[ WP ] `` We have got to stop meeting like this ''

`` We have got to stop meeting like this!'' Anna exclaimed as she slammed the apartment door behind her. `` They will kill us both Ethan.'' 
 
 `` I know. But I wanted to see you,'' replied Ethan as he stood up from his chair to embrace her. `` I have a plan.'' 
 
 `` What? A plan?'' Anna whispered. Standing on the tips of her toes, she squeezed her arms around his chest, letting her body weight sink onto him. 
 
 They stood there for a few moments longer. The only sounds were that of the ceiling fan and the sound of Russian soldiers patrolling the streets below. It was the heart of the Cold War. 
 
 It was on Ethan's second post in East Berlin where he had met Anna at a small cafe. Their meeting was the typical hollywood meet cute; Anna bumping into Ethan as he finished paying his bill, spilling the remaining coffee in his cup. Unbeknownst to them, each represented the other side of the war. Their love however would pull them both across enemy lines and have them truly wonder exactly who the true enemy was. 
 
 `` There is a train that leaves tomorrow at 10am,'' whispered Ethan. `` Meet me at the station.'' 
 
 He grabbed Anna by the shoulders and slowly backed her away from him. Ethan wanted to see the look in her eyes. He could see his greatest fear in her eyes. He could see her internal struggle with his plan. 
 
 Anna's eyes darted back and forth onto Ethan's. She was searching for the right answer but was coming up short. She could see the life in him begin to falter from her silence. 
 
 Numb from all of the pain and heartache that they had carried these last few months, she finally broke down, `` OK.'' Ethan smiled and hugged her once more. 
 
 Tears began to slide down her cheek and soak into the shoulder of his coat. They were n't tears of happiness but tears of sadness for she knew, deep down, that she could not go away with him. She believed that all of this was bigger than them. She was willing to sacrifice love for country. 
 
 The next day, Ethan waited at the train terminal. The late morning sun was beaming through the glass ceiling of the great station. Hundreds of people and soldiers weaved through the crowd around him. His eyes were set upon the entrance to the terminal waiting to see her smile come around into view. 
 
 The station agent blew his whistle to alert passengers for the final boarding call. Ethan waited as long as he could, never removing his gaze from the terminal entrance. Anna's smile never came around the corner. She never came running down the terminal steps. And she never leaped into Ethan's arms to accept a new life together. 
 
 Ethan boarded the train and found an empty seat. As the train left the station, he kept his eyes on the terminal entrance till it was no longer in sight. 
 

