This Moment, This Minute...

"THIS MOMENT, THIS MINUTE"

By Nellskitchen

♪♪♪.........This moment, this minute

And each second in it

Will leave a glow upon the sky

And as time goes by, it will never die......♫ - Sinatra - My Shining Hour

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Introduction

It comes about rarely, but at times, and quite unexpectedly, a commonplace glance converts to a happening. An otherwise unremarkable day addresses a lingering question.

Such is the case for Neil and Janina, who find themselves in the same place and at an event of no particular consequence.

Crossing paths, a not-so-coincidental thing, addresses whether they would ever see one another again; however, it leaves open how each will behave.

Might he be indifferent, as he was on that long-ago night of their breakup? Will she be defensive? Such are two of any number of possibilities.

The pair had parted ways some twenty years before; the final anguishing moments of their drama left both profoundly wounded. Afterward, and despite their sizzling affair, Neil Gate put her out of his mind, erasing memories like a schoolteacher wiping the chalkboard. Rarely thinking of her, Neil never tried to see Janina again.

Janina, not Neil, had made a mistake, so his feelings made sense to the extent these things do. That aside, her view naturally differed. Madly in love, and despite having since married, Janina never quite let go. All this time later, the still slender, fair-skinned, and statuesque Latvian secreted a tiny flame. It filled a more prominent corner of her broken heart than it should have.

Given the state of things when the relationship ended, Neil's attitude was not unwarranted; neither was Janina's, though for starkly different reasons. He was fed up with lying and games. On the other hand, she felt ambushed and perpetually scolded herself for missing the gathering storm brewing in the man she adored.

Most distressing, she never imagined he would shut her out, but he did.

Part 1 - Twenty Years Ago

The light rain added to the murkiness of an already gloomy night. The couple sat quietly together in his car. He knew what was about to happen, she suspected it.

Being together for two years meant she discerned his moods and harmonized with his ups and downs. Janina had beheld his genius, picked apart his mind, and thought she knew everything, but now this.

As the mini-drama played out, so did her fears. Instead of reaching to kiss her goodnight, he stayed quiet and looked away. She sensed he was onto her. Somebody must have told him; it was probably Nysa, but there was no way to be sure.

Conflicting thoughts consumed her. Neil was her life's bright light, but just then, she thanked God for the night. Sometimes, darkness acts as a shield against the inevitable. Perhaps it would keep his penetrating intelligence at bay through the next horrifying minutes during which Fate would decide whether the slowly closing door would seal shut or⸻or what?

Neil broke the stifling instant. Speaking softly, he bared his mind. "Somebody has to say it, Janina. I've had enough. We need to be away from this, from each other. I'm getting out."

"'Be away?'" she gasped disingenuously. "You're leaving me?"

She sobbed rather than admit that doing what she did meant throwing away what they had. Terrifyingly, she half-imagined he might say the paralyzing words, 'You did it, I found out, it can't un-happen.'

He was not so direct. Instead, carefully articulating, he added, "It's over, Janina. It's been over; neither of us dared say it until now."

She shook; tears spilled from her eyes. Desperate and too afraid to argue further, she made another mistake. Angrily, she ripped away the diamond necklace he had given her for Christmas. "You won't find someone better!" she screamed. "I've given you everything--all of me--all this time! You won't..."

Choking, she stopped mid-sentence and covered her face with her hands. Neil, unmoved, said nothing as she tossed the glittering keepsake across the short distance between them.

Janina elbowed the car door and escaped the unraveling calamity. Neil, impassive, touched the ignition and drove away.

**

⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎Part 2 - Twenty Years Later

By some unspoken celestial rule, forgetting is easier for fetching men than for beautiful women. No one dares say why, but men inevitably come upon new, equally beautiful partners who seamlessly fill the void.

Too soon after, Neil found Vittoria--or rather, she found him. A girl from the old neighborhood, the shapely Italian, had grown up a few short blocks away. There, she blossomed into stunning womanhood. Though never admitting it, Vittoria secretly had eyes for Neil as early as grade school.

Typically male, Neil knew nothing of Vittoria's abiding interest; he only met her after his breakup with Janina. An FBI Special Agent, Vittoria Casella, was not only beautiful; she was younger than Janina by two years. To Janina's mortification, the new couple came together at just the right time in time--for Vittoria, who explained it as a woman's coincidence, which, to anyone of reasonable intelligence, is no coincidence at all.

Upon learning of the last act of the Neil-Janina love affair, Vittoria moved quickly. With olive skin, bountiful breasts, and chestnut hair, she enticed this man of her dreams--of Janina's dreams!

Each woman had strengths. A force of nature, Vittoria's mental quickness contrasted with Janina's subtlety and thinly-veiled determination. Vittoria's resolve took the budding couple to the altar mere months after their they first had sex, which happened to have happened mere moments into their first date!

