Author Information
My true love story
I’m no big storyteller, but quite a story happened to me. Don’t really know where to start with; it could be personal. It is about love at a distance – quite sad thing that almost wrecked my life.
I was twenty-one when this whole relationship thing started. It was a time I had to finish my Bachelor Degree, find a job, and marry up, just like everyone does. I come from a conventional small town in Russia where everyone respects tradition beyond anything. My parents always wanted me to become a lawyer, but I never liked that profession anyway and certainly didn’t want to go full-on Master. “Well, I hope you find a good husband as soon as possible and do whatever you want as a wife,” my Mother said. “Yeah, hopefully, you’ll not have to work at all with a rich husband,” my Father giggled as he joined me and Mom for a breakfast coffee.
I was disappointed in the way they thought. Conventional. Vulgar. Butcher. Old. How can we live in a modern society if people still praise arranged marriages? Besides, I already was in love. His name was Gunter (the name is changed, obviously). He was a German of Swedish descent. He was a hell of a man: independent, cold-hearted (in a good way), professional workaholic without a lousy self-proclaimed Richie title. He was certainly way richer and aristocratic than any Russian douchebag. He was the Man of his own thought and will.
But, as soon as my parents heard about my cyber-dating, they couldn’t believe it. My Mother was disappointed and furious:
- We pay for your education, try to help you with a job, and you spend all the time with a stranger that might never exist, a lie?
- Maybe, but this lie is ten times better than your redneck friend’s son with his ugly golden bracelet and an elevator of fake intelligence and pompousness.
- At least he is material. Besides, who are you to claim for more? Do you want to grow old alone, waiting for your prince?
- I hope so. So that I don’t have to bear your fake ideals with a will to suffer with a wrong man that won’t divorce but cheat on you and probably beat the crap out of you!
We ended nowhere with this conversation. Besides, the chances that Gunter could move here for a while or, at least, take me to Germany, were miserable. You know how strict rules with Germany are. You can’t just hop in and out of one country and easily get citizenship there. I knew zero German, so I had to silently keep loving and keep studying every day so that one day I could join him in a better country with better life and values.
At that time, Father and Mother were too concerned about me being depressed over a foreign guy, so they kept pushing me forward towards a Russian 30-year old guy who really sucked at every perspective of his life. But he was above-average minimum wage, so they admired him, seeing me like a Queen of Accountants, working at his office.
Gunter heard those ugly stories and the way people treat each other like things, and, finally, he has decided to make all the papers within a month. At that time, I already finished University, managed to pass a German exam at a decent score, and finally, I took my smallest suitcase, my pre-made Visa and left for good, telling nothing to people who never understood me. With their way of being.
It worked. I almost died when I saw the face of my beloved Man in personal. Oh, he was perfect! I tried to impress him, so I wrote a love letter in German and read it aloud. Even threw some Swedish words in there. That’s how I understand Russian dating, not all of that superficial stuff.
My parents understood me after it was too late. Now I live in a splendid little town in Germany, have a very good job – I am a baker, not a lawyer. I enjoy making things with my own hands. Just like cakes. Just like a destiny. Just like we made a Gunter-junior, who’s on his way.
