Mrs Martin and Mr Blohm - Episode 19: In the same surroundings, everyone sees a different world

Regina had only known Mr. Blohm loosely for three months, and after a sleepless, hungover day, the last thing she wanted was dinner at his place. But when all her contacts suddenly vanished from her phone, she couldn’t cancel — and she thought a quick plate of pasta just three floors up wouldn’t hurt.

Yet when she arrived, nothing was simple.

Mr. Blohm had prepared a four-course candlelit dinner with white roses — despite not replying to her last message for more than three weeks.

After Regina and Mr. Blohm finished the truly delicious tomato bruschetta, she could hardly wait to ask her first question. She wanted to finally understand who this unpredictable man sitting across from her really was.

A Truth That Changes Everything

From Regina’s very first visit to Mr. Blohm’s condo — the night he lost his car key, you remember, the famous white-bathrobe story — he had mentioned that he was divorced.
But tonight, she wanted to know why.

So she asked directly, after finishing the first course of the delicious tomato bruschetta:

“Mr. Blohm, why are you divorced?”

The question seemed to hit Mr. Blohm straight in the face — at least that’s what Regina interpreted from his expression.
He looked her directly in the eyes and, without hesitation, answered:

Mr. Blohm
“That's easy to explain.She cheated on me. And not just once.”

Regina was shocked by his answer — this was not what she had expected at all.
She thought to herself: Wow… this Mr. Blohm is truly full of surprises — even if this one is a sad one.

How could anyone cheat on a man like him?
Even if Mr. Blohm wasn’t her type, he was still an attractive man — tall, with good facial features, athletic, always polite, with beautiful handwriting. A man who records personalized CDs, who had — in Regina’s opinion — excellent taste in music, who lived in such a beautifully decorated apartment, and who prepared a dinner with so much care, taste, and attention to detail.

She simply couldn’t understand it.
In Regina’s circle of friends, it was usually the men who cheated — not the women. In fact, as she thought about it more deeply, she realized she had never met a single man in her life who had ever been cheated on.

With genuine compassion in her voice — for the first time that evening very soft and almost whispering — Regina said:

“I’m very sorry to hear that, Mr. Blohm.”

Mr. Blohm looked at her and replied:

“Yes, it was really tough. And it got even worse…
My wife was expecting a child — conceived during our marriage — and she immediately admitted that the baby wasn’t mine, but her lover’s. I don’t want to go into too many details here, Mrs. Martin,” Mr. Blohm continued, “but when the baby was born, it was unmistakably clear that it couldn’t be my child. My ex-wife is blonde and very fair, just like me — and the baby very clearly had a different heritage. Everyone could see it.
And because the child was conceived during the marriage, I would have been the legal father by default. That’s how German law works.”

Regina was truly speechless now — and that didn’t happen often.

She said nothing.

Meanwhile, Mr. Blohm stood up silently, cleared the plates, and walked into the kitchen without another word.

Regina suddenly felt she needed a cigarette — urgently. And since there were beautifully arranged ashtrays all over the apartment, she simply called into the kitchen:

“Mr. Blohm, excuse me — I would love to smoke a cigarette. I see so many ashtrays here… would that be alright?”

Mr. Blohm returned from the kitchen and said:

“Of course, Mrs. Martin. I enjoy a cigar every now and then, and I collect ashtrays because I find them beautiful. Please, go ahead. In the meantime, I’ll prepare the salad.”

Regina reached into her handbag, took out a pack of Marlboro Lights, and lit her first cigarette of the evening.
She exhaled the smoke slowly into the air — trying to process everything she had just heard.

She was also a little surprised at herself.
Normally, she would never ask to smoke if she even suspected that a man she might be interested in was a non-smoker.
Paul, for example, had once been a smoker but had switched to small cigars.

But Regina’s favorite book, “Happy Rules of Love,” said that one should always be honest from the very beginning when meeting a potential partner.
So tonight felt like the perfect opportunity to finally apply what she had read — to simply be herself from the start. She didn’t want to present only her “chocolate side”; she wanted to show, and openly admit, that she was, unfortunately, a smoker.

Regina thought to herself: Of course, this is always easier when you’re not in love with someone — and she certainly wasn’t in love with Mr. Blohm. Interested, yes. But nothing more.

And it seemed that Mr. Blohm had been just as honest with her — especially about the real reason he was divorced. She truly admired that. After all, how many men would openly admit that they had been cheated on, considering their ego?

A Salad Full of Surprises

Mr. Blohm returned from the kitchen carrying two beautifully prepared salad plates — arugula topped with fresh raspberries, raspberry dressing, and caramelized, crushed walnuts. He placed Mrs. Martin’s plate gently in front of her.

Mrs. Martin looked at the salad, smiled, and said with a soft laugh:
“Wow, how beautifully you’ve decorated this, Mr. Blohm.”

She took another drag of her cigarette.
Mr. Blohm smiled back — clearly pleased by the compliment.

As soon as he sat down, Mrs. Martin felt an urgent need to ask:

“Mr. Blohm, have you ever thought about getting married again?”

Mr. Blohm looked genuinely surprised.

