“Those verses belong to Majnun. He wanders, tormented, but does not seek pity or even a cure. He wants to feel everything that comes with love–both beautiful and terrible. Some say the poem shows how love and pain are inseparable.”

Bo took strange comfort in listening to a giant who could kill with his bare arms and just as easily cleave one’s heart simply by reciting the forgotten words of a poem.

”Go on, please,” she encouraged him. Bruce had totally disarmed her and everything about this moment seemed enchanted, especially the sky, which ached for moonlight even as the last stripes of dusk clung unevenly to it.

”To love greatly and with all your heart in this lifetime, that kind of love is rare and epic—and perhaps, that is the only way to love. For me, this is the true meaning of Layla and Majnun.”

She didn’t quite understand why Bruce would share a story of unrequited love in the middle of her own desperate search. But to love with all your heart—her heart Kenzi, and Lauren who owned it—forever, these were the cornerstones of an epic love and, for some, maybe even herself, burdens too heavy to bear. Weariness seeped into her bones and the idea of letting go and ending this quest began to seem like a rationale choice.

”I once told Lauren I wanted to travel the world but only with her,” she laughed to herself, disillusioned, ”how ironic.” She wasn’t aware that she’d been leaning so heavily against Bruce’s massive arm. Bo stifled the hopelessness trapped in her throat. ”What if I never see them again?”

”You won’t, Bo.” Bruce answered, his voice brimming with tenderness. ”Not if you’re going to starve yourself to death.”

At that, Bo let go of the last, loose threads that barely bound her heart into one piece. She buried her face into the giant’s chest and wept. When her tears subsided, Bruce loosened his embrace without fully letting her go.

“A few steps away from the other side of that bridge, there is a large open market. Quite famous, very crowded. And very popular with foreigners and tourists especially at this time of night.” He smiled at Bo. ”Will you go there with me? I’m sure we can find you a souvenir?”