Chapter 25

Was I against this meeting? Pretty much but if it was to pay for the glass and for the help with putting it in I was able to sacrifice myself,especially since I was a guest in Mateusz's and his grandmother's apartment. Now I had a chance to be at least partially useful in some way. After all, because of me, they had to buy more food, which was still terribly scarce, and the prices were high due to the war. Besides, meeting someone new is not a really demanding activity.

Arek declared he would come for me the next day at 1 p.m. and he showed up at that time as he promised. He was dressed formally holding a bouquet of flowers in his hands. I have no idea where he got them from at this time of year but I thanked him heartily for them.

He took me for a walk in the nearby park and to the port. We admired the gray Baltic Sea which was dotted with the German fleet. The beach was forbidden to enter as it was occupied by soldiers and the army in general so we had to be content with staying in the port.

Later we walked the streets and in the meantime we started talking about mundane things. I've never had better conversation with anyone else as I did with him. He asked me about my interests and how much I knew about the current situation in the country. I told him that I know nothing, which was true by the way, and he explained everything to me. Now I knew that the inhabitants of Krakow and Warsaw were doomed as these cities were occupied by German troops. There were even ghettos for Jews, not to mention concentration camps where a lot of people died... We sat down on one of the benches in the park. Arek's favorite topic was Underground. He was fascinated by telling me about all their plans and what they had achieved so far. He also expressed his approval for the group from Warsaw who effectively "made" the lives of "Heinies" as he said. Small sabotages and other actions were his hobby. He willingly shared his ideas for new "riots" and I patiently listened to him. Sometimes I even wanted to participate in it myself but I knew what Mateusz's opinion was and how huge grandmother's anger would be.

Has there been any closer relationship between us? Well, Arek grabbed my hand at every opportunity and pretended to lead me somewhere but I knew he was doing it on purpose. When we sat down on the bench he asked me if I was cold. I said I was fine but he embraced me anyway. I felt really weird when he did that in the sense of trying to get close to me. He was a good guy and a person to talk to for hours and for that reason I saw him more as a colleague or friend rather than a partner. I just couldn't imagine him as a husband or as someone I could fell in love with.

Before the curfew he walked me to the tenement house. We talked for a while and Arek admitted that I was a nice girl and that he hoped that we would meet again. He kissed me on the cheek when he said goodbye and, as fate would have it, at that exact moment Alex was leaving for work and noticed us...