Love Train

Encounter Three

✩ Encounter 3 ✩

He was starting to become a part of her routine, a routine which she never thought she would be enjoying. A routine is supposed to be boring, a routine isn't supposed make you feel excited. But him being part of her routine, made her routine thrilling, made her look forward to seeing him.

It was a good day today, she decided. The weather was cooler than normal, her make-up was on point today, her work for college was almost done.

It was a good day, she decided.

The metro arrived as soon as she reached the station, she didn't have to wait, she didn't need to run. The train arrived when she arrived and this marked another sign that today was a good day.

She got in the train and the first thing she saw was him, there he was, with his head in his phone and earphones on. And like the first time, there were two seats empty next to him. She wanted to sit next to him, but she felt a little too weird about doing so. And so just like the first time, she took the seat at the corner, leaving a seat empty between them.

He looked up at her, as soon as she sat down. Disturbing whatever he was watching or doing on his phone. Recognition flashed in his eyes, a smile formed on his lips, it felt like his subconscious mind decided to smile for him, his body having no control over what he did.

Third times the charm, they say.

But the smile wasn't returned by her, she couldn't, even though her heart wanted to, her mind decided it wasn't needed. So she just gave him a polite nod and looked at her phone. Though her heart was beating so fast at that smile, she thought it would explode.

In her peripheral vision, she saw him look back at his phone again but the smile was gone now, and she wanted to see the smile again. His smile was imprinted in her head, never to be forgotten. She noticed that he was wearing keds again and that for some reason, brought a smile on her own face. The guy in keds was starting to become her guy in keds. She had started listening to songs from her playlist, but her mind was elsewhere. She was imagining talking to him, how it would be, what his voice would sound like, what they would talk about. Her heart was fluttering at the thought of it, itself.

What would her heart do if they did have a talk?

She had no idea, but she did want to have a talk. At-least, she hoped.

The metro arrived at the main stop, bringing in a lot of people inside. Before someone could come and take the seat besides her. The guy in keds shifted, just like the first time, to come and sit next to her.

This time she couldn't help but have a smile on her face which she was trying very hard to control. Her eyes shifted from her phone to his, he had his phone in both his hands and seemingly he was watching some movie.

She felt his body shift, they were sitting that close to each other. He sat up straighter, maybe realising that she was looking at his phone. If her cheeks could blush, she probably would look like ripe tomato right now and she had never been this happy about knowing that she couldn't blush.

She looked at the floor and then her eyes again shifted to his phone, she realized he was watching Kung Fu Panda 3, she had recently seen this movie and had loved it. And to see, a guy she liked was watching the movie she loved, felt like too much of a coincidence.

It felt like fate.

Even a tiny little sign, started to matter. It felt like the universe was aligning them together. In the same train, at the same time, in the same compartment, with him watching one of her favourite movies.

The probability of this happening is zero to none but it did happen.

Universe did align them together.

Fate did bring them together.

After looking at his screen, she looked at him and saw a small smile on his face. She smiled too, deciding, today wasn't just a good day.

It was the best day, she had in a while and she couldn't wait for more such days coming in her life.

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Unedited.

Thank you for reading, and if you like it please give it a vote. It is the only form of encouragement I can get and would really appreciate it.

I am writing this as an ode to my friend when something very similar happened to her in real life. We never expect such stuff to happen, we go on our mundane lives wanting something to happen but it never really does.

We might not even know that we need it, but when it happens, it's the best thing that has happened.

If you've had a chance encounter, if your soul has somehow aligned with someone else's, if you've had a moment of serendipity.

I urge you to not let it go, it doesn't happen all the time and it surely doesn't happen to everyone.

Treat it as the most precious thing in your life, cause these encounters are mainly made for coming and leaving, like waves, if you must. But please, hold on to these moments in your life 'cause these are the moments which bring love and meaning into our lives.

Hold on to the moments and take care.

Until we see each other again.

- Dhruti