In the Philippines, we had this term called “chansing”. It means to take a chance to touch a girl you like or have some form of skinship or skin to skin contact. In here, he touched her hand which is innocent at first but it is also the first hint that the audience gets to see that he liked her.
When I was 9-10 years old, I attended this Catholic Private school. We would go to a catholic church and do a mass. It happens often. So in a Catholic church, there would be a part where everyone holds their neighbor’s hand. We would even raise them. So in this part, sometimes the girls end up holding the boy’s hands. Sometimes the girls giggle and guys giggle at the opportunity. We were young. We get teased by grownups and such. So it is normal to be shy and stuff. Many times the girls won’t even hold the boy’s hand.
I was talking to this guy on my right. When the part came, I just stood up and grabbed the hands of the two people next to me. I totally forgot I was sitting next to this very sweet girl on my left. I just grabbed her hand like a lover would do. Our fingers locked. I took her hand that was on her hips, and then raised it. I don’t even know if she wanted to hold hands, or she is shy or she didn’t want to or whatever. I just initiated it. Our fingers locked as I raised both our hands.
I realized afterwards that it was the hand of a girl because it was a lot smaller and more delicate. It was warm and it felt nice holding it. My hands also felt stronger. I looked down, she was wearing our school uniform which is a long white skirt so I knew it was a girl. I looked at her, she was just looking straight at the priest. I just looked straight also until the part of the mass was over. My heart was like doki doki. It was beating fast.
I was like such a dork when I was young with this goofy hair cut. But the way I grabbed her hand, I probably looked so cool back then. After growing up, I hold women’s hands all the time, hug them, put my arms around them, and it means nothing. Just normal things people do. But when I was just a boy, I was so shy and it meant something.