The Falling Petals...🌺

Who-says-love-is-always-a-pleasant-experience...

A never-ending pool of water was in front of us, covering everything on the ground. The road had disappeared and even the divider was submerged. Our cab was, even now, running on water-covered road. Every single minute, the water level was increasing, reaching almost a foot. The culprit was that area's fabulous draining system.

There were no street lights on the road. Or if there were, they were out of order. In that pool of water, there were various vehicles struggling to move ahead, inch by inch. In the headlights of our cab I saw waves in the water, carrying leaves and stems of small creepers and weeds, beating against the bodies of the vehicles stuck in the spate. The cab was still going ahead, at a slower speed. We were moving into deeper water now and, finally, the driver said he couldn't go ahead. "Sir, ours is a small vehicle, if the water enters the engine, then we can't go any forward."

I tried to persuade him to go ahead but he was adamant and I got furious. "Sir, my patience is wearing thin and at this situation, is you say that sentence one more time....." I said to him, losing my patience, when Dae held my writs stopping me from saying any more. She knew we did not have any option but to survive on the driver's mood. So I changed my tone and told him in a gentlemanly way. "Sir, I just want to drop her safely to her home. So please start moving forward. If your cab breaks down, I will pay whatever expense you incur."

With my pleading, somehow he agreed to move ahead. He drove the cab further but the going was very slow.

It was 10:30 now. I knew that our situation was tense, and I was sick and tired of being tense.

Our cab was stuck in that messy pool when, all of a sudden, a truck passed us on our left. I saw those giant wheels churning the water like a turbine, generating big waves of water. I was trying to show Dae those circular waves, whose circumference was exponentially rising from my left to her right, when I felt my socks getting wet inside my shoes.

"What the fuck!?"

The dirty water on the road was now seeping into our cab. Water, water and more water.....Everywhere. Bubbling sounds came from under the cab's doors. Our feet were dipped in water, like tea bags in a cup of tea.

"Shit.....so much water?" she screamed.

We took off our shoes and lifted our legs up on the seats.

"This was bound to happen," the driver said.

At that time, we were not very far from her house. On a normal day, it would have been a 15-minute driver. But stuck in the disaster, it was hard to predict how long it would take.

Gradually, the view outside our cab was getting even worse. One by one, almost all of the vehicles stopped moving. Their engines took their last breaths and failed to start again. I saw people getting out of their cars and pushing them from behind, in order to get them out of that pool. It was a complete mess. People, with their trousers rolled up to their knees, barefoot, out of their vehicles, were shouting at each other for various reasons and for no reason. Some of them had even taken off their shirts.

Back in the cab our minds were tense and tired of the events of the last two hours. Looking at her then, I found her hands joined and eyes closes. She was praying to god. She was very sacred. And maybe her prayers were heard. Maybe that was why our small cab was still moving ahead in the water when almost all small cars on that road had broken down.

Meanwhile, she got another call from her mother, who was now more furious and more worried. and when she said that she had called up Dae's cousin (who also lived near their house) to go to KMS and bring her home, we had to reveal the truth.

Taking a deep breath Dae said, "Eomma, I am not in KMS. I am with Hoseok....from evening. I am sorry i lied to you about this."

I held her hand in my hand. We were both scared of what her mother's reaction would be.