In Three Days

The memory could never be dissipated or scattered by time because it was about a person. Not any person. A special person.

I walked alone down the poorly lit alley. The row of multi-storey century-old red-brick Georgian houses which followed the curve of the alley made me feel as though I stood in the centre of the world. A shining star spot lit me as I bounced forward, my Dr. Martens pounding the pavement rhymically. The Irish winter night was cold, but my light jacket, my favourite, and my brisk pace kept me warm. The anticipation of what was going to happen next caused a funny sensation in the chest, as did the person who I was meeting.

We had met each other briefly several times before that night. I delivered a bookshelf to her small rented flat in Rathmines. The bookshelf was the only piece of furniture my sister had left behind after moving to London a few months earlier to further her studies. Afterward, we had a chance meeting at Swan Centre’s Dunnes Stores, where I was doing my grocery shopping after a customary Sunday lunch visit with a few cousins. Her outfit of an oversized orange jumper under a thick green jacket, loose carrot jeans and white sneakers, sweet and minimal, made her stand out in the crowd. 

"She is my cousin." I explained after realizing that she noticed the girl with me. What I was really saying was: “The person with me isn’t my girlfriend.” She got the message, which she told me later.

My guardian cousin, who had met her on a ferry ride to London for the Christmas breaks, also became enamoured of her. “What a lovely girl she is. The best thing about her is her soft personality. But, she seems weak and a little frail. But, she is still a good choice for you.” Cousin just couldn’t stop talking about her.

As soon as I hung my jacket up in the hallway, I froze up. That winter night, she looked sweetly different. I was too tongue tied to ask her about herself beyond an awkward, meaningless exchange. We had this strange yet familiar connection, a connection with the actual ‘blood and flesh’ version of the imagery that filled my dreams and thoughts. She was an energy field and I could feel her wherever she was, whatever she was doing, whoever she was talking to. Her soft-spoken voice, her sweet scent, her otherworldliness. Her curious gaze studying me secretly. Even when she was talking to this talking-too-much, talking-too-big boy who claimed to be a medical student at a prestigious Irish university, she would steal a glimpse of me every now and then. Merely being in her presence, with or without words, gave me an immensely comforting feeling.

She asked me to walk her home after the party and not my rival for her attention. With an evil intention, he intercepted us and offered, “I am going in the same direction. You are not!” What he was really saying was: “Don’t follow us!” I yielded. But, the clear disappointment in her eyes was enough to fan the growing flames. An equally shared sense of disappointment didn’t consume me because she said yes to a date with me beforehand. 

I invited her over to my place the following morning. We spent the whole day together, listening to my favourite song, “Spanish Romance.” I played the guitar I brought with me from home, thousands of miles away, performing with feeling and emotion, an exam-grade performance Mr Wong my strict teacher would marvel at, as if I had learned classical guitar all the while for that very moment. I made her my favorite meal, Nissin Beef Noodles cooked with fresh diced beef. We shared values, priorities, family, life, and everything. We were lost in time, neither of us wanting to stop or move in case we broke that magical moment. The world was our own. We seemed to be the only people here, on earth or in heaven.

Later we strolled along the seafront of Sandymount Beach, savouring the winter afternoon. The water subsided to unveil a huge mass of land underneath, the romantic colors of the land creating a fantastic contrast to the beautiful sky. We walked slowly towards the sea beyond the endless distance, hand in hand, heart to heart. An intense feeling of strong affection filled the fresh, cool air. Even the noisy seagulls parted around us to give us space. Waiting not a second, I asked her a life-changing question, the most important in life: “Would you spend the rest of your life with me?” She didn’t say yes. Neither did she say no. With joy and tears, she mumbled a few words like: “We hardly know each other.” But, those eyes say it all.

A definite yes! As I tried to contemplate what she said as well as what I felt, a deep sense of contentment spread through my spinal cord quickly before it took hold of my body and then brought perpetual peace into my heart and soul. This was the 3rd day of our 32 years of life journey together. Marrying her two years later was the best decision I have ever made.