07-11-2025, 06:18 PM
The train doors closed, and soon the train began to roll slowly away. I leaned back in my seat, feeling nervous and antsy. What would await me in this strange city? I was finally allowed to travel alone to a strange city, to stay with my uncle for a week. I unpacked my computer BILD magazine and leafed through it without interest. Frantically, I put it away again and pulled out a book. This, too, soon disappeared into my heavy travel bag; my mother had once again been a bit too generous with her clothes. Hungry, I left my things in the compartment and sat down in the dining car to get something to eat. I hastily devoured two small rolls and three cups of hot chocolate. I wondered what I might see there, but even that did little to lessen my excitement and anticipation. After countless train changes and a four-hour journey, the time had finally come. I was allowed to leave the train. The bag was so heavy that I simply dragged it across the train to the nearest exit. I wondered what my mother had packed now?
My uncle was already standing at the front of the platform, waiting for me. "Hello Chris!" he greeted me cheerfully. "You've grown so much," he added. We'd barely exchanged greetings when he took my bag and carried it to the car. "Tell me, how old are you now?" he asked me. "I'll be 16 in a month! Have you already forgotten?" "No, I just wanted to make sure—16? Well, then you've probably met a lot of nice girls already?!" He patted me on the shoulder, and at that moment, a chill ran down my spine—didn't he already know? There was a lot of traffic, so we had plenty of time to talk. We talked about all sorts of things: cars, which I knew nothing about, football, which I hated, and women. But suddenly he changed the subject: "Oh, I wanted to tell you, I totally forgot—my godson, Philipp, is still with me. I'm sure you'll get along well!" What? Excuse me? And what about me? "Well, I don't know," I replied uneasily.
Surely he was one of those annoying little snobs who still wet his diapers and watched Teletubbies. Why did he have to invite his godchild over when I was already invited? That ruined my mood, and I no longer wanted to spend a week's vacation with him. My uncle parked the car, and we went into the house. He unlocked the door, kicked off his shoes, and hung up his jacket. "So, now I'm going to introduce you to Philipp!" he said happily. He'll probably have to get him out of his crib, I thought. "Philipp! We're back!" I heard a door open upstairs. Shortly afterward, I saw someone coming down the stairs. I was frozen. Was that Philipp? A tall, about 17-year-old boy stood in front of me. "Well, hello! So you're Chris. I've heard a lot about you!" With a smile and a near cardiac arrest, I barely managed to stay afloat. I thought my eyes were going to pop out of my head. "Hi!" was all I could say. "Philipp, show him the room, okay?" "Yeah, sure! So, come with me!" He smiled at me and carried my bag upstairs, into a large room. I closed the door behind me. A large double bed filled most of the room. There was also a mattress with a blanket and pillows against the wall, and a small desk with a typewriter on it. A large closet was to the right of the door. "You can stuff your clothes in here!" He pointed to an empty section of the closet.
I couldn't say a word, my throat felt like it was closing up. I can now spend a week on vacation with this absolutely sweet boy? "Well, I've been sleeping on the big bed up until now. I don't know how you do it, you can sleep there, or on the mattress on the floor!" What? Sleeping in the same room, too? In the same bed? It probably wouldn't be long before my heart completely stopped and I fell over dead from joy. "Um, if you don't mind, I'd love to sleep on the big bed too!" "Yeah, sure! You know what, just throw that stuff away, we'll see how it works tonight!" I put my luggage next to the bed and followed Philipp downstairs. "Boys!!!" my uncle yelled from the kitchen. "Come and help me cook!"
My uncle really had it nice. A huge house, a big BMW, and enough money to afford almost anything. He was some important banker, with a management position or something. Philipp set the table, and I kept catching myself sneaking after him. Finally, the three of us sat in the large dining room, munching steaks. "Bayern is playing tonight! We're going to watch it, right?" "Without me!" said Philipp. I looked at him in total amazement and soon after said, "I'd rather not watch that either!" "What? It's the final, you just have to watch it! But if you don't want to!" "No, I still have to work on my term paper!" My uncle made a disappointed face. I had absolutely no desire to watch some stupid soccer game either. After dinner, Philipp quickly disappeared into the room.
