Observation

There you were sitting, on the step closest to the little koi pond, revelling in the warm afternoon soleil. Your pale blue T-shirt set off your eyes handsomely. You know that. You were the one who told me about it. Moreover, the rays of sunlight seemed to enhance the crystallinity of your eyes in shades of blue, yellow and light green.

You had your bag of fruits with you, as usual. You picked up a slice of pineapple, peeled off the plastic bag holding it and took a big bite of the juicy golden-yellowness.

You were chatting to Claire.

'Can you hear them below? The voices don't seem to be travelling upwards, I can't hear them at all,' the other Claire said to me. 'No, I can't hear them either,' I replied, absentmindedly. We were sitting two steps up. I turned my attention back to her.

I took care not to let you or anyone notice that every once in a while, I sneaked peeks in your direction.

The pineapple's finished and you've started on your papaya. Ah, one of my favourite fruits, the papaya. 'An acquired taste,' A once said. I'll always remember how the 2 of us would go to the little shop tucked in the corner to buy fruits and we would both work together to pick 2 reddest pieces of papaya. How there was once when A was around, he started grumbling about me being choosy.

The sun felt good on my back. I don't look forward to going back to the cold office.

You took out the banana, balled up the damp bag, and made a move to stand up. At your signal, Shab announced, 'Ya, I'd better get back too.' We all got up.

An enormous fan of palm leaf almost caught you in the face. You commented to me how you seem to be constantly tripping over things. Doormats, branches. Then you recounted an incident when you were walking along a pavement and suddenly, you felt as if someone had grabbed hold of your ankle. It was a wayward branch sticking out onto the road.

Ding dong, chimed the bell of the lift, level 3, went a female elevator voice. Back to work.