Shanghai Lily Tom Ford 2013

Study abroad semester. USA. The first time I visited the States and the first time I lived in such a multicultural haven as my dorm, where there were so many different nationalities that no one cared where you came from and everyone was just human. No one asked where you were from, what kind of accent that was, but rather, “what are your dreams?”, “which places on this planet have you traveled to?”, “what do you want to achieve and accomplish in life?”. An ambitious and at the same time totally human atmosphere. And that was Lily. Lily, the exchange student from Shanghai. Right on the first day, she caught my eye and sparked my interest. Her skin was so pure, smooth, like porcelain with a slight tan. Her eyes, large and dark, her long, straight, deep black hair flowed over her shoulders as if it were silk. The hosts, the students who lived there and helped us exchange students settle in during our semester, organized a first shopping trip to the nearest Walmart on the first evening. There we gathered our supplies, and I kept trying to get closer to Lily. She didn’t make it easy for me, as she was wandering around in the unmistakable women’s sections while I struggled to pretend there was something I needed. Again and again, I caught a pleasant and unique scent from her, so I quickly found her again when I walked down the neighboring aisles to gather my things.

But soon I also noticed the numerous rivals who had the same intentions as I did. One of them clearly had her attention, Alejo, a spirited Ecuadorian who stood out from the group because he carried his guitar everywhere to strum on it. On the way back, she sat next to him on the bus, and a mix of jealousy, disappointment, and despair left me simmering with a lump in my throat throughout the ride. During the trip, I tried to cheer myself up; there were still so many other pretty girls sitting with us on the bus. The Irish and British girls were dressed quite revealingly and made it clear how they wanted to spend their study abroad semester. It would have been so easy, but my head wouldn’t allow it. They were sexy and pretty, but too easy to get, and besides, they smelled like crap - compared to Lily.

The first week passed, there was a lot of partying, kisses were exchanged here and there with the easy girls, my roommate was a square, went to bed at exactly 10 PM, and wouldn’t let me bring any girls to our room. So I spent more time in the girls’ section of our dorm than with the guys. Lily was still present in my mind, and every time I saw her with Alejo, a bit of jealousy boiled up, but that feeling gradually subsided. I avoided getting too close to her because I knew it would only bring me down. But then in the second week, it became unavoidable. We were out partying again, and on the way back from the club to the dorm, I got into the same shuttle as Lily and Alejo, along with a few others from our group. Alejo sat at the front, directing the shuttle driver, and Lily took a seat next to me. Slightly tipsy, she laid her legs across my lap and leaned back against the door. The heat rose to my head, my hands rested on her legs, and I didn’t know what better to do with them than to stroke her. Alejo kept looking back, concerned, asking Lily if she was okay. Slightly annoyed, she let him know that everything was fine. At some point, she leaned forward and whispered in my ear “Schrein.” I asked her what she meant by that. “Pig” was the answer. “Aaah, you mean Schwein…”, I replied. Yes, that was the word she meant, and she nibbled on my earlobe. Goosebumps spread all over me, and I probably sounded like a complete idiot as I started to chuckle nervously. When I finally managed to stop the ridiculous chuckling and began to ignore Alejo’s disapproving look, I turned my head to Lily. The moment I wanted to ask her what she was doing, she kissed me. Explosion. In my head, in my chest, in my pants. Alejo no longer existed at that moment, and everyone else seemed not to care about what was happening. With our arrival at the dorm, my senses returned; until then, it had been a whirlwind of passion in which I was trapped, like a dream that lasted forever. Alejo flung the door open, offered Lily his hand, and escorted her out. To this day, I don’t know how much he saw; it felt to me as if he hadn’t seen the kiss at all, but realistically, that borders on impossibility.

Again, only a hint of Shanghai Lily remained in my nose. She always wore it; it was her signature scent, her identifying mark, her personal fragrance brand. The next day, I ran into her in the communal kitchen. I asked her if she remembered yesterday. Her smile, the lowered gaze, and silence revealed to me that what had happened was real and not a drunken accident. Her cheeks turned slightly red, and I knew that if I didn’t show her what that moment meant to me, I would never play a bigger role than a brief, passionate moment in her life. I stroked her cheeks with both thumbs, tilted her head up, and kissed her like I had never kissed a woman before. She tasted good, she smelled good, like an aphrodisiac that released powers; I grabbed her by the waist and lifted her onto the table. If there hadn’t been others in the room, I don’t know if I would have known any boundaries.

My semester became turbulent because of that. I wanted to spend every free minute with Lily; unfortunately, that wasn’t 100% mutual. She still spent time with Alejo. Alejo and I had become something like friends. We actually liked each other; I found his style cool and it impressed me. Likewise, he liked my easygoing and open-minded nature. We accepted that Lily was a free spirit and didn’t want to settle down. We also had flings with other girls when she left us hanging. When I look back on that time today, I miss it like nothing else. It was the best time of my life. Lily is now married and has a child. Her husband looks a lot like me… me and not Alejo. Sometimes, no, actually quite often, I think that I should have just tried and asked her if she wanted to be my girlfriend. I’m sure I would have married her one day. All that remains for me now is this scent from Tom Ford.

Now I’ve told a long story, but the information about how I actually learned about Shanghai Lily is still missing. At first, I didn’t know that Lily wore a perfume and thought it was her own body scent that simply smelled fantastic. Because she tasted good too, I attributed it to her body chemistry. At some point, I noticed the bottle in her room and asked her if it was a coincidence that...