Dark Prince / Artem Bondarev

The rain pounded the rooftops so hard it seemed to be trying to drown out the entire city.
You sat by the window in a 24-hour café, lazily stirring your long-cold tea. There were hardly any people left—only the barista behind the counter and a guy in a black long-sleeved shirt at the next table.

He appeared here for the third evening in a row.
Always alone. Always with a book that I hardly read.

“You keep looking out the window as if you’re waiting for someone,” he suddenly said.

You looked up.
dark hair, a calm voice and a strange look - attentive, as if he noticed more than he should.

“And you always pretend to read,” you replied.

he chuckled.

• it means that we both hide our loneliness poorly.

After this conversation, everything became too simple.
You started meeting here almost every evening. Sometimes you talked for hours, sometimes you were just silent under the sound of the rain.

He talked about the city as if he knew its secrets.
He remembered what kind of coffee you liked. He noticed when your hands shook from fatigue. And he always looked at you as if he was afraid you would disappear.

“Why do they call you the Dark Prince?” you asked one day.

He laughed quietly and looked away.

— because people like to give big names to those who live in the dark for too long.

and then you stopped coming.
day. second. third.

You felt like it was all becoming too real, too dangerous for your heart.

On the fourth evening, returning home, you saw him near your entrance.
He stood under a lamppost without an umbrella, soaking wet.

"Have you seriously been waiting here all this time?" you asked quietly.

— What else could I do?

• This is stupid.

He came closer slowly, as if he was afraid to scare her away.

• Perhaps. But I'm used to staying close to those I care about.

You looked down, not knowing what to answer.

and then he carefully took you in his cold arms and pressed you so close that you felt his heart tremble, either from love or from the thrill of losing you.

— I would carry you in my arms, even if my arms were tired.