It took months, before we finally introduced ourselves.

Months, in which I had tried to find out his name through other channels.
Something I was not proud of, but I trusted I would be able to burn off the bad karma before my death.
I would not be guilt tripped into reincarnation, just because I investigated someone’s identity without their consent.

After that had turned up empty, and I had already made my peace I would probably never see him again, or alternatively if I did, he’d avoid me or even be hostile;
That, was the moment we ran into each other.

I simply waved at him, not wanting to force him to talk to me again. Things had not ended well, and I assumed he was in a relationship and had started seeing me as a threat.
And I respected that.

But instead, he took up the invitation and walked towards me, and we had a longer chat than we ever had.

The first shock was that I had totally misjudged his position.
There was nothing fancy about his work, and I wondered;
“But how, Lauren?”
How was I able to be so sure this was someone in a leadership position, when to his own accord, he was not?

I now believe the mistake was because he carries himself as a leader.
Which says little about what career he is in.

Things got even stranger when he told me his real name.
It caused a short circuit in my brain, like I could not understand it. There was no mental drawer to save it.
Another riddle to solve.

This time, I blamed it on the fact that I had already given him a fictional name, which I had internalized completely.
I had been living in another reality and when he told me his real name it was like worlds violently clashing into one another.

His real name was more fitting than the one I gave him.
Mine had been poetic, when this man was as solid as they come.

I had assumed his defining character trait had been that he was able to withstand me.
But I was wrong;
He was able to withstand anything. 

Build to lead and to withstand any storm.

A warrior, who would whisper back:
“I am the storm” 

~Lauren
An unexamined life is not worth living

Harteveld 2025*
Are 2200 characters, or less.
The name is inspired by the book Fretz 2025 by Johan Fretz and asterisk by the 2025 movie Thunderbolts*