The fading sun of November stretched slowly beyond the chimneys, covering the old city walls with its most brilliant light. The little rented house was still dark, but the sun had already begun to make its way through the window and light up the place.
On the air was the scent of sandalwood - his soap, and something that looked as if it was coming from the other side of the street, refreshing and new. The sunlight was so thin that it looked like a slice, but anyway, it was enough to wake Raj from his sleep. It was one of those sighs that is neither tiring nor refreshing, but that depends on the sensation that the world is at a standstill with the silence of waiting for something.
At 22, Raj was a good example of control whereby he was a person under command. Disciplined and controlled, he made every move with intention and exhaled with control. Despite the fact that he had a fire burning inside him, a fire that beat against his chest, he kept it quiet. He got up and went to the mirror. The person he saw was not one of vanity or pride, but simply recognition of effort, of form, of becoming. He couldn't take his eyes off the slight perspiration of the previous night's training which his body was reminding him of in every muscle and shadow.
A curtain moved in the wind from the other side of the courtyard.
Dr. Mariam came out on her balcony, her arrival merging into the morning like a secret only the day could keep. The sun was very kind to her, it was almost like it was drawing her silhouette with its effortless grace. She put her hands on the railing, her hand very light, and her face giving away nothing.
Her motionless being had something magnetizing about it -a very strong inner faith that without any effort, it was drawing the world towards her. The wind was playing with a few strands of her hair which it was bringing to her face and then letting them go again. Her eyes were fixed on Raj's home as if led by some invisible thread.
Raj looked up, feeling it before he saw her. Their eyes met- a very insignificant moment in terms of action, but of an immeasurable weight.
The silence between them felt alive. The soft hum of the city faded, leaving only the slow rhythm of their breaths, the golden air that bridged the space they never crossed.
For a heartbeat, the morning became something else a suspended world where words were unnecessary, where two solitudes recognized each other and quietly nodded.
This time her eyes stopped as if they were trapped by his figure, but he did not feel it as mere desire, rather as a deep bond of connection, like both of them holding silent pasts that could understand each other without words.
She gave a tiny smile, nearly unnoticeable, the kind of smile that says "I see you", and then she moved off. However, the warmth of that stare stayed, a heat below the surface that was still there.
Raj let out a breath, his body going up and down in a breathing pattern that was not entirely his. The gym equipment was still on the ground waiting for him, the clock was ticking towards the hour, but somewhere inside him the change had already happened.
The November sun was getting higher and higher, spreading its rays all over the courtyard. A drop of sweat came down his temple and when he took a cloth to it, his eyes went again to the balcony which was now devoid of her presence.
The day had come.
However, the day had come for another thing also - a quiet current beneath the surface of their routine, a tale that they neither of them knew yet that they had already started.