Giorgio

Roma, January 2012

Here I am. Thirty five years old. My 'husband's' hand laying on my warm shoulder. Our three years old son sleeping in the next room. I am surrounded by my friends and am having a lovely evening.

Him, he is seated across the room from me. I just met him few moments ago. He is looking at me. He smiles at me. As soon as he opens his mouth tears spring in my eyes. His voice is a balm. His words are a melody. His gestures are a silent ballet. His clothes are a drape that render modesty to his sensuality.

He must be around twenty years old. There is a spark in his eye and he makes me infinitely sad with joy. The joy of meeting him. The sadness of not being able to belong to him right here, right now.

A few lectures about soulmates come up in my mind.

We come from different continents. We are at a meeting place two thirds away from his country and one third from mine.  Nonetheless, I feel him more familiar than my husband who is softly caressing my arm. I feel even closer to him than to my best friend who is sitting somewhere in the room.

At a certain point we discover our common passion for Russian. We abandon the others as we pursue a conversation incomprehensible to all the others as there is no Russian model at the party tonight...

My best friend makes me understand I'm stepping out of the line. My husband, completely under my spell, doesn't mind at all. Blood starts hammering in my temples as soon as he sat face to me and it won't stop beating. My cheeks are burning.

I stand up to open the window for some air. I bend down to pick up a paper drifted to the floor. As I stand back up, my head hits against the corner of the window frame. It used to happen to me quite often when I was a kid, but never with this strength.

I fell flat to the ground and only woke up at the hospital in my husband's arms. He is somewhere in the waiting room. I feel his gaze totally conscious of his part of responsibility for my loss of concentration  that lead to this accident...

Three stitches and a part of my head shaved.