LoveStory part 2
2.A STRANGE TWIST OF FATE
I got on the plane in Frankfurt airport, flying to New York, and a man was seated next to me. It was the same man I had just met in the airport terminal. So he became my fellow traveler during this journey across the Atlantic. Fortunately this fellow traveler from Macedonia, who was going to visit his parents in the USA, was talkative and interesting, having a broad general knowledge for discussion. His name was Stefan N. He was a civil engineer and had traveled to Europe and America often. His parents came from Ohrid region and had been living in the USA for more than forty years. This time, as he told me, he was going there to see his mother who was very ill and who had, several times, expressed her wish to see him. Unfortunately, her illness prevented her from going to her homeland, Macedonia.
We left Frankfurt airport and the plane took us high in the sky. Soon we were served drinks by a beautiful, thin and graceful stewardess. Feeling relaxed, I commenced a conversation with my fellow traveler, Stefan. The journey to New York took eight hours. It is preferable for most people to have such a talkative neighbour because the loneliness during long journeys can be a psychological burden. In addition to being talkative, my fellow traveler told me his story as well, which I have titled “A strange twist of fate”.
His place of origin was the Ohrid region. Almost all of his life he was left to himself, to live his life as he wished. His goal was to graduate and justify the freedom he was given and the faith his parents had in him. While he was a student, he usually had a part-time job during the summers as a bellman in one of the hotels on the coast of Lake Ohrid, or sometimes as a tourist guide for the archeological groups who carried out archeological explorations in the localities of that region. He often hired and captained a rowboat for short travels by the lake, especially for women, in order to show them the sights of Ohrid and Struga, as well as Lake Ohrid. He was an experienced guide. Therefore he was hired by many travel agencies from Ohrid, Skopje and Belgrade. As a result he earned a good income.
The tourist season in Ohrid was very busy that summer. Guests were arriving from all over and he was already working his part-time job in a hotel on the coast of Lake Ohrid. One day a wonderful young woman appeared at his desk and presented herself as a German woman from Munich. She asked him for a single bed room with a view of the lake. He saw the name in her passport was Linda. She was a slender, blonde woman with blue eyes. She spoke excellent English and told Stefan that she was in Macedonia for the first time. She chose Ohrid as her destination after a friend of hers had told her so many wonderful things about this pearl in the Balkans. According to Stefan, it was a bold move for a girl of her age but she was probably motivated by the excitement which such a journey offered.
Their conversation at his desk continued. He was an interesting and charming conversationalist. He promised that he would be at her disposal during her stay in Ohrid. He tried his best to leave a good impression with her. She secretly felt in love, at first sight, with this corpulent Macedonian. Their love affair started the very first night with mutual passionate feelings accompanied by a surge of strong emotions.
Stefan spent all his free time with Linda. He took her to picnics in nice areas in the surrounding region and was with her late into the night. Anyone who saw them thought that they were great lovers or a newly married couple enjoying their honeymoon. Such impressions were not far from the truth – Stefan and Linda were really in love with each other. Soon their love blossomed and Stefan secretly moved into her apartment so that they could spend their nights together.
Linda’s fifteen day holiday in Ohrid went by at lightening speed and too soon their day of parting came. Both of their bills were paid by this rich, German girl. She promised that they would see each other again at the first good opportunity. They exchanged addresses and phone numbers. They simply were unable to break off their affectionate and passionate hug to say good-bye. Stefan remained at the airport until the plane disappeared on the horizon above Lake Ohrid. He was waving his hand at her as if Linda was looking at him from the sky.
However, their parting in Ohrid didn’t sever their contact. Every second day they had telephone conversations at her expense. She knew how to fill the time – not only with an outburst of emotions but also with concrete proposals for their future meeting. It didn’t take a long time.
In the beginning of January the next year, only six months after their parting, Linda announced her second trip to Macedonia. But this time she asked Stefan to arrange a tour to visit many other cities and tourist resorts, especially the famous winter ski resorts. Stefan welcomed her at the Skopje airport. Their accommodation was in a hotel in the centre of Skopje. Their rent-a-car picnics to Bitola and Pelister, Tetovo and Šara, Mavrovo and Bistra, Dojran and Berovo, to Radika and other places started and ended in Skopje. This time Linda stayed in Macedonia for one month and twice during her stay they went shopping to Solun. They usually stayed for several days in the winter ski resorts in order to visit several monasteries, such as St. Jovan Bigorski, the Monastery of Osogovo, the Monastery of Lesnovo and others. Linda used her video-camera to make a documentary which she presented to her colleagues at the company in Frankfurt, owned by her father.
The ideal summer-winter odyssey of Stefan and Linda lasted for three full years until one day she put forward a concrete proposal: to get married, buy a house either in Skopje or Ohrid and live together. Shocked by these proposals, Stefan asked for some time to think it over. He already had a girlfriend in Macedonia that he wanted to marry and start a family with. Linda didn’t know this and had no idea that he already had a girlfriend. Their relationship was just a façade without a firm foundation.
After Linda’s proposal they agreed that Stefan would make a decision and make plans before she returned.
It was the most difficult time of their relationship for him. What was more dramatic was the demand from his Macedonian girl to marry her. Therefore Stefan found himself in dire straits. His Ohrid romance with the German girl slowly but surely was becoming a trap that attracted him so much because of their absolute harmony in love and Linda’s wealth. But the future frightened him a lot at the same time.
The Boeing was approaching the North American continent and Stefan’s story was almost finished but I was impatient to hear the end because we are almost helpless when we realize that we are not masters of our own destiny. Did Stefan find a way to get himself out of the situation? His answer was unpredictable and Linda’s conduct was unforeseeable.
Only three months after their last meeting in Skopje, Linda again arrived in Skopje. She was very excited and ready to accept the all proposals that Stefan would offer her. Much to her surprise, however, they were not as she expected.
After dinner at the hotel, they spent all night in their room arguing and it would end their relationship. Stefan admitted to having a Macedonian girlfriend for several years, with whom he planned to marry and start a family and these plans were in their final stage. But he also admitted that Linda was a wonderful girl who could sweep any man off his feet. It was such a pity that she had fallen in love with him, expecting that he would become her mate.
During that long and difficult night, the German girl gave up and agreed that there would be no marriage, but under one condition – that their relationship would continue both here in Macedonia and in Germany. She reassured him that she would continue to cover the expenses for such a sacrifice on his part as she had in the past. Stefan accepted her proposal under the condition that she was to marry a German man in Germany and that he was to marry the Macedonian girl in Macedonia. They would go to each other’s weddings as guests, due to their great friendship. Strangely enough, Linda agreed to his proposal. They made an agreement that by the end of that year she would get married in Frankfurt and he would marry in Ohrid. In addition, she would come with her husband to his wedding and he would go to her wedding with his wife.
Their agreement was honoured with small concessions. The love affair of Stefan and Linda continued after she got married. Stefan confessed that he was feeling a prick of conscience and had an uncomfortable feeling that he had done something wrong. He often had long bouts of indecision about their future meetings, but it was hard for him to separate from Linda. Before his journey to the USA, he spent several days at their house in Frankfurt. Both Linda and her husband accompanied him to the airport and said goodbye.