This morning, she had woken up and dragged herself to the bathroom half-asleep. When she opened her heavy-lidded eyes, there was a creature sporting a horrendous bed-head and a bright yellow Post-it stuck on its forehead staring at her from the mirror.

            ‘What the’ Alice groaned as she plucked the piece of paper off.

            Whatever annoyance she was feeling disappeared immediately as she read what was on the paper.

            ‘I kissed you here.’ Followed by a huge smiley face and a pink heart.

            Grinning from ear to ear, Alice reached for her toothbrush and toothpaste. Only to realize there was another Post-it on the tube of toothpaste.

            ‘Al. This is NOT toothpaste.’

            Alice mistook the After Sun Lotion – Aloe Vera Gel with Vitamins A and E, plus olive leaf extract for the Aquafresh toothpaste at least thrice a week. She never understood why any self-respecting skin-care company would package its moisturizing cream such that it resembled a toothpaste tube. The last time she had put the lotion in her mouth, her gums swelled for 1 whole week and she had to survive on semi-solid food as chewing was near impossible without causing excruciating pain. The physical suffer was on Alice, but Dana had berated herself for one whole month after the incident for not taking good care of Alice. Since then, Dana made sure that the toothpaste and moisturizer were placed on opposite far ends. Yet Alice somehow, still managed to mix them up in her morning drowsiness.

            Over the past 6 months, Dana had taken such good care of her. No one had ever, ever cared for her so much. And she knew, deep down in her heart, that Dana loved her truly. That she, Alice Pieszecki, was the woman of Dana’s affections, and the amount of love Dana had for her, was more than the love Dana had for tennis, more than the love Dana had for her own family, more than the love Dana had or would have for anyone in the past or future. She knew all of that, but her mind was already made up. In fact, it was made up two months ago. Just that she could not bear to go ahead with it. She didn’t want to let go, she would never want to let go of Dana, but this wasn’t a matter of choice. It would do the both of them good. At least she hoped it would.