Photo by Engin Akyurt

What followed was an overture of experiences. Penny and I weren’t in the shadows any more. While the puritanical cages built by society tried to contain us, we were liberated in our spirits. The burden of choice had been lifted from our weary shoulders. Our entanglement just exploded in all dimensions.

The world around us had started to crumble. But we found our paradise in this war zone. The intimacy we felt experienced pinnacles which we didn’t know existed. We were connected on a pure cosmic level that just cannot be explained in words. We understood each others rhythms and together composed symphonies with our bodies. We experienced every part of the spectrum, from tender compassionate times when we made love to dirty raw red room level fucking. It was glorious.

The entire month of her birthday I showered upon her bounties that made her feel the depth and the warmth of my love for her. Like a gentoo, I brought to her uniquely crafted pebbles and placed them at her feet. Making her cry a river of diamonds for the first time ever in her life.

Our love was pure. We wanted to do everything we could to protect it and provide it room for longevity. We walked fourteen miles ascending four thousand stairs till our feet were sore, our thighs chafed, the skin on our napes burnt raw from the unrelenting sun, clothes soaked in sweat, until we reached the summit to prostrate ourselves before the almighty asking him to bless our union. I entrusted her to deliver my wish, my prayer, my promise to Him in return of giving us a path to be together. The holiest experience ever.

Seasons changed and the leaves were shed. We did anything we needed to, to be together. New Year’s Eve came around. We soaked ourselves in gin and tonic. We saw the apathetic couples throng the gardens and looked in each others eyes and realised how blessed we were that our love would always stay in bloom. As she spiralled out of control from the gin, I carried her home, I held her hair as she regurgitated all the poison. Even then, my mind painted a picture of the future to come when she would be throwing up with morning sickness as she bore the seeds of our love.

And then one day, it happened. Baz Luhrmann had it right. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind. The kind that blindsides on you at four o’clock on an idle Tuesday.

Part 7 – Lost in the smoke