Was it happenstance? Beyond gossipy speculation, only Vittoria knew, and she has never said.

To complicate matters, theirs is a small town, and in small towns, everybody thinks they know everything about everybody. Amid that whispery backdrop, the sidelined and powerless Janina stood by as Vittoria, an upstart trespasser, took her place.

With her emotions in shambles, the cast-aside Janina self-defensively escaped the newly married couple's oppressive bliss. She moved to Europe. There, she endured ten unhappy years of relationship wilderness before marrying the impersonal Faruk, a Turk with whom she has a beautiful daughter.

Amid marriage and a charmed life overlooking the Bosporus, figments of Neil stalked her. Not only did Janina imagine seeing her ex again, she imagined it all the time. A fantasy playing in her head; it was a looping rerun, a reality show absent reality. Might it turn real?

⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎Part 3 - Twin Sister from Hell -

Janina had never been friendly with Neil's sister, the hateful Nysa.

Nysa reviled Neil. Whenever she could, Nysa lashed out at her brother. She undermined his relationships and did whatever it took to bring him grief.

The siblings' contrary association derived from Nysa's unhappy childhood and her overshadowing brother's perceived indifference to her chronic bitchiness. Due to this, Neil kept his fraternal twin at arm's length.

Despite the family friction, Janina kept in touch with Nysa. She had her reasons. Through Nysa, Janina kept track of Neil, resulting in an accurate sketch of her one-time lover's life with Vittoria. Janina saw her opportunity through Nysa.

Bitchyness aside, Nysa was alluring and perceptive. She knew about Janina's enduring love for Neil; one day, she told Janina about Neil's intention to appear at her wedding reception. She also included something else: Neil's wife, Vittoria, would be out of town on assignment!

Nysa meant to cause trouble. To that end, she scheduled her wedding reception around Janina's high school reunion. The moment was perfect, and its timing fit nicely into her evil master plan.

To hatch her scheme, Nysa frothed her bubbling brew via a simple text. Her cryptic message did the trick:

TEXT►►►►►►►►►►►►'Janina - My twin will be at my wedding without Vittoria. It's your chance!'◄◄◄◄◄◄◄◄TEXT

⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎Part 4 - A table nearest the door -

During her time with Neil, Janina ignored Nysa's underhandedness. Seeing through her was not hard. She knew Nysa was chronically up to no good. Janina even recognized the text's true purpose, yet she overlooked it.

Janina's forthcoming high school class reunion provided the perfect vehicle. How could she not take advantage, especially since the tedious event was scheduled for the same night as Nysa's wedding? It was so innocent; no one would be the wiser⸺except Nysa.

Janina was desperate; it might be her last chance to be close to Neil, to feel him again. At first, she put the unholy thought from her mind; eventually, curiosity and, more importantly, impatience got the better of her. Gradually, she convinced herself of its innocence. After all, her husband, Faruk, would be with her. He would keep things this side of marital catastrophe.

Once she decided, Janina pressed her indifferent husband to agree to the tiresome trans-Atlantic flight to New York. It helped that Faruk took little notice of his wife's sudden interest in reminiscing with meaningless high school chums. True, it seemed out of character, but he conceded that there were worse things than sitting with a bunch of tiresome Americans.

Faruk overlooked something else on the event night: his wife's keen interest in sitting close to the restaurant's entrance. "Let's take this table," she brightly insisted. "That way, we can step outside to smoke dope. It's legal here."

Once seated, Faruk took no notice of his wife's darting eyes and eagerness to check out the arriving guests.

Friends from school days sat with them. Pointless and barely paid attention-to-small talk followed. Throughout, Janina anxiously watched the door.

She needed to see Neil before he saw her; for some reason, it mattered.

⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎Part 5 - "This moment, this minute..."

Shockingly, someone--some man, eventually, if stupidly, proposed to Neil's sister, Nysa. Who he is and why he did it does not matter since he is of no consequence.

What matters is that Nysa booked her wedding reception at the Baku Palace for the same day as Janina's high school reunion party. It mattered because, if handled properly, the encounter would put Janina together with Neil, absent the guardedly possessive Vittoria. Who knows, Nysa reasoned, it might even appear to be a chance happening.

Such was the setting as Neil walked into the busy restaurant, there to reluctantly share in the distasteful occasion of his sister's reception. Already underway when he arrived, it carried zero hint of looming drama.

From opposite directions, a pair of shapely greeters headed straight for the unaccompanied man. Both wore black top hats, tails, white satin blouses, and fishnets. Their patent leather dress sandals clicked hard against the floor. Despite the racket of the place, the intensity of those clacking shoes alerted the huntress to the presence of her prey.

Adelina, the shapelier of the two attendants, smiled radiantly even as Nadia, her tallish, equally pretty coworker, barely hiding her irritation, reluctantly stood back.

