He looked himself in the mirror. He’s never been handsome but that didn’t stop him from taking an extra minute or two in the mirror. He looked into his eyes. He saw the white of his eyes with threads of veins running underneath. The veins looking like a wild forest that his soul was trapped in. He turned his head to the right and looked at his cheeks. A few tiny moles here and there, scars from teenage acne still visible. Luckily for him, the acne no longer tormented his face. He continued his survey of his facial features and applied his spot buster lotion at strategic locations on his face.
While doing this, he undergoes his morning routine of affirmations. He tells himself that he is a success, he is capable of attaining that which he desires, and that he is strong enough to pursue that which he wants. He does this shirtless with only his pants on. He feels that by being shirtless, his heart is exposed. That while affirming his own greatness, he’s exposing his greatness to the world. However, there was one element that he could confess. He couldn’t confess the love he felt for a woman.
This woman, he met one day when he went to the grocery store. She was standing outside the store. He saw her and instantly felt a rush of emotions in his body. Bolts of lust and love rapturing his heart and loins. Time froze so that he could admire the beauty that was in front of him. He felt that he had to tell her these emotions. She had to know how he felt about her. But through the lens of her glasses, he saw that she was not having the best of days.
And with that, his emotions settled into a calmer state. He still had the image of the woman in his mind while buying the food items he needed. He passed by a box of chocolates. The thought struck him that he should buy her the box of chocolates. Chocolates are little kisses that God created when He said “let there be light”. The idea stuck with him and 5 minutes later, he took the box of chocolates off the shelf.
As he was strolling to the pay point, the universe could not have been any cheekier. Clearly, within that moment, the universe was listening attentively to his thoughts. It was the end of the month so, the store was full. The queues that lined the various pay points were disgusting. They went into the different aisles of the store. All the pay points except one. The only one that had only two customers. One customer had two full trolleys. This customer was busy unloading her goods on the cashier’s counter. The other customer stood behind her. She had only a magazine in her hand and a pie neatly packaged. She stood there with her glasses, eyes darting towards her phone. The black sweatpants she was wearing made her seem curvier. She extruded high levels of coolness with only a crop top covering her upper body. The girl that he saw outside, there she was.
He gingerly pushed his trolley to the aisle of two people. To the aisle that the universe had created for him. This was it. His chance to engage her. The lady in front of them was nowhere near done unpacking. He had about 12 to 17 minutes he could use. Suddenly, she looked at him. He felt a heavy thud of emotions land in his heart. Perhaps she felt the same way. Perhaps she saw him and she too was hoping for such a moment. Instead, she asked him for a bit of space so she could go back into the wilderness of consumerism. She forgot something and wanted to go get it quickly. Tongue twisted and tied into a tight knot, he simply shifted to the side. She waltzes by him, the scent of shea butter from her hair, the cocoa butter infused with a lavender note from her skin gave off a heavenly scent. A heavenly scent that teleported him to heavenly places where he was there with her. In a land of purple grass, clear blue rivers and orange skies. He pictured himself sitting on a wooden bench discussing life with her. She was explaining to him how she dislikes how she gets special preference because he was lighter than other African girls. That she despised that one’s beauty can be used as a leverage society. Twice in a single day, this woman’s beauty warped the physics of time.
A light tap on his shoulder brought him back to reality. Naturally, he reared with a fist in the air ready to put down the invader of his privacy. His eyes were searching for the threat in order to destroy it. Instead, his eyes were met with beauty that froze time. Beauty that bent time. Beauty created in heavenly places.
“Sorry,” she said, looking down. Obviously, she did not expect the fist.
“uhm. . .hm” he said with embarrassment masking his voice.
The lady in the front was almost done. She was now unloading the last trolley that had a few items. The beautiful woman walked back into her rightful spot of number two. And he stood behind her at number three. He knew that this was the only chance that he had. The third time is the charm. And yet, the words could not escape his mouth. The words could not be formulated in his heart. Like facing the ends of the Earth and knowing that a leap of faith will land you in your treasures, he still could not do it.
The lady in front placed her last item on the cashier’s counter. Relieved, she looked at the cashier and gave her a smile confirming that indeed it is the last item. While she was paying for her goods, the card machine malfunctioned. The cashier called the manager who was preoccupied with another cashier. The woman in front of him, the woman who bent the fabric of the universe twice, looked at him.
“Isn’t it strange that the card machine breaks down on the busiest day of the month? Talk about bad timing.” She said with her arms across her bust, inadvertently lifting it.
“Ha!” he replied in an awkward laugh.
She looked puzzled by the response. He felt stupid. The card machine still refused to connect to the store Wi-Fi. He resolved with himself that he had to continue the conversation.
“Next!”
The card machine finally connected with the store Wi-Fi and it was the beautiful woman’s turn. She placed her goods on the counter. It was like the cashier got a boost from the manager and within no time, she had processed all the beautiful girl’s items. She gave the cashier cash and left.
There he was. A trolley full of essentials for himself and a box of chocolates for a woman he would never meet again. He took the box of chocolates out of his trolley. A tear was the only expression his body could make.
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