When Anna woke up, it was already twelve-thirty in the Sunday afternoon. The weather outside was foggy. There was only a foul and weak ray of sunshine coming through the window, casting a shadow on Anna's pale and tired face.

          “Just another gloomy day,” she thought, while brushing the long blonde hair tumbling over her shoulders with a dark grey comb. She stood before the mirror and gazed into the eyes of the woman inside the glass. After 15 minutes of silence, Anna took off the rosy metal on her ring finger, put on her brown jacket and broad-brimmed hat, then went out with her basket.

          When Anna was on her way to the market, a seagull flew down to the river on her left-hand side and caused some ripples in the water. However, she did not notice. A man on a bicycle rang his bell, but she was looking at the fallen leaves and withered flowers on the ground. Recently, something weird had been happening to her. Anna was being overcome by a blurry feeling that there was an important part of her body being eroded by timeless waiting and meaningless anticipation.

          Anna had passed countless days and nights sobbing and feeling left in the dark. Lovers change what they say everyday — someone who has a guarantee today may be fooled tomorrow. Her face had dimmed and lost its color with the slow realization that her vows had become unreliable. She would get dressed up decently in the past, with the faith that Walter, her husband, would knock on their door at any moment, but their impending fate of divorce kept floating in her mind these days.

          In front of Anna was a flat-arched bridge crossing the river, leading to the food market. Water flowed under it ceaselessly and pushed itself forward timelessly. While Anna was walking on the bedded cement, heading to the bakery, her heart flowed like the river and her hope rose and fell with the tide, again and again.

          “Madam? Are you listening to me? Madam? No bagel today! Would you like to pick something else?”

          “Ah, I don't know.” In the back of her mind, she remembered that when Walter was still courting her, he would always order a bagel in the coffee shop that she worked in.

          “What do you mean you don't know? If someone asked me the same question, how would I not know what I'm going to buy?”

          “I will just buy champagne and lamb chops for our wedding anniversary, then.”

          “Miss, please give me two croissants. Oh, and rye bread as well.” A man with a beard interrupted the conversation, while Anna just walked away.

          Anna returned home with the champagne and lamb chops; there were also candles and a bunch of roses in her basket.

          “How I wish he will remember the day. I wish he will remember the day. Will our love fall and perish like the leaves and flowers on the road? Or, can our love still blossom, like this bunch of scarlet roses, beautiful and perfect? Gosh! I wish I knew; I wish I knew... ”

          It was Sunday. Anna had not made any other appointments today. She was waiting, waiting for a person, waiting for an answer she had already known a long time ago.

          Through a mutual friend, Anna and Walter fell in love at first sight in the summer of 1994. Their first date was camping at Baker Peak, which was famous for its gorgeous nature of waterfalls, rocks, and woods. Walter drove the little car that he had borrowed from his father.

          They prepared drinks and home-made food like Coke, roast beef sandwiches and sweet potato salad. At night, with the faint soothing sound of birds and flowing water coming from far away, they started a campfire, lying on the vast grassland and looking at the stunning Milky Way. This was always the best memory that they kept visiting and revisiting their whole lives.

          Anna could not stop musing. “Walter was romantic. We were romantic. We walked along every street and talked about everything. The friends we loved. The colleagues we hated. We imagined our future, full of impossible dreams. We fought and broke up, then went back to each other every time. It was always joyful and pleasant because no matter what happened, there was someone I could count on and lean on.”

          All of a sudden, there were heavy footsteps outside. Anna was surprised. She looked at the clock and went to the parlor immediately; it was 4 p.m.

          Thud. It was Walter closing the door.

          “Walter? I'm home today.”

          “I came back to get my documents. Oh, it's weird that you did not go to the theatre with your friends on a Sunday,” Walter said in a dreary, monotone voice.

          “Of course I'm not going out with my friends! You and I are going to have dinner tonight, don't you remember? Hold on, let me get you a drink from the fridge first.”

          “Oh Anna, I won't be back home until midnight, so don't wait for me for dinner. I'm sorry that I broke my word again. This time it is just another urgent case. Maybe next weekend we can—Gotcha! The project file!”

          Thud.

          After putting the file into his leather briefcase, Walter quickly left the study, ran to the door, and got in a taxi. He was in such a hurry that he did not notice the flower-filled vase, candles in the parlor and the wedding ring on the table.

          “Walter, I got some lemon water for you. Today I went to the market and bought—Walter? Are you still here?” Anna walked out from the kitchen, but the parlor was already empty.

          It was 4:15 p.m. Men with suspenders and ladies with lace dresses were queuing up outside the theatre. All of them were looking forward to watching the latest movie, which was acted by the most popular actors and actresses in town. Staff were walking around, selling popcorn and candy. Musicians were standing near the box office, playing saxophone and violins, hoping to earn some money. The afternoon sunlight kissed people's hair, eyebrows and faces, arousing love and bringing warmth to the town. At the same time, Walter had already buried himself in piles of papers in the taxi. Meanwhile, inside Anna's house, a petal from a rose slipped by the vase and reached the floor slowly.

          “Of course. How would he remember? We are all too busy to live and too tired to love. During the first few years we were married, we felt so excited about our new lives. Making vows at the wedding, moving out, having our own little family. As time went on, we started to get used to each other. Everything seems to be taken for granted. We spent all our efforts to pursue promotion and pay for the bills. We were so exhausted that our birthday and anniversary were just other perfunctory moments.”

          “I'm an open book, but the talking between us was not communication. Our love is stepping into a grave.” Anna sat down on the sofa speechlessly. Tears fell on the floor. The last straw for her was the disinterest and indifference over the years.

          Love was the shining stars in the summer night, the sparkling shells on beaches. But, does this only happen in the beginning? Is time a demon? Does love have to fade overtime? Can the passion we embraced in the past be everlasting? Can anything be everlasting?

          Perhaps, the greatest griefs in love are not the imperfections, the consistent fights, the repeated breakups, or the waiting, but rather, losing the feeling of being loved, the fear of being forgotten, and the feeling of being numb and passionless about someone. And perhaps, the greatest grief in life is being important to someone, which eventually passes us by. Everything is so ephemeral.

          The water under the bridge flows as usual. It runs ceaselessly and buries time. Will our love also be carried away by the timeless waves one day?

Author Bio: A simple soul. Sometimes naive, and sometimes having a wave of nostalgia, desiring to be at home.