Soul Mates

He was staring at her face. Nah, he was staring in those eyes. The eyes that can pierce through him so easily and look whats inside. 'This will be the last time I will be seeing them', he thought. Last time before he got married...to someone else. How did this happen? How did they arrive here?

They were in a restaurant talking about something, he can't recall what. All he can recall now are the expressions in those eyes and the way they watched him. Their number was called and he went to get his coffee. When he came back, he caught her staring at the napkins they were writing on during their discussions. She was staring at his hand-writing. He could see the nostalgia on her face: remembrance of the times when they used to sit next to each other in class, the way he used to write on the side of her notebooks, make smilies, just distract her. He could also see the struggle on her face: whether to sneak the napkin in her purse or leave it there. He sat down, picked up the napkin and started tearing them apart. He couldn't make himself look in those eyes while doing that..how much is this hurting her. 'Throw them in garbage instead', there was a tremble in her voice. He did. And when he did look in those eyes again, there was more concern in them than pain. Thats when he realized how much that hurt him. He wasn't tearing those napkins apart but his own heart. She saw that pain. Like always, she read him like a book.

Is this what they call love? Why didn't he realize it sooner? She was his best friend. She was there when he started going out with his fiance. She was there when he lost his job. She was there when he was trying hard to start a new career. She was there during all the hard times he can recall and yet he never realized what all that meant. He knew he had a crush on her. She thanked him when he told her that. She confessed having crush on him too. But thats what it was, a crush and they both were mature enough to maintain their friendship even after those confessions. They flirted occasionally but with understanding thats all it was. Nothing serious. None of them had courage to confess to being in love now. Or may be it was too late.

Its been years since he got married and lost contact with her. They have been acknowledged as 'Made for each other couple', 'Soul-mates'. Still he can't shake off those eyes. Those expressions. That meeting. Her.

P.S.: 1. One of the side-effect of reading fiction: imagination runs wild. And since this blog is my venting-out place, so here is the result.
2. Don't worry, I am not that big a fan of romanticism. Just the question of Soul-mates stirred this up.
3. I know I am not a writer so I am not looking for any critique either. Read it and forget it..