The Mysterious Girl... Part III

"I need to go.. I guess we can find a time to talk later.." her words kept resonating in my mind for the entire duration that I had been away from school.

The next day was going to be special. I kept thinking for the entire duration of 20 hours 56 minutes and 45 seconds before I met her again the next day.. I had literally counted every second that passed by and had day and night dreamt of her throughout the time.

It was about 8:25 in the morning the next day when my school bus entered the premises. To everyone's surprise, I had been the first one to jump out of the bus and run towards the building that housed our classes. I passed the reception block and kept walking briskly. Its today or never Abhisek... I could hear my heartbeat.. The images of her smiling at me the previous day kept my mind astray.. I kept walking..

Just then, I caught something by the corner of my eye...

She stood there on the field looking at me. Her face had contracted a big smile.

I felt hysteric. I never thought about this..! In an attempt to look normal, I smiled back. Looking either sides to check whether we had gathered any attention, I moved in her direction. Luckily, no one was around.

"Hi" she was quick to start the conversation.

"Hey" I was spontaneous. I tried hard to NOT repeat the incidents of the day before, but my eyes wont listen. They started on their voyage of carefully glancing through all her facial features till they met their counterpart..

She looked ever so beautiful.. her face outlined by the drowsy sun in the background.. for a moment, I thought she resembled the perfect Greek goddess..

Look straight into her eyes.. My mind instructed me..

The silence seemed eternal. None of us spoke but we could hear each other reach out. She took the opportunity to break the seemingly everlasting silence..

"Why were you running?" she teased. I could see her trying to hide a smile.

"Umm.. Nothing really, just had an appointment.. " Okay, the opening had been smart. She sensed the sarcasm.

She quickly pulled back a strand of hair that had fallen on her face and tucked it behind her left ear.

"Dont do that.. it looks good otherwise.." There went the impulsive me! Shit.. I blew it up already!?

"What?" She shot back. Her tone was dreading. I looked at her cowardly till she burst out laughing. Her giggles seemed to have absorbed the entire atmosphere.. I couldn't help but manage a weak smile myself.. It was serene.. absolutely.

She kept her look at me intact.. as she started taking small steps to the back towards the building.. My smile broadened as she kept moving further behind with crossed arms which were clinched in a loose fist.. one step at a time.. in the sweetest manner that could possibly have existed..

"I'll meet you at the break" she shot back as she looked at me, still smiling. A moment later she turned back and hurled into the building.

As the episode started sinking in me.. I stood there, all by myself.. tracing the path she had just taken with my eyes..

I was struck by a bolt..

The bolt.. of love.. :)

The Mysterious Girl.. continued

I was in love..

As the realization struck me, I hesitated but... it was too late..

I turned around.. staring in shock.. and more of disbelief. I had always been too busy in life to think about being in love. The rational part of me debated that it must be just an illusion, I cannot possible fall in love for heaven's sake!!

My heart, however, did a double take.. She was the most beautiful girl I met..

Her tender eyes had done the trick. I had been staring at her for six minutes??? I couldn't believe myself..! Not once in my sixteen years of life did I experience 'six minutes' which came even remotely close to the ones which I had just spent. And then it happened. If I had any doubts whether I had indeed fallen in love, they were cleared beyond all possibilities.

I could hear myself breathing.. No it was not asphyxiation, she was standing right next to me..!

In sheer bewilderment, I did not even as much move an inch.. I had stood at the same place, lost in my thoughts, when she did what I had least expected.

"Are you all right?" she asked in what I could process as the sweetest voice that could exist.

"Yeah.. I think I am.." I mustered. Not even close, to be honest, I thought.

"Sure?" God.. she was so beautiful..!

"Hmm.. yeah.. I am perfectly okay.." I tried to gather myself. I told myself I had to act normal, even though I wasn't. Don't lose it even before it begins.

"I need to go.. I guess we can find a time to talk later.." She said.. and it took me about 2 seconds to process every word.

"Yeah.. okay.." I replied.

She turned to go. I didn't want it, though. I thought not to look back at her. But, something told me she hadn't moved. She was still there. I looked up and found her eyes again. Gosh.. not again! This time, it was her staring at me. And I felt the weight of the world on my shoulders. I looked elsewhere. Almost everyone around us were busy with themselves. I kind of liked the privacy.

She took a step back.

It, apparently, was enough to get my attention back. I looked at her. Her lips broadened into a smile. I couldn't resist myself doing the same. For the first time in life, I felt I was not listening to myself, like something else had control over me and my mind..

She took another step back.

Her smile broadened.

Bye.. she said, mutely. I lipread her. I did the same.

Yes, I told myself. I am in love.

The Mysterious Girl.

I was gazing.

The reflection was frivolous. And blinding. And passionate.

It was the reflection in her eyes.

Glittering against a backdrop of inhuman anxiety, her eyes became the only thing I could see. My senses went into temporary hibernation mode as I realized I was transfixed. Her mesmerizing fragrance took me to a world I never knew existed, a world far away from the complexities we dwell in. I felt a chill. Thoughts stopped to pour into my mind.

What is happening to me?

In the minutest of movements, her eyes moved. Ever so slowly, shifting her gaze from my left eye to my right. They seemed to become moistened with every passing second. The moisture made her eyes shine even more vigorously. I reasoned myself. I was hallucinating. This can not be happening!!

I was wrong.

Against my wishes, my eyes wont shut.

Let me see her!

Her eyes were beautiful. Much more than the word could possibly express.Much... Much... more! This was no delusion. She was there, right in front of me. And I had been staring into her eyes for the last five minutes now. Five minutes!!!

But I want to keep looking at her.. My heart argued against my mind. Experience told me in such cases, its always better to listen to what your heart says.

I did precisely that.

And it paid off.

In a matter of seconds, our gaze broke. And it took me some time to let the feeling finally settle in. This had never happened with me before. I was gazing at her for the last six minutes! The very thought sent another series of shock waves through my body.

I backed off. I had to. I turned back, still almost asphyxiating with the thought.

All I knew was that the job was done.

"Target down".

I was in love.