It wasn't love at first sight. It wasn't even like. It was... a pause.
The kind of pause that lives in the space between heartbeats when you hear your name spoken in a voice you've never heard before.
The kind of pause where time forgets to move, and for a second, you're no longer just a girl in a room- you're the girl in his orbit.
He walked in like a misplaced paragraph, didn't belong, but somehow made the story better. Everyone else kept talking, but I forgot how to hear.
There was no grand gesture, no meet cute. Just a look that lingered too long, a smile Le that felt like a dare, and my soul whispering, again?
I hated how it was so easy to fall into new people. But he was wearing mystery like it was tailored.
And the worst part?
I hadn't even learned his name yet...
I told myself that it was just curiosity.
That I only looked because he was new. That my stomach didn't flip it just forgot itself for a second.
But the truth was messier than that.
Because even though i didn't know his name, I have already started writing stories about him in my head.
Who he was.
What he'd say.
How his voice will sound if it was only meant for me.
I didn't mean to stare. But he looked like a song I used to know by heart and had just remembered the lyrics to.
He glanced my way.
Just once.
And that was enough to ruin my whole week.
The next few days were a blur trying not to care, while secretly timing my walks to cross his path.
Every moment near him felt like a secret.
And every second he didn't look back made me feel stupid.
But then... he did.
It was at a vending machine of all places.
I reached for the same drink he did.
Our fingers brushed.
The cliché of it almost made me laugh until I looked up and he was already smiling.
"Sorry", he said, his voice low and careless, didn't mean to steal your favorite.
I blinked. "You didn't. I don't even like this one."
But that was a lie, it was my favorite. But I wasn't about to let him know he was holding a piece of my soft side so I grabbed another drink.
He handed me the original drink anyway. "Then keep It. Just in case you change your mind."
I took it.
And just like that a new chapter had started even though I wasn't ready for it yet.