“I’m not sure if I managed to respond or not; maybe it was all just in my head, a dream, like all others, in which he sneaks into my head when I don’t have any power to hold him at arm’s length.But William was right about one thing.I did have sweet dreams, or maybe it was just a beautiful nightmare.”

“For a nanosecond, I meet her gaze.Despite the dark, I can see her eye color—it’s the prettiest, strangest shade of blue I’ve ever seen in my life—piercing, dark, and shiny. And then she is gone.”

“All this time, William doesn’t move from my side, his hand surely and confidently glued to my waist like it belongs there, one piece of a puzzle that matches the other, making the picture complete.”

“I want his eyes to stop looking at me like that, and at the same time, I have always wanted to be looked at just like that. Now, when I look into the brown depths of his eyes… I feel desired. I feel confident.I feel free.I feel like a woman.”

“I’m not sure if I managed to respond or not; maybe it was all just in my head, a dream, like all others, in which he sneaks into my head when I don’t have any power to hold him at arm’s length.But William was right about one thing.I did have sweet dreams, or maybe it was just a beautiful nightmare.”

“I want more from life. I want to travel, see the world, and meet different kinds of people. I don’t want to stay locked in a small country, living my life halfheartedly the way society expects me to live it. I want to experience things and live to the fullest so I won’t have any regrets. I want more, so much more than they do, and they simply can’t understand it.”

“But, is it more important to stay true to yourself, to what you believe in, or give it up for someone you care about?”Lisa gives me a warm smile and her hand finds mine on the table.“There is no right answer to that.” She squeezes my hand hard. “It depends on so many things. You are the one who has to choose, to find the balance between what you believe in and what you care about. It’s a game with high risk—you can lose someone you care about but still have your pride, or…you can lose yourself for someone you care about.” She gets up from her seat. “The real question is—is ‘care’ good enough to be lost for?”

“It’s like a domino effect. After all the time of neatly putting the pieces together, one wrong move, one moment of distraction, and all of it comes falling down. The same happens to us. While ignoring all those moments that happened, all the situations when we wanted to do something, make a move and let our impulses take over, we put them neatly one behind other and now it comes crashing down around us.”