The Sunday evening breeze was filled with laughter and nonstop chats at Chaap-E-Mo café. The outdoor noise of the garage clink-clanks, men talking from the barbershop, and women laughing reached the café simultaneously. Her cousins were making fun of her love for food, and she was laughing her heart out. That carefree laugh travelled by the speed of sound and struck a guy sitting two tables away from her. He stopped mid-conversation with whoever he was talking to and tilted his head to look where the laughter came from. Her infectious laughter made him smile. As he stared at her for some seconds, she detected his gaze and stared back at him. They held the gaze for 3 seconds, and she broke it off, back to her group again, feeling a slight rush from the eye contact.
As the evening progressed, both of their eyes naughtily refused to listen to them.
He gave one last stare at her, making his mind up as he approached her. He walked closer to her seat, smiled, and asked, “May I talk to you for a minute?”
She looked into his twinkling eyes. She nodded, thinking, “Let’s take a chance. It’s not every day that someone looks at you with such intensity and feels right.”
He pulled a chair and sat close to her; there was no space for air to pass between their knees. A smidge of adrenaline ran all over her, almost making her shudder. He very animatedly started reciting, “Well, my name is Orion, and I am a writer. Me and my friends here were talking about something very interesting, but your laugh and then your eyes kept distracting me. You are.. Beautiful, but beauty is not why I am here. I want to understand the mystery behind your eyes. I want to hear your craziest thoughts because I may have a lot to weigh in on as well. I know I am a stranger for now, but I assure you I will answer every one of your questions. So… would you like to go out on a date with me? You have the monopoly to choose the place as well.”
He stopped there and looked at her hopefully. She was smiling, she had the answer, but she teased him a bit by acting like she is thinking about it, by rubbing her chin and just replying, “Hmm, that’s interesting..” She liked this unusual asking out. She decided to go out with him but also gave away her crazy side by saying, “So.. I want to see a post-mortem.”
His smile faded a bit, and he stared at her, hoping she would change her statement, saying she was kidding. But she did not; she stared right back at him, hoping he would be just as impulsive as her or else would just leave her alone.
He replied in a bit, his smile back, “OK, It’s a date,” after a pause, “a date with a dead body.”
She laughed, hiding half her face with her right hand. She looked up and said, “Yes.”.
He got up with a sly smile, arranged the chair back, and turned back again, stooped a little closer to her, and said, “You know you are crazy, right?
Yes, I know,” she said with a roguish grin.
