To the girl who was confused,
I saw you today at a crosswords store, searching for a good book. The look on your face while you were standing there, I wish I could have captured it. There was a cocktail of emotions on your face, excitement, mixed in with a bit of disappointment, maybe because you could not buy all the books that you wanted to. Believe me, I understand exactly how that feels. You smelled the pages of the books when you thought no one was looking. I am sorry for having invaded that privacy but you looked so beautiful while doing that.
Yes, dear stranger, you were beautiful, but not because of your face. Not because those glasses that you had on made you look really cute. Or the fact that you were wearing that “The fault in our stars” T-shirt, though that certainly helped. No, you were beautiful because even though you were there just to get yourself a book, you helped a small little boy decide which book should he buy- Harry Potter or Five point someone. Good choice on recommending Harry by the way and the certain choice words thrown at Mr. Bhagat was an icing on the cake.
You were beautiful because looking at you felt like I had never had my heartbroken. Like, there was still some purity left in this big bad world. You were beautiful because I could see that literature got you excited and I believe that there is nothing more attractive than a lady who knows what she loves and pursues it with all her might. There was a twinkle in your eye while you were going through the books, reading a page or two, and then looking disappointed between the two because you probably wanted to buy them both but could not. I really wish now that I had offered to buy that book for you.
I should have taken the initiative there and asked you out for coffee. Too fast, you may say. But I believe in living life on the fast track. I have found that when I stop to think a lot, I usually end up doing nothing at all. You may say, stranger, that just love for a mutual thing cannot decide our lives and you could not be more right. But it is a start mademoiselle, it’s a start. And isn’t that more than most people get? But, Miss Stranger, I am a really optimistic person.
Maybe one day our paths will cross again and trust me, this time I will not hesitate. No, I definitely will ask you out this time. We’ll sit at a cafe and argue which is the best Paulo Coelho book. Whether all of Dan Brown’s novels are on a similar pattern. What was the age at which we could finally get through Pride and Prejudice and to kill a mockingbird. And then, maybe someday, we will guide our kids through Mordor, make sure that they discover Narnia and hope that they aspire to be Gryffindors. We will encourage them to dream up their own worlds, make sure that they do not forget while growing up that it is important to retain a bit of playfulness in their lives.
But before that, we have to know each other. Know each other at our worst and decide that our best is worth surviving that. I want to know everything there is about you, your deepest fears, your darkest secrets, and I wish to tell you the same. Yes, a mutual love for a certain hobby does not decide our fates. It’s in the details, stranger. Love lies in the details. And I hope to know every single detail about you one day. The first time your heart broke, that college crush on the stud of the college even though you knew he was wrong for you, that one moment you wish you never have to relive and everything else.
So, Miss Stranger, how about that coffee?
From,
The boy who loves superheroes.