Three Eyefuls for the Shy Reader

i)

Eyes are the window to the soul. An expression you’ve heard a million

times – and honestly, I’ve always believe d it.

Don’t get me wrong, not in the dramatic “I can read your every thought

through your pupils” kind of way, but in the simple, everyday sense. Eyes

give you away. They are the ones who reveal the hesitation in your voice,

the excitement you’re trying to downplay, the confidence you’re faking, the

curiosity you don’t want to show. We like to pretend eye contact is simple:

look, hold, look away. In reality, however, we all follow a set of unspoken

ii)

Eyes are the window to the soul. An expression you’ve heard a million

times – and honestly, I’ve always believed it.

Don’t get me wrong, not in the dramatic “I can read your every thought

through your pupils ”kind of way, but in the simple , everyday sense. Eyes

give you away. They are the ones who reveal the hesitation in your voice,

the excitement you’re trying to downplay , the confidence you’re faking the

curiosity you don’t want to show. We like to pretend eye contact is simple :

look, hold, look away. In reality, however, we all follow a set of unspoken

rules we never agreed on but instinctively understand. And the thing about

eye contact is that it’s never one-sided. The second you look at someone,

you become aware they’re looking back – and the realization that it’s a

two-way street is when things become interesting.

iii)

The second you look at someone, you become aware they’re looking back

– and the realization that it’s a two-way street is when things become

interesting.

Take, for example, the moment when a simple glance stops being casual,

when two seconds feel like a decade and your brain quite literally forgets

how to function. The kind of eye contact that only happens with a crush.

It’s not about romance or butterflies turning your stomach into a

playground. It’s about exposure. Looking at someone you like suddenly

feels too revealing, as if they can see everything at once your intentions,

you r insecurities, your attraction, your fear It’s both beautiful and

terrifying. You enjoy every bit of it, fighting with every fibre of your being

to hold the gaze for a few milliseconds more, while at the same time feeling

your knees getting weak and your eyes begging you to look away. It's a

moment where you’re painfully aware of how completely thrown off you

are, while the other person seems perfectly composed.

But it doesn’t always feel like that. There are moments where that intensity

simply isn’t there, where holding someone’s gaze barely stirs anything in

you. Technically, you still feel exposed, but in a harmless way that doesn't

set off any alarm bells. It’s exposure without consequence. You’re able to

look someone straight in the eyes without feeling your thoughts scatter or

your tongue start to tie. Your hands are steady and your heart rate doesn’t

even flinch. Your gaze doesn’t give anything away – after all, there’s

nothing to manage, nothing to hide. The ease of it makes the contrast

impossible to miss: the same glance that overwhelms you in one context

becomes effortless in another, as if your body instinctively knows when a

moment matters and when it doesn’t

And then there’s the third kind of moment, one that sits somewhere in the

middle. It’s the one that doesn’t completely overwhelm you but doesn’t

leave you indifferent either Someone’s eye s meet yours and, for a split

second, the atmosphere shifts: the background noise quiets down, the

packed club suddenly empties, and the music fades the tram seems to

switch to slow motion. There’s no deeper feeling to it – no questioning, no

overthinking, no calculating – just pure curiosity with that strange little jolt