Our meeting was planned,
though I was unaware of what it would entail,
the greeting,
the small talk,
all normal in passing but with an underlying pressure,
like two apex predators sizing each other up,
attempting to determine who will devour who,
or whether the fight would even be worth it at all,
she spoke with a careful and calculating tone almost overshadowed by practiced exuberance,
while mine held its usual calculating malaise,
but when our eyes met it...