The Girl I Couldn't Read

Sometimes I wonder how something as complicated as love can begin with something so simple.

A glance. A hello. A moment in a mall.

You see someone for the first time and, for reasons you can't quite explain, your attention gets caught. Maybe it's their smile, maybe it's the way they carry themselves, or maybe it's simply the mystery of not knowing anything about them. For a brief moment, you imagine that this could be the beginning of something.

But sometimes, reality has a very different sense of humor.

Not every hello becomes a conversation. Not every smile means interest. Not every spark is mutual. And sometimes, what you mistake for love at first sight is simply attraction colliding with your imagination.

I've learned that beauty can be intimidating. So can rejection. You can walk toward someone with the best intentions and still have absolutely no idea what they're thinking. Are they interested? Are they uncomfortable? Are they amused? Are they wondering why you're talking to them?

You end up searching their face for an answer.

A smile.

A sneer.

Anything.

Because uncertainty can be more suffocating than rejection itself.

Perhaps that's what makes the idea of love so strange. We want certainty from people who barely know us. We want to know whether the feeling is mutual before we've even had the chance to discover what the feeling actually is.

And sometimes we become the deer in the headlights.

Frozen.

Caught between wanting to move closer and knowing we probably should step back.

Love can make you feel fearless one second and completely helpless the next. It can make an ordinary encounter feel significant, even when the other person may have already forgotten it.

Maybe that's the lesson.

Not every person who catches your eye is meant to stay in your life. Not every beautiful moment is the beginning of a beautiful story. Sometimes a moment is just a moment.

And sometimes, the only thing you can do is smile at the absurdity of it all, put your metaphorical sunglasses on, and keep walking.

Because if love is a game, there are no guarantees that the other person will play by your rules.

And if love shines too brightly, perhaps the hardest thing isn't seeing it.

It's seeing clearly enough to know whether it is really love at all.

Thanks for Reading 

Prateek Gupta 

12:53 AM

Delhi, India