I wasn't supposed to be at the bookstore that day.
I'd taken a different route home, trying to escape the chaos of my own thoughts. Life does that sometimes—pulls you into places you don't expect, just to show you something beautiful. And that day, I saw it. I saw them.
She walked in first—quiet, hoodie on, earbuds in. The kind of girl most people would overlook because she wasn't trying to be seen. But I saw her. Tired eyes, maybe a little weighed down by life, but still carrying this soft strength in the way she moved. Like she hadn't given up yet.
He was already there—leaning against the poetry shelf, flipping through Neruda like he was searching for something. Blonde hair that caught the light just right, and these unreal blue eyes that could probably make anyone stop mid-sentence.
And then it happened.
Their eyes met.
I swear, it was like time hiccuped. Not in a dramatic movie scene way—but in the real kind of way, where the air between two strangers shifts and you just know something changed.
He smiled first. Not a full one—just a little lift at the corner of his mouth like she'd caught him off guard in the best way. And she… she looked surprised. Like she wasn't used to being noticed, let alone by someone who looked like him.
"You read Neruda?" he asked.
She nodded slowly. "Only when I need to feel something."
He laughed—not mockingly. Just gently. "That's why I read him too."
They talked for a while after that. I pretended to read, but really, I couldn't stop watching. There was no flirting. No games. Just two people who were honest in a world that's forgotten how to be.
Before he left, he scribbled something on a scrap of paper. Slid it to her and said, "If you want to keep feeling something."
And she showed up. I saw her at the coffee shop the next week, sitting across from him like they'd known each other for years. And then again the week after that. And the next.
They were both carrying their own storms. Broken homes, jobs that drained them, pasts that didn't always make sense. But somehow, together, they didn't feel so heavy.
They built something real. And I got to witness the first second of it.
So if anyone ever tries to tell you love at first sight isn't real—tell them it is.
I saw it.
#LoveAtFirstSight #RealRomance #WitnessToLove #TheyMetInABookstore #ModernLoveIsReal