‘The car’

I could barely see her face as she had put both her hands in front of it. I wanted to ask her why she was sending me those kinds of images in which I couldn’t even see her, but I didn’t dare to ask as I was not sure about her reaction; I barely knew her. Then I noticed her hands. On the index finger of her left hand, she was wearing a simple plain gold ring, and on the wrist of her right hand, there was a bracelet. Those were slender but beautiful hands. Her trimmed nails were excellent in shape, and it had this natural pink color. I felt an impulse to take those hands in mine and kiss it, but I didn’t express my feelings to her; it could be awkward.

“You have beautiful hands,” I said and didn’t demand any further image.

“Do you know hands reveal certain traits of a person?” she asked.

“No, I don’t. Would you care to explain it?” I asked curiously.

“Each finger of our hands stands for something unique about us. For instance, our little finger tells about our communication skills, ring finger about how expressive we are, middle finger about us being responsible, efficient, confident, and also shows our growth. The index finger says about the strength of a person and also his shrewdness. Thumb strives for success in our life. So, how much striking certain traits of our character does depend on how strong a particular finger is,” she explained.

“That is quite informative,” I surprisingly asserted. That was an honest remark. I was astounded by her having such precise knowledge.

“I am glad that you get to know something new from my side,” she replied. We talked about a few other topics afterward before going to sleep. It was again almost morning when we slept, and I once again stayed awake for some time after saying her Good night; this time, the reason was her image. I started checking the last picture which she had sent. I so wanted to feel the warmth of those hands; it felt like I could smell the mild fragrance coming from them. I didn’t know when I fell asleep while thinking of those hands.

The next day I again woke up around the afternoon. I checked my phone and found no text, but this time I didn’t get surprised or anxious as I affirmatively said that it was not going to be a problem if she would not text me during the day time. I cursed myself for doing so. Although I was curious to know the reason behind that yet, I knew that I was not going to ask her anything. I had no idea why I was so gutless to ask her anything at all. I sighed, put the phone to bed, got up, and went to the bathroom to freshen up. After coming out of the bathroom, I didn’t check my phone and went downstairs straight ahead. It was December month, and the days were quite chilled even during the afternoons. I was having my winter vacations from college, so I needed not to worry about waking up so late. Mom was not home, so I went to the kitchen, put some food on my plate, and sat on the dining chair. I was not in any hurry, so I enjoyed every bite of my food.

After finishing my lunch, I went outside to spend some time in the warmness as it was pretty freezing inside the house. The partial presence of the Sun outdoor was not sufficient to create enough heat. I zipped my jacket and walked to the park, which was just a few meters away from my house. Most of the sitting benches there were occupied; I searched for some time to get a free seat but found none. I was going to come out of the park when I saw two ladies got up from one bench and left it unoccupied. I ran towards it to grab it before someone else could, reached there on time, and placed my ass on it in victory. It was a good bench, resting in the best position as it had been just opposite the Sun. The rays were not much stronger but were producing enough heat to make me a little warm from inside. I put my hand in the pocket of my trouser to take out the phone, but it was not there; I forgot that in my room. I was in no mood to go back and bring that, and also, she was not going to call or text me, so there was not much use of it for me, so I didn’t move. Besides, I was enjoying being there. Many people were there in the park, came like me, to enjoy the Sun as we were not able to see it every day. I adjusted myself on the bench and tried to get relaxed.

After a while, I went into my thoughts, the thoughts which were about her. What will she be doing right now? Is she still be sleeping, or is she awake? Is she also thinking about me? Is she missing talking to me? Then my thoughts again moved to her hands, those beautiful hands. I so wanted her to be with me at that particular moment, to sit beside me, to talk to me in her same sweet voice. Every thought of her was giving me some unique pleasure. I wondered what would happen if I meet her in person. I didn’t even know where she resided. I thought to ask her about it on our next phone conversation, but I was not at all convinced that she would give me an answer. After all, she hadn’t even told me her name yet, but I still kept hope.

I don’t recall how long I sat there while wandering in my thoughts, but I do remember, by the time I came out of them, the Sun was nowhere there. I was the only person left in the park at that time, and it was getting deadly cold. I started feeling a bit hungry too, but I still was in no mood to go back home, so I decided to go to the nearest market to eat something. I checked the pocket of my trouser; at least the wallet was there. I had this habit of never going out without a wallet. I came out of the park and started walking in the direction of the market, which was at ten minutes’ walking distance from there.

It was getting dark, so lights got turned on alongside the road. It was not the main road where trucks or heavy vehicles drove, and I would rather not say it a street because it was broader than the usual street. The small streets from both the opposite sides were connected to that main road. Not many people were there on the road that night as they were not insane to come out of their cozy homes during that chilled night, unlike me. There was total darkness at one spot on the road because the light there was not working. I had almost reached that particular spot when out of the blue, a car started coming towards me. It was driving from the opposite direction, but all of a sudden, it just changed its path. Its front lights were dazzling my eyes. I got panicked as it was coming at a very high speed, and there was not much distance left between us. It was almost going to hit me when I jumped sideways and stumbled upon the ground. Fortunately, there was grass on it, so I didn’t get injured. I stood up in a hurry to check on the situation of that car, it was nowhere in sight, and people were moving at their usual pace as nothing the hell had happened.