By Mr. Hereh
I didn't expect love. Not there. Not then.
But it came — soft, sudden, like spring rain on a dry day.
She was a senior. Older, bolder, and far ahead of me in life.
And yet, I saw her before I ever knew her.
Everyday, when she came to church, I felt my heartbeat shift.
Not out of fear… but wonder.
She didn't even know I existed. But to me, her presence was everything.
I would wait for that moment. I'd wake early, press my clothes carefully, wear my best shirt, check myself twice in the mirror — all just for those few minutes when I'd see her enter.
As if she was the sermon, and I was the listener.
I never heard her voice clearly. Not in those early days. But somehow… I was addicted to it. The few words she spoke to others, the tone in her laughter — it echoed in my head more than the choir songs ever did.
She walked like she knew where she belonged.
She didn't smile much, but when she did — it was like light breaking through stained glass.
She wasn't soft like people write in poems. No.
She was wild. Jealous at times. Rude in ways that caught me off guard.
But all of it pulled me closer.
Her imperfections made her real.
And that realness… made her beautiful.
We started talking — slowly. A glance became a hello. A hello became a conversation. And soon, we were meeting in places where no one could see — near the gate, behind the corners of routine, between lines we weren't supposed to cross.
I didn't fall for her all at once. I fell a little every day.
When she laughed unexpectedly.
When she got angry over silly things.
When she looked at me like I was more than just another boy.
With her, I didn't feel like I had to try so hard.
I could show my fears, speak my dreams, even stay quiet — and she still understood.
She became a rhythm in my life — a song I didn't know I needed until it played.
And though no one else saw it…
Her presence was a poem.
And I, unknowingly, had become a verse inside it.
I still remember those days when every evening I used to go to see her near the girls hostel . Those memories .