Snowboarding downhill on curved smooth surface it fell on your lap. Withered by the wind, loved by gravity, now a temporary splotch on an expensive fabric. Hurriedly it raced escaping a waving obstacle, exasperating its life to the wind. I knew something was fishy because the fish stared out the window for minutes at a time. Lost in an imaginary sea, carrying a puddle of her own. I looked up subtly to glance and verify what was caught by my peripheral vision. I looked out the window first so you don’t get startled. Then slowly turned towards you, first the eyes, then the neck.
Worst seconds in life are the ones when you are interrupted whilst waltzing across an emotion. I had no intentions to do so, given we met ten mins ago. Well, met is an over expression, we smiled at one another. Out of those ten minutes, five were equivalent to the wait time of the train we were on and the rest were consumed in reading this hilariously uneventful book in my hand. Whose title you tried to read the moment I pulled it out of my backpack. An opportunity for you to make eye contact. To find comfort in my presence. Although all of which is insignificant. Your emotional tape was spinning so lively that nothing could have filtered through.
Almost a minute later—
A slight squeak, and that was it. The camouflage is uplifted. Your emotional barriers have been broken, Five year olds are better capable of keeping secrets than your face (in that moment). That squeak could have invoked a blind man to question your emotional state. This time I looked right in your eyes. Dark, chocolate brown and perfectly equipped to mesmerise a crowd if they weren’t teary. Slightly puffy, probably from the bubbling emotions within, a radiant face, one of nature’s rare immaculate art. Never have I observed any stranger’s face with such diligence as I did on that day.
When I looked up to comfort you with my words, I wanted to walk up to you, pause for a good second, maybe take the seat next to you, and wait for you to break the ice. Instead some unearthly force barred my access. All i did was a pregnant comforting stare, right in your eyes and then went back to reading the aforementioned book.
You searched my eyes for droplets of comfort. A desperate struggle to mend your heart. Not indefinitely, but momentarily. I’m sceptical of what caused you that suffering but as much as I wanted to reduce it, it was unfeasible.
Reducing distance with the destination faded melancholy memory marks, and parted our ways, hopefully never but practically forever.
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