Michelle had made it very clear that she didn't want me anywhere near her husband. And I got that, I understood her point of view, but it was hard to cut all contact with Brian. I had tried my best, though, because I hadn't answered to any of his calls and I never opened the door for him when he came to my place. But there was one place where I couldn't hide or run away from him and that was the flower shop.

I was alone at work when Brian came in. It had been a rather normal day, not that many customers, and I had sent Mathilda home because of that. I thought I could handle the shop all by myself.

I was in the middle of organizing a customer's wedding flowers when the door opened. I lifted my head up to see who it was and I froze when I saw Brian.

”What are you doing here?” I mumbled, putting the flowers down on the counter.

He walked to the other side of the counter, leaning against it with his hands and looked at me. He seemed to be... Angry? Disappointed? Frustrated? Annoyed? I couldn't really tell.

”What the hell is going on? I've tried calling you, I've been to your place – why won't you answer me? Why are you hiding from me?” he asked me.

”I've come to my senses,” I told him.

”What the hell does that mean?”

”I had a chat with Michelle,” I said, ”And... And, uh, she's not happy. She seemed miserable and I realized that I have no right to ruin anybody's marriage.”

”You have to be bullshitting me,” he muttered and shook his head, ”Is that why you haven't answered me?”

”Yes, that is exactly why.”

”Well, I've missed you.”

”I've missed you, too, but you know what? That's too bad because you happen to be married to somebody else and I'm not going to stick my nose into anybody else's business,” I told him.

”Sophia... I think it's over. My marriage. I've talked to my lawyer already,” he told me quietly.

I opened my mouth but close it right away, realizing that I didn't know what to say. There was pain in his eyes as he spoke and I could tell that he tried really hard not to show it.

”Oh. I didn't realize,” I mumbled after a moment, ”I'm sorry about that, Brian.”

”Don't be sorry,” he shook his head, ”Maybe it just wasn't meant to happen.”

”Maybe,” I nodded.

A customer, an old lady, walked into the shop. I gave her a quick smile as she politely waited for her turn behind Brian.

”Can I meet you after work or something? I'm closing the shop in, like, twenty minutes,” I whispered to him.

He nodded and went to sit on the bench that was on the other side of the shop. The lady took a step forward and I looked at her.

”How may I help you?” I asked her and flashed another smile. She returned a sad smile.

”I need to buy some lilies,” she told me, ”For a funeral.”

”Ah, okay,” I said quietly and wiped the smile off of my face.

While I prepared the lilies for the lady, she told me a story about her daughter, Lily, who had recently passed away. It was such a heart-breaking story that I couldn't help but shed a few tears. Lily hadn't been much older than I was, and the worst was that she hadn't yet got to live her life. She would've had so many years and the whole world in front of her. And it made me really think of my own life. Life was such a fragile thing that could end any second. Anything could happen. I realized that I had to start living and be with my loved ones while I still could.

After the lady had left, I closed the shop. I turned to look at Brian who was texting somebody and laying on the bench. He hadn't even yet noticed that I had closed the shop.

”Brian? Brian!” I exclaimed, trying to pull him out of his thoughts. He flinched and put his phone away and looked at me.

”Are you ready to go?” he asked me as he sat up, ruffling his hair. He yawned.

”Where?”

”I don't know. Somewhere,” he said with a shrug, ”My place? Yours?”

”Isn't Michelle at home?”

”She doesn't live there anymore,” he told me, ”She moved in with her sister.”

”Oh, okay... Let's go there, then?”

I drove in my car behind Brian's car to his house because I could hardly remember where it was. I parked next to him, and got out of the car.

”Don't you think this is a bit too big house for only yourself?” I asked him as I followed him to the front door. He pulled out his keys and opened the door, allowing us to go in.

”Well, you know, I thought that I would some day have a few kids and a wife who would live in here with me...” he mumbled. He led me into the living room and I sat down on a couch.

”So what exactly happened between you and Michelle? Before she moved away?” I asked him as he sat down on the other couch.

”We didn't really even talk about anything. I guess we both just knew that there was no point in continuing this and it'd be better if we just broke up,” he explained,
”And then, you know, she just packed her stuff and left without a word. I called my lawyer who promised to work things out and deal with the divorce.”

”And how do you feel about this? About everything?”

”I don't know... It's hard,” he admitted, ”It's hard knowing that I failed my marriage. I hate myself for doing this to Michelle... It must be humiliating for her.”

”But, you know, maybe it was better this way. Maybe you two weren't meant to be together,” I said quietly. He shrugged.

”I don't believe in those kinds of things,” he told me, ”But I do believe in luck. And I believe I was lucky when I saw you, even if it ruined everything else.”

”But if you some day realize that I'm not what you wanted, will you regret all this? Is there going to be a day that you'll wish that you had never gotten a divorce and taken a risk?” I asked him quietly.

”I don't know and I don't even want to know. But for now, I need to be single. I don't think I can date anybody in a while,” he admitted.

I nodded and flashed a sad smile. But seriously, though, what was I thinking? Of course he wasn't just going to jump into another relationship right after the previous one had failed. I was stupid for ever thinking otherwise.

”Are we ever going to get together?” I asked him quietly.

”I ruined my marriage for you, Sophia. Maybe that answers your question.”

