Unrequited Love. #Z2AChallenge

Love is a beautiful feeling. Well, I don't know. That's what I have heard. 

Prove me right, may be?

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It was a late afternoon and the silence beheld the chatter of the lunch break. He was late for his lunch. He had a meeting he had to attend and it got extended a little but longer than he had thought. As the stomach made noises and pleading to be fed, he slowly walked up to the food section of the canteen hoping that there is still some food. He thanked his stars as the food was there, however a little cold, he could calm his crying stomach. He took his plate and made his way to his usual spot at the canteen. Usually it is always filled during lunch time. As he got busy gulping the food as soon as he sat down, he stopped in his tracks. Something, someone caught his eye. He froze as she went past him, talking to her friend talking animatedly and with that cutest smile ever. The heart took over his body and there was no hunger. He had not even taken a proper bite and he completely forget about his wailing stomach. As she went to the far end of the canteen to get a coffee, the mind gave the hint for him to wake up and tend to the crying stomach. He wasn't hungry anymore. Even though he continued taking slow bites and stuffing the stomach, he was not aware of what he was doing. Clearly, the mind had no chance convincing him to get out of that trance. The phone beeped. It was a message from his colleague asking him to join as soon as possible. He didn't realize he had got the message. The phone buzzed again with another message to hurry up. He was completely awry of that. But the buzzing never stopped. Apparently, it was important. H woke up from his trance, finally realizing that he had already finished his lunch and he didn't even know about eating it. "One last good look", he said to himself. But she turned to the other side right at the very moment. "Arrgh", he sighed audibly. He wasn't sure he was going to see her again. He was already scared of losing her, her memory, however momentary it was.

On his way back to his meeting room again, he was cursing his colleague for not giving enough time to sink in her thoughts when he could. May be he could have talked. He was already scripting what he would have said and how he would have approached her. And he told himself not to be too cheesy on the first time. May be a little of introduction and compliment. But before he could get a perfect script, the client greeted him. He brushed everything aside at once and turned that lost face to a smile and greeted back. He was still recovering from the trance, which was quite evident by the way he was missing the words and not looking to be all over the place. He somehow managed to pull off the meeting without much damage. He walked back to his seat shaking his head about the almost blunderbuss meeting. Then as he settled he thought about the reason for this. "It was her", he exclaimed, quite audibly that the person next to him gave him a confused look. He exclaimed as she walked past on the other end of the room. She was in his floor and he had completely missed seeing her till that very day. He was in that trance again, only to be woken up again by his confused colleague who was asking what he was mumbling.

That day marked the start of silent stares and contemplating about how to make a great first impression. His days and nights we re mostly spent on thinking how to make it happen. One fine day, there was a team lunch and some good soul introduced her to him. He wasn't sure that she was part of the team. Well, it was a big team and their line of work handled different part of the project. He introduced himself and she reciprocated the same. He finally could put a name to the person who kept haunting his thoughts. And that marked the beginning of a new friendship. As he get to know her a little more, his feelings for her started increasing. Though he told himself that it was just infatuation and this will pass. But it was not just her thoughts. He started seeing her everywhere. Everyone looked like her. Every voice he hears, he wishes it was hers. Well, she also invaded his dreams as well. He finally concluded that he was in love.

While he was contemplating how to express his feelings, as scared as he was, finally got a shocking news. He was needed elsewhere and he had to stay there for half an year. His task was to set up and get the work started. He couldn't leave now. He was at this crucial stage of love where he can't go past even a single day without looking or talking to her. And 6 months was a pretty long time. Even though he wanted to hand it over to someone like... Oh snap...there was no one else to hand over the task to. He was eventually given the responsibility. With a heavy heart, he moved to the new place and made sure that he did not bid farewell to her. Because he felt if he did that he could not meet her again. And how long can 6 months be. It will go in a jiffy, before he knew it. As time moves by, he has a hard time adjusting to pass the days without talking to her. He had thought that he should have proposed before going. And this very thought haunts him everyday when he looks over his cubicle only to realize that he isn't in the same city as she was. And something keeps killing him inside. On one side he has "Just propose" and on the other "What if she rejects and I would lose a great friend. And she is not into stuff like this". "But I think I should". "No. I shouldn't". "I can't compromise the friendship". His friends knew about this and have always encouraged to take the leap of faith. "See, if you love her, you should propose. Two things can happen. One, in which she agrees and two, she doesn't agree. Now, she is a good sport so, you can still be friends with her. But if you don't and keep staying in such a dilemma, you will never know. And down the line, you will definitely regret not trying. So, take the leap of faith", one of his friends said. Eventually he has finally come up with a plan, even though he was dead scared.

While there were days when he really wanted to propose and there were days when he thought that being staying as a friend was better than taking the risk. In one of such latter days, she informed him about the new developments in her life and that she was taking a step forward with her which was followed by a wedding invitation. He sunk into his chair, confused and telling himself that it is still a dream and he would wake up any moment now. Only that he was waking up. He pinched himself to wake himself up. But nothing worked. He just couldn't come to terms with it. He couldn't even go to the marriage even though he was completely free. He just couldn't bear the thought of her getting married to someone else. Eventually he seemed to have moved on, or so he thought! Even the six months planned stay was extended due to some new requirements and expanding the work. 

After nearly ten months, he finally got back to the city. His place is still there and even though he has moved past the whole love-thing, he saw her walking past on the other end of just like she did a year ago. All those bottled up feelings that he so secured buried, just came out rushing. 

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Express, before its' too late.

#Z2AChallenge,

because I can spell the alphabets in reverse!

#Day6 #U #UnrequitedLove #TheLetterU #AlphabetU