Part 1: The Meeting

A young man and woman sat anxiously across from each other in a restaurant called the "City Diner" on the upper west side of New York City. Besides the strikingly beautiful appearance of the woman, they looked like a typical young couple. Perhaps others in the restaurant assumed they were on a first date. It was in fact the first time these two had met outside of an Internet chat room. However, the circumstances of this special meeting was far from typical.

The young woman had to be absolutely sure that this man truly wanted what was about to happen. It's one thing to talk about it online in the safety of your living room but quite another to discuss while looking into someone's eyes.

They both exchanged awkward casual conversation to try and break the ice. Conscious of others around them, the woman lowered her voice as she began to get down to business.

"Alex tried to talk me out of meeting you in person." She began with a polite smile. "He knows I'm going to try and talk you out of this."

The young man stared down at his water twisting his straw as he listened. The woman leaned into the booth.

"I can't go forward without knowing 100%."

"Listen to me. I know I told you this many times before ... but this is it--your last chance to back out."

"Believe me, nobody will blame you. Because if you don't ... what you are about to go through ... regardless what is going on in your head right now, I promise that you will not enjoy it."

She reached across the table and put her hand on his shoulder. Her delicate fingers sent shivers of pleasure up the young man's spine. Oh how he longed to be close to her for so many months. She was so much more beautiful than what he remembered from their grainy video chats. He closed his eyes savoring the tangy smell of her perfume.

"You can get up and walk out that door and never look back." She continued.

"I mean, look at you. You're young. You're not bad looking at all. You've got your whole life ahead of you. For God's sake please, just leave here and go live your life!"

The young man continued to stare down at his water and pressed his lips together. He couldn't turn back now.

"I just don't understand what could possibly compel you ... I mean ... how anyone could possibly want ... something so ... so..." She curled her lips in disgust. "So horrible!"

But she could see that the young man's mind could not be changed.

"Are you absolutely sure this is what you want?"

The man looked up. He stared back into her dark eyes. She was so beautiful he couldn't even bear to look at her for more than a few seconds before his anxiety overwhelmed him, and he had to look back down at his glass. He nodded his head.

The woman closed her eyes and nodded back.

"And you understand that once we begin, there's no going back? And I mean that. Once we start, you can't change your mind. You understand that I can't stop even if I want to."

"Yes."

The woman sighed and shook her head. After a few seconds of silence she finally concluded the meeting.

"So be it."

Several men turned their heads as she departed the restaurant leaving the young man alone in the booth. He continued to savor the lingering smell of her perfume as his mind drifted into his dark fantasies that would soon be realized--he would finally have what he had longed for his entire adult life.

Their next meeting would not be so cordial.