Match Made In College Days

We all go through this chapter once in our lifespan, where life becomes extremely boring and we’re ready to do anything to spice it up a bit. Well, I did too.

It was about eight years back when I was still in school, I register that I needed some fun in my boring life. I was sitting in the school playground with my friends and just telling them about my miserably boring life.

“I can’t even tell you guys how boring my life has become, just imagine your food with no spices or salt and that’s exactly my life” I cried

“relax dude! don’t be a drama one now” said one

“yeah right, you know all of us are bored out of our minds” said the other one

“hey listen! I have an idea, since you can’t stop talking about your boring life I have a challenge for you” shouted my best friend, the craziest girl I’ve ever known.

After the interval 

“So its simple actually, I’ll give you a name and you have to make sure that you cross path with them at least thrice a day and when you do, you will maintain eye contact with them the whole time. You have to do this for the whole year, in other words, the remaining two months”

“What?!!” I shouted, astounded. ” They’ll think I’m crazy”

“Trust me, they won’t. One more thing, if they ever try to talk to you, you can’t”

“What do you mean I can’t?” I asked

“It's simple, they should not hear your voice no matter what. When they even try to approach, just run away or something” She explained

“That’s absolutely crazy,” I said, thinking over the whole thing. ” But you know what, let’s do this”

Others looked at me shocked, while my best friend started smiling as soon as I said those words. Little did I know that those words were going to lead me to an experience worth remembering.

The task started the next day when I was told that I had to basically stalk a guy, a senior who was about to graduate soon. I got to work and found out some basic information about him and started on my mission, excuse the exaggeration.

The next three months were extremely weird. Each day was filled with the excitement of seeing him again as well as the sadness of not being able to talk to him. We made eye contact thrice every day, so I already knew that he would try to talk to me at least once even if it was only to ask me if something was wrong. He had already tried talking to me several times but failed every time and finally gave the idea up.

It was only in the sixth month that I started noticing more and more. I tried to pay attention to every single detail about him like the way he walked, how he talked, his laugh, chatting with his friends in the hallway. I didn’t even understand that I had started liking him until every time I saw him talk to someone, I just wanted to be them. Yet I couldn’t talk to him. I knew that I had to control myself and just do what I was supposed to do.

All through the seventh and eight-month, I fell for him. Slowly, steadily and deeply. I was in a state where I would cry all my frustration into my bed. The frustration that I never even got to talk to him as I saw him graduate and leave the school, that I knew he only saw me as some weird little girl he used to have eye contact with, that I knew he was in love with his girlfriend of 2 years. On the last day of those 2 months, my heart broke.

I never talked to him even after those 7 months passed. I guess I was scared, of what I don’t know. I moved on, it sure was tough but not impossible, after all, I am a crazy person.

That time is just a memory that I laugh off now. My last year in school was truly memorable because of a sweet little teen-age girl that took my heart. The school year 2000 has just started when one afternoon a teacher introduced us to each other. It has something to do with a project in New Jalapaiguri we are to work together. The chance encounter was brief. I never remember what we talked. All I can recall was how delicate and graceful her hands as she gesture when she speaks.

The sound of her voice was so pleasing. Her almond-shaped eyes smiles when she laughed. There was the bloom of crimson on her damp lips and shades of scarlet on her smooth face. Her scent is heavenly. As if an unseeable bouquet of garlands surrounds her. And the way her shiny black shoulder-length hair sways when she moves her head fascinate me. She was the most beautiful girl I have ever met. When we parted that afternoon, my heart deserted me and went with her. She was my first love.

I sleep very little the night we met. I dream of her with my eyes wide open. I beg God to hurry up the morning. The next day I saw her again after school and this time we spend a little more time together. I walked her home and that was the beginning of our many promenades. We discovered we have a lot of things in common. We delight in each other’s company. We shared stories and laughed a lot. Yet I lack the courage to tell her how I feel. The thought of losing her should I open up my heart, kept the verses I rehearsed countless nights locked in my mind.

But on the last simbang gabi in 1999 with the morning chill of December and the dark of the night waning, I confessed to her she is my first love. She looks me long and deep in the eyes as if searching the truth in what I said. Without a word, I took her hand and she allowed me to kiss it. Then she looks down and whispered she is afraid. She has never been in love before and doesn’t know what to do. I gently lifted her face. The light as dawn break showed the worry in her misty eyes. I draw her towards me and for the first time, I put my arms around her. I felt the warmth of her firm body and the tight embrace of her arms on my back. She looks up at me again with a smile, and then we kiss for the very first time. It was the sweetest, most passionate and romantic kiss I can ever remember.

I have never forgotten her. Even in my worst days, the memories we shared always makes me smile. They say you always lose your first love, you may never find it back, the bliss of marriage may guise it, but the truth is that the first love never leaves. It stays with you, in your mind, in your heart, waiting for you to be alone, lonesome, feeling down and empty.

Then she’s there. Exactly as she was the last time you saw her. Young, lovely, vibrant, smiling, pulling your hand for another sentimental sojourn down the enchanting lane of memories bygone.