Timeless love

by Priscila Serrano

  At five in the morning it was time to pop the bubble they had created hours earlier while their love was the protagonist, while their bodies joined to form a perfect puzzle, while the way they adored each other was so strong it was practically impossible to forget.

  “Elsa, Elsa,” he called while caressing her cheek fondly.

  He still couldn’t believe he had sleep with her. Everything was so surreal, so crazy. He was crazy.

  Elsa stirred and opened her eyes at the same time. She had trouble to focus her eyes because it was still the middle of the night and the basement was quite dark after the candles Stefan had lit up were blown out.

  “What time is it?” she asked sleepily.

  Stefan was looking at her lovingly, because she was still beautiful even after having just woken up.

  “What’s going on?” Elsa got worried.

  “Nothing. It’s just that…” He sighed. “I still can’t believe you are here. I can’t believe you are mine.” He kissed her lips sweetly, so sweetly that he was becoming an addict.

  “I can’t believe it either, Stefan.”

  They joined their lips again, but this time they turned it into something hotter and more intense. Nothing mattered now, not when their bodies had joined, falling in love so wildly that it was impossible to separate them. It was now when the fear to lose what they had took control of that bubble, bursting before them.

  “I have to go back to my bedroom before someone goes there and doesn’t find me,” she claimed, forcing herself to get away from him.

  She got up from the old sofa and started to get dressed under his close gaze. She felt a bit embarrassed and turned around so she didn’t have to see the way Stefan was looking at her, making her feel hot.

  When she finished, she turned again and gave him a kiss before leaving.

  “When can we meet again?” he inquired in a begging voice.

  “Same time tomorrow.”

  After a kiss that made her feel better, she left the basement so stealthily that she seemed to levitate more than walk.

  That was how they started having those meetings, so full of love and passion they felt like they were living in a dream. Nobody else talked about the wedding and Chloe didn’t get in touch with him. Everything was going great. They just had to wait until Elsa’s birthday, when she would reach her legal age. But they still had to wait seven months for that to happen. Before that, it was Stefan’s birthday. Twenty-five years old that separated him even more from her. He hated more and more the time that was taking over their lives and their love.

  They would soon resume their studies, so they would have less time to see each other, but it didn’t matter when their desire was always there. They couldn’t ignore the fact that desire and love was stronger every day. They couldn’t stop meeting and devouring each other’s lips every moment they were alone. Regardless of how difficult their relationship was, they would fight for it.

  London. 2019

  While Alicia and Gian expressed their vows, Elsa and Stefan couldn’t stop staring at each other. When Luka, Elsa’s boyfriend, arrived, they couldn’t stop looking at each other in the same way. Because when they were in the same place, the connection between them was more powerful than any other thing. Nobody else existed. Nobody else was in the church… just Elsa and Stefan, just their love that had woken up from its lethargy without them noticing it. Or maybe it had never been in dormant mode? It was always there, waiting for the moment to bring it forth again.

  Now everything was different. Elsa was older and they wouldn’t have to hide. And even so, he was afraid she would reject him again. What if she did that once more? He wouldn’t be able to bear it when he loved her so much. All those years without her had been the worst ones in his whole existence. Because he couldn’t forget such a love overnight. Because her stare was showing him that she felt the same.

  Chapter 21

  London. 2015

  Time went by as if nothing had happened. Elsa went back to her classes and she had a feeling her last year at school would be really hard. But not even the fact of being overwhelmed by her studies would make her get away from him.

  It was true that Corina tried everything to convince her brother to find Chloe and ask for her forgiveness. Stefan didn’t do it. He couldn’t lie to himself by showing love to a person who was the wrong one. Corina simply made him swear he wasn’t dating Elsa, he wasn’t seeing her, and Corina believed him even if it sounded stupid.

  So everything was good. Trust and skill was all they needed, and they managed to do it. Now all they had to do was talk to Elsa’s father so they wouldn’t need to hide any longer. So they could walk hand in hand in the streets without having to worry whether a friend of the family would see them and tell her father. It was quite stressful, really.

  “Elsa, sweetie, are you there?” sounded her father’s voice.

  She was in the bathroom, getting ready for her first day of class. It was weird for her father to be in the house at that time, since he was a busy man and always left the house very early in the morning.

  “Yes, I’m coming!” she yelled, buttoning the last button of her shirt.

  Elsa got out of her bathroom and found her father sitting at her desk, reading the poems she had written in a notebook. Wide-eyed, she ran to him and snatched the notebook back, feeling scared. Although she didn’t mention a name in particular, it was easy to see that she was in love.

  “Hey, I was reading it!” Leonard exclaimed, jumping to his feet.

  “Didn’t anybody tell you that you cannot read what doesn’t belong to you? Dad, you are a busybody,” she complained, closing the notebook and putting it under her pillow.

  “I’m sorry. I saw it by chance and I realized it was your handwriting, so I couldn’t help but read it. Are you in love, Elsa? Who is the lucky guy? Do I know him?”

  “Too many questions, dad,” she replied, noticing how her cheeks started burning while thinking of Stefan.

