TAMAR'S VERSION

On March 19th, 2022, I went to a game night at a friend's house. Darryl and I both shared this mutual friend from church. However, this would be my first time meeting him. I arrived to the game night fashionably late so it was very crowded. All of the seats were taken, except the one next to Darryl. When my eyes fell upon his, my eyes immediately widened. He was definitely a looker. (I couldn’t let him know that though so I had to play it cool.) He was also smitten too, unbeknownst to me. We continued to play games until towards the end of night when we finally decided to have a conversation. I was instantly intrigued by him and every word he had to say. By the end of the conversation, he asked for my number. After weeks of talking and getting to know each other, he took me out on a romantic date and we have been inseparable ever since.

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DARRYL'S VERSION

The Ides of March sat four days old when a gentleman was ambushed by a brother and sister in Christ. Had his wits been about him, he might have faked a phone call, but his senses had failed him. Cursed be the man who relies on himself alone. "You should come to our game night" found its way through a sabbath afternoon smile. "That sounds odee wack yo", he thought, but finding himself unable to rebuff the invitation of a well-meaning church couple, he acquiesced.

Time skipped briskly and the gentleman quarreled in a suburban card game that seemed to inch closer to violence with every draw four. Time tarried not and met an opening door and the entrance of beauty. Gracious is the God that provides eyes to see, and His promise of beauty still. Beauty smiled and swayed and sat next to the gentleman. Had it been the full can of axe body spray the gentleman applied mere hours ago? Yes, it had been. But from where axe body spray lingered charm could not venture.

The weeks depart and the seconds are peppered with the conversation of beauty. One crisp and cloudy spring afternoon found the gentleman on a downtown street corner peering through crowds for one visage in particular. Charisma stood beside, shrouded in a grey hoodie and faux leather jacket, while its grease stained Timbs befouled city property. By that cornerstone, through light rain and heavy heartbeat, the gentleman turned and beheld beauty once more, whose beauty has not left him since.