Perfect match

Since I was a kid, music has been a huge part of my life and until today no matter what I do, I love having music on the background. I think it always helps me keep my mind occupied and at the same time to concentrate. Of course it’s not only about the music, it’s also about the lyrics. Often, music is like poetry or love letters. Or they are just stories that let you in their magical world.

Recently while riding the bus back home from work I was listening to one of my favourites songs since I was a teen. The song is a beautiful and sad story that probably happened to every single person in this world at least once in their lifetime. The song is like a story that you can easily follow it like a movie. It’s a song of a man.’s struggle to get the attention of a beautiful woman. Hev is at a restaurant with his friend when suddenly he saw a beautiful woman and fell in love with her. But his romance only lasted for the entirety of his stay in the restaurant.

In the song, he describes how he steals some glimpses towards her, and when she looks at his way, he feels nervous and excited, thinking that she noticed him. But the reality is that she is searching for the waitress. During his time at the restaurant instead of giving attention to his friend, he only ends up bugging him how he fell love with a stranger. He expresses his feelings of hurt and sadness but also jealousy towards the man she loves.

The song is a bittersweet story that everyone experiences once in their lifetime with unexpected encounters. While listening to this song, I remembered my own once fairy tale of one day with a person that I don’t even remember his name.

As a university student, I would always grasp any opportunity to try new things. I was lucky enough that the student’s union had hundreds of societies and clubs, meaning I could find new hobbies. I joined dancing clubs, yoga, photography, hiking, book clubs, and even personal development workshops. Whatever the union would offer that looked attractive, I would give it a go.

Surprisingly enough, since my first year, I joined a dancing club. Specifically, I joined the Freestyle dance club, and it made my Wednesdays the most fun day of the week. Our choreographer was funny and cheeky, and because we were a large group, we had loads of laughs together. Everyone was from different backgrounds and different levels concerning dancing, and that made it even more entertaining, and I loved the whole idea of inclusion.

Nevertheless, even though I was already part of a dancing club on a whim, I decided to try another one that was focused on ballroom dancing. When I was a teenager, I used to take classes in Latin dancing, so I thought it would be an excellent opportunity to immerse myself again in a past hobby.

Regrettably, I realized that the Latin club runs at the same time as another club that I had been a member of. Therefore, I couldn’t attend the classes. But since there was a free class as a showcase, I decided to join them even if it’s only for a day.

Unfortunately, none of my friends was interested in ballroom dancing. So confidently, I wore my black tights with a fluffy burgundy jumper and went to the showcase all by myself. There were a lot more people than I was expecting, so in the beginning, I felt a bit awkward standing there alone. Mainly because as this was a class of ballroom dancing, we were all going to be separated into pairs. Thankfully I noticed that I was not the only one who came without any company.

Once we all gathered up, the choreographers told us to mingle around the large room and then take as our partner the one who was next to us. I liked their method because now we were all strangers and, in a way, that made it less awkward.

Unexpectedly though, I ended up with the perfect partner. He was just the right height for me, and his physical features were in perfect harmony with mine that we looked like the ideal Latin couple from Cuba.

With a shy smile, we introduced ourselves to each other. To this day, I remember being slightly awkward and couldn’t look him in the eyes. I was merely patiently waiting for instructions from the teachers. Finally, clumsily, we started the first steps for the choreography.

From the very first steps, I could tell that he was not only perfect in appearance for me, but also the ideal dance partner. Realizing our dance skills matched, we started having small talk and laugh at our mistakes or praise each other in our adept dance moves.

Gradually, we also got attention from the teachers. We were showered with praises and cheering shouts. The atmosphere suddenly became celebratory. With newfound confidence, we became very close, like old friends, and performed like a couple madly in love.

And then the end of the session came. One of the representatives from the dance club took me over to convince me to attend the classes with the goal to one day go for competitions and performances. Although competitions and performances around the country sounded tempting, unfortunately for them, I was never good when on stage. I love dancing, but I only like it for my own pleasure and to have fun. I never liked the idea of competing. I politely decline with the excuse that I’m already part of another club that I cannot leave, and the meetings time overlap with the dance classes.

During my discussion with the representative and other students was happening, my dream guy was taken by his friends. It was a large group of friends, and my awkward self deliberately refused to go and talk with all of them. Therefore, the only thing that I managed to do was say goodnight from afar and then left.

And that’s how my fairy tale of a day finished. Abrupt, harsh, and awkward. That was the first and last time I saw this person, and now years later, I don’t even remember his name.

Sitting on the bus listening to my music while leaving work in a completely different environment than that of my university days made me remember and ponder on what this person is doing today and if he remembers that day of us being the perfect dancing couple. It feels strange when you think about how many people you’ve met throughout your whole life that you won’t ever see again. But even if it’s only for one day sometimes, you feel a sort of bliss thinking of these unexpected encounters. So instead of thinking how I may have lost my chance of the perfect match, I’m enjoying the happiness of having unforgettable memories with perfect people.