After a while that they talked to each other, Thelma and Luisa saw that the two men shook hands, Carla who came out the store also saw it. Then the two men came to them. Wilhelm smiled to Carla and invited her to come again inside the store and so Thelma and Luisa. They all entered the store.
"Luisa, Wilhelm will buy a friendship ring for Carla, I also want to buy for you." Herman said to Luisa.
"Carla like very much the ring with her birthstone and I will buy it for her as a gift. A friendship ring." Wilhelm said.
The three girls looked at each other.
"And we also will buy for Thelma a friendship ring!" Herman said upon reading from Thelma's face the uneasiness about the situation. Indeed it is not nice that the two Carla and Luisa will have a friendship ring and Thelma not.
"Don't worry about me. You don't have to buy something for me!" Thelma said.
"Come on, girls. Please accept our gift. Wilhelm and I agreed to pay fifty-fifty the ring of Thelma, I pay your ring of your choice Luisa and Wilhelm for the ring of Carla. We do not have to argue, please. So Luisa choice your ring and Thelma, please also choice the ring you like." Herman said.
The three girls have their friendship ring from the two men, unexpectedly, quite expensive jewellery that if they dreamed to have never could they afford it by themselves. The girls were happy with the rings as they always looked at their finger if the two men were not looking.
Time to went home and Herman offered Wilhelm that he can drove back to Germany and he will be the one to bring the girls home to their apartment. But Wilhelm before going home back to Germany, invited Carla to come visit Germany. Carla liked it to come visit Germany but she wanted that Thelma and Luisa be with her.
"It's possible that we three?" Carla accepted the invitation and asked Wilhelm if it is possible that Thelma and Luisa will also come but Herman quickly answered Carla.
"I want to ask Luisa a date tomorrow!" Herman said.
Everybody looked at Luisa, they wait what would be the answer of Luisa.
"Carla, maybe only Thelma can come with you?" askingly Luisa was suggesting that she will not come with Carla to Germany, she chose a date with Herman and it make Herman smiled.
"Okay, I will pick up you both tomorrow. Good?" Wilhelm said to Carla and Thelma.
The next day, Carla and Thelma were heading to Germany and Luisa travelled with Herman to Rotterdam.
"You like to see Delft?" Herman asked Luisa.
"You're the Boss." Luisa answered.
"I am not the Boss, because if I am, I will not bring you to Delft." Herman answered Luisa.
"Oh, and where will you bring me then?"
"In my apartment!"
"What will we do in your apartment?"
"Well, something nice. Something cosy!"
Luisa did not answer.
"Now, what you think? Delft or in my apartment?"
Luisa looked at Herman. She knew the intention of Herman and to herself why dragged or why she must prolong the possibility of having a relationship with him when sooner or later it will happen anyway. Although sometimes she hated the way Herman talked or the free and very direct posting of his affection, but she knew to herself that she liked Herman, yes, unbelievable that for just a short time she was falling in love to him.
"Now, which is which?" Herman asked Luisa again.
"Your apartment!" Luisa answered.
Herman was so happy. He reached for the hand of Luisa and kiss it. "I am glad, I am very happy, thank you!"
"Look out, you are driving!" Luisa warned Herman that he was driving, and she take her hands back.
After almost one and a half hour driving, Herman parked his car on a parking garage near where he lived. A high apartment complex with outlook to a big fountain, where traffic constantly busies the whole day. The fountain was in the middle of a big circle of street with streets connections to different directions.
"You are looking at the fountain in Hofplein." Herman said to Luisa and put his arms around her shoulders.
"Very busy, your apartment is in the center of the city." Luisa said to Herman.
"Yes, over there, that's Coolsingel, just few minutes walking is our Stadhuis, the city hall, it was a neo-Renaissance building built in 1914. You know that the Stadhuis was consciously saved from the bombing during World War II by the Germans?" Herman pointed a street and told Luisa a little history of the city where he lived. Then he asked Luisa if she liked to drink something. "Can I get for you something to drink?"
"Do you have orange juice?"
"Yes, I will press a fresh orange juice for you! If you like you can come with me in the kitchen."
And they both walked into the kitchen.
Luisa sat down on a chair and watched Herman as he makes an orange juice for her. As she saw it, the apartment of Herman was nice with expensive modern appliances and furniture. In the living room hanged two beautiful big oil paintings but she saw no family photos.
Herman watched as Luisa drank the orange juice and Luisa felt not comfortable.
"Why you kept looking at me? I felt uneasy!" Luisa said to Herman.
"I have a request; I hope you will say yes and will not get angry."
"What request?" Luisa asked.
"I am inviting you to come with me in my bedroom." Herman said without taking his eyes from Luisa's face.
Luisa blushed. White males were always direct to the point, bluntly told to someone what they thought and will.
"Luisa?" Herman waited for an answer.
Luisa stood up and smiled. It was a cue for Herman, he understand that it means yes. He quickly came to Luisa and hug her tightly and kissed her in the lips. A deeply passionate kiss to both. Luisa felt the fast heartbeat of Herman, and their both bodies became warm. Then, Herman holds her in her arms as they walked together into the bedroom.
WHILE Herman and Luisa enjoyed the pleasure of the embodiment of their affection to each other, the car of Wilhelm was still approaching Enschede, a city of the Netherlands. After Enschede they will pass the border to Germany and then the travel will continue to Rheine.
"Girls, if you like we can pull over and drink something." Wilhelm said to Carla and Thelma when he saw a signboard of a restaurant along the highway.
"We are already in Germany?" Carla asked. She sat in the front seat of the car while Thelma at the back side.
"No, not yet. We are still in The Netherlands. After Enschede we will enter Germany!" Wilhelm said as he turned right to a small side road into the direction of the restaurant. He parked his car in the parking area. "We can also stretch out our legs."
After consuming their foods, a coffee for Wilhelm, cola for the two, Carla and Thelma with an apple pie each, they again continued their travel to Rheine.
Rheine, a serene, rural area if not for the regular sound and sight of military planes that take off and landed at the nearby airbase. The two, Carla and Thelma, admired the house where the car of Wilhelm stopped. It had a garden at the front with many beautiful flowers. What a pleasant sight.
When they entered the house, they were met by an elderly woman, Wilhelm introduced the woman as Hendrika, his mother. The German woman could not speak English, so Wilhelm must translate between the two Filipinas and his mother. Hendrika was a nice woman and how she tried to accommodate their visitors.
Hendrika have for the lunch prepared a meal of Sauerkraut (sour cabbage stew with potatoes), Bratwurst (Sausage), Schinken (sliced ham) and as dessert the Spaghettieis (Spaghetti Ice Cream).
Unusual foods in a foreign land but the two Filipinas find it delicious and enjoyed the foods very much, especially the Spaghetti Ice Cream which was very new to them. When they learned that Hendrika cooked and prepared it all by herself, they could not stop giving the German woman their compliments and the beautiful garden of flowers which Wilhelm told them that it was his mother, who loved flowers very much. Hendrika was of course very delighted and proud of herself. Wilhelm was also glad as he observed that his mother had tried to make Carla comfortable in their house. Earlier he had told his mother about his plan to marry an Asian woman, particularly a Filipina in the name of Carla, only, he must win first the heart of Carla that fascinated him the first time he laid his eyes on her in Locarno, dancing the Cultural Dance of her country, the Philippines.****to be continued****Remedios Dorio