Putting love on a test (Chapter 5)

Anika´s fantasy quickly came true. Right then, Steve and she sat in a bakery, talking about random thoughts that invaded Anika´s mind. Like so many times before. “We should test the power of our love!”. “What do you mean?”, Steve was used to Anika´s spontaneous ideas, and this sounded interesting. “Well…”, she began, “just imagine. A city like New York, millions of citizens and tourists, a city full of people! Would our love be strong enough to guide us to find each other in the middle of this populous tumult?”, she made it sound like the intro to a reality show. Steve laughed, while he poured some sugar into his coffee.: “Interesting. Please, continue”. “Okay, so we have a whole afternoon to get lost in New York’s neighborhoods. A whole afternoon alone, exploring the city. We would have time until, let’s say 8 pm. Will we find each other? Would fate bring us together like the first time? We would not be allowed to use our phones of course or communicate. It’s pure trust in the power of our love, which will bring us together”, she romanticized. Steve[CS1]  tried to understand: “So, you mean we run around New York City, pretending we were old friends who didn’t come here together, and try to see if we would casually bump into each other?”. “Yeah!”, she said. “Hmm”, Steve was thinking. Steve was a relaxed guy, and he was always up to everything Anika proposed. He might have preferred to spend the day together with Anika, but maybe Anika needed some time to herself he thought. “It sounds interesting”, he finally said. “ To be honest it’s a weird idea. But you always come up with weird ideas, so that’s nothing new”, he laughed. “I know”. Anika smiled. She was well aware of that, and she liked how Steve never seemed to mind that she always came up with crazy ideas. In fact, he always seemed to enjoy it, and that’s what she loved about him. He made it so easy for her to just be herself.

“So?”, Anika asked still waiting for an answer. “So, what if”, Steve built up some tension, “what if a good-looking stranger-woman approaches me while I, a good-looking, handsome single man, walk along New York streets?”, he asked with a playful smile on his mouth. Anika used the same playful, yet serious tone, and answered with confidence.: “Well, in that case, you have the whole afternoon. You’re a free man. Single. We are only old friends, who haven’t seen each other in a while, we’re not yet a couple. Take her out on a date and flirt a little until you leave her, a little disappointed because deep inside you know there was no spark. And then we eventually meet, and you momentarily realize that this is the woman you were searching for your whole life. You immediately fall in love”. Anika was smiling confidently. She was one with her role already. She knew it was all part of the game so she didn´t mind. She knew about his love for her, and about her own love for him. She wasn´t scared at all. Steve played along. “I see, it’s all part of the game”. He took a sip of his coffee and smirked. When Anika mirrored this facial expression and nodded, it was set. They would test their love. “Okay then. We have one day to test fate and see if we find each other in a million-city, just like the first day, pretending we were both still single”, he summed up. “Right.”, she agreed. Deal.