CH 2.2

That day was a few days after my 14th birthday. At that time, I was just an innocent girl who never imagined that I would meet the love of my life in the future. I was a child who didn’t know the great value of love, and thought that I only needed to care about the glory and honor of my family.

The Holy Nation was excited. It was the day of the birth of the youngest cardinal ever blessed by God, you see. Everyone believed that the youngest cardinal would bring about an end, not a ceasefire, and people sang a day of peace that they didn’t know when it would come.

A man born under the blessing of God. A man, who is the youngest priest ever, to become the youngest cardinal ever. The holy man who will surely be the Holy Father in the future. That was the common idea of those who saw Yohan.

Foolish people. Yohan eventually is a boy who loves a girl, though. No one knew his true feelings. Not only his fellow cardinal, but also the Holy Father, who raised him like his biological parent, did not know the possibility of love in him. People are so cruel, aren’t they?

It was a celebration party for the accession of the cardinal who might become the pope in the future. It was natural for the Rivero family to participate. My father said that now that I’m 14, I get an honorable chance to join this kind of social gathering.

My father regretted that he shouldn’t have taken me, but well? We’re meant to be, so even if it wasn’t for the party, we would meet somewhere someday. Then we would surely fall in love at first sight.

I know. I can tell. It is because we fell in love at first sight that day.

Our eyes met. I knew it at that moment. It’s love. So this is love. This is what love is like. If this is not love, then what is love? If the feelings I have toward that person and the feelings that he thinks of me were not love, nothing in the world would have been love.

We made eye contact, and at that moment my eyes and his eyes shook.

Two pairs of eyes that met and shook. It’s love, right? I’ve never made a bet, but you can bet on it. We fell in love at first sight.

A great joy that I had never felt before enveloped me. The fate was right at that place! Fate led me to him! I got goosebumps and shivered. Oh my goodness. How could I live for 14 years without knowing that he existed in the world? I had that question there. The world is meaningless without him and I couldn’t live without him. Fate made us meet.

I, of course, moved as fate led me.

“Young Lady Rivero, you’re rude!”

“Stop her!”

“That’s fine.”

There was a hindrance in my way to him. Those were nasty obstacles. Of course, my love stopped such mean people.

“Haha, Young Lady Rivero seems to have lost her mind because she fell for His Eminence’s beauty.”

“My daughter is still lacking because she is young. I’m sorry, Your Eminence. Tite, apologize for your rudeness.”

People who didn’t know anything talked about him and me. Rudeness? Manners aren’t needed between us. No, that’s not it. We have to be more polite because we love each other! I then immediately greeted him politely as the adults around me taught me. Everyone smiled at us. I think it was the first and last day that people smiled at us being together.

“Nice to meet you, Young Lady Rivero.”

He smiled at me. It was such a sweet, sacred smile.

“I heard it was your birthday a few days ago. Blessing of the Holy God to you.”

He said that meeting me was a blessing of the Holy God. It was embarrassing for others to hear, but it’s okay. Because I knew.

I knew it the moment our eyes met. That he fell for me. I was really happy. You know what, I fell for him, too! It was not just the eyes. From the moment I made eye contact with him, my eyes, nose, mouth, ears, and touch. All the senses I could perceive were directed at him. The slightly open lips, a quick breath, and the gaze that didn’t move away from me. Everything was clear. He has a crush on me. I have a crush on him. We will be the happiest couple in the world.

I was sure. His love for me will remain unchanged even if this world is destroyed. If you ask me why, that is because he poured out that huge love for all mankind on me alone. All the merciful feelings that God gave him were directed at me.

I was happy and excited, but never conceited. It wasn’t vanity. It really wasn’t.

He made the sign of the cross and I took his hand. His hands trembled. The racing of his heart was transmitted through his veins. He trembled. I knew everything. As soon as he was born, he grew up in the Temple, not in the secular society, and was raised in isolation from these emotions and desires. So how strange and scary must it have been to have a crush on me? Even though I was two years younger than him, I knew more about love than him. I was rightly responsible for leading him. So I said,

“You fell for me, didn’t you?”

It wasn’t arrogance at all.

“I know everything. I love you, too.”

I told him the truth.

“Don’t worry about making a living even if you leave the Temple. I have a lot of money.”

I guess I shouldn’t have said the last word. I must have touched his pride as a man. Yohan pulled out his hand from me, and my father slapped me on the cheek before I said anything. For the first time in my life, my father slapped me.