bor·rowed time
n.
A period of uncertainty during which the inevitable consequences of a current situation are postponed or avoided.
It was one of those choices that would prove to be important. Looking back on it several years later, he would pinpoint this exact moment as the moment his entire life changed. The one choice that defined his very existence, although he himself was unaware of it at the time.
And as he chose to go up to her he sealed his fate. As he chose to go up to the fragile looking girl he took his first steps towards falling in love with her.