I just stood there with my arms at my sides, frozen. Completely freaking frozen in place. I was stunned, beyond stunned. Stupefied. “Hug me back,” the accented voice demanded from up above. His words shook off my paralysis. I found myself wrapping my arms around his waist, gingerly at first, our chests meeting in a real honest hug. My palms went flat against the twin columns of his lower back, arms overlapping. “Am I dying and I don’t know it?” I asked his chest. He sighed. “You better not be.”
