What do others think of ….

She was charming, beautiful, and smart. It is no wonder why she is the dream girl of many. Everyone there was very keen to shake hands with her and take her autograph. He was also in the queue, waiting patiently for his turn.

Once his turn came up, he took a deep breath, gathered all his courage, and hesitatingly asked her – “Do you mind joining me for a cup of coffee, once your work is done?”. Though he was mentally prepared to hear “NO” from her, he waited patiently for her to say that.

As she signed the autograph for him, without much thought, she said, “Why not?” He was stunned to hear that affirmative reply and felt so happy that he had an opportunity to spend some time with that smart young lady. 

Then, after a while, they were sitting in a coffee shop facing each other. Though it was meant to be a short conversation over a cup of coffee, it went on for hours as they got so deeply engrossed in their conversation, and they finally ended up having dinner at the nearby restaurant before they bid each other goodbye.

When it was time for her to leave, he asked her a question, “You could have done many other things this evening. Why did you choose to spend time with me?”

She replied, “You are smarter than you think” and left in a hurry.

He was astonished and couldn’t believe it. He looked at himself in the mirror there. He appeared smarter to himself for the first time ever in his life. Her words would have done the magic. As he reflected on what happened, he realized, “What people think of you also energizes you sometimes, though when you truly don’t care what anyone thinks of you, you land on a dangerously awesome level of freedom.”