I helped my uncle in the kitchen. "Chris, I hope you're not mad at me for not telling you that Philipp is here!" "No, it's not that bad," I said. If only he'd known how happy I was about it. "You know, he's been having a lot of problems at home, and that's why he came here three days ago." He grimaced. I was a little surprised that this boy, of all people, would have problems at home. Possibly a pregnant girlfriend! This thought made me laugh. "What are you laughing about?" "Nothing, just a thought. What's wrong with him?" "I don't know, he didn't want to tell me. It seems to be something serious, though!" I was slowly becoming curious.
After the kitchen, I went into the room. Philipp was sitting at his typewriter, typing. "I'm back!" I closed the door. He turned to me. "So, did he persuade you to watch the game anyway?" I laughed: "No, he wouldn't have been able to do that either!" "Oh yeah? You must know your uncle pretty poorly." "It could be, I only see him once every four years." I sat down on the bed. "I haven't seen him that often either." Then I remembered the conversation from before. "Oh yeah, and why are you here now?" "That's too long a story to tell now!" "Oh, come on... you're having a fight with your parents?" His smile vanished. "Yes, I am." I didn't dare ask any more questions. It fell dead silent. Suddenly, Philipp grabbed a pillow and threw it at my head. "There, you idiot!" He laughed loudly. I couldn't help but laugh. I quickly grabbed him by the sleeve, threw him onto the bed, and stuffed the pillow in his face. It escalated into a small pillow fight; I was wildly throwing pillows and blankets around, barely a meter away from him, and he was doing the same.
After a while, I collapsed onto the bed, exhausted. My batteries seemed to be completely drained, and I lay gasping on my back. Philipp, however, seemed to have yet to run out of air. He grabbed a pillow, sat on my stomach, and clamped my arms so that I could no longer resist. He tickled me. I tried to free myself and, after a long time, managed to free one arm. Philipp stopped tickling me. For about a minute, it remained silent. No one dared to move. My heart was pounding. If only he knew what kind of person he was fooling around with. He might beat me up and not want to sleep in the same room anymore. I pushed these thoughts away. I placed my free hand on his chest and pushed him to the side. He let himself fall to his side without strength. I stared at the ceiling. Philipp lay about a meter away from me, staring up into the air. "What are you actually writing, if you don't mind me asking?" "Yes, you can, but you won't understand it anyway. I have to write a term paper on the development of aphids." I laughed. "And you can actually write about something like that? It must be terribly interesting. Now tell me, why are you here?" I asked, obsessed. "Well, my parents don't entirely agree and think what I'm thinking is…" he hesitated, "wrong… yes… wrong!" I didn't quite get it. "Is that really a reason to just leave?" "I'm only here for the holidays. We don't have school right now!" He looked at his watch. "What? Already half past eleven?" Startled, he sat up and looked at me. "I have to sleep. I have a lot to do tomorrow!" I looked into his eyes and felt like I was sinking into them. "Hey!" He smiled embarrassedly. "Don't look at me like that!" He looked away. I looked at him, startled. Had I been staring at him? Had he noticed something? I was overcome with fear. "How am I looking at you?" I asked, anxiously. "Well, just like that!" He laughed. "Well—whatever, I still have to go to sleep!" "That means I should go to sleep now, right?" "No, you can go downstairs and watch the soccer game!"
