Among Our Kisses

Prologue

Throughout the years, philosophers, poets, writers, painters, and artists have made countless attempts to decipher the multifaceted nature of love. However, despite their efforts, the meaning of love varies greatly for each one of us... It could be said that the Ancient Greeks foreshadowed the existence of seven types of love, which I, as an ordinary 19-year-old girl, encountered on my tumultuous journey - a journey that involved falling in love, losing myself, experiencing heartbreak, undergoing the healing process, and ultimately rediscovering freedom and a renewed sense of self.

Aristotle once expressed that each person's heart carries an incomplete song until it is answered by another heart. Those who desire to sing will always discover a melody. When embraced by a lover, everyone transforms into a poet. But, the reality is that certain songs in our lives are fleeting, serving as lessons that love encompasses diverse aspects. It possesses the ability to bring forth a smile and ignite a sparkle in one's eyes, a unique radiance only love can bestow. Simultaneously, that very same love can extinguish that sparkle, leading to an overwhelming deluge of tears, causing one to lose their essence in its darkest dimensions, and compromising one's core values.

For an extended period of time, almost a year now, I've been experiencing with a profound sense of detachment from my true self. It all traces back to that fateful last call with Noah back in April, where we exchanged our final "I love you," our parting "go away," and reluctantly uttering our first "forget me." It was through falling for Noah that I found myself facing the consequences, as love transformed into an adversary. Even with a distance of 2000 kilometres between us, embarking on my first year at university, being separated from my family, forming new friendships, entering a reality that was unknown to me, and meeting other boys who crossed my path and presented different forms of affection, none of those instances could ever compare to the love Noah had once shown me - eros.

It all began when we were both eleven years old, and I caught my first glimpse of him through the kitchen window. He was carrying his belongings down the stairs to the house adjacent to mine. The tall guy, with the brown hair, intense brown eyes, an earring on the left ear, who was wearing a baseball cap on a rainy day would soon become my neighbour. Little did I know at that moment that he would become, the person who would leave an indelible mark on me, and that would forever hold the keys to my heart...