The discussion.

Michael struggled out of bed, he had cried all night, he walked down the hallway that connected the bedroom to the kitchen and felt that inside him something had broken. His feet stumbled over his favorite coffee cup that lay shattered on the kitchen floor, this surprised him as he was barefoot, he dodged the glass until he reached the countertop. He had a rich reserve of coffee because in recent years he had dedicated himself to traveling the world in search of the most exotic and delicious coffees.

Those trips and discoveries of flavors and smells had become a way of life, for the first time in a long time Michael felt that his life had meaning. The problem was that his boyfriend Marco thought that all his coffee adventure was too expensive and that it was truncating many material achievements in their relationship. That conclusion had sparked a fierce argument the night before.

He couldn't believe that Marco, the love of hi life, was asking hi to give up coffee as one of her New Year's resolutions. Marco was the person to whom Michael had confided everything related to his passion and now he was using it against him to argue that his lifestyle was more of a meaningless obsession, this puzzled him.

Michael tried to be sensible, he understood that in the last year he had spent thousands of dollars on trips and exotic coffee products, this had generated a strong discomfort in the relationship, because although together with Marco they had proposed to raise the money to buy a house, he had spent it all unscrupulously. But deep down she felt that nothing justified her boyfriend's request, asking him to give up coffee made no sense. Maybe they could set up a savings plan together or he himself could work twice as hard to cover both, but giving up coffee was something he wasn't going to do. There was the other problem, Marco argued that even if Michael worked two jobs, he would spend both of their incomes on his obsession, as it had gotten out of control.

Marco and Michael had been together for 12 years, since they had started dating they tried to avoid strong arguments, they loved and respected each other in an exemplary way, but sometimes things would get out of control. When this happened their worst demons were unleashed and sometimes they made each other hurt, but they always managed to fix things in the end, because love always prevailed. For all this Michael was very hurt, he really loved Marco, he did not want to hurt him but he felt he could not give up his dreams either, that ambivalence had not let him sleep.

The coffee was, Michael was desperate, he wanted to drink it from the carafe but his tongue burned in the boiling liquid, he cursed a little. He remembered that Marco had thrown away his favorite mug and now there was only a pile of pieces scattered on the floor, again he felt annoyed. He looked for another mug, a vulgar mug that his mother had given him; nothing justified Marco breaking his favorite mug, he had brought it from Africa on one of his trips, now he would not be able to get it back, for those are things that are only found once.

All this mortified Michael as he sipped the coffee from the regular cup he had been served in. At that moment something froze him inside, he realized that his passion for coffee surpassed his love for Marco, he felt miserable. Was that possible? A love of more than a decade overshadowed by a millenary beverage, yes, it was possible. Hi passion had historical and cultural foundations, it was not a vulgar obsession like someone addicted to a video game or something else trivial. But his love for Marco also had its essence, two men loving each other in a system that does not accept homosexuality, facing prejudices, swimming together against the current, that was so much and so valuable. Now he would have to choose between his two great loves.

He felt like he was in a romantic melodrama of the last century, he did not know at what point he drank the whole pot of coffee. He thought for a long time and realized that he had already decided, he looked for paper and pencil to write a brief note where he exposed:

Dear Marco.

I promised you last night, after our heartbreaking fight, that today I would find the solution to our problem. I leave you here my resolution, I never thought I would have to choose between coffee and you, but you have dragged me into an abyss, so I choose coffee. Both have provided me with well being and unique experiences, but coffee is not making me choose, you are the one doing it. I'm sorry this is beyond us, I wish you the best.

Michael couldn't hold back the tears as he walked through the door, he felt a beautiful part of himself being left behind. He didn't take his clothes or personal belongings with him, in his suitcase he only had everything related to coffee, the great love of his life.