Encounter of the second kind

The room was dark. It was hard to see. I stood at the entrance looking around for her. In a small far corner of the restaurant, there she was. Beautiful as I had imagined her. A smile that lights up the room, eyes that stare into your soul, hands that move with her words like a Maestro conducting a Mozart symphony. I observed her from a distance for the longest of times. I just sat there, reading into her soul from afar. Day after day, I would come into the restaurant and she would be sitting at the same table and day after day I would sit at a distance, observing her.

Then one day, I slipped a note with the waiter. It was a simple note. All it said was: “Bar”. She took it, read it and her gaze went to the bar. Our eyes met. She smiled. I smiled. And, for what seemed an eternity, every day I would enter the restaurant, sit at the bar and our eyes would meet and she would expose part of her soul to me.

Day after day, we grew closer. Having never spoken, never touched, never smiled, but we grew closer for we had seen into each other’s soul.

She was sitting at the table with her Beau. A Handsome man, charming, made her laugh and feel safe. But every day, she would stare into my eyes. That went on for quite some time.

One day, towards the end of the evening, the Beau stood to go to the bathroom. His chair was empty. I considered it for a moment. The briefest of moments. Should I? Would I? I left the bar and started walking slowly towards that empty seat. With every step, I would look into her eyes for encouragement, for approval. She knew it and she, for the first time, smiled at me as I sat on that chair. I had never heard her voice and for a moment, we stood there in silence looking at each other, making sure that the first word would be the right one. There might only be time for one word before the Beau came back. I had to choose carefully, I knew she would let me have that first word.

I gazed into her eyes, wondering which one to use, it was a long, piercing gaze and suddenly I knew. I knew that there was only one word… “Hello”

She smiled. She knew it was the perfect one. Simple, yet the smile that accompanied it, said it all. “Hello” she said back.

I had so many other things to tell her, so many questions to ask her, so many emotions to share. Yet, before I had a chance to bare my soul, I noticed her Beau waiting for her by the restaurant door.

“I have to go”, she said. “Yes, I know” I replied. I wanted to hold her, to beg her to stay, to make her see how much I wanted her to stay. Yet, I knew that she had to go. She had come to the restaurant with him; she had to leave with him. That was the proper thing to do.

I had so much more to say. If only I had more time, if only I had a few more minutes, if only I could extend my hand and touch her heart, she’d see that she didn’t really have to go. She’d see that what she wanted was right there, on that seat. But, all I had was “Hello” and the smile that accompanied it.

I will be at the bar tomorrow, the day after and the day after that. If she cares, she’ll come back, alone. I will be waiting…

Haroun El Poussah