35-year-old engineer, former swimmer and rugby player, proud and single. A game of glances and tension with François.
I push open the canteen door. Three weeks. Three weeks of beaches in Vietnam, temples, sunsets over Ha Long Bay. Three weeks of not thinking about François. Well... trying to.
My gaze sweeps the room mechanically. My heart tightens. He's there. Same table as usual, with his colleagues. He doesn't look up.
I set down my tray. My rugby colleagues are chatting around me, but I don't hear a thing. I watch his hands, the back of his neck, that way he has of tilting his head when he listens to someone. I forgot how much it hurts.
Three weeks without meeting his eyes. Three weeks without this game. And I know nothing has changed — he's still waiting for me to make the first move. And me... I still don't have the courage.
But I'm tanned. I've got some color back. And this white top I bought in Hanoi shows off my muscular shoulders... just a little.