Between Him and Her

Her Stop

Liya had a long way home. So she just stood by the end of the car hoping for her stop to come soon. She scrolled through her music selection in her iTunes library. She had Gun n' Roses playing currently but wanted to change to something mellow. She felt that gaze again. He is persistent, isn't he? She thought to herself. She looked up an arched her brow at him.

The man blinked at her from behind the glass. She turned her iPhone to him, and he gave her a slight twitch of a smile. The screen showed the cover of ACDC. Liya used her index finger to flip through the covers. He didn't give any indication as he was working, but his eyes would subtly change. Trying to be discreet, Liya didn't want him to get into trouble either. He had his focus only slightly away from his work as he was in constant communication with his driver.

He finally stepped back again picking up the mic again to make his announcement. This time it was her stop.

Liya finally settled down on Bollywood music playlist. As she got out this time, she made sure to turn to him to smile and wave goodbye. He looked at her and nodded his head in acknowledgment and whistled.

For some reason it made Liya feel warm inside. She sighed happily and whistled as she walked out of the station. She was so happy that she couldn't wait for it to be tomorrow so she could have some semblance of human relationship in her lonely life. To put it mildly that she was going through culture shock. But she wouldn't have accepted that particular reasoning because she had chosen this route as her career.

Getting home, she quickly took a shower and had her dinner. She plopped down in front of her TV to watch some random Japanese show. She thought if she could get used to listening to the sounds of the language then she would have an easier time of learning the language.

At around 9.30pm, Liya called her mother as was her daily habit. They spoke about nothing in particular.

"Hello," her mother said when it was picked up.

"Hello, amma? It is me."

"Hello. How are you, mole?"

"I'm good. How about you? How are you doing?"

"Same thing. I need to get dressed to go to work soon."

"Oh okay. Everyone is okay?" Liya asked perfunctorily.

"They are fine."

"Okay then. I'll call tomorrow then."

"Okay." The line was cut off as her mother had hung up.

"Love you and take care. Bye." Liya said sarcastically. Her mother wasn't taught phone manners when she was young because growing up her family didn't have a phone at home in India. So all of their phone conversations would like that.

Sighing, Liya went to bed right away. Tomorrow she had another day of dull school day of doing nothing. Her only highlight to look forward to was the train conductor. As she laid in the bed, she recalled what he looked like. I really need to figure out his name. It was her last thought in mind as her eyes shut to deep sleep.