A smile spread across my face. "Very strange, well, then I'll go to sleep too. But I sleep on the mattress!" I felt like slapping myself. Why on earth had I said that? "Too bad, otherwise we could have chatted a bit more. Whatever you want!" His smile pierced me. A while later, I was lying alone on the mattress against the wall, and I felt like slapping myself for saying such a stupid thing. Philipp and I talked for a while, then it was quiet. What would he say if I just moved to the big bed? Soon after, my uncle came into the room. It was dark, and the light from the hallway blinded me. "Good night, you two. I'm going to sleep now too!" "Good night!" I said. Philipp remained calm. 'Well, if he doesn't say anything, then he must be asleep,' I thought. Without further ado, I grabbed my pillow and blanket and threw them onto the big bed. I quickly crawled under my covers, freezing cold. I lay down, facing Philipp, and closed my eyes. "So, changed your mind?" he grinned, without opening his eyes. I opened my eyes in shock. His finger ran over my nose. "Sleep well!" he said to me. "Thank you," I stammered. My heart was pounding again, and I was extremely excited. Again, I tried to close my eyes and finally sleep when he placed his hand on mine, but said nothing. I didn't move. Soon after, I must have fallen asleep. When I caught sight of the morning light and turned around for Philipp, he was no longer there. Shortly after, he came through the door.
"Well, did you sleep well?" He sat down next to me on the bed and put his hand on my shoulder. "If I were you, I'd get up slowly. We're going to the Deutsches Museum today." He wrinkled his nose. "Not to the museum, and especially not today!" I muttered. "Well, you know your uncle when he's got something on his mind!" He stood up. "Chris, don't stay in bed too long!" he chuckled and disappeared. We spent the whole day there, and yet we didn't manage to see half of the world-famous museum. It was enormous, and my uncle threatened to go back the next day. I was so excited about the second part of his tour that I would have preferred to go home. But as that crossed my mind, the thought followed: 'But only with Philipp.' I smiled. That boy... I couldn't get him out of my head. After dinner at my uncle's house, I immediately lay down on the bed from exhaustion. It was still light outside. I got up to lower the blinds to make the room a little darker when I saw Philipp in the garden. He was writing in a book. It looked like he was writing in his diary. I went outside to him. "There you are," he said when he saw me. "Why? Were you looking for me?" Strange... "No, but I was just thinking about you!" he smiled at me. That butterflies in my stomach reappeared. "Are you writing in your diary?" I asked cautiously. "Yes." His smile suddenly disappeared. Had I said something wrong? There was silence. I sat down next to Philipp in the soft grass. Still no one said anything. I felt a little uneasy, especially because I would have liked to tell him what I was really thinking. After a while, I got up and went to our room to go to bed. Dejected and feeling completely strange, I got ready to go to sleep. Sadly, I collapsed onto the big bed and wrapped myself in the covers. Tired, I closed my eyes and soon fell asleep. I heard a door open. The old wooden floor creaked, as if someone was walking toward the bed. I must have been asleep. Too tired to look up, I listened curiously to what was going on. Philipp threw his clothes onto a pile by the wall. I heard the soft sound of them falling to the floor. For a brief moment, he disappeared from the room; I didn't hear a sound again until he came through the door and got under the covers. He rolled me slightly aside, as I was still lying across the big bed.
"Sleep well and sweet dreams," he said. I felt his hand running over my head. Then it was quiet again. I was woken up the next morning by Philipp rolling over my outstretched arm in his sleep. The sudden pain jolted me awake. Philipp also opened his eyes and sat up. He apologized a hundred times, and I always said it wouldn't matter. I felt a bit silly doing it. That day, I planned to go for a stroll around town, and my uncle decided on the spur of the moment that Philipp should show me the unfamiliar city. My uncle had some business to attend to. We left the house early to the nearest bus stop, where we had to wait about 20 minutes for that stupid bus. "What do you want to see in the city?" "To be honest, I'd rather not see any more sights. Let's just go shopping!" I said, wrinkling my nose. Definitely no more boring sights. "If you like, I'd love to. I didn't expect you to enjoy shopping!" "Of course, always." I smiled at him, and there it was again, that sparkle in his eyes that captivated me. It wouldn't let me go, and I couldn't think anymore. But I only realized this when he tapped my nose with his finger and smiled at me: "Hey, are you trying to eat me?" His smile turned into a short laugh. We sat down on a bench, that is, Philipp pulled his feet up onto the bench and rested his chin on his knees. He held his legs with his arms. I sat down opposite him in the same way. Should I tell him what I really thought of him? How would he react? It would be a good time... "Philipp, ..." I couldn't. "What?" "Nothing, forget it!" Again, he gave me one of those absolutely sweet looks.
