Fallen

He knew not what he saw in her eyes, he just knew he wanted more of it. He wanted to gaze deeper into those pools of ebony and onyx and lose himself in them. He wanted to engulf that soft silken body in a passionate embrace. He wanted to kiss and feel each and every inch of her being with his lips and fingers and toes and every other part of his body. He wanted to love her, lust for her, ravish her, caress her. He wanted to do all that and so much more. She was driving him crazy, this comely handmaiden of the gods. He knew not what he saw. But he knew he was lost.

He bent over her sleeping form and brushed a stray tendril of hair away from her face. Even in repose her face aroused so many emotions in him. The temptress had completely enchanted him. It was laughably cinematic, the ultimate dour cynical son of a bitch falling head-over-heels in love. And why wouldn't he! She was one in a million, nay one in a billion. Her name was etched across his soul in words of fire and he didn't want that agony to ever end. She made him feel alive. She made him live a thousand lifetimes in one moment. She was the missing piece of the puzzle, the balm to soothe the ache in his heart. She was his one, his everything! She was his soul mate.

He thought of kissing her velveteen cheeks, but that might awaken her and she looked so very lovely in sleep. He didn't want to mar this picture with his crass human foibles. He carefully let the sheet fall back over her and silently got off the bed. He cinched a robe across his naked body and walked over to the open balcony doors. The sun was only now beginning to peek its head over the horizon. He took a drink from the carafe of water standing on a nearby table and settled himself comfortably on a deck chair, cigarette in hand, to watch the onset of dawn. He did his best thinking with nicotine in his system and there was definitely much to think about.

Where were they headed from here? What did the future hold for the two of them? Was there even a conceivable future where the two of them could be together? Heck, he hadn't factored anything like this in his plans! He'd never believed in love anyway. He was going to be wild and free and careless till it was time for him to settle down, after which he'd find a nice decent woman to settle down with. But then she walked into the front door and threw everything into a tailspin. He just wanted to swoop her off her feet and flee with her to some remote magical fairy tale land where they can live happily ever after. He wanted to settle down now. He wanted to enjoy the routine humdrum life of a married couple. He wanted to experience everything possible in this world with her. She was a part of him now and he a part of hers.

This was not a fairy tale though, not by a long shot. This was the real world, a cruel unforgiving world which scoffed at such fanciful notions. Where were the finances, it'd ask. In fact where's the bloody maturity in all this! Both of you are not ready for anything like this! Just hormones screwing up your thought process buddy, would be the concluding jibe of this tirade. He barely had a plan for his own future; how could he even think of planning for the both of them! This was young love, everything around them was covered in a rosy haze right now. Who's to say that haze might not mutate into something poisonous! Who's to say they won't get bored of each other or wouldn't get attracted to other people! There were myriad number of things that could go wrong here. He should reel back, be rational and objective, take things one step at a time. That's the right way to go about things.

"Good morning sweetheart!"

He emerged from his reverie to see her standing in the doorway, the nascent sun lending her almost ethereal form a blazing fire like that of the seraphim. All his doubts and beliefs and opinions vanished in that one instant. All he could see or hear or even think of was her perfection. He gazed entranced as she floated towards him and settled effortlessly into his lap with her arms around him and her head burrowed into the crook of his shoulder. He automatically started stroking her hair as the sun finally broke free from the clutches of the horizon and emerged gloriously into the lightening skies. With that also lifted the weight from his heart. There was so much that could go wrong, so much that both of them were not prepared for. But it was all worth it, just for moments like this when his heart was glad and his spirit light and giddy. He loved her, loved her with every fibre and sinew of his being, and he'd continue to love her till the earth stopped doing its merry dance around the sun. It was a crazy screwy world anyway, their little bit of craziness wouldn't do much to change that. He was alive, well and truly alive and he'd be damned if he let anything spoil that!

He hugged her tighter and whispered sweet nothings in her ear. She crooned in his shoulder and snuggled even more into his arms. The morning sun, the uncomfortable deck chair, everything lay forgotten in that embrace. Two souls were one, now and forever more...