Kkum #1

Heavy eyes

I had a dream about B. last night. He told me he had been in love with me ever since he met me for the first time. That I have always been his one and only.

On the night in question I recall greeting his kids. They had all been invited to the opening event for my company's newly opened office - hosted by me and essentially, in honor of my achievement.

The event took place in the common room, the play room, a large space with floor to ceiling windows facing a deck and the view to a large green lawn surrounded by endless grand pine trees.

As a tech start up, it had not been difficult to convert the space to fit clients, friends and family. Our ping pong table, now used for beer pong, a few couches moved around and our bar was now attended by a few bartenders as the only edit.

The biggest change was his presence from the get go, his expression as I greeted him with a short hug, making my way around the room. His eyes found me wherever I would go, with whomever I would greet. He continuously kept a silent eye on his kids, whilst keeping his attention on me. A certain fixation on me, his eyes in awe, and warmth.

You can kind of tell when someone is keeping an eye on you, and everytime my eyes flickered around the room from whatever conversation, I met his eyes. Each time the contact was established, it instantly enticed the side of his lips to curl up into a smile.

As this continued, I grew more and more confused as to what he was getting at. His reaction seemed cryptic, in contrast to our many years of friendship. Was he trying to let me in on a joke? Was he mocking me silently for showing my best (forced) business appropriate persona?

As time passed I grew more and more curious, it was distracting me almost entirely from the conversations I was in, I needed to clarify what was going on, to keep up appearances. I made my way to his side, standing shoulder to shoulder with him.

He was instantly aware of my presence, and faced me as his eyes turned into crescent moons as his smile took up more and more of his face. As a reaction to his adorable expression, my working memory disappeared for a second. Forcefully, I snapped out of the smile-induced paralysis and whispered determinedly "Can you come see me for a moment?"

Without wiping his, now grinning, smile of his face, he nodded and I signaled him to follow me in the direction of my office. I could feel his steps right behind me, as I made way through the crowd as we continued down the narrow hallway to my office.

I heldt the door for him and as he had entered, I shut the door, breaking the silence from the way here. As he knew he was about to face charges, he tried to lighten the mood with his colgate smile, and moon-eyes.

"You really did get yourself a nice office, how does it feel to be the big boss?"

I was still at the entrance to my office, silently, standing up against the door, crossed arms, slightly annoyed with his deflection. Without waiting for my reply, or even looking at me, he kept voicing his observations:

"I've already said so a million times, but I sincerely think all you've achieved with this company is incredible."

As he turned to face me, he instantly cleared his throat, as my expression and impatient demeanor did not quite match his expected gratitude as a response for the compliments.

As my silence filled the space between us, his face lost the smile, the crescent moons, and turned more confused, less confident. Signs of realization seemed to hit him, it was kind of the time for an explanation. His attention turned to the floor and then the walls, basically anywhere aside from my eyes.

My impatience grew, as his silence seemed neverending. Without knowing what might be going on, it was still the opening event of my company, and my lack of presence would be noticed at some point.

A direct inquiry would most likely get me out of here as fast as possible. With a cold, decisive tone I asked him "What are those eyes on about? Why do they keep tabs on me all over the room?

As an immediate response to my directness, his eyes locked confidently onto mine. A certain sense of seriousness and a slight smile was forming. He stood silent for quite some time, until his smile filled up whilst his cheeks turned slightly pink. He broke the tension simply saying "It's you".