”Yeah, but... You just said that you cannot date anybody in a while. What does that mean?”

”It means that I just fucking broke up with a woman that I dated for five fucking years,” he exclaimed, getting frustrated, ”I don't want to get myself in some situation and later on realize that it was a mistake.”

”That's exactly what I was talking about,” I said, ”I knew that you'd later on regret all this.”

”I know that you have feelings for me. I know that you wish that we could get together but I can't do that. Not yet,” he said quietly.

”Okay, well... Do you want me to leave?” I asked before standing up. He sighed deeply and rubbed his face with his hands.

”Sit down,” he demanded. I shook my head.

”I don't want you to leave. I just... I don't know what to do with you. I can't just put you on hold until I'm ready to be with you, even if I wanted to do that,” he mumbled.

”But I don't want anybody else. I can wait for you to be ready,” I told him.

”You're a beautiful girl, Sophia. I think... I'm afraid that you're going to find somebody else.”

”Brian...” I sighed and sat down on the couch next to him. I rested my hand on his thigh and looked into his eyes.

”I don't want anybody else,” I told him quietly.

He flashed a quick smile before wrapping his arm around my shoulders, pulling me against his side. I rested my head against his shoulder.

”Do you want to get drunk?” he asked me after a moment, ”We could go swimming in the middle of the night. Naked.”

”Am I the kind of a person that goes swimming naked in the middle of the night?”

”Everybody is,” he said and laughed, ”Everybody.”

”Fine... But I don't want to drink,” I told him.

”Why not?”

”Because I don't find it necessary. And I have to be at work at 7AM.”

At 3 in the morning Brian was really, really drunk. I hadn't had anything to drink because I really didn't want to wake up with a hangover.

I had watched the whole night as Brian did stupid stuff and listened as he told me his deepest secrets. And at 3 in the morning, he thought it was time to go swimming in his pool. Naked.

”Come on, Soph, it's not like I haven't seen you naked before,” he told me.

He was already standing by the pool without his clothes. Apparently he didn't care if anybody saw him like that.

”Yeah, but...”

”Don't be such a pussy,” he said, ”I won't laugh.”

”I'm not scared about you laughing!”

”Then what is it? Besides, I'm so drunk that I won't probably even remember this in the morning,” he said and giggled.

I rolled my eyes and started pulling my jeans off. Brian kept watching me until I stood there in my underwear.

”Take them off,” he said with a grin, ”Get naked, woman.”

”Is that really necessary?” I muttered. He nodded.

I finally took off my underwear and for a moment there, we just stood there and stared at each other's bodies.

”You're beautiful. You do know that, don't you?” he murmured to me.

I bit my lip and blushed, looking down at my feet.

”Just, let's get in the water,” I mumbled, ”You go first.”

He shook his head and smirked as he all of a sudden started running to me. He scooped me up into his arms and jumped into the pool, forcing me down with him.

The water was absolutely freezing and I screamed when I got my head above the water.

”You jerk!” I exclaimed and pushed Brian's head under the water again, ”This is so cold!”

Brian lifted his head up and started laughing hard.

”I'm leaving!” I exclaimed, ”I'm getting out of this damn pool!”

”Oh, come on, Soph,” he said as he grabbed my hands underwater and started pulling me close to his naked body.

”Come here,” he murmured, ”I'll warm you up.”

He had pulled me against his body and I wrapped my arms around his neck. We looked into each other's eyes and the surrounding world seemed to disappear. It was only Brian and I, and what we did was the only thing that mattered.

”Can I kiss you?” I whispered really quietly.

He flashed a quick smile and started leaning closer to my face. He held on to my body tightly, grabbing my ass, and making sure I didn't get too cold. I wrapped my legs around his torso and leaned in to kiss his lips.

All of a sudden he pulled us under the water and continued the kiss there. A few seconds later I had to get up for air. I swam to the edge and took a few deep breaths in.

I flinched when I felt Brian's arms on my waist and his whole body against my back. He slid his left hand to my chest, touching my breast softly as he kissed my shoulder. I held on to the edge of the pool and enjoyed the moment.

”Are you still cold?” he whispered into my ear before he started kissing my neck.

I started shaking my head and closed my eyes.

”Do you want to do this?” he murmured, ”Do you want me to take you? Now?”

Oh my god, yes. I wanted it so badly. I thought I had never wanted anything so much in my entire life. But realizing that I wasn't eating pills or anything and we weren't going to use any sort of protection, I didn't think it was a very good idea. I wasn't going to get pregnant if I didn't even have a boyfriend or a steady relationship.

”I'm not on pills,” I whispered and enjoyed the way he kissed my skin with my eyes tightly closed.

”Fuck,” he mumbled, ”You have no idea how much I want you right now.”

”I know, I know,” I mumbled with a sigh, ”I want this, too, but, you know...”

I felt as Brian pulled his whole body away from me. I turned around in the water and watched as he got out of the pool.

He wrapped a towel around his body and pulled me out of the water. He handed me a towel but instead of letting me wrap it around me, he did it for me.

After the towel was around me, he pulled me against his chest and hugged me tightly, burying his face in my wet hair. He kissed the top of my head for a few times.

And all of a sudden, he let out a quiet cry.