Hard To Handle (standard:romance, 999 words)
Author: Erik	Added: Apr 28 2002	Views/Reads: 3425/1	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
Unrequited romance

Hard To Handle 

Eve was from Europe. She was exceptionally beautiful and from the moment
Harry saw her he fell hopelessly in love.    It was more than 
infatuation. She had a big something about her that melted him and he 
was smitten. Not still a young babe, but she had more appeal than most 
of the lively youngsters who flirted and were much sought after.  
Harry's love for her,however, was unrequited,because of Robert,who had 
been going around with her for quite some time. Robert and Eve were 
inseperable and his love for her was evident in the way that he looked 
at her;and the way that he looked at Harry when he noticed Harry's 
unwanted admiring glances in her direction.  Harry had only seen and 
admired her from a distance, and that was as far as it went, Robert saw 
to that, so it was doubtful if she was even aware of Harry's existence. 


When Harry was transferred to another branch of his company in the north
of England for six months, he went with a feeling of utter dispair. Eve 
was his life,even though it was a one sided,remote love. He just 
couldn't forget her. He did not see her again until a few weeks after 
he returned home. It happened one day when he was taking a stroll along 
the high street and he saw her in the distance. She stopped, then after 
a few minutes she came away from the wine and spirit shop and came 
towards him,then hurried away as he stared at her in awe. She hadn't 
changed one bit. In fact,he thought she was more beautiful than when he 
had first seen her. He could almost hear the pounding of his heart as 
he saw her pass by and he almost swooned as he watched her turn a 
corner before passing out of sight. 

Something,however,struck him as being rather odd. The person she was
with now was not Robert. She was with Stan. Mystified, he hurried home 
and dialled Robert's telephone number. After they had discussed one or 
two matters of no great importance,quite casually Harry asked him how 
he was getting along with Eve. It was then that Harry heard,to his 
astonishment and secret delight that Robert had finished with her. He 
said he had,had enough of her erratic behaviour. Yes,he said,she was 
very beautiful and he still cared for her, but he now realised that she 
 had a mind of her own and he could no longer tolerate it; so he 
thought it best to let her go her own way;but not with him. He had now 
transferred his affections to another,this time an Italian who, he 
said,was not quite as beautiful as Eve, but younger and much easier to 
handle. He was very happy with her. 

Harry was well aquainted with Robert's successor and he was shocked to
read in the local newspaper,of his horrific road accident, but what 
shook him more was when he read about Eve's injuries. The report stated 
that Stan had suffered multiple fractures and faced a long stay in 
hospital. Eve too,had fared badly but was not in any grave danger. 
Despite Stan's sorry plight Harry hated him for what he had done to 
Eve. He visited him,however, whilst he was in hospital and was pleased 
when Stan asked him,as a favour,to visit Eve. 

Harry's love for Eve had never waned, despite what Robert had said about
her. Now,with him out of the way and Stan's blind trust in him,he was 
determined to win her over. He visited her daily and watched her slow 
recovery. After a while,when her condition improved he managed an 
outing with her and to his delight, they got on very well together. So 
well, in fact, that it lead to many more outings which in time became 
quite regular. Wherever they went she drew admiring glances and he 
became the envy of all who saw them together. he never grew tired of 
her or had cause for complaint so he couldn't understand what on earth 
Robert was talking about. 

No complaints. Not until one day when he noticed she had become rather
disagreeable and seemed reluctant to fit in with his mood. She didn't 
want to go anywhere with him. Some days when they'd been out for a 
longer time than usual,she seemed to be having trouble with her 
breathing,but he simply thought that she was playing him up. At one 
time, he thought he detected a slight smell of spirits,but he put this 
down to his imagination. Eve wasn't the drinking type.  Before 
long,however, he realised that his fears were well founded and the 
situation got steadily worse. Slowly it dawned on him,to his horror, 
that she was drinking heavily and that she needed treatment. He could 
hardly believe that Eve had become a heavy drinker. It came as a 
further blow to him when she started smoking,but that wasn't a very big 
worry because he reasoned that if he managed to persuade her to stop 
drinking,hopefully he could get her to stop smoking too. 

Whilst Eve was undergoing treatment for these complaints Harry visited
her every day and despite her ailments he still thought she was 
beautiful and hoped that when she recovered they could get back to 
those previous happy times. He was informed that apart from her 
drinking problem,she had some sort of respiratory condition and further 
tests were necessary,but that with expert care there was a very good 
chance of her pulling through. 

A week after her admission he was told that she had stopped smoking, her
respiratory condition had been cured and that to a considerable extent 
her drinking problem had been resolved. He was annoyed and rather 
ashamed when he was told rather accusingly,that she had not been 
receiving the proper care that would have prevented these problems. he 
smiled happily as he heard that with a new genuine airfilter and 
carburetter adjustment she should soon once again be in tiptop showroom 
condition.


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