Chocolate brown with hints of orange

The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it. Resist it, and your soul grows sick with longing for the things it has forbidden to itself. - Oscar Wilde

The slight buzz of morning chats wrapped the café in a joyous atmosphere, but Annie did not notice as she took a seat in her usual booth by the large bay window.

Her mind was still lost in the same dream that had accompanied her every night for the past two weeks, and was now spilling uncontrollably into her days.

Dreams had always been a happy place for Annie. Whether sweet or nightmarish, they were generous carriers of hidden wisdom and invaluable lessons - that's what she believed. When she'd wake up from one, she knew she was a slightly better person as a result. Plus, she just loved the journey to the discovery of their secret meaning. Every time she'd wake up from this new dream though, all she wanted was to hide.

And it wasn't because the dream was populated by scary shadows or anxious feelings. Quite the opposite. The difficulty was that she enjoyed it too much. This sinful heaven created by her imagination would transform into a purgatorial nightmare by day as she questioned herself. Guilt and doubt spreading as indelible stains on her good-hearted soul.

The reason for her troubles had appeared before her on the way back from the office on a late Thursday evening. Medium build, dark blue suit, long dark hair. They crossed paths in a busy road for just a few moments, eyes interlocked, before he vanished behind her into the thick crowd. Typically there would be nothing special about such a chance encounter. It was not unusual for her to look at people's eyes, the door to their soul. The more intensely she'd find herself staring, the more she knew there was something valuable, or at least interesting, behind them. What was lying in his eyes shook her all the way to her core. She had never felt such an overpowering attraction for anyone or anything in her life.

That doomed evening, as she laid in bed next to her high school sweetheart, he visited her in her dream for the first time and every night since. In her imagination, the mystery man laid in bed in place of her partner as they gazed at each other, just a few centimetres between them. They wouldn't touch nor speak, it wasn't needed. That same shivering desire was there to overwhelm her, making her feel alive in new consuming ways. Moment, hours and eternity - time lived in all of its forms in that bliss. But the second that she'd wake up, that timeless feeling would inevitably disappear. Leaving her, much to her shame, torn in a torturous cycle of craving and denial.

Until then, everyone thought Annie was a golden girl, and so did she. She had lived light in a black and white world. The truth is, life had not yet come to call for her. Nothing real is that perfect, and none should be. Attraction and temptation are not a sin. Yet they speak some truth about our deepest nature. And Annie was starting to realise it.

As she finally took a sip of her warm coffee, she thought with nostalgia of the better version of herself. What would she have done in this situation? She would not be running away from it, to start with. She had been wasting time looking the other way, and time carries hurt when a truth is withheld. She needed to face openly why she felt this attraction, and understand quickly what that meant for her relationship. All in all, she just needed to be honest - how hard could it be? I can do it, she thought with tangible confidence.

"Hi", someone said uncoincidentally at that same moment and then continued melodiously, "Can I sit with you?"

As she looked up ready to deny such an unusual request, the words died on her lips. The mystery man of her dreams was standing in front of her. To her surprise, he was even more attractive that she remembered as she noticed how devilishly charming the smile appeared on his lips. She was so dumbfounded by the view that she did not stop in wonder of how accurately she recollected his every feature in her dream.

"Can I seat with you?" he repeated the question slowly after a few seconds, words like honey. He couldn't hide a note of amusement for her reaction. Despite having seen it uncountable times, there was always something special about the first encounter. About how easily they fall.

Annie knew from the alarmed tension in her body that she should have just replied with a no. Yet, it did not take long for curiosity to win over caution. So she simply said, "Yes".

The old devil gracefully sat down on the opposite banquette, knees lightly brushing on hers. Throughout he did not take his eyes off of hers for a moment. Not only because he had to, but also because he wanted to. She was going to be his, and he knew exactly what to do. And so he kept casting the spell that had illicitly begun in her dream.

Captivated, Annie was painfully aware of his every motion as his nimble fingers lightly pushed a white round plate across the table towards her. On the plate laid a slice of chocolate cake and a small fork.

"I have been thinking about you ever since we locked eyes in Abbey Street some days ago." He admitted, smiling even more seductively. "It must be destiny to meet here, wouldn't you agree?"

Annie lowered her gaze as she felt her cheeks begin to blush. New confused emotions took over at the knowledge that he had been thinking about her too. At the implications of it. She tried to gather some composure in her thoughts to form a reply and purposefully kept her eyes on the cake, certain that she'd easily surrender to his magnetic gaze otherwise. Yet the shades of colour on the icing attracted more and more of her attention away. She let out a small gasp as she realised what was about it. The cake was chocolate brown with hints of orange, the exact colour of his eyes.

Right on prompt, he took the fork in his hand and cut a piece of the cake. He then pointed the bite in her direction, as if ready to feed her. "Why don't you try it?", he softly encouraged as he tasted victory, "It's delicious."

That last word suggestively lingered in her head. Delicious. As she imagined taking the bite, she started feeling an unusual craving. What made it unusual was a certain uneasiness behind the familiar sweetness. She knew she was on the edge of an abyss. Behind, the life and self she knew and thought to be good. Below, a glowing warmth which could lead to either salvation or damnation.

Sometimes it takes courage to give in to temptation. Even though it was maybe just a flip of the coin between the two, the promise of salvation was enough for Annie. And so she jumped.

She opened her mouth, and let the warm taste of chocolate fill her senses.

The old devil grinned. It had taken more paperwork, time and bribing that he had hoped for to get the request for Annie's soul accepted quickly, the purest soul he had ever seen in his hundreds of years roaming the earth. You're mine now, Annie, he thought eagerly as he foretasted the immense power that he would gain with her soul.

Little did he know that faith had dealt him a different card this time. He was not going to be her damnation. She was his temptation on the way to salvation.