A Year Ago
Morning greeted me with sunlight streaming through the large window of my dorm room. For the first four years of college, I shared this space with my best buddy, but this year—our final year—he dropped out to take a job. Now he rented an apartment downtown with his girlfriend and rarely swung by. Not that I had much to complain about; almost every Friday, we’d hang out at a café, mostly on his dime. Hey, he’s the one with a paycheck, and I’m just a freeloading student.
Still, his unofficial move-out worked in my favor because now she had unofficially moved in. No, not just she. HER. In all caps.
Right now, she was fast asleep in my arms. Her thick, black hair, long enough to reach her hips, spilled over her face, the pillow, and half the bed. I gently brushed it aside to admire my sleeping beauty. God, she was stunning!
I loved her infectious laugh the most. I loved waking her up with kisses. I loved watching her do things, completely oblivious to my gaze.
We were already late for our first class. But who was I kidding? Who needs it anyway? What was it—Financial Accounting? Screw accounting and finances. The only thing that mattered to me was Yara.
Pulling back the blanket, I couldn’t help but marvel at her perfect figure. Then I peppered her flat, delicate stomach with soft kisses. She wasn’t awake yet, but she giggled. And that laugh—it was the sweetest melody. How I adored her!
“Dean, you jerk, stop it!” she exclaimed, her sapphire eyes fluttering open as she burst into that ringing laughter again, smacking me with my own pillow. I tossed it aside and hovered over her, bracing myself with my arms on either side.
In a flash, Yara countered my move, flipping me onto the other side of the bed with ease. She did yoga and some self-defense classes—I’d signed her up for them myself. Now I often regretted it. She was a quick learner and could probably take down anyone. Even me.
“Time to get up,” she whispered sweetly, planting a quick kiss on my lips before trying to stand. But I wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her back onto the bed. She laughed out loud again.
“Shh, we can’t let everyone know you spent the night here. What kind of rumors would spread? Your laugh is way too loud! I’ll have to make you make other, much quieter sounds instead,” I murmured into her ear, kissing it softly.
Outside the room, students stomped down the hall, rushing to class, but we couldn’t care less. There was no cozier place in the world than this little room in a state-run dorm.
“As a true gentleman, you should marry me to protect my honor from gossip,” Yara teased, turning to face me with a laugh. What could I say? I fully intended to marry her as soon as we graduated. For now, I just kissed her smiling lips.
“How about we’re a little late?” I asked, trailing kisses down her neck.
“Let’s just skip,” she replied with a spark of mischief, laughing again as I flipped her onto the pillows and kissed her passionately.
Skipping class was no big deal for us. We were two of the top students in our year, both on track for honors degrees. How young and happy we were back then! We looked to the future with boldness and defiance, unaware of what fate had in store.
***
Hurrying to get dressed, we bumped into each other and laughed. Since we’d already decided to ditch classes, we weren’t about to lounge in bed all day. Not that I’d mind, of course, but my girl was always itching for an adventure. We settled on wandering the city and hitting up an amusement park. It had been too long since we’d done something like that.
They say women take forever to get ready. I don’t know, maybe some do, but Yara could be ready faster than me. Ripped jeans, a beige turtleneck, and a small pendant around her neck. A quick touch of makeup in just a few minutes, and my beauty was already dragging me toward the door while I was still hunting for my Crocs. They always seemed to disappear on me. She never had that problem.
The Crocs turned up deep under the bed. Now we were good to go.
Like spies, we sneaked through the dorm and darted from tree to tree across campus, avoiding any professors. They might forgive a skipped class if we lied about being sick, but they’d never understand such a brazen escape.
“Damn! It’s Svetlana Yosipivna,” Yara whispered, spotting our advisor behind a tree. And unfortunately, she’d spotted us too. But we always had a backup plan for situations like this. I instantly doubled over, clutching my stomach in fake agony, while Yara supported me, feigning worry—almost despair.
“Dean, Yara, what’s going on? Where are you two headed?”
“Oh, I’m so glad we ran into you! I was just about to call!” Yara chirped so convincingly that even I almost believed her. “He’s not feeling well, Svetlana Yosipivna. His stomach’s acting up terribly, and you know he’s got an ulcer. We’re not wasting time at the campus clinic; I’m taking him straight to his family doctor. I already called ahead. Can I skip classes today too? I can’t let him go alone. We’ll catch up on everything, you know we will. Oh, look, there’s our cab! Cab!”
