What a lovely night
-What... What? Did you just say...?- Katherine stared at me, wide-eyed.
-Yes, and I’m not taking it back. I love you, Katherine Mayfair, I love you and I can’t help it.
She cupped my face in her hands and kissed me softly in response.
We spent the night wrapped in each other’s arms, holding on tightly, unable to move. The first thing I noticed when I woke up was Katherine’s soft hair against my face, her faint snores in the background. I smiled and gently kissed the top of her head, debating whether to wake her or not. The first rays of sunlight slipped through the poorly drawn curtains. They lit up parts of the room, casting a miraculous pattern of light and shadows. Her face lay in the path of one of those rays, illuminating her hair and serene features, giving her a virginal, pure, and dreamlike look.
Fascinated, I watched as her expression, which often reflected worry or annoyance, was now serene and calm; she looked like an angel dozing on the clouds.
I could feel the full weight of my love for her, of her love for me. It filled every corner, every nook of the dimly lit room; everything had been touched by our passion. It was like an alternate reality, a bubble separate from the outside world: in it, there was no here or now, but rather just being, free of the weight of time and place. In our little universe, there was no room for problems, no space for worries. The floating specks of dust in the air, the crumpled blankets at the foot of the bed, the scattered books in the corners of the room, our heels tangled together; everything, everything was part of this world of ours.
I wanted to immortalize it, I wanted everything to stay the same. All I wanted was for Katherine to keep sleeping, for the specks not to move, for the blankets not to crease, for the books not to be put back in their place, for the heels not to be worn again.
No, but nothing could remain the same. The world kept turning, people kept growing; God wasn’t going to grant us special privileges, He wasn’t going to stop the world for us. Orson would now be brewing coffee, wondering when I’d be back. Andrew would be stretching as he prepared for a long day of work. Danielle would have dark circles under her eyes as she slowly rocked little Benjamin with one hand and held her belly with the other. Yes, everything continued, everything went on outside our world.
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-Would you like some coffee, darling?- Katherine asked me, holding out a steaming cup.
-Oh, thank you so much, Kat. Exactly what I needed.
-Kat? That’s new.
I shrugged and gave her a mischievous look loaded with meaning. She returned it.
-Mmmh, I slept so well last night. Your mattress is like a cloud… And you don’t move while you sleep, which I appreciate.- I chuckled to myself while sipping my coffee.
-Yeah, me too.- She stretched. -It’s the first night in years I’ve slept straight through.
-What are your plans for today? I was thinking about baking some cookies for Gabi, since I had a… little disagreement with her the other day and wanted to smooth things over.
-Wow, that’s fantastic.
We were both a bit tense, avoiding the inevitable topic looming over us: my return home. However, I decided that the best thing I could do was talk about trivialities to delay my departure as much as possible.
But the world went on, without pause.