Reflections

Chapter4:Bloom

As time went on, we grew too attached to each other. Feelings developed, and it suddenly made no sense why we weren’t together if everyone already thought that we were. The hugs felt warmer. They soothed the cold and lonely heart inside. They felt longer and passionate. I leaped and ended up falling. I fell in love with this guy whose name meant the same thing as mine but in a different language. Happiness. I suddenly forgot how lonely I was, and I knew from then he was the only person I needed to keep the demons at bay; he made me smile. I don’t think I had ever encountered a very sensitive man in my life. It wasn’t even an act; it was just the way he was. He was who you might call Mr Perfect if you didn’t know him very well. Isn’t it how it always is with people? First impressions always matter to those who pay close attention. But what good is love if one of you is just pretending.

He was just the kind of man I never had in my life. He tendered to my every whim. I couldn’t believe the kind of man I now had in my life. He was like a slave of love. (simp in today's world). He wanted so much of my love that he gave me all his. And that sealed my fate. I started to fall for him too.

We now had special study sessions together. As if there wasn’t a line of people already craving his attention. This other day we were about to go write a physics test. I was trying so hard to cram the Michelson interferometer, but he kept on looking at me. We were sitting on opposite sides of the table. We were already done with calculations, so we were doing last-minute theory cramming. He was very good at memorizing. He had a photographic memory, but he pretended he didn’t know that principle I was trying to cram. He moved his chair closer to mine and said, ‘Explain it to me." Somehow, saying it out loud made me understand it better. I was so happy about how good he was tutoring me without me even noticing.

He grabbed my hand, made a joke about how he’s going to come up with his own theory one day. It came off as a joke, but his theory actually made sense, but science is all about making the impossible possible. Maybe he will pull it off someday. I laughed so hard at his joke, we locked eyes. I couldn’t turn away this time and our laugh died down as we continued to gaze into each other’s eyes. Suddenly a group of our friends walked in and said, ‘time for exam”. We grabbed our things and headed to the test hall.

What happened in the coming weeks was any typical love story. I never would have dreamed for it to be anything else. We would hike up the big rock mountain around the campus at night to see the city lights and feel the nighttime breeze in summer. Watch the sunrise on rooftops. Our first kiss, also under a starry night. Walk hand in hand to the library or computer labs after hours. We would dedicate Fridays for running in the sports fields. I finally got used to chasing the wind. Saturdays for movie nights and Sundays for chilling. Cook lunch and watch a good series together. But our love story wasn’t just for the night. But it lurked mostly in the shadows. That is when it bloomed the best, and on the modern way of portraying love, putting each other on statuses and writing cheesy messages about how much we loved each other.