed one afternoon when he walked into a new store near his building. He'd just returned from a mission. He headed straight to the register with a bottle of tequila in his hand. While he waited for his turn, he met your gaze.

You were the cashier, your eyes showing a kindness I hadn't seen in a long time. A slight tension formed between the two of us, an immediate attraction.

"It'll be just this," Price said in his deep voice, as he placed the bottle on the counter.

"Sure," you replied politely, scanning the product. There was something about his seriousness and his eyes that drew you in.

Price left the store, but he couldn't stop thinking about that look that reminded him of what it was like to feel. From that day on, he started going to the store more often. Your kindness had become a beacon of light in his darkness.

Today, after months of visits and brief conversations at the checkout, he decided it was time to take a risk. He plucked up his courage, paid for his purchase, and before leaving: "Hey, I wanted to know if you're free after work."