The old stray cat died suddenly on a Wednesday evening. After a long day of renovation work we had settled down on the big sofa in the living room and just finished dinner when she entered slowly the room. She had problems to climb onto the sofa, so I lifted her onto my lap where she lay down. Her quiet purring let us know she was comfortable. I felt her warmth on my lap and the slow movements of her body while she was breathing.
It took me a while to realise that her purring and her breathing had stopped. At first I thought she was awake but too lazy to move. But when I started to caress her, I didn’t feel her small heart beating. When I moved her a bit and she didn’t react, it was clear what happened.
In the next few days, various emotions where dominant in our little house in the Quartier d'Auteuil: grief, sadness and nostalgia. While my girlfriend shed some tears, I was more quiet than usual.
It surprised me how much I grieved. I never thought much about my bond to the cat. It just walked without asking into my life and spent the last few years in my house. I fed it, petted it and sometimes talked to it when I was lonely during my renovation works. But obviously, my bond to the cat was stronger than expected.
So, I remembered a lot of small things and was quiet.
The following Saturday afternoon, my girlfriend convinced me to visit a local park she had heard about to distract me from my grief that came and went in waves. The park was buzzing with life—children playing, people walking their dogs, and couples like us enjoying the warmth of the day. As we strolled hand in hand, laughing about something silly, I suddenly noticed a woman approaching us. There was something familiar about her, and as she got closer, my grip on my girlfriends hand tightened ever so slightly.
The woman called out my name, her voice tinged with surprise.
I stopped in my tracks, turning toward the voice. My girlfriend watched me as recognition dawned on my face. "Hello!" I replied, a hint of awkwardness in my tone.
When I called her name, I could see it sounded an alarm in my girlfriend’s mind. I had told her about the woman in front of us, mentioning that we had met in the supermarket around the corner shortly before the first lockdown during the pandemic. It hadn’t been serious, because she had left for her Asian home country to be with her family. After that we spend some weeks talking via facetime regulary – usually naked and masturbating. But seeing her now, standing there with a confident smile, made my girlfriend’s heart race with unease.
"It's been so long!" The Asian woman exclaimed, her smile broadening. She looked exactly as I remembered her from our video sessions—tall, with wavy dark brown hair and a radiant smile. "How have you been?"
"I've been good, thanks." I said, introducing her to my girlfriend.
"Nice to meet you," she said warmly, extending her hand. My girlfriend took it, trying to steady the swirl of emotions inside her.
"You too," she replied, mastering a smile.
We exchanged small talk—how she was doing, what she had been up to since we last spoke and she came back to Paris. My girlfriend couldn’t help but notice how I was a bit tense, though I was polite and friendly. She tried to push down the insecurity gnawing at her, but it wasn’t easy. The Asian woman seemed so at ease, so confident, like she hadn’t a care in the world. And here she was, casually re-entering my life after all this time.
After a few more minutes of pleasantries, she glanced at her watch. "Well, I should get going. It was great running into you.” And with a glance to my girlfriend. “And so nice to meet you."
"Same here," my girlfriend replied, feeling a wave of relief.
“Is your cell number still valid?” she asked me.
"It is. Take care," I said, giving her a quick nod. It felt harsher than intended.
As she walked away, my girlfriend let out a breath she didn’t realize she had been holding. I turned to her, sensing her discomfort. "You okay?" I asked softly.
She looked up at him, feeling a bit foolish for her worries. "Yeah, I’m fine. It’s just… I wasn’t expecting to meet her. It kind of caught me off guard."
I nodded, pulling her closer. "I get it. But you know you have nothing to worry about, right?"
She smiled, feeling the warmth of my embrace. "I know. It’s just... seeing her, it made me wonder."
"Wonder what?" I asked gently.
"If there’s anything left between you two," she admitted, her voice barely above a whisper. “Her question about your cell number irritated me.”
I cupped her face in his hands, looking into her eyes. "You are the best thing that ever happened to me in a long time. This girl and I, we had a brief moment in a very weird time, but it was nothing compared to what we have. It was completely virtual and not serious. She’s just someone from my past."
She showed a wave of relief wash over her as she looked into my eyes, seeing nothing but sincerity. "I trust you," she said, meaning every word.
I smiled, kissing her forehead. "Good, because I’m not going anywhere."
We continued ourwalk through the park, hand in hand, the encounter with my Asian sort of ex-girlfriend fading into the background. After a few minutes my thoughts about the things I did with her in our video sessions stopped appearing before my inner eye. When we met before the lockdowns, she had been a virgin. Usually, I would have wanted to know if that had changed. But once again, I realised how my girlfriend had changed me: I didn’t care.
Proof came a few days later when she texted me and wanted to meet with me privately. I didn’t even answer.
By the time we reached the end of the park, the moment had passed, leaving nothing but a stronger sense of connection between us. We decided on the spot to go a cat shelter and adopt a new cat.
Meeting the Asian maiden had been a surprise, but it had also been a reminder of something important: the past might shape who you are, but it’s the present and future that truly matter.
And with my girlfriend by my side, I was excited for all the tomorrows we would share together.
