“That’s the thing, Tomas. I have to go.”

Aila watched Tomas’s face fall and her heart ached.

Why was she born into a family of spies? She would do anything to see him smile save for the very thing that would please him the most-stay.

“Aila, I do not care where I am in the world as long as I am with you.”, he divulged.

“And what? Am I expected to believe you will profess undying love to me and then twenty years later, cheat on me with a young dame like my father did to my mother?”

Aila quickly covered her mouth after she realized she had revealed the secret and cursed the very day she was born. Only she was aware of her father’s infidelity and she had just disclosed her father’s personal dealings with a man she was never to see again.

“I…cannot comprehend how a man would do such a thing. As of late, I have learned that good people sometimes do misguided things without realizing how it will affect those around them. However, all men should not have to pay for your father’s sins just like as I should not be accountable for my uncle’s. Please take a chance of me…on love.”, he declared.

“You’re right. You’re not your uncle and I’m not my father. That we can agree on.”, she conceded.

“I’m still leaving though”, she added.

“Please…Don’t leave me. If you leave me now…. you’ll take away the biggest part of me

No baby please don’t go…. And if you leave me now…. you’ll take away the very heart of me….

No baby please don’t go, no I just want you to stay”, he paused from weeping, and suddenly, sorrow filled Aila’s thoughts. Her heart, however, held out on mourning and did not yield to his antics yet.

Tomas gazed at her lovingly and Aila reminisced on the nostalgia the Chicago song had given her.

“Fool,”, she slapped him hard across the cheek. “You honestly think our problems will be saved by a simple song?”, she cried.

“Aila, tell me what I have done wrong.”

“Done wrong…”

“I must have done a heinous action for you to hate me so.”, he whispered as he looked towards the ground.

“No. Tomas, I don’t hate you.”, she acknowledged.

“Then why…”

“I love you.”, she confessed.

Did I just say that out loud? Aila pondered.

Silence came upon them and she, for just a moment, heard crickets chirping.

“Aila, why do you draw the line here?”

“Excuse me?”, she asked, outraged he dared question her motives at ending their…liaison. Calling it a relationship would only lead to regrets later on for her. Her priorities should be the mission first, love second. At least that’s what she had decided. It was best to leave Tomas out of the spy business and cut him from her life altogether. He would move on, find love and…Oh, who was she kidding? She wanted to protect Tomas from the sirens that would come after him. In everything but relationships, he was poised and professional. After all, she had exploited his weakness of naivety to crawl inside his heart. What if others with less noble intentions tried as well? What then?

“Are you afraid?”, he inquired softly into the night. The moonlight barely visible above them, illuminating only faint sillohettes and passing shadows..

“Of course, I’m afraid, Tomas! This is my first relationship and I…well, never mind that now.”

She wished she had a cape, so she could dramatically wave it in the air and turn away from him. He was making this harder on her than it had to be.

“Aila, is it me that you’re scared of? I will not hurt you…”

He puzzled over it for a moment until coming up with an idea.

“I’m never gonna give you up. Never gonna let you down. Never gonna run around and desert you.”, he crooned.

“Now I’m going to have that song stuck in my head for weeks.”, she responded and held her head in her hands to prevent him from seeing her tears. If only he was any other guy…

It would take a long time for her to forget her knight in shining armor.

Time to head off then, she thought.

“If you want songs to get caught in your mind, then how about this one?”

He started to sing and Aila stopped in her tracks.

“No more talk of darkness,

Forget these wide-eyed fears

I’m here, nothing can harm you”

He touched her shoulder and she faced him, impressed by him performing a beloved song from the last musical she had seen back in London. What a dutiful boyfriend, he had remembered what she had said long ago.

“My words will warm and calm you

Let me be your freedom,

let daylight dry your tears.

I’m here with you, beside you,

to guard you and to guide you...”

Her jaw opened slack wide, did he learn a song, so he could serenade her? Aila couldn’t resist and joined along.

“Say you love me every waking moment,

turn my head with talk of summertime...

Say you need me with you now and always...

Promise me that all you say is true

that’s all I ask of you”

They paused to catch their breaths and gazed into each other’s eyes before he continued.

“Then say you’ll share with me

one love, one lifetime

let me lead you from your solitude

Say you need me with you here, beside you...

anywhere you go, let me go too”

“Tomas…”, she spoke as she caressed his face.

“Love me. That’s all I ask of you.”, they finished together.

“All that I am is a man that loves you so much. Aila, will you share the future with me and marry me?”

What will my father think? The mission? His uncle? The danger? Tomas if he finds out?

Despite all the thoughts she had in her head, she uttered what she longed to say.

“YES.”