The compliment..

 An unexpected and overwhelming compliment coming from the stranger ice cream vendor about how beautiful they looked together made her feel happy as well as sad.
“Sir you look beautiful. Both of you, together.” So many times she had repeated this line in her mind. Well they really looked stunning together. Both young, tall and beautiful. His coffee brown eyes, fair and tall body and her childlike and chubby cheeks were indeed attractive. But more beautiful was their journey from friends to lovers and then back to friends. They were better than the best when it came to friendship. But the case was not the same with love. They had a strange relationship, could neither live together nor could they part. Years took them to understand what was wrong but it seemed like an eternity would be needed to split them apart. They were Bruce and Paula the two most amazing people in their own ways. But two amazing people need not necessarily be amazing together.

He too felt his stomach flip and felt a tad bit sad for the already ended relationship. They both longed for it and fought for it but were defeated by every sphere of their lives including their own selves. Today when they were totally out of the relationship they shared, they had indeed gotten back the friend they had lost in each other. And they were learning to be happy that way. But the sudden compliment shook them a bit.
“Why couldn’t we be together if we really looked so good together?” He thought.
“Do we only look good together? Couldn’t we also have been good together?” She thought.
They both thought about the strange relationship they had had over years. The way it grew, transformed, and then took its ugly turns and then again grew beautifully with a bit of peace mixed with a feeling of loss. They walked together without expressing anything to each other but both thinking the same thing and feeling the same pride and pain.