When the last talk of the day was over ...

When the last talk of the day was over she got on a train with her fellow Italian colleague. They got off at Berlin Zoologischer Garten and headed towards the U-Bahn station below their feet. There, they boarded on the first train that showed up, their only purpose being to reach Friedrichstrasse. They had an appointment with a bunch of younger fellow colleagues. It had been decided they would go to the East Side Galley in former East Berlin for a bit of sightseeing walking along the still standing, one-kilometer long remains of the infamous wall. Stepping outside from the main exit door in Ostbanhof they noticed it had started to rain. Intermittent gusts of wind blew stronger. Some were carrying umbrellas and they split in couples to share them. He offered her his. She had noticed him before, at the meeting, his funny laugh and abundant talking. He laughed and talked, plentiful, as they walked, while she held the umbrella inclined for a better protection against the wind and the rain. It got colder and the sky grew darker. The weather conditions conspired to make them walk close to each other, their bodies touching in fleeting brushes. The whole length of the wall was covered in about twenty minutes during which both shared some thoughts in the intimate setting the umbrella provided. They didn't mind the rain. Their clothes were soaked after the stroll, particularly at the back of his trousers and her skirt, when they all entered a nearby bar to get some hot drink and warm up their bodies from the cold. He asked for a hair drier to one of the waitresses, which she kindly provided. The outdoors intimacy lingered a little longer indoors while he dried slowly the back of her sweater and her skirt and she next did the same with his trousers and his pullover. Later, an underground station set them apart - she had to stay in the train and he had to slip out and go somewhere with the rest. They kissed each other goodbye. To this day she remains almost certain he was for a moment reluctant to leave.