Denouement - [Sinking]

Part 2 of,

what never happened and what never ended.

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    "I'm a different person. You don't know me anymore."

    "I'm a different person, myself. How could we stay the same after everything, though?"

I asked with a little laugh. The man sitting in front of me looked the same since the last time I saw him. Yet, he has tried to convince me that it's the other way around. 

I stare at the rain outside the coffee shop. It doesn't seem to be stopping anytime soon. Somehow, the weather fits this kind of conversation.

    "You looked the same."

He said. I didn't need to look at him to know that his gaze is fixed on me.

    "If I looked the same, why wouldn't you love me the same?"

    "I can't."

Maybe I'm just imagining it, but I think he sounds unsure with his answer.

    "I can."

Surprisingly, my voice sounds firm. As if I've prepared for this part. As if I've recited the answer over and over again.

    "You wouldn't after you know how much of a sinner I am."

    "Both of us have changed. I am not perfect, myself."

    "But still, how could you love the part of me that's already dead?"

I keep staring into the windows of the coffee shop. As if I'm trying to find the answer to that question in between the falling raindrops outside.

And when I finally answered, I looked deeply into his eyes.

    "Just like those people that love the story about a sinking ship."

He doesn't say anything. Maybe I'm not making myself clear. So I speak again after taking a sip of the coffee in front of me.

    "You're the love story, that I treasure behind the tragedy."

He then tries to lighten up the mood by joking. He laughed as he said.

    "They say there are plenty of fish in the sea, why would you wasting your time in a sinking ship, huh?"

I laughed too as I answered.

    "My dear, you're a million-dollar ship."