More than Expected

Once they arrived on the platform where the cross rose, the view opened in front of them. Down in the valley, the resorts lay with their houses like colored dots. Then, the green of the trees, the grey of the rocks and the dark blue peaks completed the view. “It is absolutely gorgeous!” Ema heard Bruno next to her. “I also like it very much,” she said, looking far into the distance. “Have you been here before?” “Yes, actually two times. When I first came here, I was a student,” she remembered. “I was on a trip with my colleagues. A memorable trip,” she said, smiling. They started chatting and didn’t realize that their group had set off back to the funicular. “All the others have left already,” Carl interrupted their dialogue. “Would you like to stay here some more?” “We’ll catch up with you in a few minutes!” Bruno assured him. “Shall we stay here some more?” Ema asked, slightly surprised, once Carl had turned his back. “We may leave if you want to. But it is very nice here and I am feeling so good...” She nodded in assent. She was also feeling good. When, after more than ten minutes, they decided to start on their way back, none of their colleagues could be seen and they both seemed pleased with this. The steep slope was now much easier uphill than it had been downhill, and they sprightly climbed it. They still had a couple of steps before reaching the plateau, when Bruno was horrified to see that one of the tourists who had just climbed the slope lost his foothold. The backpack the man had dropped was now threateningly heading towards Ema, who was climbing in front of him. Bruno realized in an instant that if the backpack hit her, it would make her lose her foothold. Based on a moment’s impulse, he threw himself over her and pressed her against the grass of the vertical wall. The backpack lashed in the air above their heads and then fell into the abyss. Watching his livid face, Ema understood the danger she had averted. They climbed the few steps left until the plateau without saying a single word. A feeling of relief overwhelmed both of them when they finally arrived on safe ground. “Sorry for hurting you like that,” he apologized. “I think you have just saved my life. May a simple ‘thank you’ be enough for this?” She saw him nodding discreetly, with a slightly forced smile on his face. Yet, he was not able to smile. “Thank you,” she said softly, still scared herself, and when she tried to smile at him she felt like every fiber of her body was trembling inside. Shortly after returning to the path, Bruno noticed Ema had begun to limp. “Are you okay?” he sounded worried. “I think I might have sprained my foot. But I can walk.” “It happened when I pushed you to the side,” he took on the guilt. “In fact, when you saved my life,” she corrected him, smiling. “Is there any other injury I caused you when I saved your life?” he wanted to know, returning the smile. “I don’t know, I don’t think so. I mean, either way, there is nothing to be visible from outside.” “Can I see it?” he dared. She looked at him puzzled. “The ankle,” he reminded her. “Oh! The ankle! Are you experienced at such things?” she tried to hide her reluctance. “When I was young, I used to climb the mountains a lot. I know a few first-aid techniques,” he admitted modestly. “When you were young?” she laughed at his words. As if he were old now. Ema stopped, sat down on a mound and untied her shoe. Then she slowly felt her ankle. “It doesn’t seem to be swollen,” she weighed. “Will you please allow me to see it?” Bruno insisted. He kneeled in front of her and untied also the other shoe, comparing the two ankles. Then, he gently massaged the injured one. “Does it hurt?” “A little,” she admitted, with a slight grimace on her face. “It’s not swollen! That’s good. It’s probably just some ligaments that have stretched. But you have to walk carefully and avoid forcing your ankle.” He watched her tying her shoe laces back, and then helped her get up. A relaxing warmth covered his hand when he felt her touch. They resumed their walk and, here and there, where the path became too narrow for both of them, Bruno went forward leading the way, without releasing her hand. He remembered how he had all sweated when he had first held a girl’s hand in his, and smiled. “What are you laughing at?” Ema asked curiously. “I remembered one twelve year-old boy who sweated from every pore of his body when he first held a girl’s hand,” he said, amused. “He told you this?” she asked suspiciously. “I was the boy.” He took a glance at his own hand, which was now holding hers and added, laughing: “Meanwhile, I have grown up. It doesn’t happen to me anymore.” She smiled. She couldn’t imagine Bruno as a shy boy. Not that she considered him too daring, because he was not. It seemed to her that he still had a dose of shyness from his childhood and this made him very attractive now. When she let his hand go, she saw a wave of disappointment in his eyes. But she already saw Mihai and the group waiting for them, just a few steps away.