Amir looked lost for a moment.

"I lost my boyfriend of four years to cancer eight months ago," he said quietly. "He was quite a bit older than me but not old enough to die."

Holy fuck! That hit hard.

"I'm so sorry for your loss," I said instinctively, I was still trying to absorb his statement.

"He always lived life to the fullest and just before he passed, he made me promise to move on and be happy again."

This explained so much but I honestly didn't know what to say, so I let him talk.

"It isn't a risk if I stand to gain so much and have nothing to lose," he said. "A job is just a job, money is just money but art, music, joy, pasta with a handsome man... that's what life is really about."

He thought I was handsome?!

"He must've been an amazing person to leave such a positive legacy through you," I said quietly.

The remark clearly caught Amir off guard because he had to swallow a couple of times and dab at the corner of his eye.

"When Francesca gave me the list of students, I looked up all the parents so I'd know who was who," he said.

He was interrupted by the arrival of our meals but after a single fork full, he continued.

"The first thing I thought when I saw your LinkedIn profile was... what kind eyes he has."

Now it was my turn to swallow.

"Time doesn't exist, everything has already happened and we're just the slowed-down light that's catching up," he said sagely, before savoring another bite.

A musician, a writer, and a philosopher?

"Nothing is too fast, nothing is a coincidence, it's all going just as it's supposed to, so... relax."

Amir had managed to take all of my doubts and worries and sweep them away without skipping a... note.

In a matter of moments, he'd taken me on a deeply personal journey and completely disarmed me along the way.

I'd never considered myself to be an impulsive person but in that very second I felt completely and utterly... free.

Leaning over the corner of the table, I dared kiss his sauce-stained lips and said, "Thank you."

The conversation quickly returned to our usual banter until time, even though it didn't exist, once again ripped me away from him.

But not before I invited him over for a nightcap on Friday night.