“Julia?”

“Hmm..”

“Do you love me?”

The question transported me back to eighth grade when someone else had asked me the same question. I was so scared at the time that I had blurted “Yes” quite hurriedly. Now though, I took my time and toed the pebbles at my feet. Did I love this woman? Okay, let me start at the beginning.

***

It had been quite a humid morning, it was probably going to rain and so I doubled back to get my yellow umbrella. Well, that damned umbrella changed everything. As I doubled back, it started to pour. It seemed the heavens had opened up and there was no ‘stop’ button.

As I turned a corner, my eyes fell on a girl. She was wearing a yellow dress, the colour matched my umbrella’s but her beauty matched no other woman’s that I had latched my eyes on.

She looked my way and I felt a strong, sudden connection. I should’ve walked on; I was late for my office. But that’s not what I did, instead, I offered the beautiful woman some space in my umbrella. We walked on in silence; both not knowing where we were heading.

I saw a coffee shop and nodded towards it, she gave the slightest of nods and we walked into it. After I left my umbrella at the stand in front of the billing counter, she grabbed my hand and pulled me towards a table at the corner, next to the foggy window.

And so started our torrential affair. We were hot and cold. We fought like crazy but then made up soon after. She taught me the true meaning of makeup sex.

We didn’t know what the other people of lives were up to, and frankly, we didn’t care. All-day long we’d text each other from our workplace and then spend the nights together. Lately, I’d been getting a lot of complaints at work; I was sloppy and mismanaged. I hadn’t turned in reports that had been due days ago.

The real problem started however when she moved in. I didn’t even realise when she’d done that; now I was sharing my closet space with her. She’d somehow made a duplicate of my keys. I couldn’t take it; it was moving too fast.

That’s when she dropped the ‘L’ bomb. What could I say to her? I told her the truth, a whispered “No” and walked away.

On my way back, it started raining. I ended up at the same café, the one where she and I had had our first date. To my surprise, I saw my yellow umbrella right there in the stand, sitting there all innocently.

I walked out with just my coffee.