"When? How?"
"Crystal what's going on, who's had an accident?" inquired her friends, worried in their turn, especially noting their friend's appalled expression.
"This person…He had an accident, I'll tell you about the wedding organization later," she promised them before turning back to Leandro.
"So, Leo, tell me everything. When and how? And how is he now?"
"It was just four months ago. He'd been dating Leonie for two years, and they too had decided to get married, then he left for Brazil on a three-month educational exchange. I don't know what happened there, but he split up with Leonie while he was there. She was obviously heartbroken, and confided in me... "
"That sounds strangely familiar," Crystal cut him off, unable to refrain from fierce irony.
"You see, you're completely over it. Leonie in her own way, since they're back together."
"What? That guy offers second chances!"
"He's changed with age, shall we say..."
"Anyway, so what?"
"Nobody knew he'd come back from Brazil, and it was even by the merest chance that me and Leonie had learned of his accident. He lost his memory in that car accident, but they're trying to rebuild a story on a new basis, and it looked like it would hold a lot of promise, however, I can't help but be worried."
He shrugged.
"They're my friends, after all. And so are you. Well," he resumed, kissing her cheek. "I'm going to go join her."
"Okay. Give me some news, please."
Leandro's gaze was almost insulting.
"Oh, please, there's nothing between us anymore, and for nothing in the world would I wish to return to him or wish him harm, but he still mattered."
"If you say so. Well, I promise, I'll let you know how it goes."
"Thanks."
Leandro went to join this person's fiancé, if she could still be called that since he'd only come back to her because he'd lost his memory.
She went to sit back down with her friends, friends who were clearly chomping at the bit for the story. When Crystal, with visible melancholy, told them what had happened to this person whose identity only Fiona didn't know, they were obviously mortified, for Crystal's three high-school friends, despite the end of her love affair with this person, had really liked him. But fortunately for the young woman and her new love, they liked this one too, and were very happy for her, for both of them.
"So this..."
"No, don't say his name, Fiona. I hate him."
Fiona looked at the others and nodded with a rather comical grimace.
"So, this we-know-who, though not "Voldemort", he was your last love."
"My first love," Crystal corrected. "My true first love."
"Ah!" exclaimed Fiona as she rested her head on her clasped hands, her gaze dreamy. "The unforgettable first love, the very first stirring of body and heart, and the memory of which accompanies us until death."
"One more word and I'll gut you," Crystal warned her with a stern face.
"But I've had one too, Crystal," her friend pointed out with a soothing smile. "Everyone's had one. Well, everyone who's halfway normal. "And you never forget. But that's life. That's what makes it so beautiful."
"Well said, my darling," said one of the trio, "I'll even drink to those wise words."
Crystal nodded as she turned back to Leandro and her ex's new love, who were talking to each other in whispers and clasping hands. Leonie had even laid her head on Leandro's shoulder. Perhaps the latter no longer felt simple friendship for the young woman, but this image reminded her so much of another. She, too, remembered perfectly those agonizing days when she'd rested her head on those broad, reassuring shoulders, only to find better ones and decide to marry him, for better or for worse.
"It's normal, you know, to be worried. We are too," said her friends, noting the look on her face, but making no comment whatsoever.
"I know." she replied with a sigh and a veiled look, "it's just that..."
"...that you never imagined you could be so," her florist friend finished for her.
Crystal nodded again before finishing her mojito in one gulp.
Yes, she thought as she changed the subject, she would never have believed, not even in her wildest dreams, that she would ever feel that way again about this person, this dreadful worry and pain. But she did. Only this time, nothing would ever be the same again, as it had been when they first met. She was hurting and sorry, but she'd never come back.
That evening, when she returned to their apartment in a quiet, high-rise neighborhood with a surprising view of the magical city, she already felt much better. She knew it. All she needed was to let a little time pass between this terrible news and herself, and above all to find her home and her love, and everything would be back to normal. Speaking of the latter, she was just getting out of her bath when he returned from work. He was a brilliant real estate agent, and had already received several awards for his services, because more than selling at any price, for her Nathan, the most important thing was to sell according to his customers' taste, even if the premium had to be lower, which is why he became, to her great astonishment, but not to his fiancée's, even more popular and richer by being just as professional and adorable, in short, by simply being what he was with his customers. They all trusted him and recommended him to all their friends and relations. It had even come to Nathan's attention now that he had to turn down a few customers and even postpone appointment dates due to a hectic schedule.
Oh, Crystal thought, an irresistible smile on her face and her heart in celebration, she loved him so much, she would always love him she was sure. She was so looking forward to exchanging the sacred vows of marriage with him and wished she could live happily with him for the rest of her life. As soon as she saw him, so handsome with his soft, almost blond hair, his water-green eyes and looking at her so lovingly, she couldn't hold back and ran to him to exchange a long kiss as passionate as it was grateful. Yes, she was, deeply, infinitely so in love, for although Leandro was a great help in her mourning for her first love, it was her Nathan, her great love of her own who saved her and gave her a new life.
"I love you so much." Nathan, she whispered in his ear before biting him sensually.
Nathan, for his part, carried her precious burden to their bedroom, kissing and sucking tenderly on her neck and shoulders, undressing her while also getting rid of his clothes, which had become too cumbersome.
He laid the young woman on the bed, admiring her and making sure he was naked as quickly as possible, before disposing of the remains of his fiancée's clothes.
They loved each other that evening as they had loved each other from the very first moment, but something had changed, something still imperceptible to both of them, but it was there.
When the lovers tried to catch their breath, tenderly entwined in each other's arms, they waited in complicit silence until they could speak without running out of breath, then Crystal raised herself slightly to see the face of the man she loved, and looked at him with all the love she was capable of, then kissed his chest.
"I love you."
"I love you too, my darling," he replied, caressing her shoulders and face.
She sighed with happiness.
"How was your day?" he continued, settling a little more against his fiancée.