Daydreams in the Sky

Hearts Can See

Statistics was a required course for both of them.

Ehsan excelled at it with a passion. Mehr hated it with a vengeance.

He was the nerd always found in the library. She was the fashionista who didn't know how to find the library.

"You need extra help otherwise you're failing this course," their professor told Mehr one day. She had already dismissed his warning when a young man she had never seen before approached her outside their classroom.

"I can help you with statistics," Ehsan told her.

"In exchange for what?" Mehr immediately questioned, ready to bolt. She'd rather fail than waste her time with a stranger.

Though to Ehsan she was no stranger.

He took a deep breath, gave her a shy look. "There's a girl. I see her, but she never sees me."

Mehr's ears perked. "And you want her to notice you?"

"Yes. Please."

"I can play cupid," she said with a laugh.

"I can play tutor," he replied with a smile.

******

"Who is she?" Mehr asked the next day.

Ehsan paused, but only for a moment. "You'll make fun of me, so I'd rather not say," he told her.

She smirked. "A nameless challenge. I like it."

Standing outside the library, she took a good look at him. Out-of-fashion glasses, oversized sweater, awkwardly fitting pants, mismatched socks, a bag slung over his shoulder. The man was the text-book definition of a 'nerd'.

"This is not going to be easy," she concluded.

"Neither is stats," Ehsan reminded.

For the next few weeks they met often, sometimes in the library, sometimes at the mall. They argued, they talked, and sometimes even laughed.

He taught her everything he knew from Statistical Theory to Applied Statistics.

She taught him everything she knew from color coordination to the art of conversation.

"You're pretty smart," he would tell her whenever he got a chance.

"You're kinda cute," she would tell him whenever she got a chance.

He would smile when she raised her hand in class, feeling so proud of her. The woman he taught was amazing in more ways than he could ever have imagined.

She would smile when girls gave him more than a glance, feeling so proud of herself. The man she dressed had turned out to be better looking than she could ever have imagined.

To everyone who knew them, they both had changed. She had become a bit nerdy. He had become a bit fashionable.

Yet, nothing had changed at all.

He saw her.

She still didn't see him.

******

"Your mystery girl must love your new look," Mehr told Ehsan one day.

"Doesn't matter. Love can't just be surface deep," he replied, his heart heavy.

Mehr shrugged. What would she know about love?

"Won't hurt to tell her how you feel," she said and grabbed her bag to leave.