Benny was in Arlanda-Airport, VIP lounge. He had just been tested for COVID-19 and it was negative, so at least that was a relief. Distance, silence and the smell of alcohol and hand sanitizer was what predominated in the room, in addition, it was almost empty; people were not traveling much at the time, adding that total lockdown was about to be pronounced.
He was wearing a mask and on top of that he had antibacterial spray in his pocket, for Frida it was important that he take care of himself, and for him it was important to take care of her, so he decided to do it. He was waiting for the call for his flight that would be leaving in about an hour, but they had to make the disinfection process even longer.
Benny was a little nervous, his visit to Switzerland was a surprise, so Frida didn't know it, and now that she had moved to Genolier, closer to the airport, it was a great advantage. "Passengers of flight LX 1254 please get on board," Benny looked at his ticket, that was his flight. He got up from his seat and walked to the plane, as he was a preferred traveler, everything was easier and faster, and the flight was practically empty.
Some seats were marked by an X, that meant that it couldn't be used, they had decided to do it that way, unless they didn't travel together, to avoid that people who did not know each other were together and take care of everyone's health. Benny sat in his seat, he had chosen the window to have a good view, he was a little nervous but he was dying to get there and see Frida, he could no longer hide how much he missed her.
Frida was at home, she had woken up recently, she didn't know how it happened but she must have been tired, tired of the same thing, perhaps. Another day, new things? She no longer had much hope of anything, suddenly, what she had solved or thought she had under control for so many years, was consuming her again. It was time to get up and do her things, she wanted to go to the clinic at least to the garden, even their restaurant was closed, she didn't have an appointment for that day but she always liked going, although she had to reduce visits as much as she could because of COVID.
She had the feeling that something would happen, it was not bad, despite everything, she woke up motivated, as she had much that she didn't feel. She decided to get ready early, even opting for some lip gloss, so as not to just use chapstick as usual.
It was only half an hour before landing in Switzerland, Benny was very anxious, it seemed that the flight had lasted longer than normal but there he was. On his left side there was a lady, old like him, who was reading a Christmas story, a children's story, so it seemed quite curious to him. "Excuse me, what attracts you the most about the book?" he asked putting the mask on his chin.
The lady looked away from the book she was holding and brought it to the voice that spoke to her, "It's... It's magical," she replied.
"Do you believe in magic?" Benny dared to ask, it was in his interest to know, especially when he himself had experienced something similar, including the book he was writing.
"After five grandchildren, I have had to believe," the lady smiled. "Also, after my husband passed away, so much has happened to me that it is impossible not to believe. Do you believe?"
"I have the same opinion as you," he wanted to answer as quickly as possible.
"Why are you traveling this year? I mean, there are just a few of us on this plane, and it is clear that the pandemic has prohibited a lot this year," the lady, like Benny, was also very curious, and didn't think it was too much to ask.
"I'm going to spend Christmas with the love of my life," he immediately smiled, said that and put the mask on again, remembering that Frida would go crazy if she saw him using the mask incorrectly. "Why do you travel alone and on holidays?"
"The love of my life left me alone two years ago, so I have to go to spend the holidays with my daughter and grandchildren in Switzerland."
"Oh, I'm sorry! I hope you can at least have a great Christmas and I'm sorry about your husband."
"It's okay, I'll never get over it but I take refuge in that when it's my turn to leave, he'll be there waiting for me and we'll be together forever," the lady smiled, as if thinking about it was her greatest relief, but Benny couldn't help assimilating her words and think about it.
"Do you think that the people we love and are no longer here we will see them again somewhere?"
"Of course, that certainly is. The day will come when we will never have to miss our loved ones again." Benny couldn't help it, the lady crossed her legs and continued reading her book, while Benny began to look at the window, the plane had already started to descend, he was already on Swiss ground so he was closer to seeing Frida.
It was 9:25 am, after bathing and having dressed she felt very well, at the beginning of the morning she was down, perhaps because the sun had not yet risen, now the sun had not risen, and on the contrary, it was cloudy and snowing, but she was feeling more spirited. She was watching the news on her TV while eating a slice of whole wheat bread with butter and a cup of tea; the doorbell rang, she wasn't expecting anyone at all so it seemed quite strange. She looked at her watch, it was 9:30 a.m., then she got up from the table leaving everything there and wiping her hands with her napkin.
Benny was nervous and impatient waiting for her to open, he hoped she was there, he had the PCR in his hand because he wanted that to be the first thing she saw when opening the door, and there she was, surprised, very, but beautiful , more than ever.
