Introduction

Author’s Story Introduction:

Precisely, what causes an everyday, normal relationship to transition into something more personal; something intimate? Rare is the case when love at first sight will result in a successful long term commitment because love at first sight is not love, it is lust. True love is built over a long period of time.

Sometimes this takes a lot of hard work, like compromising after a heated argument or participating in activities you don’t like simply because your partner enjoys them. But sometimes true love is built so gradually and easily that the couple does not see it happening until they are already hopelessly in love.

They meet innocently enough and develop a fast friendship based on some sort of common ground. Gradually, they learn to confide and trust in each other; sharing increasingly more personal thoughts and various aspects of their lives. Their comfort with one another eventually turns that corner which plunges them into the realms of intimacy and they don’t even realize what’s happened, sometimes months or even years later.

Couples that fall in love in such a way are, arguably, the luckiest when it comes to romance. Theirs is a bond that cannot be broken. And this is exactly how the love of my life and I fell in love. Neither Jasmine nor I planned this, obviously. Our intimate relationship just happened as if on autopilot. Perhaps we were destined to be together, or maybe simply because we were so young and did not know any better. In any case, the end result was the same.

Jasmine and I grew up together in every sense of the word. The common ground between us was clear to even the most casual and unknowing person. We shared absolutely everything from the time we were babies. Our parents would put us in the same crib and we’d fall asleep sucking on each others fingers. As toddlers, we shared bottles, pacifiers, toys, and anything else one can imagine. We watched the same TV shows for kids, liked and ate the same foods, and we were even dressed alike. We shared all of these things because we also shared the most important of things: our parents.

Jasmine is my twin sister.

Unable to pronounce her name properly at the time, her name always came out as “Jazzy” and became her nickname for many years.