[ WP ] You have been completely colorblind your entire life and only see in shades of grey . You come across a stranger that appears in total color .

I sipped my cold dark coffee, flipping through the newspaper- glancing through the endless series of images but not really taking in the information. A woman was comparing two gowns on the giant TV screen ahead. Both looked the same to me. I turned, a sudden pang of discontent disturbing my otherwise self content life. 
 
 Warm. Bright. Deep. People use a thousand adjectives to describe colors. I have never seen one. When I was young, my parents got frustrated by my inability to distinguish between red and yellow. I was a smart child otherwise- but hopelessly incompetent when it came to colors. I would never pick up a picture book, nor fight with my classmates over a piece of crayon. My elementary teachers would initially consider me disturbed when they saw me painting the leaves pink, the sky brown or the river green, some would think I was a genius- but they later heaved sighs of relief when they heard I am colorblind- another mystery of the word solved! 
 
 I never usually felt like I missed out, though. But these pangs would come suddenly, like when we went to the zoo for the first time ( in my memory ) and my younger brother rushed to the bird cages commenting on their exquisite patterns. But, I would remind myself, I'm lucky too, I never lose focus- freed from every visual imagery. 
 
 I blinked a few times, and returned to my insipid coffee. The call for my flight will come in another 10 minutes. I wanted to soak in the last few moments of leisure before taking off. 
 
 `` Thump''. Someone had just sat beside me. Subconsciously, I looked up. And suddenly, every nerve in my body started tingling. 
 
 Are those- colours? Could it be? His eyes were not the stormy grey ones I am accustomed to seeing, but a brilliant- blue is it? His dark hair fell across his foreheads in a careless mop- but- to me they looked more beautiful anything I had ever seen. The shirt he was wearing, the colour made me feel warm inside. I could distinguish between the colours of his buttons- one was a different shade than the other. His shoes were of a non-uniform colour- the tips brighter and the shoelace standing out in a softer shade-yellow? pink? I felt frustrated- I know the names of a hundred hues but I still felt so ignorant in front of the real thing- like I have just been thrown out of my theory class to experience the real world. 
 
 Has the world come to colour? No, my shirt was still stone grey even though the shopkeeper had said it is mauve- and the sky outside is a dull grey. But, who cares how they look? How can anyone even spare a glance toward them- when there is this exquisite- beautiful human being sitting in front of me- when he is making me feel things I did n't think were real? My senses were overwhelmed, i was having goosebumps, thunderstruck. Finally, everything is complete. I felt unable to speak, even though a part of me wanted to scream and shout in joy and wonderment. The coffee cup shook in my hands, as I gaped at the stranger ahead of me- the way some colours stood in contrast- the small discolourations of his skin, the small smudges near his sleeve, the grey peeking out at the roots of his hair. 
 
 The urge in me to scream in joy grew stronger every second. I could feel him shift slightly- I wanted to reach out and touch him. I tried to raise my hands, but I failed. Panicked, the internal screaming grew louder, the joy now tainted with pain. My grip loosened, and the coffee cup shattered into a thousand pieces. Started by the noise, he looked up and met my eyes. His deep enthralling eyes held me in a deep penetrating gaze for a moment, and then he leaned in. His soft lips formed words, but I could n't hear them- I am drowning in the colours. My vision began to fail- am I losing him? Oh, no! Not anymore! The colours blurred before me, and the last thing I saw was his wonderful captivating eyes. 
 
 I woke up drenched in swear in my cold metallic airport seat as the man sitting next to me nudged me up. `` I think this is your flight, sorry'' he smiled at me. I dazedly thanked him, taking in his frosty grey appearance. The world has come back to order- but it will never be the same for me. 

