Ahn observó el bullicio de la ciudad con absoluto desdén y se dijo a sí misma que jamás podría adaptarse allí. Era una chica sencilla del campo, aún no marcada por las vicisitudes de la vida. Tras recibir el permiso de sus padres para buscar un regalo en la bulliciosa ciudad —que, por cierto, veía por primera vez—, agitaba su larga coleta castaña por las calles abarrotadas. Al encontrarse frente al escaparate de una tienda, una leve sonrisa asomaba en sus labios, pero no se atrevía a entrar. De hecho, ni siquiera había decidido qué le gustaría como premio para los dieciocho años que iba a celebrar en una semana. Miró a través del escaparate de una floristería y la imagen volvió a ella, reconfortada por la sinfonía de colores del interior. No pudo evitar imaginarse coronada con flores multicolores y perfumada con fragancias florales, y cuando, con cierto esfuerzo, salió de su ensoñación para reanudar su camino, se topó con ÉL.
Por unos instantes, el mundo a su alrededor quedó desierto. Parecía flotar, se sentía inmaterial. Reprimió su emoción y sonrió al desconocido, un desconocido al que tenía la impresión de conocer de toda la vida. Así, supo desde el primer momento que aquel hombre era ÉL: el predestinado.
El joven la tomó en brazos, penetrando en sus sentidos, y susurró con ternura:
—¡Disculpe, señorita!
Ella no dijo nada, pues tenía la impresión de que las palabras, materiales, la habrían manchado. Y él sintió, al parecer, lo mismo, porque le tomó la mano y la condujo a un lugar tranquilo y verde. Allí, en un banco, aunque solo se comunicaron con la mirada, sus almas se lo contaron todo y se prometieron no separarse jamás…
Ahn sostenía a la pequeña Ludo en brazos y la miraba con ternura, como si no se atreviera a tocar a la pequeña criatura. Se parecía tanto a ÉL, pensó. Se había rizado el cabello y se había preparado con la corona con la que una vez soñó. Había adquirido un brillo lechoso cuando ÉL, sin saber de su sueño, se la colocó suavemente sobre la cabeza. Luego, el hombre le prendió unas flores en el cabello a su hija y, sin decir palabra, se sentó frente al caballete.
Ahn looked at the hustle and bustle of the city with sovereign contempt and told herself that she could never adapt here. She was a simple girl from the country, who had not yet been stained by the waves of life. Receiving her parents’ permission to look for a gift in the crowded city – which, by the way, she was seeing for the first time –, she would wave her long, brown ponytail on the crowded streets. When she found herself in front of a shop window, a barely guessed smile would appear on her lips, but she did not dare to enter. In fact, she had not even managed to decide what she would like as a prize for the eighteen springs that she was going to celebrate in a week. She glanced through the window of a flower shop and it returned to her, comforted by the symphony of colors inside. She couldn’t help but imagine herself crowned in multicolor and scented with floral perfumes and when, with some effort, she pulled herself out of her reverie to resume her journey, she bumped into HIM.
For a few moments, the world around her remained deserted! She seemed to be floating, she felt immaterial! She suppressed her emotion and smiled at the stranger, a stranger she had the impression of having known forever. Thus, she had known from the first moment that the man was HE – the predestined one.
The young man took her in his arms, penetrating her senses and whispered tenderly:
– Please excuse me, young lady!
She said nothing, because she had the impression that the words, material, would have soiled. And he had felt, it seems, the same, because he took her hand and led her to a quiet, green area. There, on a bench, although they only spoke with their eyes, their souls told each other everything and promised to never leave each other…
Ahn held little Ludo in her arms and looked at her tenderly, as if she didn’t dare to touch the little sausage miracle. She looked so much like HIM, she thought. She had curled her hair and prepared herself with the crown she had once dreamed of. She had acquired a milky glow when HE, unaware of her dream, had placed it, gently, on her head. Then the man pinned a few flowers in his daughter’s hair and without a word, sat down in front of the easel.
