Brewing

People often ask me "where did it all begin?" For a long time I thought I had the answer to that question. But today when someone new asked me the same question and I smilingly told them about me and you, I realized the answer I was giving was something I came to believe was true and right.

I think even I was finding it difficult to decipher when it all began. What was the exact day this all began? Was there a special moment in that day when we both knew that someday we would be at this beautiful juncture?

I recall that day. That busy evening when we accidentally bumped into each other in the corridor and I clumsily spilled my coffee on the floor, not before a few drops of it made their way to your lime yellow shirt leaving a nasty stain.I apologized; you smiled back and flirtatiously said to me, "it was worth it". Our first encounter and you were flirting already. What was I to deduce about your attitude nature from it?

That day I just smiled and introduced myself and apologized again. Caught in knots, I walked away not knowing what else to do.

In our corridor meetings after that, we would just exchange smiles although I have to admit I wanted to make conversation. On so many occasions that you would see me with a coffee cup in my hand, you would gesture to me to clutch the cup harder, then smile and wink. That was all the interaction we had for the longest time, until one day you noticed I hadn’t once walked up to the coffee machine to give into my addiction. As you went past my desk, I looked up and you noticed me. How did you read my mind when no one else around me was able to understand what was going on? A few minutes later, my phone was buzzing. It was a text message from an unknown number asking me to step out of the office. On an already bad day, I decided nothing could get worse so I stepped out just to see who was texting me. As I walked out the door, I saw you standing there, with a decaf in your hand and an extra ounce of concern in your eyes.

On a day when everything was going wrong, at least one thing was going right.

The decaf worked liked a magic potion; we were having the most pleasant second conversation. Was it that day that I noticed the smile line that appeared on your cheeks? The way your eyes lit up when I teased you. Yes it was, but we didn’t speak about that. You just kept complimenting me knowing that it would help me feel better. After all, I was just an ordinary girl among the special ones. Being the silent observer all this while you had come to learn so much about me, I doubt most others knew.

So many coffees and plenty of conversations later I knew there was something between us now that was drawing us close. I was getting attached. Not only to the attention I was getting from you, but also the affection that came along with it.

Why did it take a misunderstanding, a fallout of sorts for you to realize that there was more to it? This was more than friendship, this was affection, and this was love. Why didn’t you walk up to my street and knock on my door that day to tell me what you felt?

You really did have to pick a rainy night when you were two drinks down to drive up to my street, knock on my door and ask me to let you into my home and back into my heart. That special evening, were we sure that it was meant to be? I’d say no.

For deep down inside, we both knew that it was the first encounter of ours. The spilt coffee was totally worth it…