The initial splash of the bells was gentle and subdued, such whispers of disquiet only observed as a mild irritant intended to deter. Despite my efforts in oversight, they came to chime in a fashion I could no longer diffuse. Loud and laden with a warning, the bells continued to boom; having gradually built in deafening significance and alarming without pause, thundering reverberations left clanging between my ears.

With the crash of the bells, adrenaline was coursing through my vessels and had begun to take hold. Every nerve electrified, my entire body was at odds – urging me to recoil; priming me to lunge in any numerous directions; and yet, rooting me to the spot, stiff and immobile. I was feeling exposed, vulnerable, and defenceless. We both were. The anticipation between us, palpable. Confounded by the discharge of my sympathetic nervous system, and abandoned by functional faculties, I sunk deeper into momentary paralysis.

There I stood, disoriented by the immutable rush of our instantly fierce connection. I had been irrevocably marked with an enormity of emotion and a fluency of passion, such that I could never have prepared myself for. The rational beast of mind perplexed me with its sudden inclination to offer any sense of judgement. Struck by a unique blend of feelings wavering between immeasurable frailty and stark exhilaration, I had long since succumbed to the irresistible cocktail of chemicals that exerted its forces upon me. I was utterly spellbound, and, battling the imperceptible shift in my subconscious was an impossibility. My body was pleading for an eternity of your touch and my heart screaming for a love everlasting. Even if I had wanted to resist, I was long without the freedom to protest. Every barricade I had installed had been crushed with a single blow like they never existed, to begin with. Every cynicism had dwindled from within. You had helplessly charmed, and I had been powerless to it. Now was far too late for the intellect to initiate curious suggestions of sensibility.

The persistent toll of the bells began to quiet, perhaps realising they had long been ignored by instinct and intuition, which had far earlier betrayed any guise of innocent intention. I knew we were feeling similarly – a curious compound of fear and excitement, worry and contentedness – when I heard it catch in your throat. An expression so simple, and yet so deep and complex, no other words can ever ascribe meaning to them. You could have swallowed every letter in your apprehension, but, as the phrase tumbled from your mouth, dripping with sweet silken tones, I knew it was a harmony that would come to echo louder than any other tune.

Every melody you had played had scored my life with a brilliance beyond compare. You had unmistakably ensnared every sense, enraptured every thought, and enchanted every dream. Showing me, with striking inevitability, that you didn’t just hold a key, you were the key, and it's exactly where you wanted to be. I was certain I held an impervious lock on an impenetrable cage, but the way you broke in, was effortless. You pierced its blackened and tarnished edges, and then, you soothed its every jagged fragment when you held my heart so tenderly in your hands.

As the distant echoes of the bells’ tail rang delicately, now an almost tranquil knell, we were once again left unperturbed. Any semblance of fear would always be outweighed of what we could share. A leap of faith would defy the bells; and would quell the doubts of pride, experience, and reason.

And, so came my subtle acquiescence.

You are so loved.