The next day they had lunch at a small restaurant not far from Amy’s hotel. When Amy came out from the hotel’s front door, John was already standing there waiting for her, hands inside his jacket pockets, he looked even more rugged now as he grew some bear around his jawline. For a moment, Amy had an illusion that she had been back in time, back to that winter when he was waiting for her at the school gate every day.
Everything went smooth during lunch; they both had a lot to catch up with. Amy was now a financial analyst, a career which her father disapproved of yet she went with it. To her surprise, John started up his own furniture company and was doing pretty.
“Do you like the food?” asked John after they left the restaurant.
“It was OK,” she used rather constrain words. For someone who had tried most of the luxury restaurants in the world like her, this small restaurant’s food was not something she’d opt for if given a choice. “And you?”
“With you, everything is good,” John smiled and met her eyes.
Being lost in those deep hazel eyes, Amy’s heart beat faster than ever. “Can we begin again?” Amy started as those words slipped out of her mouth. She regretted immediately. That’s something she shouldn’t have said. She should have gradually got to know him one more time, tested him, observed him see if he still had feelings for her. If he did, then it’s the best time to say those words. But now, Amy didn’t even know if he was with anyone or not. He didn’t even remember her name at first. What made her think he’d agree? Amy wallowed in her own regretful thoughts, realizing that the only thing that hadn’t changed through the years was her poor self-control over anything stamped John-related. At that moment, she quickly became aware of one thing that she had refused to see for years: for so long had she been picky, choosy about who to be with as well as never been really devoted in a relationship wasn’t because she had not found the one but because she had already had one, him. If it wasn’t him, everyone else was just … someone else, they all weren’t John.
After the initial surprise, John looked at Amy for a long time, so long that she thought he was trying to come up with how to reject her politely. “I’m sor…”
“Alright,” John interrupted her. He smiled as he hugged her and touched her hair gently. Amy slightly trembled in his embrace. After ten years, he once again touched her hair. Her hair smelled different from what John remembered. Amy had stopped using the fragrance she used in high school because it reminded her of their happy time together and she just couldn’t stand that.
A week later, Amy turned in her resignation letter, packed her clothes and flew to John’s city. This time, she’s not letting go. After three months of dating, they moved in together. Amy got to know John’s life a little more day by day. John didn’t go to college but with his talent in crafting, he was running his furniture business quite successfully. He practised boxing in his free time and also built wooden house models. They made love, as passionately as in the old days. John still liked grabbing her hair when he did her from behind and his sexy breathing still turned her on crazily, making her embarrassingly wet. The day they moved in together, John gave her a credit card and told her to spend as much as she wished. Amy smiled and put the card in her purse. Although she didn’t receive support from her family anymore and the new job she got here wasn’t as well-paid, she didn’t lack money. Yet she used the card to buy clothes, cosmetics, accessories, all the material things that every woman liked buying and showed them to John. She did it simply because she saw the satisfaction flickering in his eyes every time she told him she spent his money. He had that my-woman-is-spending-my-money kind of pride written on his face.
They hired a cook to cook everyday meals because none of them was capable of such a thing. Amy was once very eager cooking for her man yet the reality wasn’t very pretty as she burnt quite a few things. Finally, they decided that for the sake of their stomachs, a cook would be a good choice, and they dined out at weekends when they had date nights. Sometimes they fought over things like cancelling plans or just simply her being on … PMS and unilaterally waging war on him. Except for these small sour notes, they were quite happy and in harmony.