dream | act | succeed

PART II

Monday, 20.12.2021

It all started as a regular Monday morning. Eduard got up at 6 am and followed his usual morning routine. Half an hour of intensive workout in the home gym before a short meditation session under the shower. The sun was already shining brightly through the curtains when he was preparing a lunch box for the day. His new kitchen was a bit smaller both in size and equipment, but he loved the simplicity of his new place. It was his uncles old family house, or at least what was left after 20 years of abandonment. It took them three years for the rebuild, but after looking at the house today, it was worth every penny. Eduard always dreamed about owning a place like this. “A house in the middle of know where!“, his mother recollected correctly. And indeed, the house offered everything he was visualizing in the past. No neighbors for miles and only one main road that lead to the property. There was a second path crossing the area from the forest behind, but it was only for off-road vehicles and therefore could hardly be counted. After a double gated entrance and an s-shaped gravel path up the hill, the old barren next to the farm house got reinvented for the car storage place. Eduard never liked expensive looking houses and tried everything he could to let the house appear as average as possible, at least from the outside.

Driving to his office would have been the next thing on the agenda, but today was a special day. His employees couldn’t believe it when he told them weeks ago about his plans. “Closing the company down for four consecutive weeks?“, they wondered. “We all deserve some time off!“, he had announced proudly. “But what was going on with their boss?“, they were shocked. It wasn’t a surprise to anyone that this must have been a hell of a year. The economy hadn’t flourished as promised and there where bottlenecks everywhere up and down the supply chains. It was a disaster! But after the new COVID-19 related rules got introduced, Eduard felt supported to turn his plan into action. He had changed a lot during the last year and they all knew that the business trips to Dubai played a big part in that.

It had all started with this conference in early spring. He had met a promising new customer who made an offer he couldn’t reject. One lead to another and before he noticed, he was traveling back and forth between Germany and the Middle East on a weekly basis. It had been on one of those business trips when he had met her. A tall young woman with a breathtaking CV. He had been too shy to walk over and say something like “Hi!“, but the fact that he couldn’t put his eyes off her blonde long hair might have revealed his intensions.

She was used to the looks that men would give her, but she hardly met a guy like him. “Why isn’t he just coming over to me, bragging about his most successful business life? God, I wish he would just come over!“, she bite herself on the lip the second day she saw him. “No, this guy was different!”, she could feel it. “Ok, the fact that he was literally staring at her was suspicious, but how could such an innocent looking face belong to a creep? It couldn’t!”

“My name is Victoria!“, she watched her hand reaching out to him proudly. “What are you doing?“, she asked herself in panic, trying to pull her hand away as fast as possible and pretending that nothing had happened after all. “Muscle memory!“, he had replied in perfect English, not appearing to be shy after all. “Was this all just a misinterpretation of things? Didn’t he simply came over because he was a happily married guy?“, thousands of thoughts shot through her mind as he added. “I am Eduard, by the way!” It gave her enough time to rearrange her thoughts. “Nice to meet you!“, she had responded quickly, trying to stop her mind from using one of those pick up lines on him, men would usually try on her. But the pick up lines weren’t even necessary. The small chat in the bar lead to a deeper conversation in the hotel lobby. Which on the next day got even extended into their regular evening activity for the next three nights before she left the Middle East again.

Eduard really liked her. Every time he read her name on his phone, his hearth was beating faster. It wasn’t a new feeling to him, but he didn’t remember how good it actually felt. They were texting back and forth ever since until he received the last message.

“Hey Eduard 🙂 I hope everything is good? You will not believe it, but I will fly to Frankfurt next Friday! I have to attend a conference there! I asked my boss if I could add some days off and enjoy Germany and she said yes! My first time in Germany! 🍺🇩🇪 Do you show me around?”

“Are you kidding me? Of course I will!“, he had replied a bit too fast for his taste, but he wasn’t even caring about that any longer. “I will pick you up in Frankfurt!“, he had insisted a couple of days later when their plans got more serious. “If you insist!“, she had replied ironically, knowing too good that a trip by train would have become a nightmare due to the new COVID-19 rules. “Blue or grey?“, he had asked her at last. “Blue!“, her American voice responded quickly. “Wise choice! Wise choice!“, he had said and hung up on her.

“Today was the day! Finally!“, Eduard didn’t needed his phone to get reminded of that. Minutes later the Porsche engine screamed enthusiastically into life as the wide tires were searching for traction in the lousy gravel underneath.

THE END OF PART II

See you next time!