"Tell me!" He played with my hand. There was something in the air, I sensed it in his demeanor, in his manner, in everything, but... Fortunately, the bus arrived at that moment. I wouldn't have known what to say at that point. When we arrived back at the station and got off, I saw a passport photo booth on the covered sidewalk against the wall of the large station. I frantically pulled Philipp by the sleeve toward the booth and persuaded him to get into the booth with me. Although he didn't seem to like it, he went along. We sat down. Philipp laid his head on my shoulder. My head rested against his. I would have loved to stay in that position for another hour or more. When the photos came out of the machine, Philipp immediately grabbed all four and didn't want to show them to me. "No, that's great. Can I keep them? Thank you!" I couldn't say anything. Before I could resist, they all disappeared into his pocket. I wasn't even allowed to look at them. We spent the whole day wandering around the city, browsing almost every shop and boutique.
At the end of the whole shopping trip, we sat down at a McDonald's, and Philipp invited me to a small snack. "This is to make up for waking you up so roughly this morning..." he said, placing two portions of French fries and a Coke on the table. "I'll definitely do it a little more gently tomorrow!" He laughed. "Really? I'm curious!" What was he up to? As darkness fell, we returned home. My uncle wasn't home; a note was hanging on the door: "I'll be home tomorrow evening, I had to go on a business trip!" With a signature at the bottom. "Ts... and what are we going to do here now?" Philipp opened the door. The whole house was tidy. I dragged the shopping bag into the room. The beds were freshly made and everything was neatly arranged. "He's been cleaning like crazy!" Philipp shouted from the kitchen. "I just see, the beds are freshly made and my clothes are put away in the closet!" "The food is in the microwave!" Philipp read aloud. "No thanks, I've eaten enough!" I went downstairs to the kitchen. "No more food for me!" said Philipp. He got a glass of tea from the fridge. "I'm going to write some more work on my thesis!" "OK!" Philipp disappeared into the room. I looked around the living room a bit, at the pictures on the box. On the side of the sofa lay a stack of magazines, which I leafed through. Bored, I flipped through the channels on the TV, and since I didn't find anything useful there, I went upstairs after a good hour. Philipp was writing in his diary. When I entered the room, I saw him sticking one of the photos from the vending machine into his book. "Oh yes, I want to see those too, I almost forgot!"
"I've put two aside for you, which I'll give you later!" He smiled at me again... Why couldn't he just give them to me now? Meanwhile, it had become completely dark and started to rain. Philipp put away his diary. "Please, please, please," I begged, "give me the pictures, I'd love to see how they turned out." He hesitated: "Are you really sure you want to see them?" I laughed. What had he done with them that made it so difficult for him to give them to me? He sat down on the desk and put his feet up on the chair. I stood next to him and leaned on his thigh. He rolled his eyes. "Well then..." he hesitated once more, "here are your two!" He held out an envelope. Excitedly, he leaned his arms on the desk. "Thank you," I said. Excitedly, I opened the envelope. Inside were the two photos. I quickly took them out. "That's weird," I grinned. I looked at them for a long time, then put them back on the desk, laughing, and took a small step back. Philipp gently took my arm. He held my hand. "Oh, the photos are really good, it was a good idea to take them, we can do it again tomorrow!" Philipp laughed at me. His gaze caught my attention again. His hand gently ran through my hair. To tear myself away from his gaze, I looked at the desk, and only then did I notice that there was writing on the back of one of the photos. I looked at him questioningly. "What is that?"
