Your POV

Eye contact = the state in which two people are aware of looking directly into one another’s eyes.

This is the definition you get from Google.

The first time I ever heard of this phrase was back in middle school, when my teachers were trying to equip us with presentation skills. Giving a fluent and succinct presentation (with proper slides!) will give you a 4 out of 5 but if you throw in eye-contact with the audience, that will give you a big fat 5 out of 5. Without a doubt, eye contact was an important skill to have.

The next time I was made aware of this concept was during my first clubbing experience. One of my guy friends kindly whispered into my ear while we were on the dance-floor some golden advice, “if you’re uncomfortable with having guys staring at you then don’t make eye contact with them, but of course if you think they’re cute, then look straight back at them.” But being the shy person I was (and am), I did not even cast a glance at any male that night. How do I know if they are cute I don’t even look at them? This led me to my grand conclusion:

I have anxiety issues.

Well, I am not hideous, nor am I breathtakingly beautiful. Like any other person you meet, I will tell you that I am average looking. I just dislike the feeling of being looked at and conversely, looking at other people because when you do, the other party is most likely going to look back at you too - this is the basis of eye contact. Another reason as to why I am so jittery about eye contact is probably because of my firm belief that ‘eyes are the windows to one’s soul’. I believe that the eyes speak more than words can ever do and the meeting of gazes is a genuinely sincere action that I only reserve for a selected few. There is no way I will feel comfortable letting some stranger peer into my soul, what more having it being mutual and inadvertently creating some sort of ‘connection’.

With all that said, imagine how uncomfortable I must have felt when I stepped out of Bonjuk and was met with a persistent gaze from someone I do not even know. I was in Seoul, on a trip with my best friend Hazel, because school was out for the summer. She was picking up the tab (we take turns to do so) while I decided that I wanted to get some fruit juice from the stall beside the restaurant. I stepped out of the restaurant and took a deep breath of the evening air. Relishing in the coolness of late Spring, I turned my head towards the juice stall and made eye contact with this stranger who was sitting on the steps leading up to the storefront. His right hand was loosely holding onto a cup of juice while his eyes were steadfastly fixed onto mine. I broke the eye contact within seconds but not before I noticed that:

He had soft brown hair which was falling into his big, dark eyes, a uniquely big and long nose (for an Asian) and he seemed surprised though he shot me a firm gaze. In that short few seconds, I felt myself questioning the depth of his eyes, which were as dark as the night sky. His eyes alone were captivating enough, but as a bonus he had great features to boot. Damn him. Alright, moving on to my second discovery. To put it bluntly, he liked what he saw (which questionably happened to be me) and did not intend to stop looking. I was pretty sure he was not staring at me because I had something on my face because he was clearing staring straight into my eyes and I wiped my mouth right after having porridge at Bonjuk. Anyway, upon realising that he may have an ounce of an interest in me, I freaked out. It would have been so much easier if he were a creep (or maybe he was) who was as old as my father so that I could have done something to flip him off (ok maybe I don’t have the guts) but no, he had to be cute. I threw a look of incredulity to the man who was sitting beside him, whom I assumed to be my starer’s (it’s not even a word, I know) friend, only to find that said man was zoning out.

“Great, I’m all alone,” I sighed inwardly.

I tried to play it cool and gracefully ascended the steps into the juice stall, consciously ignoring him.

“Out of sight = out of mind right?” I thought to myself.

I ordered my favourite ddal-ba (strawberry and banana) fruit juice combination and walked back out with my drink, while an anxious Hazel ran towards me.

“Hey, sorry for taking so long, my coin pouch was open and coins were scattered all over the…wait, why is that guy staring?” she asked i