"Benny," she looked him up and down and saw the COVID test in his hand.
"I am free of COVID-19, can I come to your home?" he asked and she smiled, it was a pleasant surprise, she had no idea what would happen and she was somewhat in shock, she didn't know how to react, so she was at the door looking at him. "Aren't you going to tell me anything?"
"Hello," she had the courage to say. "No..." she began to stutter, "I had no idea you were coming, what are you doing here?"
"I miss you and wanted to see you," he replied, reaching down to grab his bags. Frida opened the door and allowed him to enter, he was still wearing the mask and tried to take it off to give her a kiss but she leaned back forbidding it.
"First to the bathroom, take off your clothes and wash your hand," she ordered him and he rolled his eyes, he couldn't believe she was really going to do that.
"I told you I'm COVID-free," he stopped and looked at her.
"It doesn't matter... Airports are the main dirty places, go to the bathroom," he grumbled but obeyed what she ordered, Frida couldn't help but smile and her heart was filled with glee, she had no idea that he would go but she the truth is that it made her very happy.
Frida went to the kitchen for a cloth and Lysol to clean the suitcases before taking them to the bedroom, not only because of the coronavirus, but she had always been like that, she knew that the process at airports was long and many people used to handle the suitcases, so she preferred better to be safe than sorry. She then brought the bags to the room after making sure they were disinfected.
Benny came out of the bathroom in socks and boxers, his face was wet as well as his hand and arms, "could you find me a towel?" he asked her, Frida went to the other room where she kept clean towels and handed him one. Benny took it but he couldn't help but take her by the waist and bring her to him, he missed her and he couldn't contain himself for another minute without kissing her, Frida didn't refuse either, she didn't care about anything.
"I missed you," she said breaking off the kiss, smiled and hugged him.
"I wanted it to be a surprise, I know you've been mad at me," he responded by kissing her cheek and then noticed that she was very groomed. "Are you going somewhere? Everything is closed here... "
"I wanted to go to the clinic for a while so I wouldn't feel so lonely, but that doesn't matter anymore," she replied, passing her hand around her neck.
"Is everything okay with you?" He worried because she, apart from being alone in Genolier, also had visits to the clinic and wanted to know her evolution.
"It's all good, it's just a matter of routine and that my orthopedists are here," she replied, Benny opened his suitcase to find something to wear and Frida took his clothes to the laundry basket to wash them later.
Benny returned to the dining room, all of Frida's breakfast was still on the table and the TV was on, the news spoke of the coronavirus, nine months later, it was still the trending topic. "Did you have breakfast?" She asked him before sitting down.
"Not yet, I don't usually eat breakfast before a flight," he replied and she couldn't help but laugh.
"Do you want me to prepare something for you?" She offered but he didn't want to interrupt her breakfast anymore.
"Don't worry, I can do something to myself," Frida of course wasn't going to leave him alone.
"Let's go to the kitchen," Benny followed her, the apartment wasn't very big either, so the kitchen was right next to the dining room, open concept. "What do you want for breakfast?"
"Whatever you are having," Frida took the butter from the refrigerator and the bread from the pantries, Benny looked for tea that was in the kettle and poured it into a cup with a bit of honey. And there they were both, like in the old days but now the feeling was stranger, they were already old.
Once they had everything, they returned to the dining room and sat down again, Benny put butter in his bread and Frida continued eating, none of them said anything the whole time, they just ate and watched TV, it was the same thing they did every day, the difference is that now they felt the human warmth, they felt the company and they felt that the place was no longer so lonely.
Benny looked at Frida but she seemed to be very focused on the news, he smiled because she was beautiful, she had a special indescribable aura. He took control of the TV and turned it off, catching her immediate attention. "Why?" She asked with a slight frown but he wouldn't stop smiling.
"You don't need that TV anymore, I'm here," he replied leaning more of his chair towards her so he could kiss her again. Frida blushed a lot but also kissed him, putting her hand around his neck and giving more space for him to get closer to her.
"Sorry, it's the custom," she interrupted the kiss and took the last piece of her toast to eat. They were both silent for about thirty seconds, thinking about what they could talk about, Frida was scheming until something occurred to her. "How is Stockholm?" Benny took his cup of tea and took a sip to go with the bread.
"Normal, as always. Although there are many companies closed and working from home, it is more or less chaos but people have not surrendered to social life," he replied addressing everything that had happened in the last year, since Sweden didn't really go to a true confinement.
" I imagine you were one of these," she looked away from him and continued sipping her tea.
"You're right," he replied to her surprise. "But I tried to take care of myself before coming here," he assured her.
