The mirage of happiness dispersed in a flash when reality kicked her in the teeth. Irreconcilable differences. The 25 year old blonde was a perfect match though. A notary. Paperwork. Air. Back at the start, looking ahead with all the innocence of a new beginning. Visiting the local market was a constant in her new life. She loved the flower and fruit section. It brightened her day. Today she was distracted, and bumped into Him. Her little bucket flew out of her hands, black beads rolling across the asphalt. Two blackberry dark eyes laugh. On the table, the lilac offers them its blessing.
(Translated by Bianca-Maria Ciucașu / University of Bucharest, Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures, MTTLC, year II / Corrected by prof. dr. Nadina Vișan / Edited by Silvia Petrescu, coordinator of the translations)Real Fiction is a collective project started in 2013 by Florin Piersic Jr. The concept of Real Fiction continued to exist as a Facebook group, after a volume of stories was published at Humanitas Publishing House. (In January 2023, the group has 10,220 members.) The authors write ultra-short stories, with the texts limited to 500 characters (in Romanian, so the length of the English translation might be a little different) - a flash-fiction exercise on a topic that changes every few days. The group's coordinators are Florin Piersic Jr., Gabriel Molnar, Răzvan Penescu, and Luchian Abel. (Drawing by Adrian T. Roman)
Versiunea în română a acestui text se poate citi aici, în rubrica Ficțiuni Reale. 
