“Truth(s)” by Jeanny Gering, Lahore

topic: LOVE AND HEARTBREAK medium: TEXT

She had never touched him before. Not as his friend, not as a woman. When she stroked his cheek it was to say good-bye but her hand began to tingle. It was an electrified tingle which made it’s way up her arm, down her throat, straight into her heart. She was shocked, he was stunned. The moment froze and was chiseled in the surface of their minds.

The truth is, they had fallen in love in that moment. An impulsive touch unveiled the invisible thread which had been spun between them. Their love had developed in a vacuum, it was floating in an air free space and nothing could catch fire. Their love would never be a relationship.

The other truth is that she had been married for twenty years. Her husband thought they lived contently with their three children. And she was committed to her family wholeheartedly, it was her life’s purpose. But still her hand tingled when she stroked that cheek, the touch electrified her heart.

The truth is he was only 24 when he left home to study abroad and came to stay with her family. It felt like he had found a home away from home. He didn’t realize that there were other feelings between them until she stroked his cheek. That moment he knew he hadn’t felt love until now. He did not allow that tingle to reach his conscious thoughts and began floating in air free space. Until the night she decided to follow a yearning which was so strong it blinded her. In her blindness she became unbearably brave.

She sat, holding her naked knees, on the stairs which led to his room. When her inner struggle subsided, the yearning guided her to his bed. She put a hand over his mouth, he opened his eyes, saw her and his heart caught fire. They spent a night having passionate sex and watched dawn creep in, through thin curtains while lying in each others arms. I can’t imagine they spoke much, what could they have said? But the truth is they made each other feel complete. Their love was complete.

Another truth is that, had others known about them or seen them, they may have felt irritated in a way we feel irritated when we don’t understand something or when we are excluded from something. Irritation is turned into defensiveness and some might have defended those feelings through harsh judgements.

The essential so often remains invisible to the eyes but their love remained visible to them forever. They kept it secured in an air free space, which only they could tap into if they allowed themselves.