HIM : A MAGICAL ETERNITY

"Damn, I want to kiss you!" I, myself, was baffled at the words I blurted out. Shit, what the hell did I just say? I want to kiss her? What the—

I stopped my inner turmoil as I heard her laughter. The sound a music to my ears. A melody.

'It wasn't a joke, I meant it!'

Yet again I was surprised at my own thoughts, but didn't push them away this time.

I stepped forward, closing the distance between us. My arm snaked around her waist and she gasped against my hold. With my other free hand, I cupped her cheek, gently. Lowering myself I touched our foreheads together.

I felt a stray strand of her hair ticking my palm on her cheek. Tucking it behind her ear, I placed my hand on her cervical and pulled her towards me.

She fit right into my arms. Beautifully. "May I kiss you?" I asked, confident with my words this time. She looked into my eyes, and I looked back with determination. Somehow, trying to convey that my words weren't a joke, that I was absolutely serious about it.

For the third time in a few minutes, I couldn't believe myself.

No, not about the fact that I wanted to kiss a stranger whom I had just met in this also foreign city I was visiting with my colleagues for holidays.

But, about how serious, how sure, I was, about this. Whatever this was.

"Maybe," She answered and my whole world lit up. "Are you a good kisser?"

That made me smile. "Maybe," I said, too, deciding to play along with her. "Why don't you find out yourself?" I smirked, and leaning forward, grabbing her lips in a kiss. I felt her freeze under my hold momentarily, and then she started to respond.

She kissed back with the same intensity as mine but her movements seemed unsure. As if she didn't knew what she was doing. And then it struck me. The realization followed closely by guilt. Was this her first kiss? Oh, god! Oh, my lord! What have I done? Holy mother of Jesus! I robbed an innocent girl of a beautiful thing, her first kiss—

I felt her hand clench on the fabric of the shirt on my side, and she grabbed my collar with the other one. Suddenly she bit my lower lip. All the rational thoughts left my mind and I lost myself in her. I took control, deepening the kiss, exploring each and every corner I could reach. She tasted splendid. Even better than the chocolate cookies we had been eating. Kissing her. It felt so right. So natural. So wonderful. Magical, even. I didn't want to stop and never would have if it wasn't to catch our breath.

Panting, flushed, she looked so tiny in my hold. But, fit perfectly against my body. Her smile, so beautiful. Her eyes, too. She was smiling looking at our intertwined hands.

"Why," I couldn't help but wonder.

"Hm?" She looked up, straight into my eyes, and I realized I had spoken aloud.

"Why did you let me take away your first kiss?"

Speaking the question aloud seemed to have troubled my mind even more than before. I realized how much I feared the answer. What if she regrets kissing me? The thought sent shivers down my spine. She's just a stranger. So, why does it affect me so much?

I was no stranger to open-relationships, or even one night stands. 'A free spirit' they called me.

We were both adults and we had just kissed. Once. There was so much more that could be done. With or without strings attached. Yet, I felt like a teenager experiencing his first love. My heart trembled at thought of her regretting what we had just shared.

Her sweet, sweet, voice brought me out of my thoughts. "I wanted my first kiss to be a beautiful memory." She said.

"Wouldn't it have been more so with a lover rather than a stranger?" I was digging my own grave with my words at this point.

"Yes," she said. "Indeed it would have been a beautiful memory, more so with a lover rather than stranger,"

I felt a soul crushing pain in my body. It was suddenly becoming harder to breathe, everything was hurting, too much, I couldn't—

I felt her hand squeeze mine, gently. Just a small, so simple action, yet, it seemed to have brought life back to me. Warm. And the pulse I felt through her veins stabled my breathing again.

"But what after we broke up?" She asked.

I pondered over the thought and it shocked me. "It wouldn't be a beautiful memory anymore." I answered.

"Yes," she said. "My first kiss, a memory I am to carry with myself forever, will no longer remain beautiful after breaking up with my lover. It will become painful instead. I will come to regret it. And I do not want that."

I could possibly never explain the relief , the joy, I felt in that moment.

'My first kiss, a memory I am to carry with myself forever'

Her words rang within me. I was her first kiss. She will carry me with her forever!

"Of course, not all people think the same way, but, that is the case for me." She chuckled.

She seemed to have analyzed it all carefully. And she let me kiss her. She kissed me back! She wouldn't— she didn't regret it.

I felt like the happiest bastard in the world.

She had opened up to me, so I decided to do the same.

"Magical." I said. "It felt so magical that I keep wanting to kiss you again." Pushing my luck further, I decided to ask, "Can I —?"

However before I could, her lips fell on mine.

And we kissed.

Again.

And again.

"Just one more time." I pleaded, but knew I was lying, it wasn't enough, and I already knew it never will be.

I would love to kiss her for as long as she allows me. An eternity, even.