(II)

- Sin asunto -

He held his breath while almost unable to believe his eyes. His gut suddenly governed him and, on a fit of rare bravery, he managed to stand up and approach her.

"Hello", he said softly; afraid of any possible reply including silence.

"Hello", she replied without looking, while her mind started arranging its usual bricks to build up a protective kind of wall.

He grabbed some more oxygen and managed an unlikely:

"How are you? It's been so long I almost can't believe it."

She now looked at him, still paused and poised, but said nothing at the thought of slowly starting to crumble down inside.

He went on: "You look great, as beautiful as always; as pretty as the last time I saw you."

She felt a churning which, unsurprinsingly, decided to face with subtle brutality instead of vulnerability:

"Is that supposed to be a compliment?"

He now remembered how her words had always felt like bullets, but still grinned while mustering a breathless:

"Well, yeah..I mean, it's been over a decade and you look as pristine as you always have..."

She felt a burning urge to say how much she'd randomly missed him while knowing he had never had the courage to be alone; let alone to contact her in all those years.

So, she fired:

"Then, thank you, I guess... Although, one can also look the same if frozen up in time".