Short Story: Unrequited Love

Byron knew that he was destined for literary greatness. Named Brian at birth, he had changed his name to remind the world of his destiny.

“They will come around,” he told John, his literary advisor. John owned the bookshop around the corner, where Byron spent most of his afternoons. So far, nobody had bought even a single copy of the collection of Byron’s finest poems. Byron was a little disheartened – the low intelligence of the current generation of readers was delaying his fame and riches.

“I don’t know what else I can do,” Byron continued. “Look at all the publicity I have invested in, all the literary events I have attended. They will come around, John, they have to!”

“Poetry collections are hard to sell,” said John. He knew the suffering. As the selector, he had read the poems in the collection and did not blame the readers.

“And yet, your shop’s window regularly displays poetry books as bestsellers!” Byron countered.

“Those are love poems,” John said dismissively. “It is a craze in youngsters now a days – they memorize these poems and share them with each other.”

“Hmmm! I have written love poems, too,” said Byron, brooding over the possibilities,

“Oh, yes,” John smiled. “I have read few of them. They are not bad, not bad at all.”

Byron flushed at the praise.

“However, your poems are about the power of love, while those bestsellers are about broken hearts. One can’t write true love poem without a broken heart, an unrequited love.”

On his way back home, Byron kept thinking about unrequited love. Indeed, that was the missing ingredient. Why had he not thought about this earlier?

All he had to do now was to find a girl who, due to unfortunate circumstance, would not return his love.

Byron was well aware of his boyish charms. Ever since he could recall, girls had vied for his attention – but he had stayed away to focus on his poetry. It would be hard finding a girl who would not return his love.

After some intense thinking, Byron came up with an idea.

“I need to fall in love with girl whose parents are rich! They will oppose our union, and she won’t go against her parents wishes.”

Byron felt happy with himself. The only thing that remained now was finding a rich girl.

He recalled meeting Nona, the daughter of a rich local businessman, at a poetry event a few months back. Nona was an aspiring poet herself, and they had spent an evening sharing their thoughts on modern poetry.

Without further delay, Byron got back in touch with Nona. After a few “chance” encounters at an event or the other, they started meeting regularly. Soon, he was ready for his heartbreak.

“I like you very much,” Byron told Nona. “But, alas, I know you won’t be able to accept my love.”

Nona did not say anything. She smiled at him, blushed, and looked away.

Byron was not sure how to react. To speed things up, he stopped meeting Nona. He knew about the quirks of rich people, and was sure that Nona will lose interest in a few days and move on.

He kept waiting for Nona’s rejection, but instead started receiving letters from her mentioning how much she missed him. The flowery language of these letters nauseated him.

Then one day, Nona came to Byron’s place. She looked rather serious.

“I want to tell you something,” she said. “Its urgent.”

Byron was relieved. Finally, he thought, and waited for the rejection.

Nona told him that she had been smitten since the first time they had met. For the last few days, she had spent all her time thinking about him, and could not bear the separation anymore.

“I love you,” Nona blurted out. “I want to spend the rest of my life with you!”

“Eh …” Byron could only utter that much. This was not what he had expected.

“That is all you have to say?” Nona smiled.

Byron needed to talk her out of her infatuation.

“Nona, wait, you are not thinking properly.”

“Why?” asked Nona, confused.

“Because you are rich and I am poor. Your parents will never agree to our union.”

Nona giggled softly.

“What?” asked Byron, horrified.

“I have already spoken to my parents,” Nora smiled. “They have no problem. In fact, they like my choice marrying a poet. They never wanted a rich son-in-law.”

For Byron it was now and never. Instead of a heartbreak paving his path to greatness, he was getting a lifetime of imprisonment.

“No! I can’t marry you.” said Byron, coming out a bit forcefully.

Nona was in tears.

“But why? I thought you loved me.”

“Maybe I did, but I am not looking to get married.” Byron explained. “I want to be famous first. If the news that I am married gets out, girls will not read my poems.”

Nona stood still, shocked, unable to understand what went wrong.

“Now, if you will excuse me, I have to work on my writing,” said Byron, showing Nona the door.

Byron took a deep breath. He was relieved. The heartbreak idea did not really work, it seemed like a fad anyway. What a silly notion, really!

He got back to writing poems with renewed vigour, and wrote poems about the futility of love. Yet again, there were no takers.

Then one day, in John’s bookshop, he noticed an unusual rush.

A new book had just come in, and was fast disappearing off the shelves.

“This new poetry collection is already a huge bestseller,” John gushed.

Byron picked a copy.

Unrequited Love, by Nona.

To B,

Your love is an addiction. It is destroying my life, but I can’t live without it.

“This poet is destined for greatness,” John was saying. “Someone broke her heart, and she has poured all her emotions so beautifully in her poems. Remember what I told you once – it takes a broken heart to write such beautiful words.”