Chapter 1: The First Glances
I still remember the first time I noticed Dilip. It
wasn't anything dramatic like in the movies—no slow motion, no dramatic music,
no wind blowing through our hair. It was an ordinary day in school, in the
middle of a busy hallway, surrounded by the noisy clamor of students rushing to
their classes. I was clutching my books, trying to navigate through the crowd,
when my eyes met his for a fleeting moment.
I don't know why I noticed him that day; maybe it
was the way he was looking at me. There was a gentleness in his eyes, a
curiosity that seemed to ask a hundred questions. I felt a strange flutter in
my chest, and before I could even understand what was happening, I looked away,
embarrassed. But something about that brief encounter stayed with me.
Days went by, and I found myself unconsciously
searching for him in the crowd. Our eyes would meet often, and each time, my
heart would skip a beat. It was like a silent game we were playing, where
neither of us dared to speak but both were too afraid to look away. I would
pretend to be busy with my friends, laughing louder than usual or engrossed in
my notebook, but I could always feel his gaze on me.
He had a way of looking at me that made me feel
special, like I was the only one in the room. I would catch him watching me
during lunch breaks or in the library, where I would sit with my head buried in
books, pretending to study while stealing glances at him from the corner of my
eye. I never understood why, but every time our eyes met, it felt like a secret
only the two of us shared.
There were moments when he would pass by my
classroom, walking slowly, deliberately, as if waiting for something. And in
those moments, I would find myself drawn to the window, looking out, hoping to
catch a glimpse of him. Our eyes would lock, and for a brief moment, the world
around us would disappear. I would smile—just a little, a shy, almost invisible
smile—and he would respond with the slightest nod, a silent acknowledgment of
the connection that was beginning to form between us.
We never spoke. Not a single word. But there was
something in the way he looked at me, something in the way he lingered near my
classroom or waited by the school gate, that told me he wanted to say
something. And I? I was too afraid to hear it. Too afraid to break the spell of
our silent conversations, too afraid that words would ruin whatever it was that
was happening between us.
But I wanted to know him. I wanted to know the boy
who looked at me like I was the most interesting person in the world. I wanted
to know the boy whose smile could light up my day, even from a distance. I
wanted to know what he was thinking when our eyes met, what he felt in those
moments of silence.
And so, our dance continued—each glance, each
smile, each lingering look, a step in this unspoken conversation that only we
seemed to understand. And in those moments, I felt something stir within me,
something new, something exciting, something I had never felt before.
I didn't know where it would lead us. I didn't know
if it would ever become more than just stolen glances and silent smiles. But in
those moments, I felt alive, like I was part of something beautiful, something
magical, something that was just beginning to unfold.
And maybe, just maybe, that was enough for now.
