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Eight | ∞

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With headphones on and a brochure in her hands, she wandered around the exhibition hall. Maybe dinosaur fossils weren't her thing, but this - the evolution of human - definitely interested her.

"There are three documented tribes in the Ural mountains -the Yagahls, Argahds, and the Sigvads. Even though they lived in considerable proximity, living conditions and lack of will to explore prevented the tribes from meeting for hundreds of years. The most hostile of the three was the Argahd, which forbade their members to solicit with any others, killing any who did..."

She listened with intrigue as she passed an exhibition that was a slab of indecipherable drawings. She gently ran her fingers along the glass case as the narrator continued, "This artefact is believed to be the first documented love letter. It tells of a Yagahl man's longing for an unidentified woman, whom he met in the wilderness. While most of it is not yet deciphered, at least a portion of it tells of his resolve to love no other woman for all of his remaining lives..."

She turned and stopped in surprise at the sight of tourists hurrying into the darkened auditorium. Curious, she followed.

Once inside, her eyes roved around for a seat. They landed on a row of empty spaces, occupied by just one lone guy in a beanie. The person was hunched forward with elbows on knees, and hands supporting his chin. She angled her body so she could make her way in. She sat three seats away from the man, but when a group of Chinese tourists shuffled in, she had no choice but to move in until she was right beside him.

He glanced at her briefly with a smile. To her surprise, she recognised him. He was in the same university lecture as she, the one who always sat four rows from the back. She wondered if he recognised her too, but his non-response told her that he probably didn't.

She settled down, and within a few short minutes, the clip began. It was a more detailed description of the inhabitants of Ural mountains and in particular, their religions. The Yagahl tribe believed in reincarnation, the narrator explained, and drew their attention back to the "love letter" she had seen, to the promise the boy made to his unidentified lover.

As it came to an end, she quickly rose and prepared to leave. She headed toward the exhibitions when hastened footsteps behind her prompted her to turn around, only to find herself facing the person she had sat next to at the screening. She looked at him in puzzlement.

"Your phone. You left your phone!" he said in a thick British accent.

She let out a small gasp. "Oh dear, thank goodness for you!"

She hurried towards him and gently took her phone from him. He grinned, and that made her blush. He was attractive, not in the way that he came out of a menswear magazine, but simple and ordinary attractive.

"Better be careful with that!"

She smiled in gratitude. "Do you happen to be a student at UCL? A history student?"

His eyes widened in surprise, then lit up with an amiable sparkle. "Yeah, are you too?"

"Yes, I thought you looked familiar," she said gleefully.

He laughed - the kind that was infectious and sent all the nice and warm feeling up her body. "Then you must be here because of Professor Graham."

She nodded. "Clearly."

She gently hurled her red scarf to the back of her neck, while he tucked his hands into his pockets.

"Coffee?" he asked, his eyes wide with anticipation.

"Tea for me." she replied, thrilled that he asked.

"Well, that works too."

He wasn't trying to be a charmer, but he felt that it would be wasteful if he didn't prolong this conversation with such a delightful girl. It was beyond his imagination to have her reciprocate, and he kept this jubilation delicately in his heart, as they walked their way to the cafe.

* * *

He wasn't a frequent visitor to parties, but he attended this one just for her. He was glad, of course, that he could see her again. Frequently, in fact, at the school compounds. He nudged his way through the people, some of whom dressed up neatly as elves and reindeer, to the centre of the ballroom. Comparatively, he came as just him, and that made him feel slightly out of place.

The invitation had called this a magical Christmas party, and if there were indeed any magic involved, all of it came from her enchanting him. He caught sight of her soon enough, in her dainty Santa hat, at the DJ mixer.

He approached her, and she returned the beam when she saw him.

"You came! How's everything?"

He gave a small laugh. "It's delightful. Christmas jingles and all."

She took a spare set of reindeer ears from beside her and gingerly wore it for him. "Just a pair of ears and you're set for the party."

She grinned at him with such adoration that he would gladly capture it all and relive it for a lifetime.

"You do realise what you're standing under," he said, his eyes locked on hers.

She glanced up, and realisation hit her.

"You're sneaky, Eddie," she chided lightly.

"No, you're sneaky."

He beheld her for a few priceless seconds, as he thought, if anything was magical here, it was him falling in love with her. He lifted a hand towards her cheek. When she did not flinch from it, he closed in, slowly but surely. When they were in such proximity as to feel each other's breathing, he took in every of her features and engraved them, deep within his mind and heart. He brought his lips down on hers. Gently, lovingly, passionately.

At that moment, he thought he could, like the Yagahl boy, love her for all of his lifetimes.