Would you leave everything behind for love? It’s a question that has wound its way through the ages, from tales of nobility leaving behind their wealth and titles to marry common folk, to stories of countless young people travelling many miles away from their homes and families to be with the person of their dreams.
For Anna and Karl, the road to this decision was—as it usually is—a rocky one. After a string of bad relationships, Anna bumped into Karl in a bar, and immediately there was chemistry between them. Though Anna stayed cautious at first, Karl’s chivalrous ways and his obvious devotion won her over, and soon she had left her prior relationship and was caught up in a whirlwind romance, feeling safe with someone for the first time.
But soon, it became clear that Karl would need to make his own sacrifices; after three years, he finally gave up the party-heavy life of the typical British lad, following Anna’s wishes… And then he went a step further, proposing marriage even though the couple had agreed they didn’t wish to marry.
Anna accepted, deciding to marry in Cyprus, but there would be a few more bumps on the road yet; she was desperately homesick for her native Russia, for her own language, her own way of life, her friends and family—a world that Karl, being English, could not fully understand.
Anna nearly decided the chasm was too wide to bridge, but as she turned to leave behind her life with Karl, found in her heart that she could not simply abandon all they had, even if it was a world away from what she knew. Taking a deep breath, she knew that the time had come to decide once and for all: Would she return to the familiar, or take a chance on love?
Thinking of the way she and Karl simply understood one another—though they were both eccentric people, and in different ways—and the childlike delight in life that they both felt as if with the same heartbeat, she knew that there was something between them she would not find again. They were two sensitive souls, yet somehow retained an untarnished outlook on the world, seeing the perfect beauty and the boundless opportunity that this life has to offer those who still dare to dream.
In the end, Anna realised that her dream was Karl: Them sharing their life together with their families, reading books together on rainy days, sharing food, wine, and adventures, and dancing together in the glowing radiance of the sunset.
There was only one final destination possible: Kolossi Castle, here in Cyprus where they had once agreed to wed. It’s safe to say that as they twirled together under the brilliance of the summer sun and embraced within the cool confines of the castle’s aged stone walls, they both found a risk worth taking.
