Lajpat Nagar, South New Delhi, India - 1:17pm 

Priya was sitting, her best sari donned on her. She was restless. Her eyes browsed the marketplace crowd. She has been like this for two days and she worried that her mother might notice and suspect something was of the matter. But what other choice did she really have? She very well knew now that in the pursuit of love, people can do foolish things. But was she in love? She was 23, what could she possibly know about love?

All she knew was that while she was sitting in for her mother at their shop a few days ago, a man she has never seen before came by. His camera was dangling from his neck, obviously a tourist. He was looking for cloths which he could bring back home. He had a certain charm which was hard to miss. Everything seemed normal enough, though until that moment when their eyes met. She couldn’t quite understand, but it was like, at that moment, something in her started to burn. Not the kind that hurts, but the kind that makes your heart beat faster. In that single moment, time itself seemed to stop and she was caught unguarded. The stack of cloths she was carrying fell to the floor as her arms lost their strength. She immediately snapped out of the haze and quickly went on her knees to gather the cloths. He almost dived down after her to help. Their hands accidentally touched and the electricity was undeniable. She stood up and thanked him profusely. She smiled at him and he continued his gaze on her, enchanted. She blushed.

He ended up buying almost half of the store’s goods. She watched him as he walked away. Before he came out of her sight, he looked back, waving. She was still smiling.

Today, she sat at the same spot and observed the crowd, waiting for a man. The heat was almost unbearable. She just wiped her forehead when a man with a camera came into her view. He came back. She was smiling when he faced her. They looked at each other with the same intensity as the first.

She was 23, what could she possibly know about love? Maybe nothing. Maybe everything.

This entry, as well as ”All He Ever Had” are spin-offs from my previous composition, “Dead Center”.