Unexpected romance at the heart of Paris

From all cities in the world, Paris has been loved and envied by many nations. It is the Capital of all beauty, the center of the artistic world. Its architecture is magnificent. Paris is a city of high vibrations. Moreover, Paris is known as the Capital of romance and love. If you gave up on your love life, Paris might give you another chance to meet your soul mate. Megan had just celebrated her 20th birthday. Her school had granted her a bursary to study in a Parisian business school which included 6 months of intensive training in French language, as she didn’t master the language at all. It was a hard move to leave her sunny hometown, San Diego, for the French Capital. She found a tiny room near place Denfert Rochereau. Now that she was on her own, she was feeling quite on the low. Her friends and family were envying her for being in Paris, but she didn’t like being here. She also felt that all the tales she had been told about “romance and perfect love in the French Capital” sounded more like “cliché” than anything else. She hated the metro and found people to be stressed out and unfriendly most of the time. “The French, nice people?” what a nonsense, she said to herself….” These people arejust unpleasant…Parisians are so unpleasant, I just hate them!” As a matter of fact, she also hated the French because she was unable to communicate properly in their language. Most of them didn’t speak English. She didn’t know anybody. She felt bored, most of the time. On this Wednesday afternoon, she decided to have a small drink and to study her lessons at Café Daguerre, one of the most popular cafes of the quarter Denfert Rochereau. She ordered a glass of Coca Cola and did her best to concentrate on her French lesson. She passedher hand in her hair, unwillingly hit her glass, which fell onto the floor and spilled on her piece of paper. “Shit- mylesson! How am I going to learn my lesson now? “ She felt so angry with herselfand was about to cry. She had also spilled some of it on her French book andmade a desperate attempt to clean it. “ Est- ce que je peux vous aider?” ,( « MayI help you ? ») said a young man in from the table next to her . She glanced at him. This young man was so different from all the Californian boys she had known before. He looked a little bit tiny compared with them- and so shy and well behaved. “ Je parle Francais un peu”, she responded in a broken French, a little bit embarrassed. Fortunately the Frenchman next to her table spoke English too. “May I helpyou, you look like you need some help...”, he said with a nice smile “ It is a hopeless situation,” Megan said, “ I spilled all my drink over the lesson I was supposed to learn and I will probably have to buy another book”.. “Everything happens for a reason, Mademoiselle! May I introduce myself, my name is Thierry…” “ Oh nice to meet you, I m Megan… Do you live here?” “ Oh yes, I was even born here” “ So you are French?” “ Yes , I am…I suppose you are American, according to your accent…” “ You got it right” “May I offer you another drink? I may not be able to replace your French book, but lets see what we can do about French lessons…” Megan smiled. “ Oh thank you so much, but I d be unable to pay you for the French lessons, I am just a foreign student based in Paris…” “ Never mind, Thierry smiled back, but could you do me a favor in return? Would you come to the Pont des Arts with me for a walk after we leave this Cafe?” “ Sure, Megan responded.” As both left the Café and had done a few miles together, Megan suddenly realized how cute her walking partner was. As she reached the romantic bridge, her heart began to melt as Thierry held her hand tenderly, deeply looking into her eyes…she stole him a kiss from his lips. Copyright©by Isabelle Esling All RightsReserved