We all reject out of hand the idea that the love of our life may be something light or weightless; we presume our love is what must be, that without it our life would no longer be the same; we must feel that Beethoven himself, gloomy and awe-inspiring is playing the “Es muss sein!” to our own great love. Tomas often thought of Tereza’s remark about his friend Z and came to the conclusion that the love story of his life exemplified not “Es muss sein!” (It must be so), but rather “Es konnte auch anders sein” (It could just as well be otherwise).