Part 5: Enchanted

Three years before the present day...

 "Where you off to?" he asked. 

They had walked towards the exit fairly close to each other without a word, and it was getting awkward. Silence is golden and all but this was more granite. 

"To the marina, I go there every time I'm here at night before heading to my hotel. Become kind of a ritual now" 

"No way, so do I. How come we never ran into each other there?"

"Probably because we weren't looking", the suggestion that they now seek each other out in crowds had slipped out and she bit her tongue in response. She seemed to want to pretend it never happened and he was going to bring it up, later not now. 

"If we're both headed to the same place, why don't we get a taxi together?" 

He was going out on a limb here, she could refuse and they would be back to square one and any chance of future encounters be doomed.

His fears were laid to rest by her with a simple, "Sounds good, but I need to change first".

Samael ordered a glass of wine while waiting. He doesn't just drink wine, he savours it. He had left most of his past back at home, and home for him was his studio. He relished the memory of evenings spent in his studio, cutting and polishing jennath, treasure, while the aroma of red wine tinted the air with ecstasy.

But now, a different fragrance, equally inebriating beckoned to him from behind. He turned to look at 'Her', now dressed in lavender. The mauve-tinted crystalline shawl that wrapped around her shoulders revealed a part of a tattoo, a side of wings, as delicate as the frame that held it. He had only seen her in uniform before, and now clad in the unvarnished simplicity of this calming colour, she was intoxicating. 

A slight smile played on her lips; she knew how she made people feel. She reached for his glass of wine, hair falling over a little and he caught a glimpse of a slender neck that had a rose scribbled on. His thoughts wandered onto how many tattoos she would have hidden when she downed the rest of his wine. He shook himself awake and offered her his arm.

With her hand secure in the crook of his elbow, they walked up to a taxi stand by the terminal and settled into one. 

Samael didn't know what to do once they got there, do they spend the evening together or split ways or what? Her thoughts probably mirrored the same but for now, he accepted her invitation to her window.

Outside, the marina was lit up like a valley of stars. Her eyes reflected the dazzling hues. He tucked a stay strand of hair that danced in the wind behind her ear drawing her eyes to him. The colours played on her cheeks which had a slight blush from the wine from earlier. Enveloped by light dyed in every colour, they drew closer, when the car came to a sudden halt. The frenzy of the passing tinges and the pirouetting wind came to a stop and so did the intoxicating atmosphere. They had wanted to see the marina and beauty of the night, but why did everything they wanted seem to be within these walls of the car, behind the cabman who was now awkwardly asking for his fare, done with the tenth round of third wheeling he had undergone that day.