You were broken glass,
But I still touched you, knowing that you would hurt.

The first boy I loved so much, such a pure admiration for another human being just for existing, being in love with someone's way of thinking, like remembering a book you've read before, like visiting places you once lived in your dreams, like undressing with your clothes on.

Such an unexpected encounter, the proximity of pristine emotions, but now I can see the end to the chemistry we shared as we sat beside each other that afternoon, just you and me under the Eucalyptus shade. Drying our sun-burnt bodies under the shade, I can smell your presence like the first time rain hits desert grains, my golden world runs azure and I look at you,

And you were looking at me. The clouds grew darker as the snow fell apart. Your dark blue eyes, like dead ocean trenches, reflecting my messy face, and you were about to cry, but you were looking at me, and somehow that gave you the strength to go on, but this snow is full of ghosts tonight.

I press my hands on your face and you close your eyes, and it reminds me how lucky I am to see this gentle side of yours. "You are so afraid that love will destroy you, that you destroy yourself so that you could save yourself from the murderous hands of those that will never touch you anyways," You said, "But didn't you say that it is brave to love?"

I looked at you. I was surprised you remembered that, "It is brave to love,"
"Daffine" You held my hand, "I care about you, and I want to keep doing that for a very long time. You've made me realise I don't hate people, after all. If there are people like you out there, then the world doesn't seem half bad of a place to spend a century in,"

I smiled. You brought your face close to mine, our foreheads touching, looking intensely into each other's eyes, "So, would you like to spend the century with me and me alone?"

"I would, Max. I would do it a thousand times,"

"I would do it for eternity," He kissed me on my lips and I kissed him back, "Let me give you the heaven that I've kept away from myself," He said.
"What do you mean?"
"Let me love the hell out of you"

I chuckled, "You want to?"
"You can act all shy, but you know I want you,"
"I want you too,"

Alright, so where does it go from here?

"Why did you not let your nephew play with you?"
"Because he'd make me lose. He sucks!"
"He's a kid!"
"He's a loser!"
"You're such a handful, Max!"
"THAT'S WHY YOU GOT TWO HANDS, NEI?"

Femke, I haven't seen her in a while. Some say she left the city. But what about her university? Angela started seeing someone else. Clearly, it wasn't working out with Max. As per for me, I'm blending in with him and his friends. 
"Teach me some Dutch," I ask him while he's with George and Glen.
"Say ik ben geil,"
"Ik bin geil,"
"WHAT ARE YOU TEACHING HER?!" Glen yelled.

I know why we like each other. We both are a little eccentric in our own little ways.

"Max, did you just record your fart and send it to me?!"
"Hell no! I recorded my fart, bass boosted it and then sent it to you,"
"OH MY GOD!"

And he is very different, now that we are dating, 

"THE EGGS ARE BURNING!" I yelled, "Stop watching them and turn the heat off!"
"It's okay, Just give me your eggs. I will fertilise those,"
"GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY KITCHEN!"

And Casper has to go through all this with me. He is my friend, he should support me,
"His fingers were in my ass, but I felt them in my heart,"
"...Wow, sounds like true love,"

But I am not complaining. He makes life so much more fun,

"If I fall," He says as he stands on my skateboard, "Will I break my jaw?"
"Nah, our jaw is the strongest part of our body," I comfort him.
"What's the weakest one?"
"My will to live,"

I love him.

"When I die, burn me, and eat my ashes with chilli sauce, so that I can tear that ass one last time,"
"That was disgusting," Glen and I said together.

We are compatible and comfortable with each other. 

"Hey Max, if you'd be a fruit...You'd be a fineapple,"
"...That was so lame,"
"SHUT UP! I TRIED!"

Maybe this is what love is...Not that flittery fluttery feeling that we've been taught to relate to love but perhaps, it is just...Just a pure, raw connection that is created on its own. But hey, that is love to me. Throughout my experiences with Max, I have realised that love does not always look the way you think it would look. People love differently. Some show love through cooking, some through gifts, some through intimacy and others through hugs. All of it is love. And of us just want to be understood by someone and absorbed by them. Real love, it is out there. Don't give up on it...because it is waiting for you to find it.

It is waiting for you.

The end