Love Awakened in Australia

The airport was busy.

There was a lot of traffic and even the crowd seemed to be going in different directions. There were signs everywhere, but they all seemed to say the same thing. I was standing in the middle of it all, my heart racing and my throat dry. I had been hoping for a sign to point me in the right direction.

“Excuse me,” I said as I approached a tall man with a beard. “I am looking for Gilgamesh?”

The bearded man looked at me silently before answering. “The city is huge,” he replied. “You would probably have better luck if you called or texted him instead of asking people on the street.”

“Yes, you are probably right,” I said. “Thanks for your help anyway.”

I turned away from him and pulled out my phone from my pocket.

There were three missed calls from an unknown number and one text message that morning:

Meet me at the airport today at 4 pm? – Gilgamesh

I didn’t know why he wanted me to meet him at an airport instead of just picking me up from his place in the city like he did last time we met after ten years when he visited Japan. Maybe he was busy? Or maybe he was nervous? He didn’t want to be seen by anybody speaking Japanese while on his own turf, perhaps? It could be that too.

On second thought, maybe it was safer if I waited at the airport than heading out into the city alone where nobody knew who I was or what I was doing there. But that didn’t make sense either because we had already met once before in Tokyo and he had told me that he would always love me no matter where we would meet again after ten years apart and so on…

Ah well, there were more pressing matters now anyway. The clock above my head read 3:55PM and so I started walking towards the ticketing counters again just in case there was any delay or something like that. Outside the terminal building, there was a big glass panel window showing off some different types of planes landing and taking off from the runway outside. The sun began to set over the ocean beyond it as I walked towards it but then I stopped in my tracks when suddenly somebody touched my shoulder from behind. It was Gilgamesh who was smiling at me like nothing ever happened between us ten years ago as though we had never broken up at all…

---

*Tokyo*

“What is this?! Are you trying to break up with me?!” Gilgamesh shouted just when Tokiomi opened the door to their apartment back then after a long day at work; his voice breaking with anger as he pushed his way into the house and threw his suitcase onto their modest-sized living room floor like a spoiled child throwing a tantrum… A big manchild who has just found out that his boyfriend has another boyfriend (or girlfriend) now! Or both?… Tokiomi didn't know how to take it anymore, especially since Gilgamesh had been so happy with him these past few months… What did that phone call mean? Was it just idle gossip or serious news? And why hadn't Tokiomi heard about this before? They used to share everything… Almost everything together! But not this one crucial piece of information until today… And now Tokiomi felt sick to his stomach…

“What is wrong with you?! You are acting crazy! What did you think when you picked up your phone earlier?! That we were through?! We are married! Married! We can't break up! So please sit down and let's talk about this calmly! Okay? Can you do that for me now please!? Because I really don't know what is going on inside your head right now… This is not like you at all Gilgamesh… You are supposed to be logical enough to understand things better than this! So please explain yourself first before making such a scene! Let us talk about this rationally because this is not what you wanted when you asked me to marry you after a week of knowing each other!"

Gilgamesh sat down on their sofa reluctantly as requested by Tokiomi but still looked furious as he stared blankly forwards towards their dining table instead of facing him directly as Tokiomi took a seat opposite him before starting again: "Please start talking Gilgamesh," he said quietly while looking straight ahead too - embarrassed by his sudden outburst which forced them both into silence even though they should've been talking already - but also feeling hurt by how he sounded right then... How could anyone sound so heartless when they were still supposed to be in love with someone else? Hadn't they already tried breaking up during those early days of their relationship only to find out later on that they couldn't live without each other no matter how hard they tried? Why couldn't they do it again now!? It wasn't easy being together all these years since