HIS FAMILIAR STRANGER

Falling for her

It's not everyday that I go around meeting people just for the sake of it. New people to be precise. I keep away from social settings as much as the basic social norms permit. And also make acquaintances with them to the extent of making conscious effort to be as informally involved as possible. today is just one of those days that come uncalled for. You don't expect anything of life on such days. You know life to be as stationary as it ever has been. You knew it would be just as it had been for months or years together. And then there's a change. A change that makes you feel revitalized. Life was dormant all this while so to speak. You were just going where it took you without anything to ask for or an answer to give. Like a fallen fruit in a running brook you just get carried by the waters to its destination. You know that youre destined to be thrown into the deep waters ahead where you won't see the lights of life ever again. And then you're hit by a rock where you are caught in a delta of fertility, sealing your fate of becoming a life giving tree by the brook sides. Now that's a change that doesn't come as frequently or as fortunately or both.

And that's what you start introspecting about, when a girl who has no idea who you are, innocent enough to speak to you in spite of her parents warning her against strangers, starts laughing with an open heart and sparkling eyes at something only she knows and finds funny. It's not normal. All of this. This definitely means a thing or two. She couldn't be just another woman, right? Or maybe she was.

Anyway, I probably looked crazy because she collected herself and made a serious expression. Maybe I'm thinking way beyond my expertise.

We went back from the cafe to where we sat before. You, my readers might remember that I told you how exhausted I was after a long business tour. So I planned on a little nap. It would also mean I would get less involved with the Interesting Female Commuter next to me and also that would stop the meaningless thoughts that are invading my mind. With the nearly empty coffee tumbler in my hand I was soon asleep.

When I woke up, I found my coffee tumbler missing, looking for which, I found it kept in the seat next to mine along with the IFC's empty one. So she probably took care of it while I was asleep. And I was in a good mind to embarass her for taking care of a stranger. But then I knew it would end up making her too shy to talk any further. My sense of judging people is coming to good use now. I know she has a beautiful name. But I get jitters from it. Which is why I'm going to stick to IFC. For now. She was busy clicking a snapchat selfie. As beautiful as she looked in her own skin, the effects of the snapchat filters didn't do justice to it. Ok I'm not going to keep looking at her like a creep. But her idea of a selfie was pretty adorable. It made me laugh.

Which got her attention and she was caught taking a selfie with a pose very unlike the personality she carries. All the world's roses and their shades of red couldn't compare to her cheeks and the hue they glowed with. She was embarassed AND she was trying to find excuses. I didn't know which was harder. But I was definitely enjoying myself, almost basking in her embarrassment. Another of the many first-times-and-unlike-my-normal-self kind of acts that I have been doing at this airport. I don't know how many more first-timers are in store for me tonight.

Okay while I was thinking of all that...she may have... wait what??... did she just... check me out??? There is no way I could confirm this. And she changed the topic pretty diligently by asking me about my flight timings. I hid my curiosity under the bitter sheets of self composition and followed her lead into the topic she brought up. And when i told her about my flight details, destination and schedule, she seemed to look a mix of surprise and a failed attempt at hiding it. Also, she was quiet. That was a brilliant thing. Usually she had a billion remarks for every act of mine.

But when she told me how she too was going to the same place and the same flight, I too was dumbfounded. maybe I wasn't overthinking after all. Aren't these too many coincidences for one airport incident.