Maria lay languidly on the chez-lounge on the balcony of the villa as she gazed out onto the splendid mountains with their flat peaks. While admiring the scenery that lay before her, she pondered on how, all of a sudden, her life had taken a turn for the better. After getting divorced from her alcoholic husband and after the scandals and squabbles that she found so hard to bear, she had decided to invest in a private holiday to get away from it all. This was how she ended up here, at the Earth's edge: South Africa…

Hiring an apartment in one of the villas on the coast had been remarkably straightforward and actually quite fun.

As Maria inhaled the dewy scent of the ocean, she immediately began to dream about the landlord of the villa. His outer appearance was nothing to write home about, but what a character he had! Maria was not used to this type of attitude. He approached her as delicately as though he was holding a fragile vase from the time of the ancient Chinese emperors and had a gleeful look in his eyes that showed no hint of lust or judgement. No doubt this was how he looked on all foreign visitors and also at the stars… he was called Ashvin, a very pleasant sounding name.

“Madam, wake up!” - a hand gently touched her shoulder - “it's time for dinner madam…”
Ashvin's dark eyes seemed to be filled with gold that gently glistened in the light and Maria's heart quickened and felt as though it were on fire.

Oh, what a holiday this was!

The town had begun to blossom as though it were a flower. The noisy hustle and bustle of the centre of the city did not really appeal to the modest, domesticated Maria but the natural beauty of Africa and of Cape Town won her over at a first glance.

She had always loved the ocean with its surfers in bright, multi-colours, its yachts and screeching seagulls. She loved to go for a run in the mornings when it seemed as though the whole town was brimming with a wonderful zest for life. The delightful, widely ramified palm trees and the seals that quietly rested on the shore, the magical oceanarium, the ancient mosques, the exotic eastern bazaars; Maria loved all of it. And, of course, Ashvin.

Before Maria was planning to leave, he said to her..

“I am a well-known person here, Maria. The rent brings in a good income and I can afford many things in life..... But I don't have the most important - I don't have family, I am not married. I know now that this is because I had never met such a woman as you Maria. I would like to ask for your hand in marriage.”

He opened a tiny box and there, in a dark velvety box, sat a blue sapphire ring whose watery stones glistened as if they had been formed from the ocean itself…