Epiphany at the Five Star Diner

She was hungry. That's what it came down to. Primal instincts and a growling belly. Her routine had been disturbed and now she needed dinner, which is why she was at the Five Star Diner at 6:45 pm on a Tuesday evening. This is what she told herself.

Her waitress was a plump, tired looking woman who was superfluously refilling her coffee cup, yet still hadn't brought out her order of Huevos Rancheros after what seemed like a lifetime of gnawing hunger pangs. She checked her watch and realized that she had just swallowed down three cups of coffee within the ten minutes that she had been seated in her booth. She looked up to see the waitress approaching again, finally holding a plate of food. Just as it was set down in front of her, a man nonchalantly slipped in behind the waitress and sat in the booth opposite her.

"Madelaine," he said quietly.

He was the only person besides her mother who used her full name. She sighed, staring at the eggs on her plate knowing that she would not be able to eat them now.

"Hello, Adrien," she replied shifting her gaze up to his deep, sensual eyes.

The waitress hovered for a moment, about to ask the gentlemen if he would like anything, but quickly grasped that he was only interested in the pensive woman in front of him. Neither of them noticed when she walked away.

They stayed that way, staring into each other's eyes for a bit, each intuitively knowing that they needed this moment of silence before the inevitable conversation that was before them. Adrien slowly placed his hand on the table, palm facing up, in offering. When Madelaine put her small, delicate hand in his, he knew she was ready to begin.

"Why did you run?" he asked gently.

"I… I don't know. I was hungry," she said, as though it made perfect sense.

"Hungry for this?" he nodded to her plate. "Or hungry for something else entirely?" he continued.

"What is it I'm hungry for, then?" she said in a slightly defensive tone.

He began, "You have starved yourself of affection for too long, trying to run from the passion inside of you. You ran from me because I make this evident, yes?"

"Why must you be so tragically frank with my emotions?" she replied wearily.

"Perhaps you will realize that you cannot run from yourself anymore," he pressed.

"Please, let me be your feast," he begged.

Her heart welled up in her chest and her breath came more quickly, yet she felt she was suffocating. She needed a distraction. She began to fastidiously rearrange the table, straightening her napkin and fork next to her plate of uneaten dinner. When she moved on to sorting the creams and sugars, Adrien took her hands and held them firmly.

"Madelaine, what are you so afraid of?" he urged.

She closed her eyes and recalled the events of the evening. Adrien had come to her apartment just after she had arrived home from work. He had surprised her by kneeling down and presenting her with a small box that could only have held a ring. She imagined he thought that she was completely crazy, because her immediate response was to flee. She knew that her habits and rationalizations had formed out of emotional self-preservation, but she now realized how her patterns were imprisoning her. He was right – she was afraid.

When she opened her eyes, she looked at him for a moment before letting the answer spill out of her, her derelict psyche longing to be mended.

"I'm afraid that hope is not infinite, and that one day, my supply of it will be completely exhausted," she explained. When she saw his look of confusion, she continued, "I know it's perverse. I refuse to be hopeful so that I don't lose hope. I know you may not understand."

"I may not be able to empathize, but I am capable of sympathy," he said wincing at her words.

"I'm sorry. I don't want to hurt you," she said looking down.

"Ah, but when you do it only makes me stronger, my darling."

She looked up at him frowning, head cocked to one side. Adrien watched in wonder as the woman in front of him, whom he loved, began to radiate with energy as though an epiphany was washing over her. Madelaine felt her entire body tremble as she fearlessly let go of her preconceptions, and as her own mortality rushed in, she became aware that she was wasting her life locked behind an irrational fear of losing hope. Her eyes softened and a radiant smile spread across her face. Adrien smiled back and they leaned in close to one another. His hands came up and held her face as he kissed her. Then he reached into his pocket and placed the small box between them on the table.

"Will you marry me, Madelaine?" he asked her once again.

She smiled as she breathed her answer, "Yes, Adrien, I will."

As the lovers continued to whisper intimately in their booth, the waitress slid the check onto the table then walked away with a grin.