He said nothing. It fell silent. I took the photo and turned it over to read the caption, but before I could, Philipp held my hand and covered the picture. For about a minute, no one dared to say anything or move. I looked into his deep brown eyes, which enchanted me every time. He took his hand away so I could read it: 'I love you.' I looked into his eyes, long and motionless. "You're really sweet," I whispered to him. "Thank you!" It was as if something great, something moving, had begun in that moment. "You're the sweet one here!" he laughed. His hand gently stroked my face. My hands stroked his upper body. "I love you too!" I said, before he gently and lovingly took me in his arms. I felt his warmth and his closeness, more than I had ever dreamed possible.
My uncle was already standing at the front of the platform, waiting for me. "Hello Chris!" he greeted me cheerfully. "You've grown so much," he added. We'd barely exchanged greetings when he took my bag and carried it to the car. "Tell me, how old are you now?" he asked me. "I'll be 16 in a month! Have you already forgotten?" "No, I just wanted to make sure—16? Well, then you've probably met a lot of nice girls already?!" He patted me on the shoulder, and at that moment, a chill ran down my spine—didn't he already know? There was a lot of traffic, so we had plenty of time to talk. We talked about all sorts of things: cars, which I knew nothing about, football, which I hated, and women. But suddenly he changed the subject: "Oh, I wanted to tell you, I totally forgot—my godson, Philipp, is still with me. I'm sure you'll get along well!" What? Excuse me? And what about me? "Well, I don't know," I replied uneasily.
Surely he was one of those annoying little snobs who still wet his diapers and watched Teletubbies. Why did he have to invite his godchild over when I was already invited? That ruined my mood, and I no longer wanted to spend a week's vacation with him. My uncle parked the car, and we went into the house. He unlocked the door, kicked off his shoes, and hung up his jacket. "So, now I'm going to introduce you to Philipp!" he said happily. He'll probably have to get him out of his crib, I thought. "Philipp! We're back!" I heard a door open upstairs. Shortly afterward, I saw someone coming down the stairs. I was frozen. Was that Philipp? A tall, about 17-year-old boy stood in front of me. "Well, hello! So you're Chris. I've heard a lot about you!" With a smile and a near cardiac arrest, I barely managed to stay afloat. I thought my eyes were going to pop out of my head. "Hi!" was all I could say. "Philipp, show him the room, okay?" "Yeah, sure! So, come with me!" He smiled at me and carried my bag upstairs, into a large room. I closed the door behind me. A large double bed filled most of the room. There was also a mattress with a blanket and pillows against the wall, and a small desk with a typewriter on it. A large closet was to the right of the door. "You can stuff your clothes in here!" He pointed to an empty section of the closet.
I couldn't say a word, my throat felt like it was closing up. I can now spend a week on vacation with this absolutely sweet boy? "Well, I've been sleeping on the big bed up until now. I don't know how you do it, you can sleep there, or on the mattress on the floor!" What? Sleeping in the same room, too? In the same bed? It probably wouldn't be long before my heart completely stopped and I fell over dead from joy. "Um, if you don't mind, I'd love to sleep on the big bed too!" "Yeah, sure! You know what, just throw that stuff away, we'll see how it works tonight!" I put my luggage next to the bed and followed Philipp downstairs. "Boys!!!" my uncle yelled from the kitchen. "Come and help me cook!"
My uncle really had it nice. A huge house, a big BMW, and enough money to afford almost anything. He was some important banker, with a management position or something. Philipp set the table, and I kept catching myself sneaking after him. Finally, the three of us sat in the large dining room, munching steaks. "Bayern is playing tonight! We're going to watch it, right?" "Without me!" said Philipp. I looked at him in total amazement and soon after said, "I'd rather not watch that either!" "What? It's the final, you just have to watch it! But if you don't want to!" "No, I still have to work on my term paper!" My uncle made a disappointed face. I had absolutely no desire to watch some stupid soccer game either. After dinner, Philipp quickly disappeared into the room.
