First look: "We kiss, around us, it's blurry, as if there was no one there"

The sidewalks of the 6th arrondissement of Paris are drowned by a continuous rain. “A real curtain of water,” recalls Jean. The law student forces himself a little to go to this evening of spring 2012: “I am in love with a girl who is not with me. I just found out that she met someone and it depresses me. She just went to this party with friends of pals where I hardly know anyone. I have no self-confidence and I tell myself that I have to stop hurting myself. It's a little depressed ”. In the small apartment, about twenty people squeeze between the living room and the slightly sheltered terrace.

In the middle of them, Emma is a little lost. Student in Bordeaux, she does her internship in Paris and finds herself with two friends in this evening where she does not know anyone. The prospect of getting up at 7 am the next day to go to the office gives her a bad conscience. But curiosity about this party in this chic neighborhood that she does not know ends up convincing her. “I'm discovering Parisian life and I'm a little impressed,” she slips. I don't speak to many people but I see Jean sitting on the sofa. His eyes shine and stay in his corner. He looks very tall as he sits, I find him stylish in his suit jacket. He seems more mature than the other boys. With his blue eyes, I like him very much. I often meet his gaze. ". The young man spotted it for a long time:“She's the most beautiful girl of the evening. She is brunette with big black eyes, a big smile and long eyelashes. I am overwhelmed by its beauty. I look at her without speaking to her ”.

Read alsoFirst look: "Going home with a stranger after a party, that's typically what I was planning to stop"

While her friends have just offered to continue the evening in a club, Emma sits down on the sofa in turn. “I start talking to him without a second thought,” says Jean. It lasts a quarter of an hour, a very honest exchange. She tells me that she lives in Bordeaux, that she is in a relationship. I had the impression that I already knew her, everything was natural ”. "We speak very little and I feel that he wants to follow me," says Emma. The small troop find themselves on the sidewalk waiting for a taxi in the rain. "After twenty minutes, I tell myself that it's ridiculous to go to a club with someone I don't know," resumes Jean. I say goodbye to him and go home ”. Emma finds herself alone with her friends on a dance floor. "It is on the spot that I realize that he did not come and I am disappointed," she admits.I wanted to spend this evening with him. But I do not assume too much to feel that while I am happy with my boyfriend who must meet me a few days later… ”

"The next day, I regret not having taken her number," annoys Jean. I spend two hours to find her on Facebook. She accepts my invitation and I tell her it was a pleasure to meet her. She answers me then that's all. For more than two years, a few messages sent on the occasion of New Year's Day or an anniversary are their only exchanges. "But if he had forgotten, I would have been a little sad," Emma smiles. I always find his messages very nice and elegant. It's hard to find the right word to qualify this relationship. I am flattered that he writes to me, I make an effort when I answer him. There is clearly a desire to please him. But he's still the guy I met at one party, he doesn't fit into any other box. He is neither a flirt nor a friend. In addition, he left to live in the United States ”.“When she moved to Paris, she contacted me, but then I continued my studies in Washington and then in New York,” he confirms. When I tell her that I am not scheduled to come home, she tells me that she is disappointed. I am surprised at his response ”.

"For two hours, we just kiss each other"

While in Paris, Jean still offers Emma to come to a Halloween party that he is organizing.

“I'm glad he took this step.

As I thought it was with Americans, I decide to go all out, laughs the young woman.

The girlfriend I'm coming with is Tinker Bell and I am a little sexy witch… The message is pretty clear.

But when we arrive in front of the building, we see that people are in sweater and jeans.

Two meters from the door, I tell myself that I can't show up dressed like this at a guy I spoke to five minutes years ago.

Finally, I am going home ”.

A few weeks later, Jean's birthday is the occasion to erase this failed act. "When he turns around, I recognize him immediately," Emma slips. I feel that something is going on, that we like each other. I can see it in his eyes. I feel like this is the start of something. I meet his close friends, his sister. We kiss on a sofa. Around us, it's blurry as if there was no one left. For two hours, we do nothing but kiss. Right down to the sidewalk in the rain. But we don't go together. We drank a lot and I know he just lost his grandmother. I feel he wants to be alone. He's the one pushing me into a taxi ”.

“This evening is an electric shock, a second love at first sight, loose Jean. But I am destroyed by the death of my grandmother which I learned just before. This moment is very beautiful but I will be leaving in a few days. I don't want to go any further and make things more bitter. I regret it right away. The next day, I am overwhelmed by this family drama. I return to the United States and she no longer responds to my texts. A few weeks later, I understand that she has met someone… ”

“We miss each other again for New Years Eve, it gets drunk.

I do not really understand what he wants, I find that he does not make any effort, “Emma annoys.

On this New Year's Eve, she meets a boy who had attended the same high school as her.

“Jean lived thousands of kilometers away when it was easy with this boy I already knew.

And who was there especially, slips Emma.

I am very fulfilled in this relationship and it cuts our ties with Jean.

But he's still the only person I block from seeing our Instagram stories.

He neither reproaches me nor asks me for anything, however.

But deep down, I had a small part of me that thought that one day we would have a story… ”

"He finds me in my pajamas with an impossible mouth and a perf in my arm"

Three years later, Jean's definitive return to Paris does not immediately renew the thread of history. He warns Emma of his installation in the capital but they do not see each other again for months and a night message. "I leave the office where I work very late, it must be close to midnight when I ask him for news," recalls Jean. “I discovered his message when I turned my phone back on when I wanted to call SOS Médecins, I had excruciating stomach pains,” continues Emma. Immediately, he told me to go to the ER and join me. He finds me in a treatment room, in my pajamas with an impossible mouth and an IV in my arm ”.

"There is something that pushes me to go to her in this painful moment," resumes Jean. We had left three years ago, kissing all evening and I see her again in a hospital corridor. It is very touching and impressive. The complicity returns immediately. I spend the night with her. In the early morning, we have breakfast in the cafe in front of the hospital. I saw a third love at first sight ». He accompanies Emma home: "This confirmed the image I had of him, of a guy ready to do anything for someone he cares about".

A few days later, a dinner seals the real starting point of their love story.

“It's a little weird because we got to know each other without seeing each other, without being friends or lovers,” concludes Jean.

Finally in almost seven years our story has developed on a different basis ”.

For Emma, ​​this romance is only linked to "a connection that cannot be explained".

“Premier regard” is a meeting offered by Le Parisien in which couples tell the birth of their romance to our journalist Bertrand Métayer.

If you also want to share your story, write to him at

bmetayer@leparisien.fr

.