What's in a fraction-of-a-second-lock-eye-moment

have you ever experienced a lock-eye moment with a complete stranger? i'm sure everyone has their own story to tell. but i find it interesting how when your eyes are locked in that moment, you can't glance away... although the event only lasts for less than a second in real-time.

what is this force that makes the two people hold their gaze? but this doesn't happen to everyone that you happen to meet eye-to-eye with. some encounters where the two happen to glance at each other at the same time, immediate glancing away is not a problem... in fact it's an automatic response. and sometimes this response is too quick for your brain that upon turning your gaze away, you then realise that you'd like to have a more thorough look... and so you turn back and have another look to fulfill a curiosity piqued by your brain. this happens to me alot. maybe my brain's abit slow!?! hahaha

but back to the inevitable lock-eye moments in time. it happens so randomly without any warning. it has happened to me twice with the same person (whom i've never spoken to before) and it feels unsettling as i can't put my finger on what makes me look up at the very same moment this other person looks up... and then... the 'lock-eye' moment occurs. the moment ends when i feel the urge to blink my eyes and then it's gone! off to continue my own life...

what passes within that fraction of a second? i don't know... for me, it's just the feeling that i can't look anywhere else. for the other person, i can only imagine... hope he doesn't think i'm flirting or anything. but seriously, i wasn't flirting as i'm well aware that my facial expression wasn't twisted into a smile, pout or whatever other expression which might connote some other message (besides, anyone who knows me will know that i can't flirt to save my life! hahaha). in fact i think if i were to see myself, i'd look either mildly surprised or just plain expressionless (as i always look)... so this is just one of the things that i find quite strange. it may be just overdeliberation of a simple coincidental moment or could possibly be more than one can fathom. but i think it's most probably the former.