Chapter 8
562 Words
"Aren't they, a bit rude?” he asked, as if worried of her bad company.
Elena laughed. A real one. "They're my friends!” She exclaimed. "Aren't friends rude? Moreover they hate waiting in traffic…" she said.
The man nodded.
Suddenly her smile vanished. When was the last time her brother noticed this? Did he ever do it? If he comes to know about this, he'd probably never let them talk… But Leonid nodded! He understood it…
"I have a daughter of your age… She too has friends like this. They're always rude to each other, but she explains to me this is how friendships work… I thought only she was that way… Now I realise everybody is that way… I'm too old to understand these childish things… But I'm happy that this doesn't bother anybody…” he said in a low voice. Not the one like her brother, this one was filled with deep wisdom behind it.
Elena nodded. Since when do strangers share their stories? Telling about their daughters? Dangerous people don't talk that way right? She thought to herself. At this point, her brother was more dangerous to her than this man.
Suddenly a car stopped right in front of them. The door opened and Kira opened the window. Elena was shocked to see her seated on the driver's seat. They're not legal drivers! She thought they were coming in a cab!
“Come on girl, get in!” She said
Leonid noticed her. The way her eyes widened a little. The way her mouth opened but no word came out. She was shocked. Shocked to see her friends in oversized t-shirts and long skirts… something they truly hated and made fun of when she wore it. Now they were wearing it like they hadn't passed any of those comments to her when she did that.
He instinctively stepped forward as a barrier between Kira and her.
“You know them?" He asked as if he was ready to knock them down if she said no.
“Yeah… They're my friends." She said, moving towards the car.
“Oh, they arrived!" He chuckled to himself, stepping away.
“What took you so long? Don't you know she's been standing under this hot sun for a while? You shouldn't leave someone waiting this long!" He said looking at Kira.
He didn't scold, didn't raise his voice, didn't threaten. He simply called out their mistake and told them to avoid it. Aaron would've scolded, threatened, punished or worse, never let them meet again.
Why is he so different? Elena wondered as she was about to hand his water bottle back. But Leonid refused. “You need it." He said. He then glanced once again at Kira, confirming.
“Take care young girl. See you." He said as he turned away, already walking ahead.
Elena couldn't get her eyes off him. She stood that way, ignoring the calls of Kira and Dasha, until Kira got out, took her to the car and then sat.
Her gaze still lingered on the crowd, on that blue T-shirt, watching him disappear among others.
“Who was that man?" Kira asked starting the car.
Elena didn't respond. Maybe she was too busy still searching for the blue t-shirt.
A part of her didn't want to let him go. Something about him felt different, stranger but safe.
- Writer