While Svetlana tried to process Yara’s rapid-fire explanation, we were already climbing into the car. Well, I was crawling in slowly, still holding my side, while Yara took charge of the operation.
“Make sure to call me so I don’t worry!” Svetlana shouted after us.
“Of course, thank you!” Yara called back, slamming the door behind us.
“Aren’t you ashamed of lying like that?” I asked, pretending to be disapproving.
“What can I say? That’s life,” she replied nonchalantly, then turned to the driver. “Central Park, please.”
Once we arrived, I paid the fare, took my girl by the hand, and headed to a nearby café. We hadn’t had time for breakfast, after all.
We picked a spot by the window, grabbed the menus, and started choosing our food. As usual, Yara vetoed everything I wanted to order because, while I loved it, it wasn’t good for me. The ulcer was real, after all.
“You’re always trying to order junk. Watch it, because if you eat something you shouldn’t and end up in the hospital again, I’ll give you a real beating,” she warned. And she could. Honestly, if it weren’t for her keeping an eye on me, I probably would’ve landed there already. Sometimes I lacked the willpower to resist a tasty treat. Just a little bite. But Yara was also my personal watchdog and wouldn’t hesitate to snatch a pack of fries with mustard right out of my hands, no matter who was watching.
To me, Yara seemed flawless. Sometimes I couldn’t even fathom how a girl like her ended up with someone like me.
I first saw her during entrance exams. We were both nervous, wide-eyed applicants. But among everyone else, she shone like a diamond, radiating confidence in herself and everything around her. Beautiful. Tall. Poised. With long, straight black hair down to her waist. Expressive eyes, a slightly upturned nose, thin lips. She wasn’t overly delicate; instead, she had an athletic build with captivating curves. She was like that back then, and she still is, five years later.
I thought I’d hit the jackpot when I saw she’d be in my program. I rushed to sit next to her at the first lecture, eager to introduce myself. But I was blown away right from the start. Yara wasn’t just a pretty face.
Smart, cunning, with an incredible memory. She displayed remarkable knowledge and quickly became a favorite among the professors. On top of that, she was elected class representative right away and made a few close girlfriends. Guys lined up to get to know her. And while she was polite to everyone, she kept a cool distance. I started to panic. But then, after one long day of classes, she turned to me with all her signature confidence and said:
“You’re pretty impressive! Not bad at all. It’s nice to have guys like you in our group.”
“What do you mean?” I didn’t quite catch what the compliment was about.
“You know, there’s this stereotype that guys don’t care about studying, that only girls excel. But you’re different. You’re the only one in our group giving some real, healthy competition. I like that. It makes things more interesting. It’d be so boring if you weren’t here. Whether I did the assignment or not, I’d still be ahead of the other slackers. But with you, that won’t fly. It pushes me to work harder. Keep it up!”
Honestly, I was pleasantly surprised. Sure, I’d always been hungry for knowledge, but amidst the battle with every guy in the institute for Yara’s attention, I’d somehow managed to excel academically on autopilot. It wasn’t anything special to me. But she noticed. And that’s what connected us.
Everyone liked her. But by New Year’s, she was my girlfriend. We were each other’s firsts in every sense of the word. First real love, first serious relationship, first time, first attempt at living together and being responsible for someone other than ourselves.
Five years have passed since then. We’ve been through so much! We’ve fought and made up, but never once considered breaking up. We loved each other. The one thing I never doubted was our love. Mutual and unbreakable. It overcame every challenge we faced along the way. I thought it could conquer anything. But I didn’t yet know what life had in store.
“Hey, Yara, my parents invited us over this weekend. You cool with that?” I asked casually. Of course, I’d already introduced her to my family and told them I had serious intentions. Luckily, they were just as smitten with her as I was. Even my strict father, who in my younger years set impossibly high standards and could punish me harshly for any misstep, was now completely satisfied with me and turned a blind eye to things he never would have before.
In short, our relationship was perfect.
“I’d love to. You know I adore your parents,” she chirped with a smile.
“And I adore you. I don’t even know what I did to deserve such an amazing girl,” I replied, grinning.
“Maybe you’ve been a good boy… or maybe not. You know, life isn’t always fair,” she teased, and I laughed. I wanted to kiss her right there. Strangely, even after all these years together, neither the passion nor the tenderness in our relationship had faded. Every time felt like the first.