Missed Connection

"Is this elevator going down"
" Yeah it.. it is" I stuttered, not because it was unusual to see such a pretty lady early in the morning, but because I was tensed about the test.

"Are you here to give a test", she quizzed.
"Yup GMAT"
"Oh...me too....I am so nervous".
She probably repeated that a couple of times, but she seemed far more relaxed than me.

Under normal circumstances, with the ice-broken, I would have continued into a meaningful discussion with this pretty lady. But today, I was tense, and was swallowing half the words I spoke and decided to limit my words to a diplomatic minimum. However, she seemed more interested in striking a conversation. As we settled in the hallaway waiting for the doors to open, she queried
"So where do you work?"
Blah...Blah..Blah..we went on for couple more minutes

Once inside the test room, she was ticket number 7 and I was number 8. So we waited our turn to be signed in and ushered into the test room, and I made myself comfortable in a seat next to her. After a few minutes of random conversation, I started staring at the passport she was holding in her hand.
"Are you wondering where I am from? I am from Ecuador"
I showed her mine, "I am from India".
I discovered more commonalities too. She had come to US in the same year as I did. 2003.

Our merry chatter was broken by the Test administrator, who yelled out "No. 7"
I patted her back and said, "Good luck"
She turned back, " Wish you the same. I think you would be gone before I finish the test"

Coincidentally we ended up sitting in adjacent cubicles. Through her fervent typing, I knew she was in the same section as I was in - Essays. Hour later, I opted for my first 10 minute break. As I turned the corner from the restroom, I see her smiling in front of me. Hmmm..our breaks had coincided.
"How were the essays?" she asked.
"Well..I used up 20 minutes to write them, and relaxed the next 10 minutes. I don't like typing on random topics. I heard you type a lot"
"Yeah...I tried"
..a few words later, she bid adieu and excused herself to the restroom.

I went back to write my Quant section, and as I was poring over my Question # 1, I could hear her tip toe behind me into her cubicle. 75 minutes later, after exercising my brain with algebra and geometry, I contently opted for my second 10 minute break. Again, I went to the restroom and hoped she would follow suit, as her timing should have been very close to mine...and as I turned the corner, it was no surprise that I saw her again. She was still smiling, so hope things were going well with her.This time, I was real nervous, because I was 75 minutes away from my score.
"Hey, looks like we are working on the same schedule." I remarked
She smiled and probed, "How did your Quant section go?"
"It went OK. But I am very worried about the verbal. I hope I do well"

We chatted for a couple more minutes, and once again she excused herself to the restroom and we wished each other well. 75 minutes later, I was satisfied to finish the test, but nervous to click NEXT and check my score. Thats when I heard her hurry behind me...this time she had finished the test few minutes earlier....strange I thought! Relieved with my effort, I took the printout of the scoresheet and tried to get to the parking lot as soon as possible. But she was nowhere to be found. As my empty eyes gazed at the few remaining cars on the rooftop, I noticed that she had gone - probably dejected by her score, cause I was very confident that she would have waited otherwise. But I hope she did well, she was a nice person, she definitely made my day better.