Moments That Change Lives

“You worthless, useless scum,” Mira scolded herself as she sprinted down the stairs and ran for the travel agency. They were supposed to start the tour from there just like with any other tourist.

Running, running, running as fast as her fit legs could carry her, she thought she would be out of breath any minute now. She felt just like that cheetah she was watching on the TV the other night. Her heart was beating wildly and she could even hear it drumming in her ears as her lungs fought for a little oxygen. She decided to have mercy on them and stopped with her hands on her knees.

“You jogging or this is your everyday thing?” A voice came from behind her. It was unfamiliar, however the scent that accompanied it was striking and unmissable.

“Sir?”

“Did we have a deal yesterday?”

“Oh, yes. Sorry. Henry. What’re you doing here? No car?” She looked up to see Henry dressed in white trousers, a sky blue shirt with the first three buttons left unattended and white sneakers.

“Well, I thought to myself that if I wanted to go on an expedition across the rain forest, I might as well build up my stamina by taking a walk to the offices. You? Late for something?” He winked at her and smiled from ear to ear.

“Yeah, I have an appointment with a stranger from the States, I believe,” Mira said, picking up the game.

“Oh, wow. What’s he like? He’s awfully gorgeous and curious in the same time, isn’t he?” He spoke confidently with his hands on his hips.

“As a matter of fact, he’s a billionaire, you know, with a sky-high ego, who desperately wants to get laid and flirts with literally everything that moves,” she said with a grin and started forward.

“Whoa, whoa! So the talks I’ve heard are truly right.” He was quick to catch up to her and they were walking one next to each other now.

“What talks?”

“Well, there were ones who said that Mira Glass, the tour guide, is the finest, most beautiful, hot and clever girl around. Everything was in superlatives. And I happen to agree with them,” he said.

“Hmph!” She didn’t face him, but she knew that he was flashing her that smile of his. Mira maintained her frozen expression while deep inside she was chuckling and was glad he thought of her like that.

“What, you’re going to give me one ‘hmph’ and not a ‘you’re not bad yourself’? I’m being modest here,” Henry chuckled.

“Change of subject,” she said stubbornly. “We’re going to the offices as we agreed or you want us to go directly to the rain forest for the tour?”

“Wherever you go, baby, I’ll follow,” he said light-heartedly.

She just chortled and walked ahead. This man was truly… egotistic, childish, attention-seeking and all of the above at the same time, Mira concluded. She put her hands in her pockets as her thoughts wandered. Henry had been a wonder of a man and something she had rarely had the chance to see. Although she had never been interested in messing with the private lives of her clients, in this case she desperately wanted to know what made a billionaire living in the United States come here in this God-forsaken place in the back of beyond. Over the approximately five years of experience she had behind her as a rain forest tour guide, she had never once had the chance to be the private tour guide of an influential person. There must be something hiding behind the façade of a wealthy lady’s man.

“Hey, you floated off.” Henry came next to her, the smile not leaving his face even for a moment.

“You know, I wonder how the heck the muscles on your face can still be intact after your smiling all day for every single second. And God, you surely love to talk!” Mira hadn’t intended to sound as harsh as that, but now it was too late. She got caught in the moment and besides since her childhood she had always had the problem of not keeping her tongue behind her teeth.

She turned to look at him and she was sure that her crooked features would scare him, but instead he boomed into laughter. He was laughing whole-heartedly with his hands on his stomach and tears in his eyes. Mira couldn’t help it, but chuckle a little herself.

“Wow!” The laughter was slowly dying out. “Wow! Literally no one has said that to me ever. Like literally. I can’t believe that you thought of it. And yet it’s so true! You’re brilliant, you know,” he said still giggling and placed his hand on her back.

“No,” she said.

Henry immediately knew what she was talking about and removed his hand from her. “Damn, you really want to keep the whole ‘I’m a pro and despise having my clients touch me. It’s against my ethics’, right?”

“Precisely that,” Mira replied with a cold smile.

“I know that I might get boring a bit, but what can you do… You’re stuck with me,” Henry said.

“Saying ‘unfortunately’ probably won’t sound right.” The both of them laughed some more as they entered the rain forest. The path before them turned into one surrounded by gigantic trees with huge trunks and deep roots that went down into the black earth.