2.5.1 A. Nina Simone – Black is the Color of My True Love’s Hair/TBS

Nina Simone – Black is the Color of My True Love’s Hair

Black is the color of my true love's hair
His face so soft and wondrous fair
The purest eyes
and the strongest hands
I love the ground on where he stands

While Luka had fallen in love with Danijela at first sight, for the teenager, it had taken longer. In those first days she wasn't even aware that she had caught the tall college student's eye, if she was perhaps things might have unfolded differently, as it were, each continued on their separate paths until he grew bold enough to take that next step.

Once he had discovered that she and her friends visited the coffeehouse every afternoon he made a point of altering his schedule so he could be there as well. He had to study, what difference did it make where he did the work? If Tomo and Stipe, or better yet Gordana, wanted to tag along, all the better, at least it wouldn't draw undue attention to what he was doing.

Through the course of the next couple of weeks he put his plan to catch her eye into motion. Whether it was as she moved from the counter to a table with her coffee, or simply as she glanced around the small shop during a lull in the conversation, it would have been hard for her not to miss the dark haired man's eyes on her. If by chance their eyes would meet, her shy smile would usually be accompanied by an embarrassed blush as if she were not quite sure how to react to his attention.

It was hard too to say why he didn't simply go up and talk to her from the start, later he would claim it was her age, in truth he wondered if there was more to it then that. Once he had her eye, he was ready to take things to the next level, and so he anonymously arranged for her drink to be paid for over several days, next, he added a sweet to her order, before finally venturing forward to identify himself.

In that simple task, he knew he would be undergoing more than just her scrutiny, he would be subjected to that of her friends as well, and he wondered which was worse. Over the course of the weeks that he had been watching her, the actions of the girls with her had not been lost on him, the way that they giggled over this person or that, the private jokes whispered behind upraised hands. How many times had he wondered if hehimself hadn't been the brunt of their latest joke, or the subject of their conversation. As he approached the table where the girls sat, all he could think of beside how beautiful the dark haired teen was, was that he would finally know for sure.

Once the introductions were made, it was as if everyone around them faded into the background and they may has well been alone for the notice they took of anyone except each other. Over the course of the next several weeks the afternoon coffees expanded to stolen meetings on weekends as well, and gradually Luka was introduced to Danijela's parents. By then though, the young couple had already realized that they would one day marry. Out of respect to Danijela's parents, they would wait until she turned 18 to wed, but, they were sure fate had brought them together, and now, it was only her age that was delaying what they now both knew was their destiny.