Please Enjoy (´▽`ʃ♡ƪ)

🌿

She had just arrived in this small village, looking for peace and quiet. Everyone looked at her askance, except him. The taciturn man who lived at the top of the hill, in a house with closed shutters. They said he had lost everything. But she felt he still had something left to offer.

She hadn't spoken to anyone since her arrival. Not really. Just a few words escaped to the baker, the postman, the woman at the market. Nothing important. Nothing that remained.

But every day, as she walked up the path that ran along the hills, she passed the house. Always silent. Always closed. And yet, she felt the stare. Not hostile. Just... present.

That morning, the air was colder. The sky, heavier. She stopped near the wooden gate. A cup rested on the low wall. Still warm. He was there.

Silence.

Then her voice, calm

"You like quiet too."

Not a question. An observation.

She simply nodded.

"It's rare here. Even when everything seems silent, there are always the stares, the judgments."

A pause. The wind stirred the dead leaves between them

"And you? Don't you judge?" she asked.

A light whisper, almost a laugh.

"I no longer have the luxury of judging."