“Well Ariel, how's the water?”

I was greeted by a sleepy Valeria, who only looked at me out of one half-open eye.

“More importantly, how's the prince?” Ariana added, grinning at me.

“Yes, I've seen everything from afar. At first I wanted to come and ask if everything was okay. But then I saw that you've already had some great help.”

She made her voice sound extra insinuating.

“Haha,” I said sarcastically, dropped my wet clothes on the floor next to her as punishment, to which she protested briefly, and then dried myself off.

Then I lay back down with the others, grabbed my book and tried to read. But I gave up when I realized that my head had other things on my mind at the moment.

After I saw a message on my cell phone from Reese saying Hey, how are you? Can we talk? I'll see you Monday, right? I put that away too and closed my eyes. I listened to the music, which had now returned to Ed Sheeran - my goodness, this guy was so famous that almost every playlist came to him at some point - and suppressed my guilty conscience. I knew I was treating Reese unfairly. It wasn't his fault and it wasn't mine. Not entirely. All in all, my pride had taken a big dent. And I also knew how childish it was and I shouldn't throw away my relationship because of it.

But still, the whole situation had revealed something that I thought would have come to light eventually anyway. It wouldn't have worked if Reese needed more than the relationship and I apparently wasn't everything, couldn't give him everything. Of course, my method hadn't been fair, I really could have handled the whole thing differently, I knew that. And as soon as my ego had recovered and my feelings had calmed down, I would apologize to him too. I was aware of all that. And yet - in the end, he would be better off looking for something that suited him better. At least that's what I believed.

“Well darling, how was it?” my mother greeted me after Ariana had dropped me off outside the house with a kiss on the cheek with the words “See you later? I'm looking forward to it.”

We'd played two more rounds of cards earlier at the swimming pool and then, as the sun began to fade and turn from yellow to orange, we'd set off. By now it was dark and I stood in front of my mother's outstretched arms, my hair tousled but dry. I gave her a quick hug.

“Very nice, we played cards and everything. It was really great. Do I have time to take a shower?” She nodded.

“Ravi will be here soon, he had to work today.”

“Oh, what's he working on a Saturday?” I slipped off my sandals.

“He can tell you that in a minute. Then you'll have something to talk about.” She grinned.

I went into the bathroom, turned the shower on hot and slipped out of my clothes. Although we'd already spent the whole day in the heat and water, it felt good to wash the day away - the sweat, the heat, the swimming pool.

Refreshed, I dried myself off with a big fluffy towel, quickly slipped into my room and got dressed. I opted for a comfortable pair of light-colored linen pants, a white T-shirt and a gold hair clip that would keep my annoying hair out of my face.

When I was almost ready, I heard voices from downstairs, my mother laughing and another darker voice I didn't recognize yet. It had to be Ravi.

I tried not to eavesdrop but concentrated on neatly applying my lip balm, which stained my lips slightly red. When I had finished, I sprayed myself with deodorant and then closed the door behind me.

The voices were clearer now and I walked towards the stairs with a slightly faster heartbeat.

Of course I was a little excited, but why shouldn't I be?

After all, it was a man who was apparently important to my mother, so I automatically wanted us to get on well, simply out of principle. But I couldn't let go of my natural skepticism.

“Oh stop it, you know your lasagna tastes much better than mine,” she said in an unfamiliar low voice and I heard a sound that could only be a kiss on skin - I really hoped it was just my mother's cheek.

I heard her giggle and then slowly turned the corner.

They didn't see me yet, so I was able to let my eyes wander over the scenery for a moment. It looked beautiful, even though I had just jumped in the shower, my mother had quickly managed to set the table with our beautiful tablecloth, with the beautiful white plates with colorful edges and the beautiful heavy and good cutlery.

I could see that from a distance, because normally we only used our cheap stuff from Ikea. So I knew that this seemed to be really important to my mother.

There were wine glasses on the table, reflecting the light from the several candles that were already burning on the table. The big lights were switched off and my mother had only chosen softer light sources in the corners and by the fireplace.

Overall, the atmosphere was very relaxed, and the soft music from the speakers in the corner by the TV only reinforced this impression. My mother was very good at using external factors to influence people's moods.

My mother and the man whose back was turned to me were kissing as I walked further into the kitchen.

Stolen novel; please report.

I thought they would hear me, but when they continued after a few seconds, I cleared my throat sheepishly.

“Hello,” I said, half shy, half embarrassed.

The two of them, although adults, scattered like two teenagers caught in the act and turned to face me. My mother's face reddened and her eyes glittered.

The man, the tall, broad-shouldered man who now stood in front of me, stroked his dark hair sheepishly and held out his hand to me. His smile was restrained, but it seemed sincere.

“Hello, I'm Ravi. You must be Bonnie, I've heard a lot about you.”

I looked at his hand for a moment, but then took it and shook it lightly. I made sure to shake his hand firmly, not out of any rebellious motives, but for some reason I wanted to show him that we were equals.

Even if that sounded ridiculous.

“I've heard of you too,” I said, looking at him, curious but cautious.

He was still smiling and cleared his throat, still embarrassed.

“We were just, well, we... we were just eating.”

He looked helpfully at my mother, who seemed to find it all very amusing. I had to grin slightly.

“I already know what making out is. I'm 22, so I should already be familiar with it.”

He blushed and I looked him up and down shamelessly.

