They walked down a maze of secondary corridors, Ron's red tee a blurry beacon some thirty feet ahead. Finally in the open, they felt the cold night wind, not really registering the traffic lights and noises muffled in the distance. They were numb, lost inside themselves in some place where there was no room for questions or defined ideas.

All of a sudden, they had this thing deep inside, a sensation like a rock, that didn't ask for permission to exist-it just was. They followed Ron as they tried to adjust to this thing inside, so deeply rooted, still refusing to reveal its real shape, its meaning, its intentions.

They still walked shoulder to shoulder, their arms stuck to each other, and the contact between them seemed to be the only real thing in that blurry night. It was the only way to keep walking. Stepping away from each other would have been like cutting off one of their own legs. They would have crumbled down wherever they were, forced to sit there and wait for the other one to come lift them up.

They got in the car without a word. Jim let go of Silvia's hand only to rest his arm around her shoulders, letting her stick to his side, their eyes lost out the window. They still hadn't said a word when they left the car at the hotel parking lot, got in an elevator and reached Jim's suite.

He closed the door, still holding her hand, and left all the lights off. He just pulled her to him. Their arms locked around each other and they rested their heads on each other's shoulder, closing their eyes. Only then they drew a real breath.

That thing was still there, forcing a grave awareness onto them that they didn't understand and couldn't turn away.

"Bath?" he murmured.

Silvia nodded.

While Jim filled the tub, she called the reception to ask if they had any aromatic candle. Being Jim Robinson's suite, she'd hardly hung up when she heard a knock on the door, and was handed an elegant basket with candles of any size and fragrance she could think of. At any other moment she would've laughed, that night she just got grabbed a beer from the minibar and took both things to the bathroom.

Jim was sitting on the edge of the tub in the shadows, still completely dressed, like waiting for something or someone to move him. Silvia came in and handed him the beer. He just took it and rested it by his side, not even opening it. He watched Silvia light candles on every horizontal surface around the tub. That was a nice touch. His eyebrows thought of raising when she kneeled down before him to untie his tennis laces.

The mirror showed him that he got on his feet to let her take off his clothes. And every piece of clothing she removed with her gentle, caring hands, felt like a ton of stones lifted from his shoulders.

He didn't need to elaborate a full thought to do the same and take her clothes off. Then he helped her into the warm water covered in foam. His arms locked around her yet again, to shelter her and lean on her.

Time had gotten lost right outside the stadium, in the crowd filling the streets nearby, and still tried to pick up their trail and hunt them down.

Their bodies relaxed in the bubbling warm water, sharing a sip of beer now and then. They could've fallen asleep there, if only they hadn't been so aware of that thing inside of them, that kept them hostage in its quiet, blind resilience, oblivious to any upset it may cause. They felt it, each in their own way, and knew there was no room for any attempt of denial or negotiation.

It was real. It was there. It had happened. It owned them.

Jim's hand left the beer on the side of the tub and found a big, soft sponge. He dipped it and slid it down one of Silvia's arms. She let him wash away any trace of the night and any clue of what morning might bring. Then it was his turn to give himself in to her care. And when she was done, she cuddled in his arms again.

A while or a year later they wrapped themselves in bathrobes and Jim strolled across the shadowy suite to the balcony, as Silvia stayed behind, putting the candles out. She soon joined the dark figure standing before the large window that opened to the city skyline.

"I was just thinking about a photograph you took before I got here," he said in a soft, casual tone, keeping his voice down. "An avenue flanked by two huge fenced parks. Maybe one of them was a zoo?"

"Plaza Italia," she replied in the same tone. "It means Italy Square."

"Yeah, I think that's the name."

"One of the nicest areas of the city, after this one."

"Really?"