Chapter I: New Beginnings

It's been five long years...many things have changed and many things have stayed the same. Only until now have I dug through the holes of my past and come across the things that i had left behind. I moved deep into the city in which I was raised, the city whose lights brightened my days when they were most dark. I drove across the bridge and saw from a distance a towering building and heard those loud noises bustling in the streets. I knew then, that I was in that empire state of mind...welcome to New York City I told myself.
i moved into a small apartment in the lower west side, it wasn't something grand but it was good enough for what I had planned. I found a job at a small publishing firm and began my career in writing...its been five long years...I feel so grown up now.
I went back to the park that me and my love used to hang out in and I sat there reminiscing about what we would talk about and the moments we shared together. I sat there and closed my eyes and suddenly "TWACK" a baseball had hit my head...
As i opened my eyes I can see a figure hovering over me. "Are you okay?" she says. I come to form and I see a girl above me. Bright hazel eyes and long dark hair, with the biggest sign of distress in her face. "I'm so sorry." she said. It was only baseball but boy did it leave a massive bump on my head.

I saw children behind her, all with baseball gloves and bats in their hands with the biggest "i'm gonna get in soo much trouble for this," faces on. I smiled at them and looked up at her. "It's no worries," i said "teaching them how to play baseball?"

She laughed and explained: "yeah but i was never any good at this sport." I looked to my side and saw the baseball beside me. I picked it up and tossed it back to them. Dusted myself off and when i was just about to say my goodbye, "can you help me?" she asks.

I learned that her name was Victoria and she was a teacher's assistant downtown...she was taking the kids down for a field trip and picnic in the park. I played catch with the young boys and she gossiped with the young girls. I was attracted to her by her beauty but more so of her purity. She was a sweet girl and the first girl I met that i had fun with in a long time.

I asked her out for coffee one day and she agreed with her cheeks red and her smile wide. I walked home that night happy as can be and when i approached my stoop, you wouldn't believe who i saw...

Prologue: My Affections...

In life, you desire many things. You can desire anything from wealth to notoriety but most of all, people always desire some form of romance to excite their average lives. Many say that romance, love or affection is something you cannot touch, or something you cannot see; that it is insensible, and that it is only a word. Long ago, I thought the same way, I never believed in love, I never dreamed of finding that one person that will make you everlastingly ecstatic…but life is full of moments that will render you speechless and in one moment I fell into a deep chasm of bliss and affection.

How do you tell someone you love them? How do you tell a person that in a moment of your average life, there is a slight instant where a feeling of exhilaration flows through your heart? Do you have to plan each and every moment of the process? Or do you have to just wing it and blurt out the words "I love you"? The fact is that eventually you have to tell this person how you feel at that one moment, and I did just that. Just randomly I looked into my graceful angel's eyes and said those three magical words, "I love you", and you know what she said? "Ok".

It is funny how you think a moment of enchantment can occur, but in the end it was only a thought. I thought then and there I was going to be the happiest man alive, but I wasn't. So, as I put my head down with disappointment, she surprised me again by saying, "I'm not finished…I love you too". I hated her for tricking me, and I loved her for reciting those words to me. After that, I kissed her and she kissed me as if in the end we will never be the same again…it was as if she and I had become one.

When people are young and in love nothing else matters to you but that person. Nothing could stop that person from being with her and no one could prevent that person from seeing her. The moments that I spent with her were remarkable and as time passed I thought that things could only get better. But, in a moment all of it was gone; the love of my life was going to fly away to Paris, France. It is ironic how the only person I felt affectionate towards had gone to the city of love. I had one day to say how I really felt about her before she left my life, and just saying "I love you" wasn't enough anymore.

I only had one day and each second, each moment mattered. I needed to show her what I felt inside; what made me feel extraordinary when I spent even just a minute with her. I had one problem though, no words could explain how I felt, no words could have explained the feelings I had for her and nothing in this world could ever show her what her love meant to me. So I did what I do best: I improvised, because you can't plan love, and perfection will only come to me when I see her smile for one last time. The last words I said to her and the last day we had together will be something I will never forget.

As we sat in the park, I looked her in the eyes and spoke my heart out. "I want to cherish each moment that makes me happy, each moment that makes me laugh and each moment that is invigorating to my soul and so far every great moment of my life was with you. I wish that the world would just stop this once so that this moment could never end. You are the one who will forever have my heart, the one who will forever be the reason that I am here. I believe now that in life you can find love anywhere but you can only find one, beyond doubt startling girl to be your one and only true love…and you are mine, I truly love you." We hugged like we never wanted to let go, we kissed like our souls would forever be in one another and we said our excruciating farewells.

That was some time ago and I still remember it like it was yesterday. I left out one thing though. I promised her something in the end of it all, I promised that I will find her, that my burning fire of love for her will never extinguish and that in the end, destiny will bring us together again…I will never forget that promise I made to her so long ago and I hope she remembers it as well as I have. This is my story, this is my journey and this is my determination to find the only true love of my life. What I have left is only a memory but in the end of it all I hope to find the person who has my heart once more. This is the story of…my affections.