He was undoubtedly a very attractive man, handsome. He seemed to be in his early 40s, like my mother. His dark hair and dark eyes went well with his olive-colored skin. He was tall and, as far as I could tell, athletically built.

As I looked at him, he took my mother's hand, gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and then reached for the salad bowl to bring the lamb's lettuce to the table.

“The lasagna will be ready soon, you can sit down,” my mother said, stroking my cheek and then walked to the table humming along to the music, pouring us some wine and smiling slightly.

I strolled slowly to the table with the full bread basket, which was probably also meant for dinner, sat down and supported my child on my clasped hands.

I didn't take my eyes off Ravi for a second. It wasn't quite fair of me to deliberately make him nervous, but I wanted to test him a little. But he seemed to be holding his own, trying to ignore my glances and smiling at me from time to time.

“Ravi, that's an interesting name. Where did it come from?” I asked and saw his relief that I had broken the silence.

He sat down - not opposite me, but at an angle so that he left space between us.

“I came to Germany from Pakistan with my parents when I was about six years old. Hence the exotic name.”

I nodded and then held up my glass, whereupon he and my mother - who was still standing and waiting for the lasagna - raised their glasses and clinked glasses with me. Then I sipped the wine - my favorite, a semi-dry Spanish red - and looked at him again.

“And your parents live around here too.” He nodded, clasping his hands together.

“They worked for a long time, they've retired now, but I still see them often.”

“And what do you do for a living?” I then asked, sipping my wine again.

“My goodness, darling, that sounds like an interrogation,” my mother said, laughing slightly embarrassed and then went into the kitchen to get the lasagna, which seemed to be ready.

In any case, the alarm clock hadn't rung.

“It's okay,” Ravi said kindly and looked at me again.

It was somehow fascinating to look at him. I didn't mean it in any weird way, but something about him seemed to catch me, like he had some kind of aura that caught my attention.

“I'm with the police, not a big one, not that much happens around here thankfully.”

I let my eyes light up. “So you carry a gun too?”

He grinned and nodded. “Yes, I do. But it never gets used, thankfully.”

I nodded slowly, pursed my lips and let it go for now.

We cut the lasagna and my mother put a big piece on each of our plates and we started eating. It was delicious and I let my mother know with a distinct “Mmmmh” and eyes rolling with pleasure. She smiled.

“I'm glad you like it. And I'm very glad that you two,” she looked at me first, then put her hand on Ravi's, which was already on the table, ”are now getting to know each other. I was a bit nervous, I have to be honest.”

I refrained from commenting that it wasn't the first time I'd met her boyfriend. My mother was making a real effort and I didn't want to ruin it with my passive aggressive remarks.

“Me too,” Ravi then said and smiled at her.

Then he turned to me. “Your mother told me you're studying? Something to do with health or something?”

I nodded and shoveled a forkful of food into my mouth. That was a bit rash, because now I had to tell him to wait a moment before I could answer, still with my mouth half full.

“I'm studying health sciences. University starts again the day after tomorrow.”

“Are you prepared?” my mother asked, giving me a knowing look.

I didn't know whether she meant university or my now ex-boyfriend, but she didn't say anything else. I nodded.

“I'll be fine. I'm looking forward to seeing the others again.”

“Do you know what you want to do afterwards?” Ravi asked and then added apologetically, “Sorry, standard question. But I'm really interested.”

He looked at me strangely insistently. Not unpleasant, but he seemed more interested than you would expect for a first meeting or a question like that.

I shrugged my shoulders. “Well, I think I'd like to do something with education, educating or informing people about health. In what way I don't know yet.”

He asked a few more questions about my friends at university, my courses and my ideas for the future. I answered them all patiently and then it was my turn to ask him questions again. My mother made a comment now and then, but mostly seemed happy that we were talking and asking each other questions.

I learned about Ravi that he had another brother who also worked nearby as a teacher in a school.

He liked similar things to my mother - board games, ballroom dancing, old movies and songs, good wine and warm countries for vacations.

“There is sometimes snow in warm countries as well. For example, you can ski in Australia too,” I pointed out.

“It depends on the time of year, of course I wouldn't go on a summer vacation in winter,” he replied and we continued talking.

Overall, Ravi made a good first impression, he seemed to be good and affectionate with my mother, which he tried to hide from me, but I was very attentive. He made a real effort and I had to give him credit for seeming genuinely interested in me and who I was.

I didn't get the feeling that he was just asking me questions about his steady girlfriend's daughter, but that he really wanted to get to know me. And the fact that I felt so comfortable surprised me.

I had actually intended to approach him cautiously and skeptically at first. But there was something that made me change my mind. Like a feeling, a hunch. I had a slightly subliminal feeling of familiarity, but I couldn't put my finger on it. After all, I didn't even know him. So it was strange, but I put it aside for now.

When we had been sitting together for two hours, the bottle of wine was almost empty and we had almost finished dessert, I got up.

They informed me that Ravi would be staying and I offered to help, but was relieved when they declined.

Then I went to my room, quickly packed a few things and said goodbye to them downstairs.

“It was a pleasure to meet you, Bonnie,” Ravi said, shaking my hand for the second time.

Now I knew him a fraction better than before and he knew me. It would take a few more meetings before we were probably one hundred percent warm with each other, at a level where it wouldn't be weird to be alone in a room talking. But for starters, even I had to say it was going really well.

What a day today.