Beyond

May

May, the month that roses bloom.

At school there were several plants adorning the central courtyard, pink and red shades.

I've always considered the rose as the queen of the flowers, charming as a bud as in the fully hatched version. Spiral of fragrant petals, whose consistency evokes the softness of the velvet and smoothness of the silk.

Refined and delicate flower, elegant and graceful.

A beauty so kind and rare is likely to attract too much attention, with the risk it gets lost forever. So the nature, wishing to protect it, made it a gift, thorns.

We must therefore take care when we get too close to a rose, the danger is to get stung and hurt.

*****

It was time of written and oral tests. It was time to fight, getting the second year milestone, the promotion.

Thomas was one of those thinking about it the most; his remarks remained sufficient despite 'Gabrielle hurricane' but he was always afraid that something could go wrong at the last minute and those results so hardly conquered during the year slipped away right to the end. Every day he checked the calendar of the examinations, watching his tutor and saying:

"Annie, I can't make it."

He was far from him to be pessimistic, but given the tremendous effort he had been forced to everything took a clearer meaning. He had to recover the gap of the previous year, in addition to get positive outcomes in all the subjects in the new one. All that in a new country, in a new school, with a new language, working.

Thomas was a bit short of energy.

He decided to take a month off from work, focusing more on the studies, with great relief especially for his father.

Anna didn't abandon him even for a second. It seemed to her to be back to October; she went to his place almost every afternoon, organizing his school day as if she were his personal assistant.

Now little was missing to Tom's return to London; the final date depended just on that year-end school results.

Those afternoons were also the last time they could spend together. They never spoke about it. They lived in the present, to go beyond absolutely forbidden.

*****

Compared to the beginning, studying together had become easier; they learned a lot about each other, strengths and weaknesses.

Thomas knew her teacher like the back of his hand, he had never depth so much the knowledge of a person.

Anna had a sweet and kind soul, covered with a strong personality, sometimes visited by a monster.

Unselfish, generous, always ready to put other needs before her ones. She was a genius of giving.

Intelligent up to surprise him, full of talent.

Smiling, cheerful, ironic, never moody, always logical.

Then there was her steel personality, the fortress to conquer to arrive to her; that armour protected her during the battles but hardened her character, too much. A strong self-defence not so necessary, because even her world thankfully wasn't always at war. An Anna sometimes too stubborn, wild, strict, proud, defensive, full of corners to be smoothed. When that side of her personality was exaggerating, Thomas mercilessly beat her; he knew he could, because that was only Anna, better, Anna's flaws. Over the time she learned to accept those criticisms. Not with everyone, only with those she estimated more.