Airpods

1

Meera was sitting in her window side seat looking out at the scenic beauty as her air pods blasted music in her ears. Meera was travelling to Lonavala where she would stay with her friend for two days and attend a BTS concert in Mumbai and return to her home a day later. Lately, the weather wasn't suitable for Airways in Bangalore that explained why she was on a train.

  She looked up as she noticed people pooling into her compartment. She mentally hoped  they would be good people. She had encountered a few incidences where the people in her compartments were obnoxiously loud or pestered her with questions. However there have been good people as well. She silently kept chanting her prayer in her head. She looked up at the people who walked into the empty seats in front of her and beside her. A short boy sat down along with a tall one on her side. While three men sat in front of her. One of them sat by the window side and fell asleep almost immediately. The guy beside him was clinging on to the boy by his side. They didn't take off their masks which made it weirder.  Two more men approached the aisle and sat down on the two seats across from the originally seated group. 

Meera continued looking out of the window as she tried not to ogle at their builds.  She smiled to herself as she pulled out her favorite romance novel- "Right fit wrong shoe" She continued reading for about an hour before she felt a head on her shoulder making her turn. The guy beside her had fallen asleep on her shoulder. She looked around and saw all of them sleeping except for the boy that sat in the middle in the seat in front of her. She looked at him hoping he would look up from his phone. 

Luckily, for her he did look up because of her intense stare. "Sorry about that" he said in a falsetto as he got up and moved the boys head from her shoulder carefully. "Thanks" she said as she let out the breath that she hadn't realized. "No it's his fault for making you uncomfortable" he said as he went back to his seat but the phone from his hoodie's pocket fell to the floor. Meera quickly bent to pick it up. "Your battery is low" she said handing the phone back to him. "Thanks. I know. I forgot my charger and they won't share" he said sadly. "I have one that I'm not using right now"  she said fishing one out of her purse that laid on the small table attached to the underside of the window. "Here " she said as she gave it to him. "But, I don't have a power bank either" he muttered sounding embarrassed. "Is this your first time on a train?" she asked as he nodded. "Here" she said as she attached the plug to a socket by the table's side and handed him the the ending part of the charger. "Thanks" he said as he got up to attach his phone to the charger pin and laid it on the table with it's screen facing downwards. 

" That will scratch it's screen" Meera pointed. "Oh let it be. Why do you have a Samsung charger when you're using an iPhone?" he asked pointing at her phone that laid on the table, swiftly changing the topic. " Oh, I have two phones." she chuckled. He nodded slightly before leaning back into his seat as Meera went back to her book as well, both satisfied at the fact that the silence was rather comforting instead of awkward.

 Half an hour later, Meera placed the book to the side and saw the man still wide awake and looking bored. She took off one Air pod and rubbed it against a tissue as she felt his eyes follow her actions. She held out the Air pod she just cleaned for him. He pointed a finger at himself questioningly as if asking, "Me?" She nodded and he took the air pod. "What languages do you listen to?" she asked as she unlocked her phone to look for a suitable playlist. "Anything that you are listening to" he answered. "Please I insist" she said. " English? And a bit of K-pop?" he answered. "Perfect" she smiled radiantly. Her playlist started off with Ganji by PSY ft. Jessi.