I helped my uncle in the kitchen. "Chris, I hope you're not mad at me for not telling you that Philipp is here!" "No, it's not that bad," I said. If only he'd known how happy I was about it. "You know, he's been having a lot of problems at home, and that's why he came here three days ago." He grimaced. I was a little surprised that this boy, of all people, would have problems at home. Possibly a pregnant girlfriend! This thought made me laugh. "What are you laughing about?" "Nothing, just a thought. What's wrong with him?" "I don't know, he didn't want to tell me. It seems to be something serious, though!" I was slowly becoming curious.
After the kitchen, I went into the room. Philipp was sitting at his typewriter, typing. "I'm back!" I closed the door. He turned to me. "So, did he persuade you to watch the game anyway?" I laughed: "No, he wouldn't have been able to do that either!" "Oh yeah? You must know your uncle pretty poorly." "It could be, I only see him once every four years." I sat down on the bed. "I haven't seen him that often either." Then I remembered the conversation from before. "Oh yeah, and why are you here now?" "That's too long a story to tell now!" "Oh, come on... you're having a fight with your parents?" His smile vanished. "Yes, I am." I didn't dare ask any more questions. It fell dead silent. Suddenly, Philipp grabbed a pillow and threw it at my head. "There, you idiot!" He laughed loudly. I couldn't help but laugh. I quickly grabbed him by the sleeve, threw him onto the bed, and stuffed the pillow in his face. It escalated into a small pillow fight; I was wildly throwing pillows and blankets around, barely a meter away from him, and he was doing the same.
After a while, I collapsed onto the bed, exhausted. My batteries seemed to be completely drained, and I lay gasping on my back. Philipp, however, seemed to have yet to run out of air. He grabbed a pillow, sat on my stomach, and clamped my arms so that I could no longer resist. He tickled me. I tried to free myself and, after a long time, managed to free one arm. Philipp stopped tickling me. For about a minute, it remained silent. No one dared to move. My heart was pounding. If only he knew what kind of person he was fooling around with. He might beat me up and not want to sleep in the same room anymore. I pushed these thoughts away. I placed my free hand on his chest and pushed him to the side. He let himself fall to his side without strength. I stared at the ceiling. Philipp lay about a meter away from me, staring up into the air. "What are you actually writing, if you don't mind me asking?" "Yes, you can, but you won't understand it anyway. I have to write a term paper on the development of aphids." I laughed. "And you can actually write about something like that? It must be terribly interesting. Now tell me, why are you here?" I asked, obsessed. "Well, my parents don't entirely agree and think what I'm thinking is…" he hesitated, "wrong… yes… wrong!" I didn't quite get it. "Is that really a reason to just leave?" "I'm only here for the holidays. We don't have school right now!" He looked at his watch. "What? Already half past eleven?" Startled, he sat up and looked at me. "I have to sleep. I have a lot to do tomorrow!" I looked into his eyes and felt like I was sinking into them. "Hey!" He smiled embarrassedly. "Don't look at me like that!" He looked away. I looked at him, startled. Had I been staring at him? Had he noticed something? I was overcome with fear. "How am I looking at you?" I asked, anxiously. "Well, just like that!" He laughed. "Well—whatever, I still have to go to sleep!" "That means I should go to sleep now, right?" "No, you can go downstairs and watch the soccer game!"
A smile spread across my face. "Very strange, well, then I'll go to sleep too. But I sleep on the mattress!" I felt like slapping myself. Why on earth had I said that? "Too bad, otherwise we could have chatted a bit more. Whatever you want!" His smile pierced me. A while later, I was lying alone on the mattress against the wall, and I felt like slapping myself for saying such a stupid thing. Philipp and I talked for a while, then it was quiet. What would he say if I just moved to the big bed? Soon after, my uncle came into the room. It was dark, and the light from the hallway blinded me. "Good night, you two. I'm going to sleep now too!" "Good night!" I said. Philipp remained calm. 'Well, if he doesn't say anything, then he must be asleep,' I thought. Without further ado, I grabbed my pillow and blanket and threw them onto the big bed. I quickly crawled under my covers, freezing cold. I lay down, facing Philipp, and closed my eyes. "So, changed your mind?" he grinned, without opening his eyes. I opened my eyes in shock. His finger ran over my nose. "Sleep well!" he said to me. "Thank you," I stammered. My heart was pounding again, and I was extremely excited. Again, I tried to close my eyes and finally sleep when he placed his hand on mine, but said nothing. I didn't move. Soon after, I must have fallen asleep. When I caught sight of the morning light and turned around for Philipp, he was no longer there. Shortly after, he came through the door.
