“Oh my goodness! I have to leave in five minutes, or I’m never going to make it on time!!” This was the thought running through Marcela’s mind as she panicked about her upcoming interview for an adjunct professor position. She would be (hopefully) working in a university in Paris in the fall teaching Spanish as she continued her doctoral studies in the language.

Marcela’s life had changed significantly since last summer, a beautiful summer with that amazing trip to Formentera, which she could not manage to forget, no matter how hard she tried to. She was now living in Paris since she got back together with her ex-husband, Pierre. Although they were not remarried and agreed to take things slowly the second time around, they were living together again. It was nice to live together again as a family, especially for their daughter, who seemed happy to have her parents back together.

Although things were different this summer, beginning with the fact that Marcela would not be visiting Spain as usual, she felt that she had made the right choice for her family. Her relationship with Daniel did not work out, unfortunately, but she did make a wonderful friend despite everything. Things were always amicable between them, and she always knew Daniel would not be able to provide her the stability she was looking for, but she did make some beautiful memories with him.

As Marcela was walking to her interview, she saw a young man pass her. She felt his stare and looked back at him. She couldn’t help but notice how handsome he was, especially his eyes. They were the lightest shade of green she had ever seen, like a seafoam green. His eyes were contrasted by black hair and a tan complexion. He was close to 6 feet tall with an athletic build. When he noticed that she was looking back at him, he smiled, and she quickly looked away. She knew she was wrong and kept walking.

As Marcela was walking into the university, she turned around, almost as if she felt his presence behind her. When she turned around, she saw him following her; he called out for her to wait for him as he laughed. At this point, she couldn’t stop herself from smiling, and although she knew it wasn’t right, she felt it wasn’t right to ignore him either.

He ran towards Marcela to catch up with her as she waited there. Before he could start speaking, she told him that she was not single, and it was wrong of her to stare at him and even more so to stop and talk to him, but she apologized and said that she couldn’t help it because he was just so handsome. She then told him that she only wanted to give him that compliment and then proceeded to go into the university, as she told him she would be late for her interview. At that moment, he thanked her and told her how he was mesmerized by her beauty.

He introduced himself as Marcel and asked what her name was. She couldn’t help but smile and responded, “Marcela.” The two smiled at each other, but Marcel understood her situation and proceeded to leave. As he was walking away and she was entering the building, he turned around and asked her to wait, ran over to her, and said, “Listen, I understand what you’re saying and respect it, but can I just give you a kiss for good luck on your interview? Just a little kiss on the cheek?” She agreed, but when he drew her near, he ended up kissing her on the mouth. They began kissing each other, and then she pulled away nervously. She ran off into her interview without looking at him or saying anything.

A few days later, Marcela had an argument with Pierre while their daughter was at a friend’s house for a sleepover. She needed some space from him, so she took a long walk and decided to have dinner on her own at a restaurant on the way back. She sat at the bar to order dinner and a drink, and to her surprise, the bartender was Marcel.

Marcel was equally surprised to see her, so he said with a semi-serious tone, “What are you doing here? Have you been following me?” Marcela responded, “Of course not. This is a sheer coincidence.” She was a little annoyed at his questioning, and so was he for her running off on him a few days earlier, but four drinks later, the vibe changed.

Marcel and Marcela were laughing and flirting for a few hours, and then the restaurant was closing for the evening. It was time for him to go home, and she should have already been home. Pierre had called her phone, but she had put it on silent after the argument (which she forgot she did after those drinks, so she just thought he was still mad and never called to check on her). A bit down, drunk, and highly attracted to Marcel, she decided to go home with him. They went into a dark alley where his moped was parked, but before they got on, Marcel backed her into a wall, and they began kissing passionately. She was so into him, as he was into her, and they were in the moment, so without any words exchanged, they had sex, completely oblivious to anything going on in the outside world. After they finished, she told him she just wanted to go home (realizing the mistake she made), so he put her in a cab.

As she walked up to her apartment feeling ashamed, she took a deep breath, checked her phone, and felt even worse when she saw the missed calls from Pierre, who was luckily sleeping when she walked in. She took a shower and then went to bed.

The next day, Marcela woke up and received some great news, which helped her put the previous night behind her. She got the job as adjunct professor! She told Pierre, and he was very happy for her. He apologized about the argument the night before, and she felt terrible and guilty, so she responded, “Don’t worry—it was nothing. I overreacted and just needed to clear my head.” Really, it was not “nothing”; it was the same type of arguments they had when they were married. She knew that they were not right for each other, and the incident from the night before confirmed it.

During that summer, Marcela told Pierre what happened. Pierre got upset, and when he collected his thoughts after yelling aimlessly to release his anger, he calmly told her that he never wanted to see her again or have anything to do with her outside of the joint parenting of their daughter. She understood his decision and subsequently moved out with her daughter. She had everything planned prior to speaking with Pierre, since she didn’t want to continue the relationship either.

Then, finally, September arrived! It was Marcela’s first day as an adjunct professor. She was so excited and arrived at her classroom bright and early. She had put the summer completely behind her and was ready for a new beginning. On her desk was a roster with her students’ names. She saw the name Marcel, and it immediately brought back a memory from the summer she wanted to forget, so she put that thought right out of her head. But just out of curiosity, she looked up some information on this student. In the school database, it said that he was 21 years old, so she thought that he could not be the same person because he was too young. Unfortunately, she didn’t know his last name, so she couldn’t verify it for sure. This left her with an eerie feeling that she needed to shake off, since class was beginning in 10 minutes.

The students entered the classroom, and Marcela greeted each of them with a nervous smile, which was probably perceived as first-day jitters. There was no sign of “her,” Marcel, but after the bell rang, he came running in. It was him—the same Marcel she had been with. She felt sick because she had no idea how young he was, and she would now have to see him every day in class. He was astonished, too, but the only thing she could think to say was, “Please stay after class. I need to speak with you about your tardiness.” He gladly agreed. After class ended, everyone left; it was just the two of them, and she walked over to close the door.