Part 2 - The Beginning of the End

"Well, have you ever been to Malaysia?" I asked Nina as she made herself comfortable across from me.

"Er, I was there a few years ago with my ex. It was an Island..er..I can't remember what it was."

"This is a story of an Island. What happened on that Island, you know, was something special."

You could see her eyes light up with excitement. She sat up to be more attentive and she had a reminiscing smile on her face. She took a sip of her coffee and turned around to see if the customers were ready to leave. All of them were engrossed in their own little fairytales. She turned back to me and this time the smile was big, like she had just remembered the fondest of memories.

"Langkawi!!", she suddenly blurted out. It startled me slightly.

"How did you know?" i asked.

"What..er..no, that's the name of the island i went to, Langkawi."

"Oh, well then this makes the story a lot easier to tell. This is a story about Langkawi", i told her as i smiled.

"Oh, good! I loved it there!", she gleamed and clapped her hands close to her chest in excitement.

As I was about to break into the story, a couple got up to leave. Nina turned as they got up, dragging the heels of the chairs they were sitting on, as they did. Nina went to unlock the front door and saw them out with that beautiful smile. And as if by telepathy, the other two tables too decided it was time to go. One asked for the bill and so Nina gestured for me to hold that thought and i smiled. I'm about to tell a story of my life to a complete stranger. A story that would either make her love me for being who I was or hate me for being the man that I am. Nonetheless I had to find out for myself, from someone that was neutral, whether or not what I did was one of courage or one of cowardice. It has taken me a long time to muster even the thought of repeating this anyone. Now here I am, five years on, sitting in an empty cafe, quarter to two in the morning, with a girl I barely even know, about to spill the darkest, most painful experience I had ever faced.

I can't say that it never crossed my mind to just get up and leave. Tell her that I was trying to get in her pants and just leave it alone for a while longer. That would have been the easy way to deal with it. I am here, in this foreign land precisely because I ran away from everything. From telling the truth, from explaining myself, from the pain and from reality. A story that makes for a blockbuster movie....hehe. I chuckled to myself at that thought. Nothing could be further from the truth. It's just a story about, well, about decisions, really; and how they affect your life. Whether or not three left turns bring you back to where you started? But life isn't just about you, is it? How profound is a man's decision that it would ripple through the life of others.

I sat there tapping my fingers in thought, my cappuccino now cold. The drizzle was still blanketing the cafe and I could hear the slightest of pitter patter on the sail covering the alfresco area just outside the charming cafe.

"It's getting a bit cold in her", Nina said as she led the last of her guests out.

"I'll turn the heater on."

"Yeah, maybe you should", I replied, my thoughts still lingering in the still air.

"Where were we?", she asked as she sat down again, pulling in her chair and resting her arms on the table to hold her chin up.

My heart raced. This was it. There is no turning back now. And so i began to tell her a story.