MY HAPPY VALENTINE By Sanela Ramic Jurich
Three days after their wedding, Emira Basic kissed her husband Aydin goodbye. A soldier in The Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, he was set to rejoin his military unit. The young couple expected that they would be together again soon, ready to begin the joys of married life, and to raise a family together. But when Aydin returned home from his military expedition, he found the house cold and empty. When he called his wife’s name, there was only the echo of his own voice. Emira was gone. Under the brutal regime of Slobodan Milosevic, Emira and her family had been declared enemies of the state. Aydin’s new bride was sent to a concentration camp in Prijedor, with no chance to contact her husband. He didn’t even know if she was still alive.
A few months later, Emira was freed and was forced to move away. She didn’t think she could live without Aydin, but in the end, she had to. It was the most miserable time of her life. Aydin spent years searching for his lost love, but never found a trace of her. Over the years, both Aydin and Emira remarried other people, and had children. But they never forgot about one another.
Aydin yearned for Emira; the woman he had loved and lived with for a mere three nights. As time went by, Aydin and Emira’s respective spouses passed away. In 2011, Emira, a lonely widow, went back to visit the old house where she and Aydin had spent those precious few nights. Now in her late forties, she wanted to pay tribute to the time they’d shared there, knowing that she would never see her husband again. In a remarkable twist of fate, the town received another long-lost visitor on that very same day – a middle aged man who had come to lay flowers at his parents’ gravestone. But when he caught sight of the woman across the road, he knew something else had drawn him there.
“My eyes are playing tricks on me,” Emira whispered. She saw a familiar-looking man approaching her; his eyes gazing at her. Her heart jumped. She knew it was him. She was crying with joy. Aydin, the man she thought she’d lost twenty years ago.
He ran up to her and said: “My darling, I’ve been waiting for you for so long. My wife, my life…” He couldn’t take his eyes off her. Yes, he spent time with other women when they were separated, but she was the true love of his life. After a few polite casualties, Ayding took Emira’s hand: “I’d like to show you something. Would you mind taking a ride with me?”
She smiled taking his hand, “where are we going?”
“It’s a surprise.” He whispered. And it truly was quite a surprise. He could not stop grinning. Emira noticed this and kept asking Aydin what was up, but he just grinned; grinned and drove on. She didn’t care where they were going, as long as they were together. After a few minutes, the surroundings started to look familiar and she knew where Aydin was taking her. She smiled and sighed. She couldn’t wait. The sun was setting as they reached the desolate field. Back when they were just teenagers in love, this was their special place. It was a secluded field hidden deep inside of the woods; far, far away from anywhere. That was its beauty. They used to come here often to love, to talk, to laugh, to cry, and to live.
“Oh, it’s so beautiful!” was all Emira could say.
“I knew that you would like it.” Aydin whispered gazing at her. He had spent the last twenty years coming back, caring and taking care of this field. It was the only place where he felt close to his long lost love.
“How did you do this?” She asked, stunned when the whole field came into view. It was filled with blooming red roses; as far as the eye could see. Emira cried softly in delight. She could not believe her eyes – a field full of red roses in bloom. “I have never seen such a beautiful sight in all of my life!” Emira said.
Aydin just kept on smiling.
“How did you do this?” She asked again.
“Oh, I had some help from cupid,” answered Aydin, placing the softest kiss on her lips.
Emira smiled. Emira cried. Emira laughed.
Aydin took her hand and got down on bended knee: “Will you marry me?—Again.”
Emira started to cry, “Well, I’d be a fool not to.”
“I take that as a yes,” smiled Aydin. They married that same year. Emira and Aydin still hold hands, kiss and drive to their field often. Love is always in bloom, forever for them.
© Sanela Ramic Jurich. All rights reserved.