"Well, did you sleep well?" He sat down next to me on the bed and put his hand on my shoulder. "If I were you, I'd get up slowly. We're going to the Deutsches Museum today." He wrinkled his nose. "Not to the museum, and especially not today!" I muttered. "Well, you know your uncle when he's got something on his mind!" He stood up. "Chris, don't stay in bed too long!" he chuckled and disappeared. We spent the whole day there, and yet we didn't manage to see half of the world-famous museum. It was enormous, and my uncle threatened to go back the next day. I was so excited about the second part of his tour that I would have preferred to go home. But as that crossed my mind, the thought followed: 'But only with Philipp.' I smiled. That boy... I couldn't get him out of my head. After dinner at my uncle's house, I immediately lay down on the bed from exhaustion. It was still light outside. I got up to lower the blinds to make the room a little darker when I saw Philipp in the garden. He was writing in a book. It looked like he was writing in his diary. I went outside to him. "There you are," he said when he saw me. "Why? Were you looking for me?" Strange... "No, but I was just thinking about you!" he smiled at me. That butterflies in my stomach reappeared. "Are you writing in your diary?" I asked cautiously. "Yes." His smile suddenly disappeared. Had I said something wrong? There was silence. I sat down next to Philipp in the soft grass. Still no one said anything. I felt a little uneasy, especially because I would have liked to tell him what I was really thinking. After a while, I got up and went to our room to go to bed. Dejected and feeling completely strange, I got ready to go to sleep. Sadly, I collapsed onto the big bed and wrapped myself in the covers. Tired, I closed my eyes and soon fell asleep. I heard a door open. The old wooden floor creaked, as if someone was walking toward the bed. I must have been asleep. Too tired to look up, I listened curiously to what was going on. Philipp threw his clothes onto a pile by the wall. I heard the soft sound of them falling to the floor. For a brief moment, he disappeared from the room; I didn't hear a sound again until he came through the door and got under the covers. He rolled me slightly aside, as I was still lying across the big bed.
"Sleep well and sweet dreams," he said. I felt his hand running over my head. Then it was quiet again. I was woken up the next morning by Philipp rolling over my outstretched arm in his sleep. The sudden pain jolted me awake. Philipp also opened his eyes and sat up. He apologized a hundred times, and I always said it wouldn't matter. I felt a bit silly doing it. That day, I planned to go for a stroll around town, and my uncle decided on the spur of the moment that Philipp should show me the unfamiliar city. My uncle had some business to attend to. We left the house early to the nearest bus stop, where we had to wait about 20 minutes for that stupid bus. "What do you want to see in the city?" "To be honest, I'd rather not see any more sights. Let's just go shopping!" I said, wrinkling my nose. Definitely no more boring sights. "If you like, I'd love to. I didn't expect you to enjoy shopping!" "Of course, always." I smiled at him, and there it was again, that sparkle in his eyes that captivated me. It wouldn't let me go, and I couldn't think anymore. But I only realized this when he tapped my nose with his finger and smiled at me: "Hey, are you trying to eat me?" His smile turned into a short laugh. We sat down on a bench, that is, Philipp pulled his feet up onto the bench and rested his chin on his knees. He held his legs with his arms. I sat down opposite him in the same way. Should I tell him what I really thought of him? How would he react? It would be a good time... "Philipp, ..." I couldn't. "What?" "Nothing, forget it!" Again, he gave me one of those absolutely sweet looks.
