text: Sarah had met him at a dinner party. It felt like she knew him even if she was sure she didn’t. In the weeks after she felt this strange feeling in her stomach, was she in love? After all this time? She called her friend Margaret to be sure. Margaret was known as the love expert, she had had many boyfriends and still got married at 23. A lot of her friends were really jealous. Margaret explained to her that indeed Sarah was in love. Her body was telling her that she wanted to be with this man, even if they had just met. As a test, Margaret advised her to go on a blind date. If she couldn’t focus on the date, Sarah was in love. While she was getting ready for her blind date, she couldn’t stop thinking of his face. Would she ever meet him again? She applied her new lipstick and watched herself in the mirror. Confused about the advice of Margaret Sarah went to the restaurant looking for a man with a purple flower. She froze in the middle of the alley. Through the window she saw him. The man that she was in love with! And.. did she see it right? Was he holding a purple flower? While holding her breath she tried to walk confident to the restaurant. She was welcomed by the smell of delicious Italian food, but this time she couldn’t care less. Nervous she gave the waiter her name and followed him to the table. When she met his eyes, it looked like he froze as well. Was it just because he recognized her or did he feel the same? She couldn’t tell. He greeted her with a kiss on her cheek. She slowly sat down. “I’ve already ordered some antipasti and a bottle of red wine, I hope you don’t mind,” he kept watching her. “Sounds good.” “We have already met, haven’t we?” He looked at her hands. “Yes, we did. We met a couple of weeks ago. Do you remember?” Please don’t blush, she thought. “I remember.” He looked directly at her. “Do you think we can call this a blind date if we have already met?” The waiter brought a beautiful plate with antipasti and let them taste the wine. The wine was amazing. “I don’t know. If you don’t want to continue our blind date because we have already met, you can tell me.” She tried to look away and hoped that he couldn’t see that she didn’t want their blind date to end. “Do you want this date to end?” She felt that he was trying to look into her eyes. “I want you to want me.” “I’m sorry, I didn’t get that.” I looked sideways and choose not to meet his eyes. “I asked if you could give me the salt.” “Sure.” He gave me the salt and while I wanted to take it from him, my arm wouldn’t cooperate. “Do you want the salt or not?”, he smiled at me. It was silent for a second, what seemed as hours to me, and then I finally took the salt from him. “Thanks”, I whispered. “I met someone a couple of weeks earlier.” Sarah froze, afraid of what he was going to say. “You did?” “Yes,” he touched her hand while he took the salt from her. “I didn’t think I would ever feel this way again.” Sarah could barely look at him. She felt tears coming up. Tears for someone who was almost a stranger to her. “Will you see her again?” She whispered. “I hope so.” He took a sip of his wine and Sarah followed. She slowly drunk from her glass, thinking of surviving this blind date. She should never have taken the advice of Margaret. If she hadn’t gone on a blind date, she wouldn’t have such a terrible evening. “Have you tasted the mushrooms? It’s amazing with the flavour of the wine.” She tried to avoid his gaze while she tasted a mushroom and took a sip of wine afterwards. “You’re right. It is delicious. The combination is perfect.” “Have you met someone lately?” She felt his eyes watching her. Curious for her answer. “Actually, I did.” She took a deep breath. “But I don’t think I will see him again.” Their eyes locked. “If it was me, I would love to see you again.” Sarah feelings overwhelmed her. “You would love to see me again?” “Yes, I would.” He touched her hand again, this time he didn’t need the salt. “I want you to want me too.