I know why roses are the flowers of love...

"Why did you have to come here?" she says, her large brown eyes darkening to almost black. "I was perfectly content with loving you from afar, with seeing you once every few years. And then you had to move here and I am trying so hard to hide my feelings..."

"You're married." I say pointedly as I sip my drink. As if that made all the difference, made the situation less complicated. When in fact, it does not.

Her face darkens and as she looks at me, something flashes in her eyes. Hurt? Anger? Maybe a combination of both. She looks away and sighs, her head shaking a little. I am frustrating her, I know. The whole damned situation is frustrating to us both. The timing is terrible. Then again, one cannot blame this on the timing since whatever this is, has been brewing between us for quite some time. Maybe even our entire lives without suspecting a thing.

"I can leave him." she says so softly that I almost don't hear it. I look at her in alarm. She looks around the room as she says it once more, and then turns to face me. Our eyes lock, and her irises bloom in swirls of brown shades, and as she smiles, I swear to god my heart breaks right there. That smile has all the powers in the world, I think. She is ten times more beautiful when she smiles. Its sheer brightness can keep me warm through these lonely nights I will suffer. I grin back at her and though she blushes, she maintains her gaze into my eyes. We have never kissed, or even touched, but we are certainly fucking each other right now. I'm the first to avert my gaze and my heart pounds as I brace myself for the words I have to say.

"No." I say, the firmness in my voice belying the nervousness I feel. I want so much to say yes, god how I want to say yes, but pride goeth before love. "I won't let you."

She leans forward and her long fingers wrap around my wrist. Her voice is clipped as she utters her next words. "I am not asking you. I am telling you. I am doing this for me, for my own happiness."

I take in her long beautiful dark hair, the way it cascades in waves along her shoulders. It's not straight today, the way he prefers it. I prefer her like this, natural. And without any conscious thought, my hand reaches up to caress the waves. I smile when it feels like I always imagined it would; soft and silky. She closes her eyes and leans into my touch, and I realize that this is first time I have dared to touch her. Both of us are going along with this intimate moment, and once again I marvel at how the attraction between is so electric...so alive, that we can make love without actually trying.

Her hand moves up my arm and around my neck and she pulls me in close, so that our foreheads touch. I breathe in her scent and watch as her eyelashes flutter and her breathing becomes irregular. "I never loved him. My heart has been yours all along." she says, and I can feel my heart pounding so hard against my chest. She sighs again and pulls away slightly so she can look into my eyes. "Say something." she begs.

My mouth opens to say something, but I can feel an outpouring of emotions rising from my chest that feel remarkably like a sob. I clamp my mouth shut and smile. Instead, I lean forward and capture her lips with mine. This takes her by surprise at first, but she slowly reciprocates and one kiss becomes two then three. I need for her to understand, how much I love her. I will her to see my point of view, that this is not going to be easy. The kisses stop and we pant slightly, our lips swollen from years of repressed kisses.

"I'm trying to make you understand," I say in between breaths. "I love you so much, that I need to let you go. I have known and loved you for years, and I have seen you struggle to find yourself. There needs to be time for this."

She shakes her head as her eyes begin to fill up with tears. "My struggle," she says through gasping breaths that are tinged with sobs. "My struggle hasn't been about finding myself. My struggle has been finding me with you." Tears fall freely down her face as she heaves big sighs to brace herself. The words hit me like a ton of bricks.

I reach over and take her hand into mine. "Hey..." I say softly. "Who says we have to figure this out now? We know what we mean to each other. We can just...figure out the rest later."

She squeezes my hand and smiles. "See. That's it right there."

"What?"

She shrugs and gives a slight laugh. "It's how I know, you're the one."

I am not quite sure I understand, but give her the benefit of the doubt. I nod and pat her hand and toss her a smile. "Want a drink?" She nods and takes out her mirror and wipes her eyes. I shake my head and notice she's looking at me through her mirror, and I grin. She grins back and puts the mirror away. The bartender delivers us our drinks, and I turn over and initiate a new conversation with the woman who has stolen my heart, as she's suddenly grown shy. I don't know where we're going with this. All I know is that right now, the woman I love is sitting next to me and we're having drinks. Que sera sera.