"Tell me!" He played with my hand. There was something in the air, I sensed it in his demeanor, in his manner, in everything, but... Fortunately, the bus arrived at that moment. I wouldn't have known what to say at that point. When we arrived back at the station and got off, I saw a passport photo booth on the covered sidewalk against the wall of the large station. I frantically pulled Philipp by the sleeve toward the booth and persuaded him to get into the booth with me. Although he didn't seem to like it, he went along. We sat down. Philipp laid his head on my shoulder. My head rested against his. I would have loved to stay in that position for another hour or more. When the photos came out of the machine, Philipp immediately grabbed all four and didn't want to show them to me. "No, that's great. Can I keep them? Thank you!" I couldn't say anything. Before I could resist, they all disappeared into his pocket. I wasn't even allowed to look at them. We spent the whole day wandering around the city, browsing almost every shop and boutique.
At the end of the whole shopping trip, we sat down at a McDonald's, and Philipp invited me to a small snack. "This is to make up for waking you up so roughly this morning..." he said, placing two portions of French fries and a Coke on the table. "I'll definitely do it a little more gently tomorrow!" He laughed. "Really? I'm curious!" What was he up to? As darkness fell, we returned home. My uncle wasn't home; a note was hanging on the door: "I'll be home tomorrow evening, I had to go on a business trip!" With a signature at the bottom. "Ts... and what are we going to do here now?" Philipp opened the door. The whole house was tidy. I dragged the shopping bag into the room. The beds were freshly made and everything was neatly arranged. "He's been cleaning like crazy!" Philipp shouted from the kitchen. "I just see, the beds are freshly made and my clothes are put away in the closet!" "The food is in the microwave!" Philipp read aloud. "No thanks, I've eaten enough!" I went downstairs to the kitchen. "No more food for me!" said Philipp. He got a glass of tea from the fridge. "I'm going to write some more work on my thesis!" "OK!" Philipp disappeared into the room. I looked around the living room a bit, at the pictures on the box. On the side of the sofa lay a stack of magazines, which I leafed through. Bored, I flipped through the channels on the TV, and since I didn't find anything useful there, I went upstairs after a good hour. Philipp was writing in his diary. When I entered the room, I saw him sticking one of the photos from the vending machine into his book. "Oh yes, I want to see those too, I almost forgot!"
"I've put two aside for you, which I'll give you later!" He smiled at me again... Why couldn't he just give them to me now? Meanwhile, it had become completely dark and started to rain. Philipp put away his diary. "Please, please, please," I begged, "give me the pictures, I'd love to see how they turned out." He hesitated: "Are you really sure you want to see them?" I laughed. What had he done with them that made it so difficult for him to give them to me? He sat down on the desk and put his feet up on the chair. I stood next to him and leaned on his thigh. He rolled his eyes. "Well then..." he hesitated once more, "here are your two!" He held out an envelope. Excitedly, he leaned his arms on the desk. "Thank you," I said. Excitedly, I opened the envelope. Inside were the two photos. I quickly took them out. "That's weird," I grinned. I looked at them for a long time, then put them back on the desk, laughing, and took a small step back. Philipp gently took my arm. He held my hand. "Oh, the photos are really good, it was a good idea to take them, we can do it again tomorrow!" Philipp laughed at me. His gaze caught my attention again. His hand gently ran through my hair. To tear myself away from his gaze, I looked at the desk, and only then did I notice that there was writing on the back of one of the photos. I looked at him questioningly. "What is that?"
He said nothing. It fell silent. I took the photo and turned it over to read the caption, but before I could, Philipp held my hand and covered the picture. For about a minute, no one dared to say anything or move. I looked into his deep brown eyes, which enchanted me every time. He took his hand away so I could read it: 'I love you.' I looked into his eyes, long and motionless. "You're really sweet," I whispered to him. "Thank you!" It was as if something great, something moving, had begun in that moment. "You're the sweet one here!" he laughed. His hand gently stroked my face. My hands stroked his upper body. "I love you too!" I said, before he gently and lovingly took me in his arms. I felt his warmth and his closeness, more than I had ever dreamed possible.