There

May I?

The fondest memory I have from the last year, was when I first met her. A very cliche line, yet still true to it's most honest sense.

We met at the company pantry one cold May evening.

It was about seven pm, I was getting very hungry, and my team at work started to pester me to treat them to a liter of soda. We were all soda addicts then. I made some excuse that I didn't have any cash on me and I remembered that I had brought some dinner with me to work. So I busied myself with that and started to drone out their pestering voices.

I, about to heat my dinner using the company microwave started to leave my desk. My blue lunch box in hand, I walked to the pantry and as I entered I saw an unfamiliar employee. She had medium length hair which was half dyed a lighter color (probably blond or light brown), quite petite and looked hard to approach as he had a somewhat high air around her. Though I had seen her before I knew that a lot of my co workers had a crush on her. Yes she is pretty, but I was not thinking of pursuing any relationship at the time so me talking to her never even crossed my mind. I then noticed that she had with her a mason jar which held her coffee, which she probably just prepared.

"Ma'am, let's eat." I offered, it may seem strange to others but I do think it's in our culture to do that regularly.

She just smiled and nodded. I, using all the courage inside my body to say that, retreated to the side of the microwave. I placed my lunch box in and set the timer to one minute, heat on high, and I waited.

Suddenly I heard her say something. "May I borrow a spoon?" She looked quite surprised with herself as she quickly looked away from me.

"Ah, yeah." I answered. "I'll just get it from my bag at my station."

"Sure, is that okay?" She replied, and this was really the first time I had seen her smile.

"Yep." I said as I started going back out of the pantry, "This'll be quick."

I ran quickly back to my station and I grabbed my spoon from my bag. My team eyeing me suspiciously, I gave them a sheepish smile. Sprinting back to the pantry I handed my spoon to her and she started stirring her coffee. I in the meantime took out my lunch box from the microwave. After she had done so, she ran the spoon under hot water from the dispenser.

"Sorry, I didn't wash it anymore." She said half smiling.

"Oh, that's okay, I'm used to other people using my utensils anyway." I replied smiling back as I left the pantry once more. I took a quick glance as I closed the wooden door, and saw a quizzical look on her face. I dismissed this as probable shock to me leaving quickly and I went back to my station in a rush.

I felt a kind of giddiness a child would have when making a new friend and probably was quite surprised with myself that I was able to function like a proper human being for once, even if it was only for a few minutes that evening.

And the image that I had of her, that she was probably a very cold person and hard to talk to was broken in that instant. In fact she was kind and very pleasant to talk to.

Sitting back in front of my desk I prayed for a chance to meet again, for the opportunity to make a new acquaintance, and I opened my lunch box with the sight of scrambled eggs and ham welcoming my hunger.