There is no such thing as romance.

"Maybe."

It is merely a reproduction of a feeling when human beings perceive the transient nature of infinite possibilities. As soon as it becomes clear, so fades the feeling.

"Perhaps."

Still, you believe in romance?

He turned his head slightly towards me. I was expecting another word equivalent to "ambiguity" or "uncertainty." Unfortunately, either his vocabulary failed him, or I did. If only I could get an answer, I could have possessed another feeling human beings perceive when facing the transient nature of infinite possibilities-- hope.

Denial.

My chances with him were slim even before this mayhem. Last semester in the university... Him leaving for another country after graduation... Me being stuck with this carcass that was once known as "Hong Kong"... I am no statistics major student, but I know full well the odds. Humans beings have this fatal flaw of believing in the impossible: be it fate, religion, a certain political ideology, the goddamn lottery ticket or a happy ending between Romeo and Juliet.

Anger.

It is not an exaggeration to say this whole compulsory lock-down is part of a deep-state conspiracy to prevent me from seeing him. Perhaps God is so benevolent that he would make a romance out of us. Such a cute couple, what pathetic outcome! Liberate our souls, oh Lord, the love story of our times.

Bargaining.

The prolonged isolated period gave me much time to reconsider my stance on romance. I was wrong about the transient nature of infinite possibilities. Instead, it is precisely the inevitability that endows romance its gracious yet powerful grip on human beings. There is a certain beauty fighting against the immovable object. To fight against it, one must first accept the chains which we call fate.

Acceptance.

I now fully accept the fact that I may never see him again. Luckily, it is not as hard as it sounds; it merely devastated me. Here I lie, awaiting nothing to take place.

"Hey, get away from the window!" Men in protective suits shout on the streets. Who? Me?

Like any intelligent and sensible human being, I ignore the warnings and walk towards the window. I open the window and, immediately, feel an unnatural breeze accompanied by strong illumination. Is it God? Is my time finally here? Did he hear all my mumbling and finally decided to meet me in person? Only I do not recall that He resembles the latest and most expensive drone in the market...

"Open up. The drone must not leave the quarantine zone! Open up!" I do not know if the latest drone in the market is equipped with audio sensors, but it seems that it knows it is not exactly welcomed around here. Thus, it releases its mechanical claws and ventures back into the skyscraper backdrop.

The men in protective suits broke their way in. "You better hope the virus is well contained, lady!" I hope for a lot of things, but somehow this was not on the top of my list. After they left, I picked up what the mechanical flying object left behind. It was a movie ticket with a screening date exactly the same as the day I asked him about us. I turned over to the back of the ticket and finally got the answer I had asked for.

"Quizás, quizás, quizás."