Omnia Vincit Amor

XLIX.

"Edamus, Bibamus, Gaudeamus: post mortem nulla voluptas." -Cicero

Let us eat, drink, enjoy life, after death, there is no pleasure.

"A toast to a successful symphony premier!" Pyotr said as they were in a restaurant.

Everyone toasted and rejoiced around him.

It was a normal night for all of them. This was Pyotr's late celebration for the premiere of his symphony. The meal came and they were served hot water.

"Mister, I do not like hot water. Could you get me a cold one?" Pyotr asked the waiter.

"Sir, unfortunately, we do not have cool unboiled water..." The waiter said carefully.

"I don't care, I just want cold water!" Pyotr said, agitated because of the amount of alcohol seeping through his bloodstream.

The waiter was startled but did give him a cold glass of unboiled water. Pyotr did not care anymore, he was about to die anyway.

"Pyotr, that was not good behavior." Modest warned, looking at his older brother.

Pyotr did not say anything else but just drank the water. Brett and Eddy did not comment, they knew what Pyotr was doing. Davydov was looking at Pyotr with great concern.

"Let us drink and enjoy! I want this to be the best celebration of my life!" Pyotr exclaimed, everyone else was convinced.

They were back to the lively chatter and conversations. Ones that stretch to music, life plans and other deep conversation.

"Do you ever just wonder what happens to people when they die?" Pyotr asked with seriousness.

There was a moment of silence until Brett spoke up.

"What if people live next lives? The moment you die and the baby born in the next moment, what if you live that? Live your next lifetimes, maybe that's why we meet certain people and certain situations because we knew them in our past life..." Brett explained.

Pyotr looked at Brett with amusement and admiration. If you look at them from afar, you will get a glimpse of the look that Pyotr and Eddy shared on their faces. From the outside looking in, it will seem that the two had got it hard from Brett.

"That will make sense of the feeling of people, how they are familiar with things or people they never knew before." Modest said as he took a swig of his drink.

"Think of it this way, with falling in love. Maybe our bodies and minds think that this is the first time we fall in love with a person, but it could have been the tenth time or the thirteenth time. We do not know how many people we have crossed that we might have been families with in the past life." Davydov said, looking around the circle.

"Have you men ever felt that? As though you have memories of other people coursing through your mind and your heart is familiar with the feeling? I certainly have experienced it before..." Eddy replied, suddenly going quiet due to remembrance.

"I think I have felt that before... I was in America and I saw this location. My mind did not know it but when I had seen it, a pinch occurs in my heart..." Pyotr said, remembering the occurrence.

"Ah, yes! That happened to me too! I saw this man and somehow, I felt like I knew him in a fatherly way. Like he was a great father figure that I have known before... I thought I loved him in a romantic way but it was more familial." Modest said quietly. 

"I have felt a certain type of euphoria in my heart every time there are weddings even when I was a child. It is not just a type of wedding where I knew the ones getting married but everyone. It makes me feel happy." Davydov replied recalling every wedding he had seen.