  If her father knew, he would kill her.

  “No, dad, I’m not in love.”

  “So how do you explain all that?” he said, pointing at the notebook.

  “Dad,” Elsa sighed, massaging her temples. “Those are only meaningless words. Don’t think there is more than what it is.”

  Her father shrugged, feeling indifferent. Elsa raised an eyebrow. She knew her father quite well and she knew he wouldn’t let it go.

  “By the way, what are you still doing at home?” she asked, getting out of the bedroom after grabbing her bag.

  “I took the day off so I could spend it with Corina. It’s our anniversary today. Remember?” Elsa shook her head. “Well, I want to spend the whole day out of the house. Wish me luck.”

  Elsa started laughing, knowing it was a lost cause, because Corina would never leave her job for so many hours in a row. After wishing her father all the luck in the world, she went downstairs as soon as he entered his wife’s office.

  In the kitchen, she poured herself a glass of orange juice and took small sips. It was too sour.

  “I wonder who did this juice,” she asked to the air.

  “I did,” Stefan replied, entering the kitchen.

  Immediately, a smile appeared in her lips while she blushed. After all the time they had been together, she couldn’t get used to feeling him being hers.

  Her legs started shaking and he was fully aware of everything he made her feel. He approached her slowly and, after giving her a kiss in a corner of her mouth, he served some juice for himself too.

  “How did you sleep? You look beautiful.”

  “Shh, they will hear you.”

  “Who? There is nobody here. Just you and me.”

  She shook her head with a big smile.

  “My father and Corina are upstairs. And I’m sure Alicia is still in the house.”

  Stefan opened his eyes with surprise after knowing his brother-in-law and his sister were still at home. Normally, they were already swamped in their respecti
ve jobs by that time, since their jobs were quite time-consuming.

  He had to go to work too, but he had taken the day off so he could give Elsa a ride to her high school.

  Stefan worked in the Human Resources department in a telecommunications company. He got the job after having done an internship there. Although it wasn’t the kind of company where he aspired to work one day, it allowed him to earn enough money as to save and buy a house to live with Elsa. That was his plan; he just had to execute it.

  “Then we don’t have much time before they all come in here,” Stefan said, getting closer to her and kissing her lips.

  Elsa smiled, feeling the corners of her lips curve up while enjoying that kiss. Stefan pulled her against his body. Even if it was for a split second, he didn’t want to fear being discovered. He wanted to believe they could do it without caring about the consequences.

  When they pulled apart, they stared into the other’s eyes and sighed in unison. And right at that moment, when they supposed nobody would catch them, Alicia stopped in her tracks, watching the evidence of their lies. They had taken her for stupid, denying they had what it was more than obvious they had. So they were still together despite having sworn they weren’t.

  “I’ll wait for you in the basement tonight at the same time as usual,” Stefan muttered, getting away from her unwillingly.

  Alicia couldn’t do more than turn around and leave. She wouldn’t do well that day at the university, since she wouldn’t be able to stop thinking about what she had seen.

  Elsa received a last kiss before feeling her lips empty again, and she watched Stefan leave.

  The day passed by uneventfully. Going back to routine hadn’t been so bad. Elsa had a million things to do and it had just been her first day, but since it was her last year before going to the university, she couldn’t expect to go back home without having four papers to write for the next few weeks.

  She spent the whole afternoon in her bedroom and, in the evening, she went downstairs to have dinner with her family.

  “How was your first day, honey?” her father asked.

  “Fine…” She lowered her head with a sigh. “Stressful.”

  Her father smiled while the others started arriving to sit down and start having dinner. Having dinner all together was practically a tradition, and Leonard was proud of that. As soon as Elsa started studying at the university, she would move away from home and that would separate him from his daughter forever.

  While Corina and her father were talking in a lively way, Stefan and Elsa were looking at each other every time they could, just a quick glance, since Alicia was paying attention to their every movement and was making them nervous.

  When they finished eating and they cleaned up the table, everybody headed to their own bedrooms to enjoy a bit of privacy, and some peace and quiet. About two in the morning, when everybody was already sleeping, Elsa and Stefan headed to the basement. Although they didn’t go there together, they arrived at the same time. They were going to start talking when, after entering, they noticed the tiny fairy lights Stefan had installed to make the place look more romantic and cozy were on. A silhouette sitting on the sofa was waiting for them, one leg swinging tirelessly.

  As soon as she heard them, Alicia stood up and glared at them, leaving them completely paralyzed.

  “Alicia,” Elsa said in an almost inaudible whisper.

  “Yes, Elsa.” She shook her head looking down, because she couldn’t look them in the eyes. “I can’t believe you two have been playing us all this time.”

  “Ali,” Stefan intervened.

  “No, uncle. Don’t Ali me,” she snorted angrily. “I’m very disappointed in you two. I thought you had reconsidered the situation. Both of you know this cannot be.”

  “I don’t understand why it cannot be. Is it that our love is a forbidden one? Yes, he is eight years older than me, but…”

  Elsa’s voice sounded strangled, bitter, but not even that would make Alicia accept their relationship.

