my date. Christopher, on the
other hand, did not seem to notice.
Christopher was very interested in the wedding
ceremony and the Greek marital customs. Rose and her Greek friend
from the Language department, whose name I can’t recall, were more
than happy to help him pore over the subject.
After I had waited patiently in the queue for my
turn to congratulate the newly weds, Don approached me and
whispered to my ear.
‘I’ve just had a call from Colin. He’s coming
straight from the airport. I was thinking, Emma, that tonight it
might be a good opportunity for the two of you to get over this
misunderstanding.’
I gave him an angry look, but before I could say
anything, Rose called him to introduce him to a group of Greek
professors.
This unexpected information wiped out the smile
from my face instantly and I felt my temples burn with anger. Why
should Colin come here now? And what was this little plot with Don
suggesting we should work out the misunderstanding? To my eyes,
there was no misunderstanding.
I realized with surprise that after I had used
his thought as a distraction on the first day I had been alone with
Christopher, I had completely forgotten about Colin.
I felt Christopher standing behind me, before I
heard him say
‘What did Don tell you? You look very
upset.’
‘Colin will be at the reception.’ I replied
coldly.
‘Colin?’
‘Colin is my ex. We had been together for
two years until I found out … he was cheating on me.’ These two sentences summarize our little romance
perfectly , I thought. There was nothing else to say.
Colin belonged to the past.
Christopher looked worried and tried to read my
face.
‘So you’d rather we skipped the reception?’ he
asked.
‘No, of course not. I can handle this.’ I was
determined not to let anything or anyone spoil that night.
‘Sure you can. I’ll be next to you the whole
time.’ he smiled reassuringly.
I wondered if he knew that all I cared about was
looking into his eyes and being near him. For the last two weeks, I
had become so used to his presence that I was counting the minutes
until our next meeting. It is true that helping me with my
presentation was for the most part an excuse to meet him everyday,
at least as far as it concerned me. I knew he must have had a
secret agenda about me, but I could live with this, at least for
now. He was probably waiting for the project works to commence to
reveal his true intentions about it, or I should say Brantel’s
intentions, but he had not talked about the project not even once.
I had chosen not to mention the project either, but wait for his
move instead. I liked to think of it as a kind of game, not much
different from a game of chess, only I had offered him the
advantage of the first move. Besides, I had always been obsessed
with mysteries, as they had always been sort of vicarious pleasure
for me. Christopher was my personal mystery.
There were certainly many gaps in Dr Auburn’s
story, I was aware of that, as I was also certain by now that it
had to be a very challenging story, having naively underestimated
any possible danger, of course.
Half an hour later , we were walking into the large garden of
“Xenios Hotel”. A dark haired woman welcomed us and guided us to
the large round table where Tina had arranged for Christopher and
me to be seated, next to Rose, her Greek friend, Harry and his
girlfriend Bessie.
The night was pretty cool and the crystal water
of the large swimming pool on the eastern side of the garden was
sending off a feeling of freshness. The place was filled up with
round tables, covered with white linen tablecloths. I noticed a big
rectangular table, decorated with flowers on the other side of the
garden, which was probably the one for the newly weds and their
families. When the happy couple arrived, fireworks lit up the dark
sky, scaring the birds off the nearby trees and making them fly
frantically among the blazes of color.
Tina was absolutely astounding,
other hand, did not seem to notice.
Christopher was very interested in the wedding
ceremony and the Greek marital customs. Rose and her Greek friend
from the Language department, whose name I can’t recall, were more
than happy to help him pore over the subject.
After I had waited patiently in the queue for my
turn to congratulate the newly weds, Don approached me and
whispered to my ear.
‘I’ve just had a call from Colin. He’s coming
straight from the airport. I was thinking, Emma, that tonight it
might be a good opportunity for the two of you to get over this
misunderstanding.’
I gave him an angry look, but before I could say
anything, Rose called him to introduce him to a group of Greek
professors.
This unexpected information wiped out the smile
from my face instantly and I felt my temples burn with anger. Why
should Colin come here now? And what was this little plot with Don
suggesting we should work out the misunderstanding? To my eyes,
there was no misunderstanding.
I realized with surprise that after I had used
his thought as a distraction on the first day I had been alone with
Christopher, I had completely forgotten about Colin.
I felt Christopher standing behind me, before I
heard him say
‘What did Don tell you? You look very
upset.’
‘Colin will be at the reception.’ I replied
coldly.
‘Colin?’
‘Colin is my ex. We had been together for
two years until I found out … he was cheating on me.’ These two sentences summarize our little romance
perfectly , I thought. There was nothing else to say.
Colin belonged to the past.
Christopher looked worried and tried to read my
face.
‘So you’d rather we skipped the reception?’ he
asked.
‘No, of course not. I can handle this.’ I was
determined not to let anything or anyone spoil that night.
‘Sure you can. I’ll be next to you the whole
time.’ he smiled reassuringly.
I wondered if he knew that all I cared about was
looking into his eyes and being near him. For the last two weeks, I
had become so used to his presence that I was counting the minutes
until our next meeting. It is true that helping me with my
presentation was for the most part an excuse to meet him everyday,
at least as far as it concerned me. I knew he must have had a
secret agenda about me, but I could live with this, at least for
now. He was probably waiting for the project works to commence to
reveal his true intentions about it, or I should say Brantel’s
intentions, but he had not talked about the project not even once.
I had chosen not to mention the project either, but wait for his
move instead. I liked to think of it as a kind of game, not much
different from a game of chess, only I had offered him the
advantage of the first move. Besides, I had always been obsessed
with mysteries, as they had always been sort of vicarious pleasure
for me. Christopher was my personal mystery.
There were certainly many gaps in Dr Auburn’s
story, I was aware of that, as I was also certain by now that it
had to be a very challenging story, having naively underestimated
any possible danger, of course.
Half an hour later , we were walking into the large garden of
“Xenios Hotel”. A dark haired woman welcomed us and guided us to
the large round table where Tina had arranged for Christopher and
me to be seated, next to Rose, her Greek friend, Harry and his
girlfriend Bessie.
The night was pretty cool and the crystal water
of the large swimming pool on the eastern side of the garden was
sending off a feeling of freshness. The place was filled up with
round tables, covered with white linen tablecloths. I noticed a big
rectangular table, decorated with flowers on the other side of the
garden, which was probably the one for the newly weds and their
families. When the happy couple arrived, fireworks lit up the dark
sky, scaring the birds off the nearby trees and making them fly
frantically among the blazes of color.
Tina was absolutely astounding,
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