The Neck

He fell in love with her neck. He didn't know he was only in love with her neck. No one had ever told him you could fall in love with a neck, or with a single part of another person. He always thought when you fall in love it's the whole of the person that you fall in love with. He went on thinking this even when he fell in love with her neck, he thought he was in love with her. He expressed to her what he thought he felt, and she fell in love too. She fell in love with what he said to her. The feelings were not mutual; it wasn't his neck she was in love with, and it wasn't what she said to him that he was in love with. It was also only part of him that was in love with her neck. Other parts of him were indifferent. The other parts of her bored the other parts of him, and the neck was not redeeming enough. But his love for her neck blinded him. He didn't know that if her neck was on any other person (maybe not any but at least many others) he would follow the neck, and he would think it was this other person he was in love with. This feeling was mutual; if (almost) anyone else had expressed his feelings to her the same way she would have fallen in love too. And so it goes, each of them confusedly loving parts of each other, thinking they're in love with all of each other. 

Edit: 30-09-2022