Vicissitudes

Pullman Hotel Paris, Summer 2020 France

"Good evening, Sir."

"Good evening, Patrick. How are you?"

"Very well, sir. Thank you."

I took a magazine from the shelf and acted like I was a tourist. I sighed thinking that life was smiling at me and finally, I could think of a future. What the future meant, I was just starting to understand. I thought of her, and images emerged in my mind: her face, her gestures - especially the involuntary ones, which made her even more attractive and simultaneously more inexplicable. However, even if I could sometimes understand her gestures and expressions, I still could not understand her reasoning. I wanted to believe that she loved me. But would it last?

Could she love me for life? Until death do us part?

"Sir! Something was filed yesterday for you," said Patrick as he turned back to his desk and looked at a small package. "I told the postman that you were not here and you'd be back tomorrow."