I boarded the coach at the stop as planned. To my dismay, there was only one seat left, right beside a chap who looked to be a few years my senior. I barely noticed him at first; my mind was too crowded with urgent matters I needed to sort before my seven-hour trip to see Mum and Dad.
Settling in as the coach pulled away, I began to notice a faint scent drifting overmusk and rich, freshly brewed coffee, with an undertone so invitingly bitter that it instantly carried me back in time.
I was seventeen, it was one of those rare hot English summers, and I was lying in the tall grass along the riverbank with my dearest boyfriend, William. He always carried that same scent about him. The stars were scattered across the sky as we kissed, and he would whisper softly, promising wed be together forever, that hed never leave me. William was my first lovepassionate, fierce. I adored him so much, I would have given up my studies, my future, absolutely anything just to stay by his side.
But life, as it does, had other ideas. William joined the army and never came back to mehe met a girl in the city and married her. My heart was in tatters. I never bothered with another man, carrying Williams memory with me through a whole decade, loving him despite such a betrayal.
I glanced at the man next to me, hardly believing my eyes. Dark hair, striking blue eyes, a fine nose, and full lipshe looked so much like William, I could feel my heart thumping in my chest.
Excuse me, is your name William by any chance? I asked softly, my nerves getting the better of me.
He turned towards me, a broad grin spreading across his face. No, Im James, he replied. The name was different, but everything else about him brought my past flooding back. And whats your name? he asked.
Im Alice, I managed, barely regaining my composure. Alice. Lovely to meet you.
The pleasures mine. Alice, youre the spitting image of someone I used to know, James said again with a smile. Really? I replied. Who?
My first love, of course. We didnt part wellshe met someone else. I havent been able to forget her for ten years. And now here you are. Its almost unreal, James said, the honesty written all over his slightly flushed cheeks.
Thats quite something. My storys almost exactly the sameyou look just like my first love from ten years ago. Can such things really happen? I mused.
James smiled. Shall we exchange numbers, keep in touch? Feels only right after fates thrown us together like this.
I nodded without hesitation.
We spent the remainder of the journey talking away, spinning stories of our own heartbreaks and memories. Whether this will turn out to be another twist of fate giving us a second chancewith someone new, yet oddly familiarI couldnt tell you.
But I did learn something vital. Sometimes, when you least expect it, life gives you a gentle nudge, a reminder that youre not alone in your longingsthat maybe, just maybe, its not coincidence at all.
