Mitosis

Metaphase

IV. Metaphase

A metaphase is where the event happens. The thing is: it’s never the encounter of two cells, but of two chromosomes.

Therefore, Zhen Wang and Feodor Vasilyev only met in person, not in soul. It was each other’s bodies that they came across, not their hearts or souls. Hearts could only meet with a kiss, a true kiss with feelings.

So that was what exactly happened.

They, Zhen and Feodor, were walking to their hotels, exhausted and sleepy from the daily routine they had: discovering new places and exploring London as much as they could. It was also Feodor’s duty to drop off Zhen at her hotel safely and wishing her good night.

Everything was the same: the street lights, the atmosphere, people and everything – except them. It had been three days since the thoughts started to haunt them but none of them uttered something to the other and it was forever buried inside their heads. If, maybe, one of them was keen to break the thick walls between, it would be different.

They were now walking under the moonlight mixed with the lights, next to each other but too far in their minds. The walls between them were as high as the Great Wall of China or the words unspoken were as cold as the north of Russia.

When one of them would step ahead, the cold atmosphere would heat and burn into flames even, or the walls would be broken but as it had been told, they were just cowards trying to find a place in this giant yet too small world for themselves.

Zhen let out a silent sigh of her thin lips. That was it, they were in front of her hotel again. “Thank you for dropping me off,” she added, “once again.”

“Whenever.” Feodor’s hands were tucked inside his pockets as he shrugged. He faked a smile at her even though he felt very dizzy and his heart was pressuring his chest so harshly.

Zhen bit her bottom lip as she leaned forward and put a soft kiss on Feodor’s cheek. It was one innocent kiss yet the meaning of it was too heavy for both hearts to carry. It was like the last straw before the storm, the flame to afire love and it was hazardous – to both. It was very untamed and immature. They wouldn’t be – they shouldn’t have been. “Thanks,” she muttered in his ear afterwards.

Zhen had never kissed before. She’d never had a boyfriend or fallen in love with anyone. So, it was strange. The butterflies – according to her, they were actually ants – were filling into her stomach and. . .she felt different. She felt alive, shy and wild at the same time. She felt like a girl, the ones that were written down in books, madly in love with the right boy and they would be together no matter what. No, this wasn’t her story or not even her paragraph.

“Zhen,” Feodor uttered her name as if it was his favourite poem in the world, that melodically and lovingly. He drew closer to her afterwards, till there were only inches away from each other. they could feel their warm breaths on each other’s face and it was ravishing. They were now eye to eye, both afraid to drop their eyes to each other’s lips. But then, something happened.

It exactly occurred  between seconds and lasted maybe even shorter. Feodor closed the distance between their faces and it caused their lips to brush slightly and softly. . .yet it burnt wherever it touched. Now, both hearts beat in the same rhythm as one.

Zhen’s eyes widened as she backed away a bit. “I- I can’t,” she faltered on her words, “this isn’t right.”

Feodor’s voice was a bit louder than he expected it to come out. “What’s wrong about this?” Now, it was midnight and most of London were asleep already.

“Everything!” she yelled. “Look at us, we aren’t even alike. Our language, life styles, countries and everything is so different, we wouldn’t fit into each other’s lives.”

“I don’t want you to fit into my life,” Feodor said even though he knew how crazy he sounded after all the thoughts he had in last three days, “I want to create a new one with you. We are still humans, Zhen, the colour and shape ought not be this important.”

“But it is,” she cut him off. “You know it, too.” She had a broken expression because she wanted him at least as much as he wanted her. But someone had to be realistic enough not to give in. She realised the fish was already free, now it was inevitable. Her heart had given in but her brain had to be in place to remind her that it was the right thing to do. She breathed deeply, her eyes closed for a while and her mind dizzy because of the semi-kiss. “This is madness,” she managed to say at last. “What we have here is the utter madness.”

“Therefore I love that madness we share because it is with you.”

She let out a airy laugh escape from her mouth. “This is, now, the dumbest thing you’ve ever said.”

“So, this is probably going to be the dumbest thing I’ve ever done,” he completed her sentence. Then, in the blink of an eye, he pulled her closer by grabbing her from the back of her neck and closed his lips onto hers.

It was soft at first, since they were trying to get used to each other. . .get used to each other’s skins.

Zhen wrapped her arms around his neck as his hand slid to her waist gently. They felt as if they were flying in the sky over London as two birds. Zhen thought that maybe it was why couples were named: love birds. Because it was the love effect: to make them fly. She knew that she would never forget this kiss and she was somewhat glad that it was Feodor that took her first kiss. Because she wanted something belonged to him – something that would make her remember him forever.

The kiss would happen in the London Eye cabins or in front of the Tower of London. It could have been anywhere but a dark isolated corner of London streets. But then – it wouldn’t have been a Zhen-Feodor kiss. It wouldn’t belong to them because it was certainthat so many people had kissed at those places.

It would have been passionate, sexy and wild. It would have been professional – yet it was quite pure and magical. It was peaceful and comforting. It held passion inside but a little amount of it to burn the kiss into flames which caused their lips to burn as fire.

When Zhen parted her lips and opened her eyes again, she felt different. But it wasn’t just a feeling because she was indeed different. Now, she had a Feodor mark scrapedon her lips which would remain with her during her lifetime, and it was vice versa for Feodor Vasilyev.

It was also his first real kiss – if he didn’t reckon those he had when he was freshmen in high school just because he wondered how it would feel. They were nothing to compare with this one though. Zhen was different, he thought, and in the little amount of time they had, he was sure that Zhen Wang, that Chinese girl, was the one.

Yet this was the cruel world –

It was now exactly the same with mitosis. The separation is always inevitable and known from the encounter. This Chinese girl’s and Russian boy’s encounter was also planned as well as the ending. They knew it was madness from the start but still, they dared to live it.

Because even though we know the day of death will come, we keep holding onto our lives.

So did they the exact same – hold onto their kiss as it was the only thing they’d been told.