How many times does life offer you free shows of real-life romance? Well, I am talking about couples who are connected by this most-overused-word-in-the-world, love. It must be prompting to think ‘all the time’ because you see couples everyday who hold hands, kiss, laugh together, rub against each other, or the worst, make out outdoors. But how many of them make you feel life is indeed worth living?
For the first time this year, we had a rainy evening and I stopped by Taco Casa to see what’s that people so love about watching downpour from behind closed panes. I waited for a planned thirty minutes for my husband which stretched onto another thirty, sitting by a window table, trying to enjoy the rain which I honestly couldn’t. There was this guy who I don’t want to describe physically because he later proved to be more good looking by heart than by his looks. We had something in common. Both of us were waiting for our partners but unlike me, he was sipping on a drink. No ring on the left finger. I was sure he wasn’t married coz as far as I have seen, it’s considered a sin in the US for married men and women to be not wearing rings. I doubt if he thought about me the same way because I wasn’t wearing my ring either or my wedding chain but I am married. After a sore hour of wait, Aravind texted me saying he’s stuck in traffic. I thought I should just go ahead and respect what my tummy wanted. So I started on my sandwich occasionally looking around to keep myself entertained. That guy was on phone. Another thirty minutes later, I wanted to leave the place coz waiting for Aravind does not always give me planned results. On one side, there was me, impatient and wanting to leave and on the other side, there was this guy who not for once from the ten to fifteen times that I noticed, wore an impatient look. Okay, 10 more minutes, I thought and looked over at the other table again. He wasn’t there. Before I could assume that he could have left, I saw him walking over to the entrance of the restaurant which by now was fully occupied. When he came back, he had his hands on the shoulders of a very, very pretty girl. So he wasn’t mad at her for being late. He couldn’t have been coz she just was so pretty. She smiled but apologetically seemingly for having had him wait for long. He smiled in return but with apparent love. They walked back to their table and the sight of them together made me smile. They were the prettiest couple in the restaurant but sadly no one seemed to notice, except for me. I pretended to be occupied with my phone but that minute only the corners of my eyes worked. They made such a lovely pair, I wanted to tell them. I was tuning up my ears to eavesdrop on them but it was way too noisy for me to even get close. Finally, I shoved my phone on the table and with a deliberate gut, turned to boldly look at what seemed to be the most beautiful couple I had seen this season. They were talking. Like they say, love is beyond words or languages, this couple really didn’t require either. They were talking but with their hands. I think they call it the sign language. He was capable of speaking, of course. She was not and he used a language she understood. For the next one minute, I sat there, gazing at them, unmindful of the point that I was intruding their private space. But I just didn’t care. I couldn’t find a word to describe these two people who sat right across me, so in love, so beautiful and so much more beautiful because of what they had and what they hadn’t.
I wanted a gulp of water to tone down my emotional flow that moment. I turned away to the window though I didn’t feel like and may be for the first time ever, the rain outside seemed just perfect.
