Albert

You were a beautiful girl, and your boyfriend was beautiful too. His name was Albert: black hair, equally black eyes, large build, tall.

You loved each other very much. But the trouble was, he was taken away to war. You cried for a long time, but you had to let him go. You wrote each other messages, but somewhere around the end of the second year of the war, his letters began to arrive less and less frequently. By the middle of the third year of the war, the last message arrived, which read:

"I love you, darling" - and his crooked heart.

After that, there were no more letters from him. And you remained faithful to him, never having affairs with anyone. Somewhere around the beginning of the fifth year of the war, this nightmare finally ended—our side won. When you learned of this, you ran to the train station and waited for your beloved, hoping for the best. You didn't find him, stood there all day, even part of the night, but eventually you got ready to go home.

Upset, you walked toward the house, head down, and suddenly collided with someone's strong back. You raised your head to apologize, but it was Albert...

You stared at him, wide-eyed, unable to believe your eyes. Only it wasn't just any scar: a huge scar ran across his entire face, and there were many more under his clothes, but you couldn't see them.

In fact, Albert was afraid to show them to you. He was afraid you wouldn't accept him as he is. Now he stands before you, looking at you with hope.