Breaking Tradition, Facing Love

Irena's fingers trembled with nervousness as she tried to pick up the teacup, but her hands were so shaky that the cup almost slipped out of her hands. Her stomach was in knots and she could barely breathe.

"Hey, are you ok?" asked the man sitting next to her. He had short dark hair and a mustache and was wearing a nice suit. He had just helped Irena pick up the cup after it fell from her hand when she tried to pick it up. "You don't look too well. Do you have a fever?" he asked as he touched Irena's forehead with his hands. His hands were warm against her cold face.

"I... I'm alright," Irena managed to say after she took a deep breath. She didn't dare move her gaze from the table in front of them. Her hands were shaking badly now and she gripped the cup tightly to steady herself, afraid that she would spill the tea on their clothes if she let go of the teacup even for a moment.

"Are you sure? You're really pale..." The man said again as he reached out to feel Irena's forehead once more, but Irena quickly moved away before he could touch her face again.

"I'm fine," said Irena, trying to sound as calm as possible but only managing to sound like she was panting instead. "I just need a few minutes... please." She looked at the man who was looking at her in confusion then turned away to look at the other people seated nearby in the coffee shop where they had met earlier that day.

The man sighed and glanced at Irena again then picked up his own cup of tea and took a sip from it before placing it back down on its saucer on the table after he set it down gently on the table. He could see that Irena was really nervous about something, but he couldn't understand why. Was she so nervous because they had just met? No, this meeting wasn't the first time they'd met... no, there was another time when they'd met before... but that didn't make sense either because this seemed like their third meeting rather than their second meeting... or maybe fourth? It was hard for him to remember how many times they had already met each other since they'd been seeing each other secretly for some time now... maybe an even higher number than four? But no matter how many times they had already met each other before today, he knew that today marked a very important day for both of them. If everything went well today then they would be allowed to meet each other publicly soon enough and later in life, maybe if things went well for them and if their families accepted their relationship with each other then one day they might even get married and have children together, which is what most parents wanted for their children anyway...