(3/12) “At the discotheque we struck up a conversation with two...

(3/12) “At the discotheque we struck up a conversation with two guys. They claimed to be brothers, but I thought they were playing a prank. Because one of them had black hair and the other had red. The black haired one was so shy that he wouldn’t say a word. But the red head would not shut up. He told us his name was Sebastian. And that he was a rower on the Peruvian team. For some reason he was fascinated by my earrings. He kept calling them beautiful. He was certainly confident, I’ll give him that. He danced like an eagle trying to lift a large rabbit off the ground. I wasn’t attracted to him at all, not then. But I guess part of me was impressed by his persistence, because at the end of the night I gave him my number. On our next date we went to see the Titanic movie. He’d just gotten shoulder surgery, so his arm was in a sling. And I was very careful to sit on the side with the sling. But he kept trying to kiss me anyway. I wouldn’t let it happen. Not that easily. But even on those first dates, I could tell he was a good man. He was very religious. He was always talking about ethics, and ‘doing the right thing.’ But still I wasn’t sure if I wanted to be with him. Then one night he invited me to an awards ceremony at his rowing club. We got dressed up. There was an orchestra playing. And Sebastian was surrounded by his teammates. From the way they looked at him, and listened to him, I could tell: this is a man who is loved. At the end of the night we decided to take a walk along the beach. He tried to kiss me one more time, but I still wasn’t letting him. Then we arrived at a bridge of rocks jutting out into the sea. Sebastian began to step on the rocks, but he lost his balance and fell into a hole. I started laughing so hard. He couldn’t get out because he was still wearing a sling, but he wouldn’t let me help him. So he fell back down again and again. By the time he finally got out he was soaking wet, and there was a huge metal rod poking out of his shoulder. It looked horrible. But he kept swearing that it didn’t hurt. I thought. ‘Oh man! This guy is an adventure.’ And right then I kissed him on the lips. Because I thought he finally deserved it.”