As Marcela watched the leaves drop from the trees, marking the arrival of autumn in Paris, she could not help but ponder why her life could not be as seamless as the change of seasons. Her daily thoughts of Daniel’s proposition from the past summer remained in her mind like some sort of background music to her daily life, but unfortunately, she was still unsure if she would accept his offer. Nonetheless, life needed to continue its course, and she had to get to work.

As Marcela walked to work at the university, she saw a familiar face. It was her former student (and lover), Marcel. She saw him dressed in a suit and apparently on his way to work. As she saw him walk in her direction, she could not help but think of how he unintentionally caused her to stray from her ethics and almost have a heart attack due to a misunderstanding.

Marcela still remembered clearly (although over a year ago) how she mistook him for another student she saw on her class roster and thought he was only 21 years old. Although he was one of her students, he was a different Marcel, who was 26 at the time, which made her feel a little better about their previous intimate encounter. She also remembered how she asked him to stay after class to explain how their “encounter” could never happen again, but he continued to pursue her, and in time, she surrendered to him, which led to them having a brief and casual romantic relationship, which Marcela put an end to since she thought it was inappropriate. Shortly thereafter, she met Leo while on vacation in Portugal, and their relationship began and lasted for a few months, so she had not seen Marcel since their last encounter more than half a year ago.

As they approached each other, Marcel started smiling at her, so Marcela knew there was no way of avoiding a conversation with him. Although one would think this would be an awkward conversation, it was not. Marcel had a knack for removing any type of awkwardness from situations. Even though she would not outwardly admit it, Marcela loved this light-hearted way he had, a rarity in most men. They began walking and talking like no time had passed, and more importantly, smiling. He told her how he was working as a journalist for a local newspaper, and by the end of the conversation, he asked her to dinner, and she accepted his offer.

Marcela decided to meet Marcel at the restaurant with the hopeless intention that she would go home by herself that night. He greeted her with roses, her favorite flower, and they enjoyed a romantic dinner and thereafter a beautiful walk through the breathtaking City of Lights. As she walked hand in hand with him in their city, their home, she realized the comfort he gave her by simply being close to her in every aspect, especially that he lived so close to her; he was there. In most of her relationships in the past few years, which were long-distance, she felt that the distance was uncomfortable at times, which caused her to feel sad and lonely. Jet-setting was fun for vacation, not for relationships, but she only had herself to blame for that. After being in a failed marriage where she shared everything with someone, she wanted her space and to somehow create a distance between her daily life and her love life, but that’s not how love works.

As the night came to an end, they arrived at Marcela’s apartment building. Marcel stared deep into Marcela’s dark eyes and then leaned over and kissed her, and what a kiss it was! Marcela was almost literally knocked off her feet as she began to walk backward toward her building. They unlocked their lips, smiled at each other, and walked inside.

When Marcela woke up the next morning with Marcel by her side, she looked over and was still in somewhat of a trance from what had happened the night before. Everything just felt so great with him, but she had already booked her flight to New York to see Daniel before her “re-encounter” with Marcel. She had to let Marcel know, but just how much should she let him know?

When Marcel woke up, he walked into the kitchen and saw Marcela cooking a nice breakfast for him. When they sat down to eat, she let him know that she would be traveling to New York in a month to visit her family. He understood, but they both discussed that they would continue to see each other to see where things would go and give it a solid shot this time. Marcela had finally let go of her inhibition about his age and decided to just follow her heart.

In the month leading to her impending travel, Marcela felt happier with Marcel than she had with anyone else in years. It was a beautiful thing to have someone so close to her: mentally, emotionally, and physically. She had finally demolished her emotional barriers, which prevented closeness, and it proved to be the right thing to do, but what would happen in New York with Daniel? Was the happiness she felt with Marcel more important and powerful than the years of long-distance rendezvous with Daniel? Whereas Daniel made more sense in terms of age, what would happen after his work project was finished in New York? Would he leave again, and would she be once again on and off planes coordinating when they could see each other again? Would Marcel grow tired of her as they age together, but at different points in their lives?

These were the questions in her head that only she had the answers to and would ultimately need to answer once she arrived in New York. Although she and Marcel did not establish any official titles in their relationship, she knew for a fact that he was not involved with anyone else, and when they made love, she could feel how much he was in love with her, even though he hadn’t said it yet. With all this unspoken knowledge, she would feel terribly guilty if she were intimate with Daniel while in New York.

When Marcel left Marcela at the airport, he gave her a big kiss and said he would miss her terribly as she would be gone for ten days, and she truthfully reciprocated her feelings. She hated the thought of being away from him for two weekends, considering how much fun they have with each other. Although very secure in herself, she hoped her absence wouldn’t leave any room for anything to go wrong in their relationship. In realizing that this was a fear for her as she walked away from him in the airport, she realized she had fallen in love with him.

The plane landed, and Daniel arrived with his handsome smile and a dozen roses. She saw him, but he didn’t see her. She just could not confront him, so she hid somewhere and called him to let him know that her flight was delayed and that she was terribly sorry, but she didn’t want to make him wait. He completely understood and said that it was better that they meet for dinner and that he had already made the reservation.

While in her hotel room and getting ready for her dinner with Daniel, Marcela was not prepared mentally; she did not know how that night was going to end. If she “cheated” on Marcel, she would have marred something clean and pure. On the other hand, this was Daniel, a man with charm that made it almost impossible for the strongest woman to resist him, and above all, they had quite a history together. Although, as she thought deeper about it, there was a lot of work put into their encounters, but with Marcel, things were organic; it was the opposite – while Marcel was following her, she was following Daniel. This was hard for her to admit, but she wanted to be followed, not the one doing the following.

Marcela greeted Daniel seriously when they met at the restaurant, which he already sensed was out of character for her. They caught up, talked about a few things, and then she didn’t feel well. She went into the bathroom and started throwing up. She returned to the table, explained to him what happened, and called it an early night, but would let him know when they would be able to meet again. That night, she had a video chat with Marcel and realized just how much she missed him.

Feeling a little better and rested, Marcela called Daniel and let him know that there was a work emergency, and she needed to travel immediately back to Paris. She didn’t know if he believed her or not, but before she could say anything further, he said that although he was supposed to be in New York for a long-term project, they had changed his assignment, so he would be leaving New York in two weeks to work on a project in Panama. Marcela didn’t know if he was telling the truth either, but his response was very convenient for her. Given Daniel’s casual and cool attitude, she joked that maybe it just wasn’t meant to be for them, and he quietly agreed. Shortly thereafter, the phone conversation ended, and Marcela felt that would be the last time she spoke with Daniel. Although shaken up for a few moments, she felt that it was the right choice for her life.

Marcela didn’t leave New York to return to Paris that day. Instead, for the duration of her trip, she visited her family and friends and had an amazing time with them as she bid farewell to the Big Apple, her former home.

On her return flight to Paris, Marcela began to feel nauseous again, and then she realized that her period was late! With all the commotion of the trip, she had lost track of time.

When Marcela entered her apartment in Paris, she dropped off her luggage and hurried over to the pharmacy to purchase a pregnancy test. Marcel called her that evening, and it was so hard for her to hide anything from him, so she told him what was going on. He had a unique reaction of both nerves and excitement, and he told her he would stop by before work so that he could be there when she took the test. She had immediately felt calmer.

As they looked at each other and awaited the results, Marcel told her that everything would be fine no matter what the outcome was. He told her he loved her, and she told him she loved him. At the very moment, as she looked into his eyes, she knew there would be no more brief encounters.