The room is crowded, full of people. People with purpose in their actions, but not in their eyes. They're dressed so sophisticated, each one looking like a character from a film, mingling, busy, engaged but so shallowly.

He walks around, a thorn in a room full of roses, wearing a disguise that fools everyone but himself.

She, too, trying to convince others yet not convinced herself. The mask conceals only so much.

His eyes meet hers for only a split second. But for that split second, the room freezes and the Earth dissolves, and she is the only one he sees.

She catches sight of him too. Something inside her stirrs, wildly, incontrollably, inexplicably. In a moment she feels almost entranced.

In the temporary instant, he takes in her eyes, their emerald green so vivid and alive, fierce under a canopy of lashes. He imagines them looking into his, curious, electric, understanding.

She sees his too, a sandstone brown, gentle and powerful, their contradicting elements fascinating to say the least. She imagines them looking into her, her soul and her being, knowing her.

He sees her neck and her shoulders, exposed in a strapless gown. Her skin like silk over bones, so ladylike, so fragile. He imagines holding her shoulders, kissing her neck.

She notes his shoulders, his arms, his hands. Broad shoulders, strong arms, gentle and deft hands. She imagines him holding her close to him, being so at peace in his protective embrace.

He sees her lips, their perfect shape, tinted a shade of cherry red; the focal point of her face. He imagines kissing them, a finger under her chin, tilting her head just so.

The moment has passed. In an instant, the room is brought back to life. Glasses clink, and voices murmur, rising and falling like waves in the ocean.

He could have made his way over to her. He was alone, as was she. She could have made her way over to him. A simple 'hello', be it timid and shy, would have been something at least. Yet she turned left and he turned right, both of them pretending that they hadn't, just for a second on an inexplicable impulse, imagined spending the rest of their lives together.