For every high, there is a low

"You're so beautiful!" Josh told Johanna. "Thanks," she smiled and looked into his eyes. Then he looked at her, held her hands, and pulled a tuft from her face when he wanted to kiss her, but could not due to it.

"Pfff," he mumbled and carefully took a hair tuft and moved it gently back behind her ear. "This won't stop me from kissing you!" he added and passionately kissed her. She smiled and glanced deeply into his eyes. "You're so handsome," she whispered and caressed his cheeks and commented after her fingers felt some beard hair: "Your beard is growing." "Yeah, I should shave it." "It's ok. I like it. Beards are very manly." she kept rubbing his chin while grinning.

"In a few days, I have to return to Canada. And I have a lot of exams I need to learn for and pass." He sighed as his expression turned from happy to tense. "You'll make it. Don't worry! You're so smart!" she smiled encouragingly. "Yeah. However, even the dumbest student learns faster than me. I feel so inadequate compared to other students." She leaned her head onto his shoulder and replied: "Since it is harder for you to learn and keep up with others. It's inspiring that you keep trying and don't give up easily on electrical engineering. It's easy to keep going when things are easy, but it takes determination, strength, and grit when the circumstances aren't ideal."

The waiter brought Johanna and Josh mici, a dish from the Romanian cuisine, consisting of grilled ground meat rolls in cylindrical shape made from a mixture of beef, lamb with spices. "What would I do without that smile and your wit?" he smiled and softly caressed her left hand they dreamingly gazed into each other's eyes. "You are the light of my eyes!" he softly whispered and kissed her gently on the lips.

Johanna enjoyed her mici and looked outside the window of the restaurant. "Look, it's snowing." she enthusiastically remarked. "Trust me, I have enough snow in Canada and I'm sick of it." "Is it common to get stuck in snow there?" "No, authorities take care of it. The snow is pushed by plowing methods."

*******

The hotel room they got this time was bigger than last time. The view was also better: instead of a street and blocks, they had a view of the pond. "Can't wait to get a better view of you!" he said, as Johanna touched her breasts and looked him straight into the eyes with a naughty grin. He kissed and undressed her, then passionately touched different parts of her body. "Aaah," she moaned as he continued kissing her throat and driving her to insanity with his warmth, smell, and touch.

Her nipples hardened, while he kept playing her boobs with his lips and tongue in waves of pleasure that flooded her body. "Don't stop," she begged for more and after he undressed her pants too and hungrily ripped her underpants from her he kept circling her clitoris with his tongue as she trembled and moaned.

As the moisture in the lower part of her body between her legs grew in intensity, she whispered breathing heavily: "I want you in me! Now!" Minutes later he was inside her moving up and down. One of his hands held hers, while the other caressed her face. His eyes looked directly into hers and for some moment her soul felt connected to his.

He hugged her afterward and she snuggled into his arms. There they lied spooning and there was a comforting peace after releasing the pent-up energy. "I loved the holiday spent here in Romania!" She replied: "What if the holiday never ended and we never returned to our normal lives? I feel so happy at the moment, I don't want to return to whatever my life was before this!" Josh laughed. "Why? Does life suck that much? Oh, wait..." Johanna laughed and playfully smashed a pillow against him. "Life itself does not suck. However, the way society makes you feel guilty for not adhering to the classical life structure of getting a nine to five job, getting married, and having kids sucks. Is that all life is supposed to be? If I have a dream, people, or at least the ones around me tell me to be realistic. Yet, even if I try to follow society's norms I don't feel happy. But, if I do follow them I don't feel happy either. So I can't win either way."'

Josh looked at her beautiful naked body. "What?" "You're beautiful. I want to enjoy your presence, while I can. "When I'm with you I feel so happy! It's as if all my troubles are gone or never existed in the first place." Johanna coughed, sneezed, and blew her nose, then replied: "Maybe my love for you is the cure of your depression?" "Maybe," he softly whispered and yawned, but tried to fight his tiredness. "Hey, if you feel tired and want to sleep, you can. I don't want to torture you!" she said. 'No, my time with you is limited. I want to enjoy every single second of it!" he protested. "Thanks!" she replied and they continued talking about memories from school, kindergarten, and older times and kept laughing and having a good time.

It is tempting to believe that love can save a person from its demons and issues. However, your happiness and mental well-being are your responsibility. If you feel you don't do a great job in this department, seek specialized help. You can't save someone from their troubles and neither is that the role of a partner. Even if you think that love alone is enough to help that person out of darkness, only professional help and the work done by that person on its part can create a stable, healthy individual. Self-love and recovery from a dark, troubled past is something that needs to be done with specialized help.

