Before Emma, there was Ara. “Are you stubborn also?” he asked as he sat on a nearby rock and started to untie his boots, and take off his socks. I watched as he placed them on a dry rock and stepped into the water, the waves crashing against his ankles. “Stubbornness doesn’t bother me," he smiled. “What are you doing?” I said as another wave crashed over me, my body already numb to the cold. “I am rescuing you.” “Who said I needed rescuing?” I moved my wet hair out of my face, feeling all the sand there that would take a dozen baths to get out. “Me, I say you need rescuing. Most people who truly need rescuing do not know it.” His voice was soft, and his melody seemed to pierce something inside me.