September 19th, 2026
I caught your familiar eyes and face, standing in the middle of the bar. The music, which everyone, including you, knows I hate, was booming and rumbling the floor. The poorly lit bar and its purple and pink flashing lights shone on your face and in my eyes, with the sliver of the pedestrian lights streaming in through the oversized door towering next to me.
Your eyes met mine, like all the times it had before. And in that brief second, a million words whispered in my ears and a thousand moments flashed across my mind. You smiled at me, not in that happy and joyful way of yours that I have come to love and recognise. But in the way that screamed “hey, you” without any words exchanged.
“Hey, stranger,” said your smile. “I wish we were next to each other,” said your eyes. But maybe I’m just overthinking.
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My heart sank when I saw you. My face returned to its emotionless state. A hollow hole formed in my chest. I looked away and retreated to my friends, pretending that the years of our memories didn’t just replay in my mind, pretending that I could forget about what you told me on that fateful day.
At some point, I started looking out for you, hoping that you were okay, wondering if you had too much to drink. Even at the last bar, in the midst of the crowded dance floor, all of me hoped to not see you, for all the memories would come flooding in, and all of me hoped to see you, just one more glimpse of everything I wanted.
The corner of my eye caught you again as I searched for the bathroom, after all, it was my second pint of Guinness. Like animals in the wilderness searching for their path home, it’s like we know when and where to look whenever we are close by. But I avoided your eyes, for I knew the power it had on me.
Then, as Lady Lucky had planned, you came along as the clock struck twelve, walking behind us. I wonder now what you were thinking, what was on your mind, knowing that I was there. I wonder if you thought about me as much as I thought about you. I wonder if you wanted to move all those people that blocked the line of sight between you and I, just so we could see each other face to face. Because even if you didn’t, I did.
But you left with others. Back home. Not a look backwards as you walked. I miss sitting on the train with you.
If the world stopped around us that night, time stuck in space, people frozen in their place, would you come towards me? Would we look into each other’s eyes and have a thousand words exchanged without ever moving our lips? Would a tear gently roll down our face, and you and I would once again wipe each other’s tears off with our hands? Would we embrace each other like the world didn’t exist and that nothing else mattered? Would I be able to hold on tightly and never let go of the only woman I love?
I guess I never found out that night. Yesterday night. After all, the only thing you said with your eyes was “hey, stranger.”
