Puppy Love

It's been a long time since there's been a face I can look forward to seeing every day. It's been a long time since there's been someone I constantly want to steal glances of; a voice whose every spoken word I want to cling to; a person whose every nuance and mannerism I want to memorise.

I don't know if I will give myself away, and if I do, what will happen next. All I know is that I feel this great lift in my spirits whenever our paths cross, because all that is sweet, young and true shines in her aspect.

There's something very liberating about this dalliance. The last time I felt this way was nine years ago, when I was still in my Bibi-and-Baba school uniform and life was less complicated. The intervening years have been bogged down with too many near misses, false hopes and angsty ruminations. In all my frustration I've forgotten the simple joy of running home and peering through the fence to see if the girl next door is in.

This afternoon, after nine long years, she is.