Memory of Ashes

Years passed till I saw her again and by that time I had a steady relationship with an ordinary woman. Ordinary in a way that some might even consider boring, but I was comfortable with her and we shared a steady kind of love. Passionate love is something you might want to experience once in your life. The kind of love that makes your heart flutter and hurt at the same time. That kind of love does not usually perservere well in time. It is a feeling that sweeps you up, takes you on a flight through the stars, but just as easily throws you back to earth and shatters your very being in the meantime. That is what I believed my whole life. I had felt such love as a young man, but was never irrational enough to let it take me. Strange how as one gets older the more one craves excitement and is willing to accept the consequences that come with taking a step towards the unknown. When I saw that girl again I took that one step. 

It was a warm autumn day and she was sitting outside a cafe reading a book with a cup of hot chocolate topped with whipped cream. She looked up as I approached her and smiled when I asked if I could sit with her. She answered with a nod and started reading again. I was surprised to her reaction.