The Interlude

From Pandemic, With Love is a collection of stories from all around the world about how the COVID-19 pandemic affected people’s relationships with each other. These stories range from new ownership of pets, to rekindling of old high school flames, to breakups, to finding new families.

Although he had been living in Paris for almost all his life, the man had never been to the Eiffel Tower. She found this extremely interesting. He would show her around the city, telling her stories about its glorious architecture and pointing out local bistros and unmapped bars. He was interested in fashion and knew a lot about art — their first date was at the Louvre. But he had never been to the Eiffel Tower.

She arrived in Paris in January to study abroad. As a fashion student at Parsons, she thought Paris made sense. “It’s one of the world’s fashion capitals and the curriculum for my major was the same in New York,” she said. “Also, it’s Paris.”

In late January, she received an Instagram DM from him. She did not know him, but they had a few mutual friends. She thought he looked “normal.” Their mutual friends told her that he was not someone that would usually DM people randomly. She was intrigued and responded. After constantly messaging for three weeks, they decided to meet up. “I probably won’t die,” she thought. He wanted to meet up on Valentine’s Day; she told him Feb. 15, 1 p.m.

On the morning of the date, she was awake around 11:30. She was just hanging around her apartment on St. Germain, next to Pont Neuf, when her father called. He had flown to Paris from Istanbul to surprise her and was waiting in front of her apartment. “Oh shit,” she thought to herself. She neither could nor wanted to ditch the man this close to their date. So, she had a quick breakfast with her father and after convincing him not to come with her to the Louvre, went to “meet her friends for a group project.”

The first thing she noticed about him when they met was his eyes — which she still thinks of whenever “Ocean Eyes” by Billie Eilish plays on the radio. He had dark wavy hair, thick eyebrows and a beard. The conversation was not awkward; they knew each other a little bit from texting for almost a month and had questions for each other that surpassed the classic “Tell me about yourself” or “So are you a dog or cat person?” After walking around the museum, neither of them were ready to say goodbye, so they walked around Palais Royale. She left the date feeling good and so did he. Date one led to date two, date three and a couple others more throughout the month.

One of her favorite dates with him was at a bar inside La Réserve Hotel. She was telling him about a school project, which required her to sketch a bag. Suddenly, he called a waiter and asked for something in French — she could not fully comprehend. A couple minutes later, the waiter appeared with two pens and paper. He told her that they were going to sketch bags in the middle of the bar. So while she sipped on her Pornstar Martini, a mix of vanilla vodka, Prosecco and passionfruit, and he, his “weird experimental drink,” they sketched bag designs for an hour.

As their dating progressed so did COVID. While they were enjoying the honeymoon phase of a blooming relationship, it had made its way through Europe and was starting to shut down daily life, work, and classes.

“It won’t get too bad,” she tried convincing herself. “The virus won’t alter my life that much.” And then in mid-March, “shit hit the fan.” Parsons Paris cancelled classes for the week after spring break. But for her, going back home, to Istanbul, was not an option not only because of the fun life she had in Paris but because of him.

Soon after, starting March 14, Turkey decided to cancel all flights. Her father called her the day before the ban to tell her that she needed to empty out her small but homey Parisian apartment she had rented for three months and get on the last flight back. “I was having a crisis,” she said. “I was angry, telling my dad that I did not want to go back, that I could take care of myself.” This was not a good enough argument, so she texted the man telling him she only had 12 hours left in Paris and that she wanted to see him before she left.

“Let’s make it a good finale,” she told him. “Meet me under the Eiffel Tower.”

They met around 11 p.m. and he finally got to see the Eiffel Tower lit up in all its glory. In true Midnight in Paris fashion, they walked around the Seine, talked while sitting on a bench on Pont des Arts, and then went to her friend’s apartment which she was staying at for the night. They drank red wine, and watched Netflix until they fell asleep. At 3:30 a.m., they bid adieu.

“When can I see you again?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” she said, “Maybe two weeks, maybe six months.”

When they hugged goodbye, he quoted Yves Saint Laurent: “The most beautiful clothes that can dress a woman are the arms of the man she loves, but for those who haven’t had that fortune to find this happiness, I am here.”