1 The Woman at the Bus Stop

It was a dark and stormy night. I was heading home from a friend's birthday party. I had a few drinks and felt slightly tipsy, but I could still walk stably, and my head was still very clear.

It did not start raining until I was about halfway home, but it was an understatement to say that it rained. In fact, it was pouring. The rain felt like hailstones against my face.

Luckily, there was a bus stop just a distance in front of me. It was just large enough to at least keep me sheltered from being bombarded by the rain. I decided to stay there, and I waited for the rain to stop.

However, the rain just kept on pouring. It showed no sign of stopping.

A while later, I started to feel cold. It was also very uncomfortable sitting there in the chilly night with my drenched clothes.

I wanted to call my friend, but I realized that I forgot to bring my phone with me. As I waited, I contemplated whether I should brave through the rain or not. In the end, I decided that I would wait out the rain.

After all, it was already the end of the raining season, there was no way that the rain would last for more than an hour—I was dead wrong.

The rain lasted for another hour and showed no sign of stopping. It left me with no choice but to wait for the midnight bus to take me to the stop past my apartment, and then from there, I could walk home.

While I was waiting for the bus, I noticed a woman coming towards me. She wore a long dress that looked a bit too formal compared to my jeans and plain sweater. I could not really make out her face from that distance, but I did notice that she had an umbrella by her side.

The odd thing was that she did no use the umbrella. She soaked through the heavy rain and slowly walked over to the bus stop. I couldn't help but sneaked a few glances at her, trying to see what her face looked like.

I was a bit disappointed. Her wet hair covered almost half of her face. I was only able to make out the general structure of it. However, she did look very pretty to me.

The woman stiffly and slowly sat down about two persons away from me. She sat up straight and looked almost lifeless. I was shivering while the cold did not seem to bother her at all.

We sat there for a while. It did not seem very long, but I felt time crawling at an agonizing pace. One, I was feeling colder, and two, I'm a bit nervous sitting beside such a beauty.

From time to time, I would sneakily peeked at her. I also really couldn't help but want to ask her why she didn't use the umbrella.

However, she was giving off an aura that seemed like she did not want to be bothered.

What surprised me, though, was the fact that she spoke to me first! Her voice was really soft, and she also spoke slowly. It was a bit hard for me to hear her through the rain, but I really did not have any trouble understanding her, oddly enough.

She asked me if I knew what time the bus will be arriving. I was a bit doubtful on why she would ask me such an obvious question since the schedule was right behind her, but I didn't mind conversing with a pretty woman like her.

We talked for a while. She asked me about my situation. I tried joking with her a few times, but she didn't seem to be the type who was into jokes. I mean, she didn't laugh at all at any of my jokes. Maybe I was just bad at telling jokes.

Anyway, I eventually got to ask my question. She didn't answer me, though.

When I was about to change topic, she suddenly said to me, "Do you need an umbrella?"

I wanted to shake my head and said no, but on second thought, if I borrow her umbrella, I could take the opportunity to have more contact with her. Foolish fantasies got the best of me, so I said yes to her.

She slowly and stiffly handed me her umbrella. It was almost mannequin-like now that I recall it.

I also felt her hand when I took the umbrella from her. She felt very cold, but I also felt very cold.

The rain did not stop and it seemed to be even heavier than before.

The woman did not seem to mind touching hands with me. She was not even in a hurry to take her hand away; she was calm as always and slowly retracted her hand.

I suddenly felt like I thought too much, but I wasn't going to kill my dream just yet. Since I got her umbrella, I suddenly found the courage to ask her number. To my disbelief, she actually gave me her number!

I didn't know where she got that piece of sticky note. It did not feel wet but a part of the number was smudged by water.

"Thank you," I said to her. "I will return your umbrella to you tomorrow."

The woman just nodded at me. It was then that I realized I didn't even ask her name!

"I'm Mason," I said.

I was about to ask for her name, but she surprised me once more. She told me her name!

"Nice to meet you," I said.

Honestly, I did not hear her name through that boisterous rain. I could only make out a few sounds and syllables, but I had to pretend I heard it. I could always say that I forgot her name and ask her again tomorrow.

We did not talk for a long while after introducing ourselves. I was not a great conversationalist and the woman did not appear to be one either.

