Lazily, he sauntered to the bus stop, hoping to catch a glimpse of her. Yes, her. Not the kinda girl that would make any guy's heart pump madly, but one of unnoticed brightness. Ironic, he thought. Everything in his life has been extraordinary and/or torturous,, to say the least and he ended up picking a plain, nondescript girl. Oh wait, she has this hidden feelings, this hidden pain. That is why I want to reach out to her. I want to understand her, who is so much like me. So painfully beautiful.... He mused aloud in his mind.

'Oww!!' Came a shill cry from somewhere close to him. Looking down, he saw her. 'Oh, hi.', she said, carrying another smile on her face. Walker has been with him long enough to know that that the smile was crafted; like him, used to hide emotions. But, unlike him, who used a fake wall, a fake life, a fake character, she chose to reveal painstakingly little of her life. So painstakingly little, that he chose her. At first, he did not notice her as a important person in his life. But, he noticed details, many small details that formed of his impression of her. Details, was what he used to judge a person. As he always felt, details are small, tiny bits of life which tells a little of your character, and if you are patient enough, you could actually see the person fully. Of course, he reminded himself, females are tempermental and irrational creatures. Habits change, moods turn-- all part and parcel of getting close to a female.

Only then, when he noticed, she was blushing. Blushing at the intimacy they were in. 'Errr... are you okay?' Popping the redundant question whilst he respectfully took a step back.

'Would you like to... to take my hand?' The question came as much as a surprise for me as for her. It was as though someone took charge of her and blurted it out. Now both of them blushed. Though there were no people around, both of them were very conscious of what had just happened. There was a tense air around them; if one made a wrong move, the other will feel hurt. They both knew the fact in their hearts, but they are waiting to let one another think through. But, both of them have little to consider in this small action (which incidentally, have been wanting to do for the last two years)

'Its okay if you do not want to...I mean....'''she stammered on.

'I understand.' he smiled and took her delicate hand into his. 'I always have been wanting to do this...'

Both of us smiled at each other. Her smile was different from the first- the first was seen used to greet everyone, but the one to him--ah, that was a different matter entirely. That smile was seemingly reserved for special people. Special people like him. That smile melted his heart; he vowed silently to protect this girl.

'Whoa, we're gonna miss the bus!'

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On the trip to school, the hands clung onto each other. Walker opened up the conversation first. 'When did you start... to think about asking this question?'

'Ah... that started around last year, during the end-of-year holidays, where suddenly not sitting beside you seemed boring and dull, and not just that, I suddenly feel that my life depended on your every movement, every action... What about you? When you replied, you do not look that much taken aback.'

'Mine was also around the same time, where suddenly I found out that without you, half of my heart felt empty and devoid, and how sitting beside you does not make my heart race; it simply injects a new sort of rhythm into my life, one that is weird, yet comfortable...'

'So we sorta got a crush on each other, and until now, its cleared up?'

'Yeah, sorta. Funny how life goes in this way.'

The hands were kept all the way until a teacher came in and they shifted a little for decency's sake. Barely.