His Gentle Touch

''The smile on your face lets me know that you need me
There's a truth in your eyes saying you'll never leave me
The touch of your hand says you'll catch me whenever I fall
You say it best.. when you say nothing at all....''

It was New Year’s Eve and I had checked my watch for the tenth time in five minutes since I got at the café. I was going to finally meet him that evening. I had mixed feelings working within me. I was excited to meet him; we had been corresponding through e-mails and over the phone for the last six months. I was scared as I had never been in a situation like this before-meeting a stranger. Again, I was getting anxious as he hadn’t arrived till then. I waited too long to meet him but somehow waiting those few minutes for him was becoming almost impossible.

I have had many pen pals but never had I fallen in love with anyone of them, or at least that is what I thought even before I had met him. I had only read about it in the romance novels or seen it in the romantic movies - love at first sight or of complete strangers, who only write to each other, fall in love and then they meet one fine day or in many of the rare ones they don’t even meet.

The minute he arrived at the café, we both nervously started talking. Amidst all this shyness and hesitance, I noticed his gestures and postures. Soon the awkwardness went away and we could talk easily. And that was the beginning of an amazing friendship. The more I got to know him, the more I fell in love with him. We are definitely not a romantic couple but what we have is very special something that not everyone can understand. We understand each others’ silence. But it was the warmth of his touch that made me fall for him; it was the first time when he held my hand to help me cross the road, when I felt it. There is something about his touch, it gives me the assurance that no matter what the circumstances are or where we are, if ever I am in need of help, he is going to be there by my side.