(miniflash story)

In the summer of 1933, 19-year-old Lily was vacationing with her family in a small resort town in southern Italy. The girl’s favorite pastime was to lie on a sun lounger with an ice cream and read a book while the sun lay down in an even thin layer on her skin in the form of a tan. One day, she met Oliver, who was staying with his grandmother and working part-time during his college vacation delivering newspapers. They talked, but their conversation turned into a discussion because of the book Lily was reading. Getting angry and snatching the newspaper from Oliver’s hands, the girl asked him when his birthday was and, finding his zodiac sign, wrote with a pen: “you will meet an incredibly smart girl, with whom it will be easier to agree than to argue. In any case, you do not have enough arguments.” After reading this, Oliver smiled and added: “She is also beautiful,” took the newspaper and left.

They had an incredible love story that summer, but Lily moved back to London and Oliver to Paris. He continued to write letters to her, but Lily’s mother did everything possible so that the letters did not end up in her daughter’s possession. The war began, Oliver entered the army, and Lily began to work as a nurse. In one of the London hospitals, she met her husband, an officer, who courted her cutely and eventually decided to ask for her hand in marriage. Having decided to let Oliver go, the girl agreed and got married. After the war, returning to France, Oliver also got married. They forgot about each other and tried not to think often about Italy and the summer of 33rd.

Years later, when their hair had already turned gray, Lily decided to go to the sea with her adult children. Her husband died, and she did not want to spend another summer in stuffy London. Little did she know that this decision would change her fate. Sitting in the evening at a table on the summer terrace with a glass of prosecco and reading a book, Lily was completely immersed in the same story she had read thirty years ago. She did not notice how someone landed behind the chair opposite and ordered two martinis and vanilla ice cream. Raising her head, she stared at the vaguely familiar face, trying to remember who it was. When the man smiled, the image of young Oliver flashed into her mind. Tears began to well up in Lily’s eyes; she noticed the same in Oliver’s eyes.

“Today I will not argue. I just agree,” he said.

“After all this time?”

“Always.”

The man took out his wallet from his pocket, pulled out a folded piece of paper, and handed it to Lily. The woman unfolded it and saw the horoscope for Leo for June 1933.