Tuesday, February 14th.
6.22 am.
Sophia places the red and gold box with a balloon attached to it on the table and walks to the very edge of the patio cantilevered over the stream. She looks around. There is no one out yet. Ducks with their heads tucked underneath the wings are sleeping on the rocks in the middle of the stream. A white bird stands still a few feet away. Sophia glances toward the bike path running between the trees on the right. It is deserted.
She shivers, goes back inside and comes out with a pair of scissors in her hands. She puts it on the table and stares at the box.
It is hard to believe that it was just yesterday when she ran into the store, got the last set of Valentine’s wrapping paper and the balloon. She got home, poured herself a glass of wine, and turned on that old Italian music back from seventies. Fire crackling in the fireplace, candles flickering on the mantel and the sweet aroma of the rose incense turned the room into a magical far-away place. She set the gift she got for Jake on the table. She danced around as she wrapped it. She dressed it in a red and gold paper, attached the card and a bow on the side of it, and run the thread of the balloon around it. She put it down on the floor and stepped away. She looked at it critically. She wanted to know exactly how it would look like when Jake sees it in the morning. She smiled at she imagined him opening the door, finding the present, and taking it upstairs to unwrap. She could almost see that spark in his eyes and his smile.
She set her alarm clock for 6.30 am. and went to bed early to have time to drop the present at his house in the morning.
At 10 pm, Jake called.
“A favor,” He said. “No Valentine’s Day presents.”
She said it was too late. She already got one.
“I don’t know what you came up with but leave that idea along.”
She did not ask what he meant by that. He did not say that either.
She couldn’t fall asleep for long after that
It happened just some eight hours ago. 
She takes the scissors and cuts the thread of the balloon. “I am such a fool.” She whispers.
She looks back at her life of the last few months. It reminds her of a donkey and its never-ending pursuit of a carrot story. A donkey walks around a circle, and makes water pump up the well. The whole daylong. The whole life long. She feels like that donkey. Her silly love for Jake is that carrot.
She comes to the very edge of the patio and let go of the balloon.
She is looking at a huge red heart with the white letters “I Love You” across it slowly making its way up into the grey still sky.
She hears the sound of the alarm.
Time to wake up.
1.30 pm.
David is seven years old and he is in love.
He is standing against the picket fence of the deserted playground. He has been here for a quarter on an hour already. He knows that Ellen will show up. She promised.
They have been friends for almost a year by now. He taught her how to ride a bike. She taught him to tie a bow. She was the first girl he ever kissed. Since then, they both knew that they were meant to be together. His older brother makes fun of him, but David doesn’t care. He knows better that it is once and for all.
He turns around and presses his back against the fence. A rush of wind blows over his blond curly hair. He shivers. Then, he sees her. She is running toward him, braids are bouncing off the sides of her head.
“Mom told me it was too cold!” She says and puts her hand into his. “She told me half an hour, no more.”
They are heading off the playground toward a shortcut leading to the bike path. Bushes on the both sides of the narrow path are brushing against them.
“Look, what’s there?” Ellen points to something between the trees.
“Let’s check it out.” David heads there. She follows.
“It’s a balloon!”
The boy pulls it by its thread.
They get out of the shrubs, walk to the opening in between the trees, and settle down on the rocks.
“What are we to do with it?” Ellen stares at the balloon. “It’s so big and beautiful!”
“I don’t know.” David stares at it too. “Wait!”
“What?”
“Let’s make a wish and let it go.”
“OK.”
He stands up and gives her his hand to help her up. “Let’s do it like that. You hold it here.” He puts her hand around the thread. “And I will hold it here.” He puts his hand below hers. “We make a wish, just don’t tell me what it is.” Ellen giggles. “And then, I will count till three and we will let it go at the same time. Ready?”
“Yes.” She closes her eyes.
“Make your wish!”
“I did!”
“One, two, three, let go!”
The huge red heart soars up into the blue sky.
9.15. pm.
Silence fills the room with the absence of sounds and darkness turns everything into faceless shadows. They creep over Adrian who is sitting on a sofa holding a glass of a wine. It was one of the bottles out of his vintage collection. He intended to share it with someone special. Never happen. He looks out of the glass wall onto the city lights beyond. His hand drops. A surreal Valentine’s Day like he never had before.
His cell phone buzzes.
“Yes.”
“Adrian. It’s me. Happy Valentine’s Day.”
“Julia?”
“Are you alone?”
“Yes?”
“Me too.” Her voice sounds so soft, so quiet.
His stares at the glass he is holding in the palm of his hand, at its’ long stem between his fingers.
He broke the engagement a few months ago. He did not see Julia since. The bitter blend of love, delusion and guilt is still living within him.
“Why don’t you come over, Adrian?”
He swallows. “I don’t think it’s a right thing to do, Julia.”
“I am so lonely. I have never been that lonely in my life.”
He fixes his eyes on the city lights and takes a sip of wine.
“I just need you to be with me.” He thinks he hears a sob. “You don’t understand. I don’t’ know how I can make it through tonight. I really need you.”
A few minutes later, he is running through the foyer, his shadow flying over the marble floor. He rushes past the doorman and gets into his car.
He approaches the familiar doorstep and presses the doorbell.
He hears the steps and the sound of the door getting unlocked.
“Hi. May I help you?” A young man, casually dressed, handsome and tall, is standing at the threshold.
“Is Julia...” Adrian squeezes his car key in his hand. “Does Julia live here?”
“Julia, that’s for you.” The young man turns.
She is standing behind the man, leaning against the wall, her arms are crossed at her chest. She is smiling.
“Julia, babe, who’s this?” The young man looks at her.
She comes to him and wraps her arm around his shoulder.
“Sorry.” Adrian stares at a glitter of an engagement ring on her finger in disbelieve. “Sorry. There was a mistake.” He steppes back. “I thought…”
“You thought what?” The young man advances toward him.
“Nothing, just… I am sorry.” Adrian turns around and walks to his car.
He get inside, forces the key into ignition. The wheels skip the turn, warning light blinks on and off. He puts the gas pedal into the floor and drives off the parking.
As he turns a corner, he recognizes Sophia, Julia’s neighbor, walking her dog across the street.
“What the?!” He feels the wheels smashing something. He stops the car and looks out.
There is something red crushed underneath the wheel in the dirty ditch.
“Fucking balloon!”
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