Janina studied the moment from her carefully selected vantage point. She was hardly in a position to be irritated by the tender loving care the girls extended to Neil; nevertheless, she suppressed an urge to scratch their perfectly rouged faces.

Neil attracted women's attention; Janina knew it better than almost anyone. Despite it, she had never grown used to women throwing themselves at him. Today, she was no less annoyed than she had been throughout their long-ago travels when doting females emerged from the woodwork to pander to her handsome partner.

In a tangle of overly obliging arms, the fawning servers helped Neil with his coat. They ascertained his destination, and Adelina pointed him to the wedding banquet room, whose open doorway provided a glimpse of the festivities. "Sir, there's a school reunion to the left," Nadia deferentially offered.

Just then, holding court with her ladies in waiting, the resplendent bride immediately detected Neil's presence. Innocently, she offered her best profile to the occasion's photographer, an all-business snapshot Hydra commonly found at these things. Secretly admiring Neil far more than she did her new husband, Nysa, acting as if she was unaware of her brother's approach, promptly looked away.

Appreciative of the hostesses' helpfulness, Neil slipped each a fifty. Then he stepped the few steps to where the music of dissimilar generations converged. There, in the hallway between simultaneous and noisy parties, for some reason, he hesitated.

With the class reunion to his left and the reception to his right, he caught Beyoncé's '03 Bonnie and Clyde,' and Sinatra's, 'Love and Marriage,' the latter a celebration of wedded bliss the timeless crooner never attained.

Neil glanced about the reunion room. Scanning a litany of attendees' faces, some familiar, some not, his line of sight fell to Janina's, who, by then, had already pounced; her riveting stare seized him.

At the speed of thought, each, in a telepathic, rending moment, knew what the other knew.

Via the few feet of nothingness separating them, a wordless exchange happened as bygone lovers shared past intimacy. At once, each craved and feared the searing hint left over from the scorching flame of their never-fully-dampened love affair.

Their eyes stayed fixed through a moment laden with too many seconds. Risking exposure and taking twice the time Janina had intended, two hearts stood still as she recollected strong arms to hold her and the shared pleasure of being in love.

Neil remembered too, though his were a man's recollections; they were singular and harkened back to a university gala, a woman's kneeling subservience, and a head bobbing in his lap as she transformed every man's chronic fantasy into actuality.

As far back as Istanbul, Janina planned to do what she now did; she stared, smiled lovingly, and discretely offered a miniature wave, resulting in a snatched moment, a chance to fall into him another time before life passed them by.

Risking her husband's jealousy and the danger that Neil might give her the brush, Janina sustained her gaze. Her eyes were as Neil remembered: alert, entrancingly blue, and brimming with tender memories of long-ago desire.

Neil identified other things, too. High school had meant nothing to Janina, so he was mildly amused to find her there. His lightning mind promptly assembled the intentionally scattered pieces of her feminine puzzle; he suspected his twin sister's charade. What was supposed to appear as a curious happenstance spelled 'set-up,' and Vittoria's absence had all the markings of Nysa's underhandedness and Janina's duplicity.

Meant to remind him of past affection; instead, it called to mind Janina's games, her relentless conniving, and sexual offerings once intended to make way for her place in his life. He remembered their breakup, the soundness of his reasoning, a moment in his car when he severed ties with a woman convinced she was the only one.

What should happen now? How should he play it? Faster than a quick reading of these obvious questions, Neil knew what to do.

A dozen sets of eyes, old classmates familiar with the affair and its ill-fated finale, intruded upon the moment. They recalled the high school sweethearts' fairytale romance. Neil and Janina were the 'quarterback and the cheerleader,' the prom queen and her liege lord. Theirs was the grand love affair of the graduating class. When it ended, no one, except Janina, knew why--everyone wanted to, and theories abounded.

Seconds ticked by, and to everyone's delight, Neil, the consummate gentleman, saved the day.

With their eyes still fastened, Neil, almost unnoticeably, nodded. Janina, still smiling warmly, nodded in return and then diverted everyone's attention by hurriedly introducing her former lover to Faruk, who, absorbed with his soup and oblivious to the visitor's significance, stood and, bowing in the Turkish tradition, immediately sat down and resumed eating.

Indifferent--some might say clueless to the hazards of his surroundings, Faruk logically assumed Neil to be just another of his wife's bygone classmates. He missed the familiarity in the stranger's sudden presence and the warmth of a woman's smile whose veiled meaning only Janina and Neil fully grasped.

With Faruk again searching his plate, Neil considerately acknowledged the others present, returned his eyes to Janina a final time, and, conveying neither affection nor rejection, backed away and vanished into his sister's soiree.

Here, our story ends⸻for now. Time and Fate will decide the rest.

End