Carpe Diem
Homo sum humani, a mi nihil alienum - even though de facto (and de jure) I was still in a relationship, it was painfully ending, and my agenda tonight was a new girlfriend.
O tempora! O mores!
I wasn’t looking for something ad finem or ad infinitum. Amor and understanding were out of the question. Tonight I was doli capax.
I didn’t have anyone suitable in my WeChat, but dum spiro, spero. My day was free ante meridiem and post meridiem, as was the next one, so I went to the nearby bar, where aqua vitae would help me conquer my fear of talking to people. In vino veritas, after all. I lit a cigarette from my vade-mecum Zippo and looked around.
She was standing there, circa 25 years old, her long hair falling over the side of her face. Nota bene, her boring boyfriend just left for the bathroom, so technically she was single.
She looked at me with a question, id est, as if she wanted me to talk to her first. “Aut vincere aut mori”, I thought to myself and came over.
Want a beer?
Sure.
Meanwhile I was telling her my weird curriculum vitae, she was asking me all the pro forma “laowai-in-China” questions. Nihil novi. It wasn’t going anywhere, so I jumped in medias res. Non ducor, duco - I’m a teacher, remember? Cogito ergo sum. My modus operandi was as simple as baozi for breakfast: veni, vidi, vici.
Vita breva, ars longa. Quid est veritas?
Yeah what?
By this time - I could see it in her eyes - she was pretty sure I was a bona fide psycho, idem quod most of my friends and all of my students thought. Whatever. Her boyfriend was coming back any minute, ergo it was time for me to leave anyways.
I finished my cheap Qingdao and turned towards the exit.
Quo vadis? - she asked.
For a moment I didn’t know what to say.
Domus dulcis domus. - I mumbled - Wanna go with me?
Sic et non - she said softly, taking my hand in hers.
Him?
Sic vita est, 旧的不去,新的不来 - she smiled and pulled me close.
Ха-ха, готовиться к урокам просто!
Так же просто, как - Хочешь? - Хочу!
И пара сигарет на ночь.