Episode 8

She hadn’t expected that after Karin, it would be a man who captured her imagination. Feri taught geography and natural science at the local high school; once a week, he also introduced the rescue service to the area, familiarizing the newcomers with the terrain and various karst formations. During the first few outings, they talked a lot, and she liked the broad-shouldered, dreadlocked man who wore colorful shirts and answered his audience’s questions with ease.
She just couldn’t place herself. After all, she had been with a woman before and had accepted her own difference, but now here was this man, a few years older, who invited her for ice cream after a hike and then walked her to her apartment several times. He never invited her to his place, and he didn’t push her. Her doctor father helped her sort out her doubts.

“My little Gyöngyi, don’t box yourself in!” - he urged. - “You felt good in that relationship, with another girl. It’s been a few years, you’ve grown, changed a lot—things you might not feel, but we, your parents, see it. It’s not just someone’s character that changes as they age; their body doesn’t always desire the same things. If you like the guy, enjoy being with him, and desire him, then be together.”

Then, physical contact came by chance. Feri invited her on a hike alone. The place they went to ended at a rock outcrop. She had never been afraid of heights, and now she stepped lightly to the edge of the abyss, then spun on one foot and slipped. A fraction of a second was enough for her to realize, she had done something stupid and was about to fall. But before that could happen, a stronger hand grabbed her arm and yanked her back, and the next moment, she found herself in Feri’s arms. The man didn’t let go. They stood together, the young man wrapping his arms around her slender waist and looking at her intently with his shining brown eyes. She didn’t remember if they spoke after that.