Love and relationships have always been a bit too alien for me, in my teenage years when my friends were all dating and in search of "the love of their lives", I kept myself busy with studies and hobbies.
During an age of fun and games, exploration, enthusiasm and futility, I for some reason chose not to get involved in all of that.
Why? Long story short, my first attempt towards expressing my love for someone didn't go as planned. That someone, who I thought was the one, had different plans.
After that little experience, I decided that love just wasn't for me. Therefore, I caged myself, locked myself away for close to a decade. Because I didn't want to experience another harrowing moment, of what I had felt in the past. Even when I was being approached, I could never muster up the courage to respond with a proper reply, or I would simply ignore any indicators or hints, showing no interest at all.
Yet, as I kept myself busy in doing what I do best, trying to become the best version of myself, growing and building for over a decade now, love, somehow, managed to find me again; true love, one that involves understanding, communication, and most important, friendship.
Was the wait worth it? HELL YEAH.
I met Maria just over 3 years ago, from then it has been a journey of passion, warmth, and the consistent force of motivating one another. A few quarrels here and there, moments spent distantly, acts of sacrifice and compromise, but at the end of the day, we could never let anything come between us for too long, we've managed to overcome it all.
Who would've known?
It all feels perfect, a bit too good to be true sometimes. Life surely has its ways with surprises, and it all comes in the most unexpected form and time.
She moved in with me just a month ago, and so far it's been going well. I'm at a point where I can quite confidently say that I don't mind sharing a house with this person, and that alone is a winner for me haha.
Nowadays I'm working from home, office visits aren't necessary, thanks to Covid, I guess. Only during business meeting I need to be present.
So, the usual routine goes with me waking up early at around 5AM, I then try and get rid of the most difficult and annoying tasks at first, then throughout the day I will slowly work towards the easier tasks. It's a routine that has been working quite well for me.
Maria is a teacher, she teaches the kindergarten students in our local school. She wakes up at around 6:30AM and leaves at around 7:30AM. She loves her job, and is great with kids.
After a month of living together, the other day she mentioned that she really doesn't like waking up to an empty bed, nor does she like missing out when I'm brewing up some coffee early in the morning, and then sipping away as soon as I wake up.
Both of us are coffeeholics, and she loves to join me for a cuppa, but our routines and morning rituals don't let us do so. During the evening time we do have coffee together, whether it be at home or at a nearby café, it's just in the morning where the timing for our coffee ritual does not match up.
I don't necessarily need a cup of coffee when I wake up, I can wait, it isn't an addiction, nor is it a ritual that I must religiously follow. I just like having a cup of coffee when I'm in front of the screen, as I'm slowly working away and sorting things out.
So, this morning I decided to postpone my very consistent coffee ritual, just for her.
It was the usual routine, but a cup of coffee wasn't assisting me in my early morning duties, and I also had to be present at the office at around 8AM.
Just over an hour later, Maria woke up and found me in front of my PC, but what she didn't notice, was that I didn't have an empty cup beside my keyboard.
As she freshened up and headed towards the kitchen counter to brew up some coffee, I jumped up and joined her in the brewing process. She, with a surprised look on her face, stared at me for a while and went...
"Can I help you?"
"Yes mam, you can, and I say you start by making me a good cuppa coffee. So, get to work, woman, chop chop!"
"Excuse me?"
"You heard me, c'mon now!"
She was a bit annoyed, as she was still a bit drowsy, but then I started to assist her with the brewing process, and long story short, she understood the gist.
"You didn't have your coffee yet?"
"Nope, for some odd reason, I just wanted wait up for you and then prep and sip on some coffee together. Thus, will you join me for a early morning cup of coffee, madam?"
What happened afterwards was a lot of coffee sipping and snuggling, which then took a turn towards an early morning session of something I'd rather not mention.
But here's a hint, afterwards, we were both running late for work...