Mine!

Chapter1: A Bitter Sweet Love!

Some say love at first sight is just merely an infatuation. Your body releasing an excess amount of Oxytocin which then leads to your heart beating at an increased pace and your brain deluding yourself into thinking - ahh, she's the one for me. I knew this, I mean I've seen an endless amount of hopeless romantic movies to know what a complete B.S this whole love at first sight really is. And yet, when I first laid my eyes on her, I couldn't give a fuck about any Oxytocin or logic. My heart was beating so fast that it almost seemed like it was skipping a beat in between. No, I'm sure it did skip a beat. Why was I reacting this way? What was wrong with me? And, more importantly who the fuck was this girl?

It was my second interview after I had arrived in India from the States. I knew what I had to face when I chose to return, looming disappointments, crazy questions, and never ending judgments. Staying at home was no joy either. Mom's friends or more commonly known as the friendly neighborhood mallu aunties had a new target - me. I swear, if our friendly neighborhood superhero Spider-man went up against these aunties, let's just say Tom Holland wouldn't be having a job right now. They were more worried how I had the same skin color instead of returning all-white after spending three years in the States. I didn't know if I had to get angry, laugh or cry at their questions. All I could do was stretch my lips, give an awkward smile and move on. So obviously, to ensure my IQ doesn't drop just by listening to such insane people, I had to find a job and I had to find one soon.

And so here I was, waiting from 9 am to get this interview over with and save my lips from stretching too long. If only it was that simple, I chose to attend this interview for the brand value the company had in the e-commerce market and I knew I could eventually built upon my career here. However, witnessing the lack of coordination between the human resource employees and the hiring managers reminded me that I was indeed back from the States. The brand value of a company takes a back seat when it's up against us Indians and our punctuality.

It was already 12 pm and I had only finished the first round of interview. Four more rounds were left and I didn't know what would happen sooner – me dying of boredom or growing back my hair just to pull it out again. I was running out of magazines to read and my stupid phone was running out of battery even though I was barely using it. I guess even a phone from the United States can't really handle the Indian heat. Anyway, while my mind was clouded with such random and completely useless thoughts, I heard a voice. A bitter sweet voice.

As I lifted my head out of the magazine and turned to my right, I saw her. She was speaking to someone over the phone. Her left hand held the phone over her ear while her right hand was used to cover her mouth; to ensure she did not disturb other candidates waiting in the hall. I could still hear and understand her as she was conversing in my native tongue - Malayalam. Who knew, I would ever appreciate being a mallu and that to for something such as this. The irony of it all. I soon realized she was talking to her sister and her voice was sweet, light and you could make out she was really nervous. I couldn't really see her face from where she was standing and was waiting for her to turn to my direction.

After about 8 minutes and 47 seconds, she hung up the call. Yes, I was timing. Like I said, I was bored to death; so judge me all you want. Can someone be so bored that they can fall in love at first sight? Lol now that I say that aloud, it is ridiculous, isn't it? But, that's what happened to me. She was incredibly beautiful. She was simply dressed in a greenish yellow chudidhar, had a bindi on her forehead, a swan pendant hanging around her neck, kajol across her eye lashes and a pink shade of lipstick across her lips. Her smile was radiant and sent butterflies to my stomach. She was easy to read and I couldn't help but smile watching her expressions. She wasn't bored one bit during the entire process. She was actually nervous. As she cleared each round, she got more and more nervous. Everything was visible on her face and I didn't even realize time was passing by. By 6 pm we had cleared three rounds of our interviews and we were asked to come the next day at 2 pm for the remaining two rounds. My phone had run out of battery, and I probably would have walked away long back in frustration if it wasn't for her. The whole day, I just looked at her, genuinely smiled and that's how I got through it. Thankfully, she made it through as well.

We walked out of the building and for some reason I found myself following her. Creepy? Trust me, I've never done this before, following a girl like this. At first I wanted to stop her and ask her name. Then I got greedier and thought maybe I should ask her for a cup of coffee. By the time I was trying to come up with the perfect excuse to talk to her, she had left the gate and that's when I realized, I had parked my bike in the complete opposite end of the building. And so I stopped myself there, thanked her in my mind, watched her walk away for I knew, I would see her again the next day at 2 pm. There it was again, a flutter of my heart and butterflies in my stomach when I realized I'll see her again. I was tired as fuck but I couldn't sleep at all. My body was tired but my mind had other ideas. I couldn't stop thinking of her.

Next day, I wore my best clothes and emptied a bottle of Axe deodorant and went in for the final two rounds. I reached 30 minutes early and was waiting for my two other rounds and her. The other folks who had cleared the past three rounds started showing up as well, but I couldn't see her. I cleared my fourth round and she still wasn't here. By 4.45 pm, I had finished my 5th round and I was told I would be informed of the results in a weeks' time. I was least bothered about that, for she still wasn't here.

If only I stopped her last evening and asked her name. I left for the day. I reached home and this time both my mind and body were tired. Just like that, my first love at first sight - I slept it off as though it was a bitter sweet dream.

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