Chapter 17 Quarantine

Quarantine

The next day there Nina was again locked in the master bathroom and wouldn't let him in. He really objected to this. He wanted the two of them to have more intimacy. In times of social isolation, being together 24 hours a day was almost an art, it required more creativity from couples and the gift of patience. The quarantine and living together, isolated from the rest of the world, brought with it several distinct phases, and regardless of these phases, married life in itself was already hard work, imagine now with so much pressure and differences at the same time! Never had cohabitation been so intimate throughout the ages.

People were recognizing their partners, their dwellings, their family members, and most of all themselves. Knowing that they no longer had the option of being able to go out, if only to refuse and stay at home, they couldn't just go out or approach other people, not even the grocery delivery guy who delivered the groceries, it forced their closeness even more, as they only had each other at that moment until all this passed. Not to mention that they wanted this togetherness. They wanted to be together, they wanted to really get to know each other. And there was nothing better than to get to know each other daily.

The days went by and David gradually gained Nina's trust so that she could get used to all that his body could offer in their intimate moments of pleasure. They began to talk about it openly and Nina was already feeling comfortable after a few weeks. She still didn't dare to spontaneously show him how much control she had over her multiple orgasms and squirts, but at least she had stopped struggling to contain them every time David wanted to enjoy them.

Nina didn't expect anything from him. She had made an imaginary download in her head and her heart. In that program, there were rules and convictions. Like for instance, she knew that his life was opposite from hers, that one hour he would have to leave, and she knew that she would not accompany him. She was aware that the two of them were just going through a phase together, and she was content with that. Or she thought she was. She was convinced that one day all of this would pass. And she couldn't let anything destroy her. Not even his absence. She was going to use all her resilience and intelligence to get out of this whole situation. So she decided that at no time would she tell him that she loved him. Nor would she talk about the future, they would make no promises to each other, and they would expect nothing in return but respect while they were together. They made a pact not to promise each other anything, no oaths of eternal love, no declarations or games.

Nina was not in his way at all. When he was assembling an entire piece of computer equipment, or a mini airplane, or preparing some sophisticated food that he had found the recipe for somewhere on the Internet, she was absent, she would sit on the veranda with her headphones on, listen to her favorite music, read her books, practice her dance choreographies. Sixteen dances a day. It was as if she was not there, but at the same time she was within reach, every time he felt the need to see her, he sought her out. And he sought her out often. She never said no. She dropped everything she was doing and surrendered herself completely into his hands.

The two of them no longer knew what to do to stop their sexual devouring of each other. They joked about it all the time. David would finish some appointments by video call or phone, and immediately seek Nina's caresses. Sometimes she would be sweaty, on her back, dancing with her headphones on, and he would just sit comfortably in his armchair and watch her dance. When Nina would notice, she would get a big fright and stop! He insisted that she continue and so she began to teach him salsa, samba, forró, kizomba, reggaeton, and various other types of dance, including a dance popular in Norway, called "swing".

The two always ended up in bed, or the shower, or even on the floor after their dancing lessons. To make up for it he trained her, they wrestled, boxed, and weight trained. Both wrestling and dancing required a lot of bodily closeness. In the dance, the two of them would snuggle, sensualize, and in the fight, their bodies would get hot and breathless, and it was as if the blood boiled in their veins. Everything led them to exalt their hormones. They also always ended these workouts with another kind of stretching, on the "bed".

While other couples around the world were re-evaluating their relationships because of the distance they had to keep from each other, Nina and David were becoming a real couple. There were very high rates of breakups during the quarantine. Other already separated couples were facing the challenge of how to share custody of their children, which led many couples to decide to spend the quarantine together for the sake of their children, another positive point in the middle of this life-changing pandemic.

Many families gave their accounts publicly on the Internet detailing how they were managing to live with each other during the quarantine. Many other couples got civilly married during the quarantine. Because of the lack of entertainment, bars, parties, travel, and restaurants, the internet had to reinvent itself during this period, and never has the digital age been more necessary to keep people from feeling trapped, pressured, and depressed indoors.

Within confinement, emotions can run high, senses are much sharper, everything is more intense. This can be taken both positively and negatively for many couples. Nina made sure that she had her routine, her times to meditate, to grow, and connect with other forms of spiritual knowledge. She didn't pressure him into anything, she didn't charge him, she didn't set expectations. It was just herself.

She saw him busy and tried to be busy too. He saw her busy and joined her in her breathing, meditation, and yoga exercises. She also took advantage of the quarantine to take "online" courses, art courses, painting courses, make-up courses, to improve her English, to start learning a new language, and to improve his Italian, Spanish, and French. She even took up piano lessons again. Everything that she didn't have time to do before, but dreamed of doing, she did. Never has the digital age been so important and so evident!

April 27, 2020, and the number of infected people in the world passed 3 million people, more than 200,000 deaths, and more than 15 countries affected worldwide. David was always following the updates about the pandemic on the news channels. "Among them, the United States with almost 1 million infected, Spain with over 200,000, Italy with almost 200,000, France with over 164,000, Germany with over 158,000, the United Kingdom with over 157,000," and the list stretched and changed in real-time. The numbers of infected were constantly changing and the whole world was watching, following all the news reports, was what Nina was reading, this time on Wikipedia.

Nina and David were following the situation that people were having to face every day after the pandemic had spread to the four corners of the world, while they were trying to balance their mental health. So many changes, so much tragic news, so much suffering in such a short time. They were sensible, down-to-earth, educated, studied, and well-traveled people. They had everything to get along better with this crisis than many other people who did not have the same privilege. Yet they had no guarantee that money and comfort could supply supposed emotional crises.