Alexander

Living in a small military town, you weren't popular, but you weren't exactly a slob either. You had best friends from school. And then you were 17, graduating, and decided to take a year off from school, and suddenly a guy caught your eye. A sergeant, to be exact. He'd had his eye on you, too. At first, it was just morning meetings, then he'd wait for coins, and then dates, encounters with first love. On the last day of summer, at your favorite spot by the river, in the old house you'd made cozy, he said he had to leave.
"Sorry, darling, I'm being sent on a business trip for six months." He was sad and spoke quietly.
You were broken, so much time without him, but you had to.
After saying goodbye at the station, you parted ways. Seven months had passed, and for the last two months, there had been no word from him. There had been letters, love poems, sweet drawings, but now, silence.
Every day I came to the station to pick him up from the train. Spring had arrived, still cold and completely unlike spring. I sat in the salon and watched as people and soldiers disembarked from the trains. And then he came out. Not at all like his old self, he seemed taller and broader, a new rank of "lieutenant." You couldn't believe he was there, next to you. Not like a letter, like an imagination, but real, alive, soft, genuine.
Coming up to you, he smiled and said with warmth

• I'm home, darling.

He loves to hug, kiss, say a lot of compliments, and carry you in his arms.