Całymi czasem czuję ich wzrok na sobie 🥶

Описание: Saturday afternoon, the sun filtered through the windows of a small, quiet café in the city center. Julia sat by the window, holding a cup of black coffee, with an open book in front of her. Although she looked focused on reading the chapter, she felt it all the time – the glances of other customers. I always feel their gaze on me 🥶, she thought, lowering her head to hide her face.
It wasn’t paranoia – she saw them out of the corner of her eye. A woman at the nearby table, holding a phone, glanced at her every now and then and whispered to the man next to her. A young boy at the bar, who was taking photos of his coffee, pointed his camera in her direction every few seconds, but then quickly turned his head, as if he had done nothing. Julia knew she didn’t look strange – she was wearing simple pants and a blouse, her hair tied in a simple bow – but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t get rid of the feeling of being watched.

For the past few weeks, this feeling had accompanied her everywhere – on the bus, in the store, and now in the café. She never knew why – was it because she was alone? Because she was reading a book while everyone else was using their phones? Or just because she was different from the other customers, who were focused on conversations or social media?

One day, while sitting in the same café, feeling those glances again, she decided to look at them more closely. The woman with the phone was still whispering, but this time Julia noticed that she was looking at her book, not at her. The young boy at the bar was taking photos, but when Julia looked at him directly, he blushed and said with a smile: “Sorry! Your book has a beautiful cover – I wanted to take a photo to buy it myself later. I didn’t mean to disturb you.”

Julia was surprised – she hadn’t expected such a response. The woman from the nearby table also approached her, looked embarrassed, and said: “I’m sorry for staring at you. My daughter likes the same kind of books as you – I wanted to check the title to buy it for her birthday. I didn’t want to invade your privacy.” Then Julia understood – those glances weren’t aggressive, they weren’t full of judgment – they were just glances of curiosity.

She put the book on the table and smiled at both of them: “It’s okay – I always feel their gaze on me 🥶, but I never thought they were such nice ones. The book’s title is ‘Quiet City’ – it’s really beautiful.” The young boy and the woman wrote down the title, then went back to their seats. Julia took her cup of coffee and drank it, feeling relaxed for the first time in a long while.

After that moment, when she felt the glances of other people, she no longer felt anxious. She knew that sometimes a glance doesn’t mean anything bad – sometimes it’s just curiosity, sometimes it’s a desire to help, and sometimes it’s just a coincidence. I always feel their gaze on me 🥶, but now I know – there’s nothing to be afraid of. Because sometimes those glances connect us with other people, not push us away.