After Happy Ever After

"I'm quitting my job, said the woman I was madly in lust with but had only just met. “What?” I spluttered. “But you are that job?” “I want to be someone else. Let's run away together.” “But we just got back from India?” We'd gone as strangers for a tuk-tuk race, as returning as unlikely lovers. “This is supposed to be our Happy Ever After. Can't we just enjoy it for a while?” “Don't you want to see what's after Happy Ever After? Let's move to Istanbul. And I want to see Kurdistan.” Did she really want me to follow her to a region slipping into autocracy? To a country our government now explicitly recommended not to visit? And another it didn't acknowledge existed? “What's happening?” I said. “Who are you?” She laughed. “Come with me and you'll find out. It'll be an adventure. And we can test this relationship.” I didn't know then that she was rushing us because she had a secret. Something that would change everything. “Can I think about it?” I asked. She stuck out her tongue. “I'll give you fifteen minutes, okay?--