Happy Birthday Stranger I

 

    Her eyes were filled with tears to seen an empty bus stand. A very few passengers were there, when she arrived. Three families, two old ones and a crew of boys were the ones who were standing along with her. She brought a ticket for the next bus in the nearby counter. After waiting for an hour, the last bus came into bus stand. Everyone except the crew of boys was aboard into bus along with some new comers. She kept her baggage in the shelf above her and took the window seat. The boys were standing beside her. She could hear their conversation clear and understood that they were talking about her, which made her uncomfortable, so she went behind the screen. She looked around her into the bus, there were only few seats were untaken including a seat next to her. She prayed to god to keep them away from her.

After a few minutes of break, driver started the bus. She thanked to god because they still not aboard. When the bus moved, only one caught the bus by leaving them behind and he shouted, “Good bye”. She felt comfortable until he stood in front of her and asking her to move from the window by showing her his ticket. After settling down, he offered his next seat to her but she refused and went to another seat. He shrugged. In a few minutes the bus stopped to aboard passengers and a couple came in. They went to the seat where she was. After giving that space to the couple she moved to another seat. And again the bus stopped another couple aboard. With a cute little smile she went back to her seat. The boy smiled at her. She took one of her bag and placed between them, it made him to smile to again.

          She couldn’t able to control her sleep and she nearly felt down from her seat a couple of time. He woke her up and gave his window seat but she refused, again he shrugged. When the bus crossed a bump, she crashed her head with floor. By rubbing her head with her hand, she saw him. He smiled and they changed their seats.

          Accidentally she saw his call logs and it was full of girls with different names. She whispered herself to be careful with him. He plugged in his ear phones and started doing something in his phone.

While sleeping, her dress slipped from her shoulders. He covered it with her blanket. He taught that she was slept but she wasn’t. She felt secure and comfort, when he was doing it. It gave her confidence to sleep. Suddenly the bus stopped in the middle of the nowhere. He and few of the passengers went out along with driver to see what happened. Driver noticed that a tire was puncture. With the help of few the driver parked the bus in the sidewalk near a shop. Everyone in the bus came out and went to the shop nearby.

When the driver removed the puncture tire, he noticed that another tire was also punctured. He decided to find some puncture shop nearby because he had a single replacement. The driver went in search for puncture shop with his co-driver.

          While everyone was at shop, she was standing in the roadside alone. He brought her coffee and she was happy to have a coffee. He asked her for a walk along the road. She doesn’t know why that she couldn’t able to refuse him.

          They had a little walk along the road. The little drizzle along with mild breeze made her body to shiver and he covered her with his coat. She felt really warm and comfortable under his coat. He always walked in little distance from her. There was a bridge over a flowing river. They spend sometime in the bridge.

“No Man Ever Steps In The Same River Twice.” He said.

“HaHaHa… Philosophy” she smiled.

They haven’t talked much than their eyes did. It was a beautiful conversation in the silence of the night. They decided to walk back because it’s almost passed 00.00 am. When they returned, she felt something strange happening because everyone was starred at her. When she came into shop they sang,

“Happy birthday to you……”

          She was surprised and her heart pounded. Suddenly the lights were cut-offed. And she could able to saw some candle lights in the crowd. He brought a cake for her and it made tears in her eyes. He wished her, “Happy Birthday Stranger” and the cake was also named as “Happy Birthday Stranger”. First time in her life, she was standing speechless. She doesn’t know what to do instead of wetting his shoulders. She crashed herself into him and hugged him so tightly. While cutting the cake, the driver and his co-driver were also came. He distributed the cake to everyone including the drivers.

          After a few minutes, they changed the tires and asked everyone to aboard soon. After counting everyone, the bus was on his way again.

          She took the window seat before him and it made him to smile.

“By the way, how do you find my birthday” she asked.

“I’m sorry that I noticed the reminder in your phone” he replied.

She smiled at him. He took his mouth-organ from his pocket and started playing. She enjoyed the music. The music in the silence of the night along with the breeze took her to sleep. This time she landed directly into his shoulders. She didn’t open her eyes until the destination reached.

Sadness drowned into her face slowly and slowly when the bus entered into bus stand. She felt something with him and she wanted it to last for her life. Everyone came out of the bus.

“See you stranger” he said.

“Stranger, not to me” “my name is Kanmani” she gave her hand.

“Kabir” they shook their hands.

She tried to remove the overcoat of him. “You can keep it” he said and went on his way.

Life has more to show to Kanmani & Kabir……

Thank you for reading☺

Image credits - www.WritersCafe.org