Juliet:

I walked out onto my balcony, it was nightime. I didn't close the balcony door and the silky, white curtains softly fluttered behind me, in the soft breeze. I rested my arms on the metal railing and softly leaned outwards, looking down at the garden below. It felt dark and empty and I just longed to see a sparrow, swallow, a robin or a finch which would visit the garden everyday and have a drink from our bird bath, and I would watch them and be pleased at their elegance, cleverness and simplicity.

I looked up at the sky- the moon, round in its creamy-white colour gleaming brightly, amongst myriads of tiny stars that looked like specks of light from the distance, making them seem dull and worthless. But then my eyes caught sight of a bigger and more visible star. The shiniest of them all-Sirius. That was when I suddenly felt a burst of nostalgia, because the first time that I had spotted a Sirius in the night sky was when I was with Romeo and we were just fifteen years old.

It was nightfall and I couldn't sleep, so I was roaming in my garden, when I heard a noise. Romeo climbed up the garden wall, with the help of the vines crawling all over it, and he jumped into the garden. I was so astonished because that was the first time that he trespassed into our garden, despite the possibility of being caught and punished by my father, a Capulet, Romeo being a Montague and the old rivalry between the two rich families of Verona.

He took my hand and helped me up onto a tall tree in the garden and we sat close to each other, holding hands. Romeo and I spent hours, gazing up in the sky, staring at the stars and that was when we spotted Sirius. Then Romeo told me all he knew about the Sirius star from his astronomy lessons-that it was the shiniest star in earth's night sky and that the name was Greek, meaning glowing. Then after some time, he helped me down from the tree, said goodnight and left, climbing up the wall, leaving me in the garden.

A smile had developed on my lips and it quickly straightened. I turned to the vines and creepers growing on the pillars on both sides of the balcony railings and softly stroked the delicate flowers blossoming on them. I missed Romeo besides me all the time when we were little and how we would never let our parents or other house members find out about our friendship. Romeo and I would meet on our secret meeting spots and we would talk and play together. He taught me a lot about astronomy and horoscopes. In return, I shared with him some of my knowledge about english literature and ethology. He almost made me blush when he admired me and what I knew. He admired my knowledge about english literature and I will never forget the first time that he called me wise and brilliant. Next thing I knew, Romeo was complimenting my beauty and that was when we shared our first kiss.

Then I had a flash back of the first time we met. The first time I laid eyes on this handsome, young lad. The day he found me and I him:

I was walking in the street with my best friend, Isabel and we were shopping for new shoes. Isabel asked me to hold her purse and the sun dress she had purchased, while she observed and tried on some shoes. All of a sudden, I saw a man running behind a dog, holding a broken leash and yelling out its name. The fawn Segugio Italiano was racing straight towards me and before I could get out of the way, it ran right into my legs, causing me to fall on my back, Isabel's dress and purse flying out of my hands and onto the horse-trodden ground. Having seen that accident from afar, a boy came running towards me and helped me up onto my feet. He picked up the dress and purse for me and dusted them with his hands to clean them.

" Are you alright?" He polietly asked me.

" Yes I'm fine, thank you very much for helping me. That was very kind of you." I replied.

"My pleasure." He said with a smile and waved at me before disappearing away among the people.

I didn't think about what happened back in the market much later that day, as I became busy with my lessons and the regular nature walks that I used to have, accompanied by my nurse. But at night, when I lay down in my bed, staring at the ceiling above, the stranger boy came in my mind for the first time. I realized I was smiling and playing with my hair. I recalled how he rushed to me and grabbed my hand to hoist me back up and made that delicate eye contact when he asked me if I was alright. I could see great manners and respect for women in him and in those few minutes, he left a lovely impression of himself on me. I pictured his gentle, forestry eyes and his wavy, walnut brown hair and I just couldn't help but smile and giggle in my bed.

But the next thing I knew, I was wondering if I would ever see him again. I wondered where he lived, what his name was, how old he was. But then I thought that I would probably never get the answers to those questions and that he was just another random italian boy who had gone his way and I mine.

***

A few days later, when I was passing by the house of Montague with Isabel, coming back from the market, to my utter surprise, I saw the same boy that I met in the market standing outside the gate of the mansion along with two other boys, receiving a man and a woman who happened to have arrived to the house to meet its members. I quickly stopped and stepped behind a tree to watch him and to make sure if it really was him. He seemed exactly like the boy back in the market and elegantly welcomed the man and woman inside his mansion, shaking hands with the man and kissing the woman's.

Isabel constantly urged me to move away from the house of Montague, as she was scared and afraid that a Montague or servant of Montague might spot us and question us out of suspicion. But I stubbornly stayed there for a while, staring at the boy and stepped up from behind the tree. I kept walking closer to the gate, until Isabel pulled my arm from behind and insisted me to head back home with her. That was when Romeo's eyes caught sight of me and he walked towards me. My heart beat fastened.

" Hellow miss. Have we met before?" Romeo asked in the polite tone of his.

" As I recall, we did. In the market, when I fell and you helped me up." I replied, trying to control my wide smile.

" Oh yes, yes. Of course. My appologies, I was unable to recall the exact time and place." He immediately said and held his hand up to his heart as he said that.

" It is alright. You're forgiven." I chuckled and so did he, causing my heart to skip a beat.

" May I ask your name?" Romeo questioned, looking deep into my eyes, already seeming chivalrous.

" It's Juliet." I quickly said, my heart lurched around in my chest.

" That is a beautiful name and an angel like you deserves it. I'm Romeo." He said and I immediately blushed a crimson.

" Well, nice to meet you, Romeo." I quickly said, trying to hide the blush.

" It was a pleasure to talk to you too. Would you mind coming inside my house some time or maybe today, just so that we could talk some more? I'm really sorry but you're unbelievably captivating." Romeo smiled a toothy smile. Electricity shot up my spine and my blood felt chilly at his words. I just couldn't control my emotions, that I wanted to puke!

" Oh dear, that's a generous invitation I cannot reject but I'm forced too. I would love to visit your place and spend longer talking to you, I must say your style and manners are extremely charming and seductive.

~~~

Soon enough Romeo found out that I was a Capulet, but that didn't keep him from making secret visits to me in the middle of the night. He did not fear that if any of my kinsmen found him with me, they would kill him. He told me that our close friendship and love accounted to him more and had become so strong and true, that our families' historic background couldn't affect our love and he was not afraid of the Capulets. Neither was I too afraid of the Montagues from then onwards and we believed that we would keep our love so secretive, that not a single Capulet, Montague or common person of the city would know to spread the news to both the lords.

With love, we sweetened the sour names of our families and I called Romeo fair Montague. And he called me angelical Capulet. With this, our love bloomed in secrecy.

" Juliet, come in. It is way past your bed time. What are you doing out there on the balcony. It might be chilly out there. Come on, have some sleep now." The nurse called to me from my room.

" Yes I'll be there in a minute." I replied to her. Then after a few moments, I walked back into my room, closing the balcony door shut and climbing into my bed.

I shut my eyes and after a few minutes, I was fast asleep.

HIi there!

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