“Oh, Mrs. Martin,” he replied, “my divorce cost me an enormous amount of nerves, as you can imagine. I’m simply relieved that I finally closed that chapter — and that, legally, I am no longer considered the father of my ex-wife’s child. You know, the baby still carries my last name because it was conceived during our marriage.
After several thousand euros for DNA testing and paperwork to prove I wasn’t the father — and of course the costs of the divorce — and now that everything has only been finalized a few months ago…I can honestly tell you, Mrs. Martin: I have not given that question any thought at all yet.”

Mrs. Martin extinguished her cigarette, and Mr. Blohm wished her a good appetite. Then he added:

“You know, Mrs. Martin, I am 45 years old. One should never say never, but at the moment I am simply very happy to be free as a bird.”

Life Goals on the Table

Mrs. Martin listened carefully and thought to herself that, of course, one couldn’t expect a recently divorced man to already be thinking about marriage again. That made perfect sense even to her.

So, while enjoying the delicious arugula salad — which tasted just as exquisite as the tomato bruschetta before — she thought privately: This Mr. Blohm really knows what he’s doing when it comes to cooking… maybe he has even more talents.

“What are your life goals, Mr. Blohm?”

Mr. Blohm looked at her again, visibly surprised, and repeated the question:

“My life goals?”

Then he asked:

“What do you mean by life goals?”

Regina thought: Interesting… it seems Mr. Blohm doesn’t have any life goals at all — which is not a good sign. A man without life goals is not for me.
She asked herself: What is there not to understand about the words ‘life goals’?
Well then, let me help him a little, she said to herself.

So she clarified:

“What I mean by life goals, Mr. Blohm, is this: do you want to live in Hamburg forever? And what are your professional goals?”

Mr. Blohm looked surprised once again and took a big sip from his white wine glass — the one filled with the best Prosecco in the world.
Mrs. Martin also took another sip, curious to hear his answer. There was a long pause.

Finally, Mr. Blohm said:

“I love Hamburg — it’s my hometown. I’ve lived in London, in Paris, and even in South Africa. I’ve traveled a lot, and honestly, Hamburg is my absolute favorite city. I truly love this place.

I work as a CEO for a Swedish uniform manufacturer, so I often travel to Stockholm, and I love the Scandinavian countries. My job also takes me all across Europe because we produce uniforms throughout the continent. Last year, for example, we outfitted a major security company in Switzerland, and I was constantly traveling to Zurich — it was a beautiful project.

Hamburg is the perfect base for all of that.
I feel absolutely at home here — completely comfortable.”

Mrs. Martin lit another cigarette, and Mr. Blohm leaned over to give her a light.

Exactly what she didn’t want to hear was still echoing in her mind:
Hamburg is Mr. Blohm’s favorite city… and he feels completely at home there.

Well then — her beloved Miami could be forgotten right away if she ever became a couple with Mr. Blohm. But that will not happen anyway, Regina thought.

The Red Wine Moment

Mr. Blohm stood up, cleared the completely empty plates — the arugula salad had been so excellent — and walked toward the kitchen.
As he left the room, he said:

“I’ll bring us a wonderful red wine — a 1997 Brunello di Montalcino from Podere. You will love it, Mrs. Martin. Perfect with our main course: king prawns with homemade tomato sauce and linguine. I hope you do like red wine, Mrs. Martin?”

Regina answered quickly, "Yes, of course,” but her mind was somewhere completely different.

She was disappointed. All her life goals seemed to clash with Mr. Blohm’s:

– Mr. Blohm is happy in his job. Regina isn’t — not at La Perla, and she doesn’t want to be employed at all anymore. She wants to build her own company — and there was no sign that Mr. Blohm had any desire to become an entrepreneur.
– Regina doesn’t like Hamburg. Mr. Blohm loves Hamburg.
– Marriage? Not even a topic for him — though Regina had to give him credit: after everything he had just gone through with the child and the betrayal, the divorce was far too recent to think about marriage again.

Which meant her wedding dress — the one she bought in the year 2000, still lying in its white box for five long years — would remain in the dark even longer.

Regina took another drag of her cigarette and thought:

Somehow I knew it from the very beginning.
This Mr. Blohm is not for me.
It just doesn’t fit — not my type, and now he doesn’t even share my life goals.
This is a waste of time, Regina thought.

The book “The Golden Rules of Love” had been right: you should always clarify a person’s goals early on — and if they don’t match, then it simply doesn’t fit.

Even though — she had to admit — Mr. Blohm had excellent taste in music…
and he could cook amazingly well, which was very surprising. Not many men know how to cook.

Regina couldn’t wait for the main course to be served, and she exhaled a few more clouds of smoke.

From the kitchen, she heard the cork popping from the red wine bottle,
and the gentle sound of wine being poured into a decanter.

And if you can’t wait to see how things will continue from here,
you might want to pour yourself a glass of our SYLTBAR Cabernet Franc, called ; Cashmere — the perfect match for the pre-Christmas season.

Stay curious.
We’re only at the starters — the main course hasn’t even arrived yet, and we are already in Episode 19.
But something is definitely simmering in Mrs. Martin’s mind…

So in Episode 20, will there finally be a little harmony between the prawns and the tomato sauce?