********

Johanna stared at the display of her phone at her relationship status: "In a relationship". So, that's what it felt like to be in a relationship. She looked at the photos taken a few days ago, uploaded to Facebook of them being together. On the on hand, she felt there was a lot of light, happiness, and positivity inside her, but then when she thought that he was about to leave in a day an invisible black cloud appeared above her head and followed her around everywhere. So much happiness in a picture, but so much doubt in her soul.

"Hey, let's go out and play in the snow!" Josh interrupted her thoughts and she happily agreed. Johanna grabbed a snowball and playfully hit him in the arm and he grabbed one and hit her In the shoulder. Then she grabbed another one and hit him in the back. A few minutes later they chased each other through the park until they stumbled and he fell over her on the snow. "Ouch, you hurt me!" she said in a crying manner. His shaking voice asked her: "Sorry. I did not mean to hurt you! How can I make this better?" "Got you!" she replied and tickled him. He laughed and her hair was covered in snow. "You're so pretty!" he said and could not stop staring at her. "Will you miss this smile when you're going back to Canada or will you just forget it and look for a new one?" she asked with a shaking voice smiling. "Of course I won't forget it! I will always remember your smile no matter what!" he protested with a grin and sounded offended she could even think at all about the possibility he might forget her. "Ok, I trust you," she answered. "Let's build a snowman."

He rolled the bigger part of the snowman's body with firm moves and she rolled the smaller part. Then she used an old hat of her father he wanted to throw away anyway and added some buttons for its nose and mouth. She took out a carrot and placed it underneath his eyes. "He needs a nose too," she explained, while Josh was staring at her. "That's not why I was staring," he softly replied, and then hugged her tightly and they kissed passionately.

*******

"What was New Year like?" Johanna asked and snuggled in his arms in the bed. "Nice! I've spent time with my uncle and his daughter! When she sees his whiskey she says it's her dad's water!" Johanna laughed with him and he replied: "You have such a beautiful laugh!" "Thanks", she replied, as he kissed her forehead. "Oh, I have a present for you! Here you go!" "Oh, thanks, it was not necessary!" she replied. "It was. You are my girl and my girl deserves only the best!" She opened the pink box and found a pink pouch. Inside she found a gloss, some eyeshadows, mascara, and an eye crayon from her favorite brand. "Oh, thanks, you nailed the gift!" usually people would try and gift her stuff, but rarely did she truly like the items people tried to gift her, even though she appreciated the gesture.

She kissed him passionately and tickled him mercilessly afterward. Then when she did not expect it he caught her hand and asked her with raised eyebrows: "Did you expect that?" "N-, n-, no, not exactly. But I promise I won't tickle you anymore," she tried to sound serious as she was about to burst into laughter. "

He released her hands and glanced at her body and remarked: "Wow! You're so beautiful and skinny! What do you eat?" "Everything I want to eat, but in small portions! I have a small stomach!" "You're so lucky! Every time I eat, the food ends up on my body! I envy you! My mom says I should go the gym with my belly!" "If you decide to do it, do it for your health! I like you the way you are!" she said facing him naked, as they laid in bed.

She breathed his breath in as the distance between them was very short and enjoyed his smell and presence. "Time flies by when I'm with you!" she told him and held his hand. "Ugh, when I think about the fact that I have to fly so many hours to Canada I already get tired! I also wish we could spend more time and not have to worry about going back to our lives and having to live everything in the spur of the moment!"

"I also have exams to worry about after you leave." "Don't worry! You're smart! You're going to ace them!" "Ugh, I hope so! I am good at most subjects, but I have my weaknesses too!" "Hey, let's forget about our worries! I love you! Let's make these last minutes count and love each other like it's our last day on earth!"

There I was. He was ripping off my clothes passionately and we kissed and touched and hugged each other so passionately that nothing else mattered except for the present. The hunger for each other was unlimited, yet a deep-seated fear was very well hidden in the subconscious waiting for its ugly head to rear court. Scientists say there is no future and no past. Just the present. Yet, when we know that something is about to end or is rare or limited it becomes the object of our desire. We always say we want one last bite of chocolate, a sip of water, one last kiss, and one last hug. We sometimes tend to forget that everything has a beginning, but also an ending. Or at least we hope that the things, places, or people we enjoy spending time with will always be part of our life. Until then the only thing we can do is to enjoy the moment accepting our own ephemerality which is at the same time our friend and enemy, a great teacher that makes us appreciate everything we have at the moment, the good and the bad and everything in between and be grateful and appreciate our blessings.