  “You don’t understand, Elsa. It’s not just the age difference, for fuck’s sake. You are almost family. I cannot believe it! Uncle Stefan,” she addressed him, staring at him. “You’ve seen her grow, you knew her mother… she was a little girl the first time you saw her. Have you already forgotten?”

  “No, I cannot forget it.”

  “And you, Elsa. How many of my uncle’s girlfriends have you met?” She didn’t reply. “Do you think your father will accept this?” she pointed at them.

  No, he wasn’t going to accept it, but that wasn’t a reason to leave her feelings aside. Why did everything have to be so difficult? They just wanted to be together, loving each other without problems, without hiding. It was obvious that was something that would never happen, not unless Alicia kept her mouth shut and wouldn’t rat them out.

  “Of course he won’t accept it. In the same way as my mother and I cannot see you together, he won’t be able to do it. It would be better if you put an end to this and go on with your respective lives. I’m asking you for the sake of the family.”

  Alicia was suffering. Just like them, she also had a heart and knew how much love could hurt, but it wasn’t enough reason to accept something that had an expiration date. Her motto was Love is a disease and the best solution is to extirpate it before it is too late. That was what she was trying to do with them, since it was better to prevent than cure.

  “What if I don’t want to?” Elsa said when her words finally found enough courage as to get out.

  “I will tell your father and he will be the one who will put an end to this madness.” Elsa looked at her compassionately. “Look, Elsa, I don’t want you to suffer, but you know this won’t end well. Both of you know.”

  After that conversation when Alicia destroyed Elsa’s soul and broke Stefan’s heart in a million pieces, they were there alone. Now they should talk about what they would do. If the best solution was that she told her father the truth or that Stefan left so they could go on with their lives, they didn’t know. It was two options to consider and only one of them would be the chosen one. Although both of them would hurt after that.

  They kept on thinking, talking to each other with their eyes, as if that was enough. Sometimes it was, but not that night.

  The darkness of the night was their ally. Lit up by the tiny fairy lights that only allowed them to look into each other’s eyes, their hearts were beating so strongly that they could hear it without problems. They looked at each other again, since they had looked down for a second. Their eyes said more than their mouths could ever express. Their story was a wonderful and damned mistake that would cost their family’s happiness. Elsa couldn’t let her father getting hurt after everything he had suffered with her mother’s death.

  “Alicia is right, Stefan,” she sobbed. “I think you should leave.”

  It was for the better. Let time pass, hours changing into days, and days turning into weeks. Although it didn’t matter the time; she knew she would love him forever, thinking of him as the greatest love in her life.

  “I don’t want to leave,” he declared, grazing her lips with his.

  She wanted to tie him up right that moment so he couldn’t leave, but he had to go.

  “You must do it. For you, for me. For everyone.”

  “Ask me to stay and I will. Ask me to fight for you, Elsa. Ask me.”

  She stayed silent. In his mind, he was begging her to do it. She opened her mouth, ready to talk, and he thought she would say what he was thinking. But no. She didn’t say that at all and she hated herself for hurting him.

  “Go, Stefan. Leave and never come back.”

  She pulled away from him and left the basement like a bat out of hell, but leaving her heart and soul locked in his chest, knowing they would always stay there.

  London. 2015

  The feeling of loss had taken lodge in her chest, choking her every minute like the next one would be the last one in her life. Elsa was staring out of the
window, watching the only man she could ever love in her life get away from her.

  Stefan was leaving. He accepted what she had asked him because she wasn’t brave enough as to face her father and declare what she had been hiding for months: her love for the man who was a fake uncle, since she would never see him as such. He looked up, noticing he was being watched, and saw her. The pain he felt at seeing her state was worse than listening from her lips how she asked him to leave.

  Elsa was wiping her tears without caring about any other thing except for seeing him leave. Was she a masochist? Possibly. She enjoyed feeling like that, wallowing in the misery that beautiful but disastrous love had left in the wake.

  When Stefan entered the car, encouraged by his sister, Elsa touched the glass in her window. It was a way to feel he was touching her, touching her hand, entwining their fingers. She felt a shiver as soon as he raised his hand and blew her a kiss, caring very little if somebody could see him. He entered the car and his sister drove him to the airport.

  That was the last time she saw him. That day she discovered she would never smile again, not like she smiled when she was with him… not like before.

  Chapter 22

  London. 2019

  The ceremony finished and the newlyweds kissed with all the love they felt for each other. It was obvious how much they loved each other. All the guests, including the maid of honor and the best man, left the church to wait for them outside and throw petals and confetti at them. Elsa and Stefan stayed in a corner, very close to each other, and their bodies reacted with every slightest brush.

  Luka got angry when he discovered she was next to Stefan. Even though he knew there was a possibility of Stefan going to the wedding, he had still hoped he wouldn’t do it. Elsa and Luka had been in a relationship for a year now, and it had been very difficult for him to get Elsa to open up to him, being completely honest with him. She had told him everything about Stefan, including her feelings for him. No matter how many years would pass, they would love each other forever and that was something nobody could prevent. And just because of that, Luka needed to make her be away from Stefan.