One day a young man was standing in the middle of the town proclaiming that he had the most beautiful heart in the whole valley.
A large crowd gathered and they all admired his heart for it was perfect. There was not a mark or a flaw in it. Yes, they all agreed it truly was the most beautiful heart they had ever seen. The young man was very proud and boasted more loudly about his beautiful heart.
Suddenly, an old man appeared at the front of the crowd and said, "Why your heart is not nearly as beautiful as mine." The crowd and the young man looked at the old man's heart. It was beating strongly, but full of scars, it had places where pieces had been removed and other pieces put in, but they didn't fit quite right and there were several jagged edges. In fact, in some places there were deep gouges where whole pieces were missing.
The people stared "How can he say his heart is more beautiful?" they thought.
The young man looked at the old man's heart and saw its state and laughed. "You must be joking," he said. "Compare your heart with mine, mine is perfect and yours is a mess of scars and tears."
"Yes," said the old man, "Yours is perfect looking but I would never trade with you. You see, every scar represents a person to whom have given my love - I tear out a piece of my heart and give it to them, and often they give me a piece of their heart which fits into the empty place in my heart, but because the pieces aren't exact, I have some rough edges, which I cherish, because they remind me of the love we shared."
"Sometimes I have given pieces of my heart away, and the other person hasn't returned a piece of his heart to me. These are the empty gouges - giving love is taking a chance. Although these gouges are painful, they stay open, reminding me of the love I have for these people too, and I hope someday they may return and fill the space I have waiting. So now do you see what true beauty is?"
The young man stood silently with tears running down his cheeks.
He walked up to the old man, reached into his perfect young and beautiful heart, and ripped a piece out. He offered it to the old man with trembling hands. The old man took his offering, placed it in his heart and then took a piece from his old scarred heart and placed it in the wound in the young man's heart. It fit, but not perfectly, as there were some jagged edges.
The young man looked at his heart, not perfect anymore but more beautiful than ever, since love from the old man's heart flowed into his.
They embraced and walked away side by side.
Daniel: I guess we are the left overs in this world.
Jasmine: I think so.. All of my friends have boyfriends & we are the only 2 persons left in this world without any special someone in our lives.
Daniel: Yup! I don't know what to do.
Jasmine: I know! We'll play a game.
Daniel: What game?
Jasmine: I'll be your girlfriend for 30 days & you will be my boyfriend.
Daniel: That's a great plan in fact, I don't have anything to do for the following weeks...
DAY 1:
They watched their first movie together & were both touched in the romantic film.
DAY 4:
They went to the beach & had a picnic... Daniel & Jasmine had their quality time together.
DAY 12:
Daniel invited Jasmine to a circus and they went to a Horror House.. Jasmine was scared
and she tried to touch Daniel's hand but by accident she touched someone else's and they both laughed..
DAY 14:
They saw a fortune teller down the road and asked for their future. The fortune teller said: "My darlings, please don't waste the time of your lives... spend your time together happily." Then tears flow from the teller's eyes.
DAY 20:
Jasmine invited Daniel to go to the hill and they saw a meteor... Jasmine mumbled something.
DAY 28:
They rode on a bus and because of the bumpy road, Jasmine gave her first kiss to Daniel by accident.
DAY 29:
11:37 PM
Daniel & Jasmine were sitting in the park where they first decided to play this game...
Daniel: I'm tired Jasmine... do you want any drinks? I'll buy you one.. I'll just go down the road..
Jasmine: Apple juice would be fine,thanks.
Daniel: Wait for me...
20 minutes later... a stranger approched Jasmine.
Stranger: Are you a friend of Daniel?
Jasmine: Yes, why? What happened?
Stranger: A reckless drunken driver ran over Daniel & he is critical in the hospital.
11:57pm
The doctor came out from the emergency room & handed out an apple juice & a letter to Jasmine.
Doctor: We found this in Daniel's pocket.
Jasmine read the letter which says:
Jasmine, this past few days, I realized you are really a cute girl & I am falling for you.. your cherished smile, your everything when we played this game.. & before this game ends, I would like you to be my girlfriend for the rest of my life. I love you, Jasmine...
Jasmine crumples the paper & shouted..
"Daniel! I don't want you to die...I love you... Remember that night we saw a meteor? I mumbled something.. I wished that we would be together forever & never end this game. Please don't leave me, Daniel... I love you, you cannot do this to me.
Then the clock strikes 12
Daniel's heart stop pumping
THEN IT WAS THE 30th DAY...
