The First Time I Drowned in Her Eyes

 There are moments in life that don’t knock.... they don’t announce themselves.... they don’t arrive with music in the background or dramatic lighting.... they just happen.... And somehow, everything after them feels different.... The first time I truly noticed her eyes, the world was ordinary.... People were talking.... Chairs scraped against the floor..... Someone laughed too loudly in the corner.... But none of that survived the second she looked at me.... It wasn’t just a glance... it was a pause, the kind of pause that feels like the universe inhaled and forgot to exhale.... her eyes weren’t the kind that sparkle in obvious ways... they weren’t loud.... they didn’t demand admiration... they were deep.... not dark in a sad way but deep like something that has seen storms and chosen silence over chaos.... when her gaze met mine, I didn’t feel excitement first... i felt recognition.... as if some forgotten part of me had just been found..... i don’t know how long we looked at each other. Seconds, probably..... but inside those seconds, something shifted...i felt exposed.... not judged just seen.... there’s a difference. Being looked at is surface level.... being seen is dangerous. Her eyes didn’t skim past me.... they stayed.... and in that staying, they held questions I didn’t know I was ready to answer. I wanted to look away first.....because when someone sees you that clearly, you either hide or you surrender.... and I surrendered....slowly....carefully.... Without realising I was stepping into something I wouldn’t know how to leave.... There was warmth in her gaze, but also distance..... Like standing at the edge of an ocean at night.... you can feel how vast it is..... you can hear the waves....but you don’t yet understand how easily you could drown...i remember thinking, foolishly.. “I could live in those eyes.” Not visit.Not admire.....Live. They carried entire worlds in them... soft sadness... unspoken strength... A quiet kind of hope that didn’t beg to be believed... And when she smiled just slightly her eyes changed before her lips did.That was when I knew.....Her eyes told the truth before she did.I started noticing everything after that.... the way they softened when she listened... the way they sharpened when she disagreed but didn’t argue.... the way they dimmed for half a second when something hurt her.... most people speak in words... she spoke in glances... and I learned her language... too well... that's now hard to forget.. because the more I understood her eyes, the more I depended on them.... I began measuring my days by them. If her eyes searched for mine in a room I felt chosen.... If they lingered... I felt important. If they drifted away... I felt lost. It’s terrifying how quickly someone else’s gaze can become your gravity. And I didn’t realize I was falling. Not when I waited just a little longer for her to look at me again. Not when silence felt comfortable as long as her eyes were near. Not when the world seemed softer through the reflection of her pupils.... Love doesn’t always begin with fireworks.... Sometimes it begins with eye contact you can’t forget..... Sometimes it begins with the quiet understanding that you have just stepped into something deeper than you planned.... The first time I drowned in her eyes, I didn’t fight the water. I didn’t look for the shore. I let myself sink believing that if something feels that beautiful,it can’t possibly be dangerous.... I was wrong. But in that first moment,before the distance,before the silence, before her gaze stopped choosing me... There was only light. And I would relive that moment a thousand times..... just to feel seen like that once more.