"Thank you, how nice," Frida said sarcastically.
Benny put his hand on her thigh and stroked her. "How has Switzerland been?"
"It has also been chaos, I don't think people really raise awareness but Genolier has been calm," she said proud of the place she lived now. "Zermatt is too, always has been." Frida's cell phone began to ring, it was Hans, he usually called her every day at the same time, so Frida was not surprised. She picked up the phone and answered the call.
"Hi Mom. How are you today?"
"Hi Hans, I'm fine. How are you there?"
"All right. It's very cold today," he replied. "What do you do?"
Frida looked at Benny, "I was having breakfast, Benny is here."
"Really?" He was shocked. "Since when?"
"Since recently, he came this morning. I didn't know he was coming."
"At least it gives me more peace of mind, so you're not alone," the truth is that Hans had asked his mother in a thousand ways to go to Stockholm with them during confinement but Frida in a thousand ways rejected the invitation.
They talked for a few minutes and then hung up. Benny was already in the kitchen washing the dishes for breakfast, it wasn't much, so there wasn't much chore. Frida came over putting her cup of tea so that he could wash it too and he glanced at her.
"Don't look at me like that," she told him, Benny spanking her with a wet hand. "Nooo!" She exclaimed. "You're going to mess me up, Benny."
He couldn't help but laugh but didn't say anything. It was a bit strange everything but in a way it felt like it was okay. It was December and he had to be locked up, at least it wouldn't be him alone, he would be with Frida, but after so long, would they really survive being locked up? All that he thought while doing the dishes, that the kitchen had a beautiful view of the mountains which was very relaxing.
After finishing with the dishes, Frida was in charge of drying them and fixing the kitchen, Benny took the opportunity to go to the bedroom and take his things out of the suitcases to sort them. He put them on the bed and from there he took them on empty hooks that Frida had in her closet. After she finished in the kitchen, she also went to the bedroom to help him, "do you have any more empty hooks?" He asked her.
"Yeah, wait a minute," Frida turned to leave the room but Benny noticed that her pants were faded, it went from black to white on the back and all that looked was bleach. Frida hadn't noticed them so she went to the other room to find the other hooks, but when she returned Benny held her and led her to him.
"You have a stain on the back," he was a bit hesitant, knowing it was his fault.
"Stain?" She was confused and got up again, trying to look at her back but of course she couldn't, so she went to the mirror she had to see whole body. When she actually looked at herself and knew it was chlorine, she looked at Benny and rolled her eyes but said nothing, although she was clearly upset.
"Sorry," he said knowing that she was upset but she didn't respond, she went to the closet to find something else to wear. Benny got behind her and hugged her kissing her neck, "sorry," he said again but she kept looking for something to wear.
"Could you step back a few inches? I have to take off my pants..."
"I don't have to step back a few inches to take your pants off," he replied somewhat mischievously but she knew where the conversation would lead.
"Benny, really... I have to change," he walked away and continued putting his things on the hooks to put them later in the closet. "Are you going back to Stockholm for Christmas?" She asked curiously, she had to know what she would face.
"I just got here and you ask me when I'm leaving?" He chuckled.
"I just want to know, I need to prepare my mind for whatever," Benny knew how calculating she was, she had to have everything planned, everything in order.
"No, I will stay here. Unless you want to go with me to Stockholm," Benny tried to persuade her but Frida already knew his intention.
"Not happening," she replied and unhooked her pants to put them on. Benny took the cell phone out of his pocket because it was ringing and it was his granddaughter Viola, so he couldn't refuse it.
"Viola!"
"Grandpa! Are you with Frida?" She didn't wait to say anything else.
"Yes, I am with Frida. How do you know?"
"It doesn't matter. I'm glad you decided to go see her," she sounded very excited.
"The excitement is very appreciated," he joked. "How are you?"
"I'm fine. Could you put Frida on the phone?"
"Yeah, wait..." Benny handed the phone to Frida and she picked it up.
"Hi?
"Hello, Frida. How are you?"
"Hello, Viola. Happy to hear from you. How are you?"
"Happy that my grandfather is with you," she was really blunt. "We will miss you this year in Stockholm."
"So sweet! I will miss you all too. I hope we can see each other soon." They talked for a few long minutes, Viola always had something to say or tell and since she liked Frida a lot, even though she was not her grandmother, she felt a great connection. She was in contact with her and was excited that she and her grandfather were together again.
They spent all the time finishing organizing the other clothes, Benny put his toiletries in the bathroom and Frida organized her clothes in the closet so that everything would be perfect, so they spent the day...