As I watched the occasional cars driving past me, I felt even colder. I looked at the woman beside me—she still sat there like she was at the beginning!

She seemed to be immune to the cold. I also noticed that her dress looked like it was still submerged underwater. It was a bit of a surprise to me. I even wondered what kind of material that dress was made of as it absorbed water too well.

Finally, I saw a flash of lights in the distance as the midnight bus drew closer. It slowly came to a stop before me.

I turned to the woman and asked, "You first?"

The woman just shook her head. I wanted to ask her again, but the bus driver was giving me a stare like he's looking at a mental person.

I was not that brave myself to ask the woman again, so I let the bus driver pressured me into the bus. I swore I saw him shook his head and mentioned something about being crazy as I sat down on my seat.

I silently cursed to myself that he was the crazy one.

I watched the woman through the window. She slowly waved good-bye to me. It was at this moment that I saw her face. It was only a single flash, but I clearly saw her smile.

It was very beautiful.

As the bus moved further and further away from the bus stop, the sight of the woman became only a blur through the heavy rain. I looked at the wet umbrella in my hands and sighed to myself.

I also made a decision to take the chance once I meet her tomorrow. After all, at worse I will just get rejected.

Well, tomorrow came sooner than I expected. I was not ready to call the woman. I took a long time staring at the umbrella that had just slowly started to dry in my living room. I typed the woman's phone number and deleted it many times over.

In the end, I mustered the courage and pressed the call button.

It rang for a while with no answer. My heart felt dejected. I was about to give up and end the call when I suddenly heard a pleasant voice.

"Hello?" said the voice.

I was psyched up but quickly calmed down.

"Hi! This is Mason. I wanted to return your umbrella to you. Umm...I'm sorry, I'm not very good with names. What was your name again?"

A short silence followed before the woman said, "Mason, right?"

"Yes! Remember me? We met yesterday at the bus stop?"

"Mason, listen, I think you got the wrong number. Who are you looking for?"

I felt a bit disappointed. It seemed like I was about to get rejected, but I still held onto the tiniest trace of hope, so I tried once more.

"I think I got the right number. It's *** *** ****, right?"

"Yeah...?"

"We talked yesterday night, remember? Well, it was midnight so you could say it's today very early morning. Haha."

Again, a moment of silence. I thought I was hung up, but the woman on the other side of the phone actually spoke once more.

"Listen, Mason. Can I ask you a few questions?"

"Yes!"

The woman let out a chuckle after hearing my enthusiastic voice. I found her chuckle very cute.

"You said that you met me at the bus stop yesterday, what did I wear?"

"Easy question!" I thought to myself, "Girl, you have to try harder than that."

I did not receive any response after I answered the woman. My heart almost stopped for a moment. I thought I remembered it wrong, but there was no way!

"Okay...then did I wear anything on my hands?" the woman asked.

That was a hard question as I really did not pay too much attention to the woman's hands. However, the Lord was on my side. I remembered when I accepted the umbrella from her and our hands touched.

She seemed to be wearing—it was at this moment that all my hopes and dreams faded away. The woman was wearing a ring! Yes, it was a ring!

"You were wearing a ring..."

I could hear the woman chuckled again as she heard my dejected voice.

"Are you...by any chance, married?" I asked.

"No!" The woman laughed softly to herself. "You're a very funny and expressive person, Mason. I could see your face just listening to the sound of your voice."

I let out a sigh of relief. As long as she was not married, I still got a chance! Besides, she said she had a good impression of me!

"Okay, last question. Well, more of a request," said the woman.

"I'm ready for it!"

"You said I lent you my umbrella. Can you send me a picture of it?"

I was slightly puzzled, but I would not deny such a simple request for a potential date! It took only a few seconds before the picture was successfully sent to the woman.

Another tense moment of silence went by before the woman spoke to me again. However, this time, she sounded serious and lacked the relaxed tone earlier.

"Okay, Mason. Um, I don't know how to tell you this..."

"What? I'm ready to hear anything. Even a rejection."

The woman's tone eased up a bit. "Well...how should I put it? I'm not the person you met yesterday. That was my sister. She has been missing for three days now."

Suddenly, I remembered the name of the woman I met that night at the bus stop. She whispered in my ears, "Hello, Mason. My name is Beth."