A short story that I came up with in the spirit of valentine, triggered by Payal Panchal ‘s prompt on did you read today. Here goes..

I sat in the coffee shop sipping my green tea looking at the pair of eyes that bored into me from a store across the mall.

He was tall and handsome, dressed in a black shirt with grey trousers, his hands on his hips and a wide smile. My heart skipped the beat as I averted my glance to the book that I had just bought from one of the stores. “Call me by your name” was a love story and highly recommended by the salesperson at the store. It was supposedly one of the best ones written in recent times and even made into a motion picture that was nominated for the oscars!

I picked it up since I hadn’t read a love story in a long time. Having had a long day, I decided to grab a cup of tea to relax those nerves.

My heart skipped a beat as I looked up to see the handsome face looking at me again. I tossed my head in a cool fashion trying to act nonchalant while butterflies were playing havoc in my stomach.

Who was that guy anyway? Curiosity got the better of me as I decided to walk across and return his lopsided grin with a hand shake. No harm in meeting someone new I thought. Finishing my tea, I got up and walked across in a casual manner pretending to scan some shops on the way.

With a smile on my face, I inched closer to him. As I held my hand forward I stopped in my tracks and froze in horror.

The handsome figure dressed in classy clothes turned out to be a mannequin!

I almost felt like sinking to the floor in embarrassment when my funny bones propelled me to shrug it off with a good natured smile and walk towards the parking lot.

Perhaps reading ‘Call me by your name ‘ would help me find my true calling in life! At present my mannequin experience would just be a read, hopefully evoking a smile on the readers faces!