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We came inside my apartment, which I kept neat for that particular day, but I couldn't help keeping the piles of books on almost every piece of furniture, which resembled a table in the living room. Maybe, I wanted her to see what I was doing with my time lately, so I kept them around.
"Welcome to my humble home. I know I have invited you for a drink, but I'm afraid it will have to wait. I would like to show you something I made first." I was most interested in the eyes of Pam, and I saw the flash I was hoping for.
I led them to the table where my computer was residing like a king on its center. I opened an app that started with a splash screen and the title of Friend.
"So, what do we do now?" Mustafa asked
"For a lovely day like this one, I think you'd better take a walk by the lake."
It was not me speaking; it was the app. There was silence for a second or two, then Fadia gave it a shot.
"What if I'm not in the mood of a walk today?"
"Are you with the fine gentleman who first talked?" Friend answered
"Yes, I am."
"Then why on earth would you prefer talking to me to walking and talking with your... is he your boyfriend?"
"He's my husband?"
"So, take a walk with your husband?" Friend answered
"Do you think I should?" My heart was beating like a drum for it what Pam's voice this time.
"I don't see why you shouldn't." Thank you, Friend, for this wonderful piece of advice.
I could see the flash I imagined would be in their eyes, but I was watching Pam the whole time as she asked Friend some tricky questions which would only come from a software engineer who knew what she was doing. Friend failed to answer a few of her questions, but he did pretty well for most of the rest. I knew Pam enough to know if she was impressed, in fact, that day and all the sleepless nights I spent studying natural language processing, machine learning, and artificial intelligence were to have this moment back and for me to see that look of pride in her eyes whenever she looked at me. I figured any other words would not suffice, so I built her something.
Mustafa kept asking Friend tough historical and financial questions, Friend answered most of them in a way that impressed Mustafa as well, and I knew he was not an easy man to impress. After about an hour and a half talking to Friend, Pam interrupted Mustafa and closed the lid of the laptop,
"Where are the drinks you promised us?" Pam said while looking at me and I could recognize that look as I had been dreaming about seeing it back in her eyes since the fateful day in Tempelhof.
"In a moment," I said and hurried to the cold bottle of champagne, popped it open and poured in champagne glasses on a tray and came back to offer them the drink.
"There are only three glasses here!" Pam said looking closely into my eyes.
"I'm afraid I don't drink."
Pam couldn't keep the tears inside, but neither could I. Mustafa removed the tray standing between me and her, and the tray was like the Berlin Wall brought down to pieces, as soon as it went down, we were in each other's arms again.
We hugged and kissed for what seemed to be hours, and I didn't notice when Mustafa and Fadia went back to their apartment.
"I know I don't deserve you, but I couldn't live without you. I am sorry I..." Pam put her hand on my mouth
"I never stopped loving you, but I was waiting for this man to come back. This is the George I loved all the way back from Lebanon."
I didn't waste a moment not looking at her beautiful eyes and what she said came to me as one backstory I loved every bit of which.
"I never told you. I always respected how dedicated you were to your family, but I loved you because you were different. There would be times when I dreamed of being with you in another life, but I never thought it was possible. If it were any other man that day in the office showing the same bravery you showed, I would never set one foot out of the country with him, but with you, I was not fleeing, I was walking towards my destiny. Neither of us wanted this to happen, but no matter how insensitive this might sound, I am grateful it did. Even after Tempelhof, they offered to put me in another place away from you, but I refused. I told them how much I loved you and how much I wanted to be with you, but I couldn't be back to who you became. I was waiting for that man to be born again from the ashes. I never stopped believing in you even when you stopped believing in yourself."
I couldn't believe what I heard. How could she be a human just like the rest of us? How could she possibly be mine?
"We have both learned a lot of bitter lessons on the road, George, I am not asking for much. I don't want to lose this man you showed me today yet again, and I don't want to be an observer in your life. I want to be part of it. I want to be it."
"Will you take me back, Pam?" She looked at me with tears still flowing from her eyes
"I have never pushed you away. I have never really left."
The room turned around us like a whole universe compacted in the eyes and hearts of two young lovers opening up to what love feels like for the very first time. Mustafa and Fadia thought we were crazy when we knocked at their door at five o'clock in the morning to get Pam's stuff, but they were both more than happy to help.
"What took you so long man, we need some privacy around here. We want to get rid of her." Mustafa said
There was no better way to end such a beautiful day that started with tears but ended with all of us laughing so hard we must have woken up all of Berlin as we bathed in tears of joy.