Prologue

A Chapter by Divya Dias

He looks at her from across the window...

Stephanie Lou was the girl of his dreams. The girl he’d grown up living next door to… The girl who he waited to catch a glimpse of... When she smiled his world smiled. When she laughed his heart felt like it would explode with joy. She was his friend…well…friendly neighbor…but he had spent twenty three years of his life waiting for that perfect moment. She was his. She just didn’t know it yet…

He gazed at her as he sat at his computer �" the perfect ruse for the peeping tom. His room faced hers and his computer was placed perfectly. Oh yah! He was on Face Book, or Google or even Wikipedia. That’s what his family thought. Truth is he was sitting at his table, the website was on and his eyes were glued to… her. He was an addict alright. Just not to what the world thought he was addicted to.

He knew somewhere inside of him- this was wrong. It came too damn close to stalking. But what else was he to do? Gather the nerve and speak to her- his friends had suggested. But they didn’t understand. It wasn’t just that she had moved in different circles than his all their lives. Or that they had hardly said two words to each other in school… or college… or even across the window...

Gerry would definitely have voiced his attraction for her if it hadn’t been for one little thing…

He was not who everyone thought he was…And he chose not to think about what he was. Nobody knew except him. He had hidden the truth for so long he had almost forgotten it.

It was his burden to carry. And it was his choice to ignore. It was also the shackle around his foot that prevented him from doing anything where the girl of his dreams was concerned. In time all would be…

Everyone thought he was a coward for hiding his attraction. The previous day he had come very close to revealing all to her. Stephanie had met him on his way to work. She had been glowing and smelling of heaven. And he had almost opened his mouth and blurted out ‘I love you.’ But he hadn’t.

His eyes strayed to her then as she was adjusting her makeup. Girls took so much time with that kind of thing. And she was no exception. But he loved watching her do it. It took her almost an hour every day. She would rub on the foundation, then she would blush her cheeks. She would pout those lips- that kept him up at nights- to color them. And finally she would highlight her baby blue eyes and turn her tumbling blonde hair into a knot.

If any of his friends knew he knew her ritual by heart he wouldn’t hear the end of it. Good thing they didn’t know, he reminded himself.

Steffy turned to flick her eyes with mascara and waved to him through the window then almost making him jump. He hoped she had no clue what he had been up to. He needn’t have worried. ‘Hi! What you doing?’

Beauty galore, but the queen of his heart did have a shortage of brain power at times. ‘Computer surfing...’ He lied with ease. ‘Come to your door. I want to meet you and your parents.’

WHAT? His heart started pounding till he could feel the thud thud thud in his ears. Oh Lord! ‘Why?’

‘To invite you’ll for my wedding.’

His heart stopped beating.