"A Tale-Tale Story"

Running ahead the street trying to catch the train at 6:30, he has gotten taller, and his shoulders are broader than it is 11 years ago. His hair already clean cut and he had just shaved his beard this morning.

She, with her two-inches ledge shoes on rather than rubber shoes, is rushing over the street bumping people she doesn't know. She still uses lip balm for over the years, and her curly black hair tied in a bun. She is trying to maximize the five minutes she has left for a 10 minute distance to the train station from her apartment.

He knows exactly he could have gotten there earlier if he isn't only a late sleeper, but he must have been lucky today to reach the station before the time. He is all drained from running, but he thinks it is better than not. He stands there, catching his breath.

And then, he sees her.

Trying her best to look upright although it seems like she has been also out of breath from running, breathing heavily. He thinks he knows this lady and just as he realizes it, he is pretty sure it is her. It seems she has gotten taller, if only he has not notice her two-inches ledge shoes. Her right hand is inside her slocks' pocket and the other holding tight on the sling of her body bag. In his eyes, she still looks like a thirteen year old silly kid.

They both wear clothes they never usually wear 11 years ago. And there he is wearing a tie and a suit. He, who now wears suit six days a week. And there she is standing more womanly and straightforwardly holding her white board marker inside her pocket, thinking how hilarious their lecture would be today.

She looks around and glances at her left and sees him. He might have been familiar to her because she looks at his way again. He astonishes because he is looking at her too, but he manages not to keep it obvious. Then she blurts the usual greeting she usually says when seeing someone she knows,

"Hey hi, how are you?"

And it must have been really eleven years already because way back then, she never finishes the sentence up to asking how he is, and never minding whether would she still need to say something more, only settling for a "Hi."

"Hello," he responds. "I'm okay, how about you?"
"Just fine , too," she says.

And there just then, despite the busy and crowded place, a sudden awkward silence comes between the two. As if everything goes back from 11 years ago and they are just caught in the moment for exchanging 'Hi's' to each other.

They are both there, both standing before the yellow line.
He is always like that, for never starting a new conversation. He just stands there trying to stay upright looking at her from his peripheral vision while she stands there thinking if she needs to say something to break the silence. Both avoiding eye contact and at the same time trying to play things cool.

The clock strikes at 6:28. He checks his wrist watch.Then a breeze comes and he suddenly feels uneasy, that kind of feeling he never felt from any job interviews, but now he does.

6:29, the crackling sound of metals from the trains are now much more audible, nearing its destination. He knows exactly he has no time left, so he leans down to her and say,

"Do you have a boyfriend?"

She hears it, despite the deafening cacophony of the place, and she has never felt at ease like the way she does now. The wall that has been built from 11 years ago now shatters from his words, crumbling fastly as if melting.

"No," she answers, "I have no one in particular." Then she smiled gleefully.

The clock strikes at 6:30 and the train doors open,
and then they go again, separately.