She kept checking her phone every 2 minutes. Probably there was a notification, she just didn’t hear it. Flutter in stomach, tickle in ribs, and a lilting heart – everything was unusual. God, that delay was killing her. She had sent the message almost 10 minutes ago, but there wasn’t any reply. Is he even interested in me? The tick isn’t blue yet; probably his phone isn’t nearby. He might be in a situation where he can’t reply. Or is he ignoring me? The virile stallion of her thoughts was galloping at a breakneck speed leaving behind a plume of anxious questions in its wake.

She sent another message, a meme she had found her FB wall. The warmth of her deep breaths and gush of emotions were trying hard to thaw the ice that kept on forming in those freezing delays. She was just hoping that the joke she sent would find him in good mood and he would respond. Even a smiley would be good enough. That was all she needed to trigger a conversation. She had a few tricks up her sleeve – a few questions prepared and a few memes in her scuttle to continue the conversation in case situation demanded.

Ping! Her ecstasy knew no bounds. She picked up her phone and quickly entered her pin. It was 4-digit long pin and an additional enter key. In her haste, she missed the third character and was denied the tryst with relief. She cursed her fingers and reentered the pin, very carefully this time. The moment she tapped on the WhatsApp icon, disappointment struck her hard. It was not from him. A cousin had decided to send a, supposedly, funny joke to her family’s WhatsApp group. She thought of sending another meme, in order to grab his attention. She had a few spare to spend. But, wouldn’t that look too desperate? Would I be infringing his privacy or annoying him? She held herself back, and the wait continued.

Ping! She carefully unlocked her phone. Her eagerness carried with it a concomitant fear of disappointment. But this time her stars were aligned. He had replied. She was on cloud nine. It was rofl smiley. But just one. Oh God, why? People, usually, are not stingy when it comes to sending smileys. But he used to send smileys with such a great caution as if the number of smileys he sends would be multiplied with a thousand and deducted from his bank account. “What, the hell, is wrong with this guy?”, she muttered. She, however, chose to put this thought to the back burner and asked if he liked the joke. The conversation began. He shared a few college incidents related to that joke, talked about his daft friends and in the process also complimented her once or twice. Her face went red with blush and entire body spurred with an adrenaline rush. To match the tempo, she also shared some of the supposedly wild things she had done. As the night ripened, the emotions bloomed. It went well for an hour or so. But beyond that, it started fizzling out. Longer replies gave way to shorter ones, which, in turn, converted to smileys and then “hmm”. She clearly understood that the boy was having issues with continuing the conversation and ran short of topics. But she was diligent. She was rekindling the conversation with “how was your day” or “what are doing now” or some of the memes she had saved for this very purpose. Nevertheless, she adored his honesty, maturity in handling problems and offering recommendations. His reticence was sexy and sense of humor was infectious. Although he wasn’t some hunk or one with a chiseled face, but she was floored by his intellect. She had fallen indeed, fallen for him.

The song finally reached its crescendo on yet another musical night. She read his “good night” once again and then put her feelings to rest. Enough for today; she heaved a sigh of relief and went to sleep. She was experiencing this for the first time. A sublime euphoria, blissful pins-and-needles thrill of the novelty and, probably, an intimation of inevitable love in the future – a forelsket.

Forelsket is a Norwegian word for the euphoria when someone starts falling in love.