Love montage

"Must we wait for our light to turn green completely? Why can't you just cross when there are no cars around?"

"That's just the way I do it. You can go ahead, just wait for me on the other side."

Many street crossings passed. Neither one changed…well, one was forced to…

"Stop, don't do that. Can't you wait till we reach the other side to kiss me?"

"What's the fun in that?"

On a park bench, when other organs have been well examined…

"Your nails are so dirty; do you actually eat food with such dirty nails?"

"To tell you the truth, this is the first time I have noticed them. I guess it explains my strong immunity na?"

There are good times and there are bad. There are some people with whom even the bad times far outclass the best of times with others.

"Your eyes…they are…"

"Very beautiful, like the ocean, mysterious, sexy….any other clichés you would like to unleash?"

"Arre bolne to de…your eyes…they are…"

"Tell me, now I'm really interested.."

"Really pretty, like the sea, inscrutable, sensual"

"Disguised clichés…what have I done to deserve this honor?"

Waiting at a train platform in the initial days is always easy…often the expectation and anxiety anesthetizes the annoyance of the other one's tardiness. A few trains later…

"Hi, sorry I'm late! My bus was [something something]"

"You know I left four trains for you…"

"Oh! I am truly sorry."

"I would have left more."

"Wow, so sweet…(what an idiot!)"

No couple has ever been intimate until they have eaten together. On one such day…

"Why do you eat so much non-veg?"

"Why don't you ever try it?"

All of these reach a fork in the road. Some take the beaten path. This one took the other…

"We are doing the right thing? What about how we feel?"

"We feel what we feel, all I know is that I can't commit right now…"

"The more I think about this, the more I feel the pain. The more I feel the pain, the more I realize that those who don't have the strength to commit should not go down this road at all."

"That little aside is aimed at me, but strangely applies to both of us. Have a nice life."

"You too…"

Five years later.

He always waits for the green light before crossing the road. His nails are squeaky clean. He eats non-veg just to hear her reprimands in his head. They sweep over him like the blend of a cool breeze and a tidal wave. No one could take away that magical time, ephemeral though it was. That's how life is to be taken, in bite-sized pieces.