Sacred

Alexander rushed through the hectic evening crowd amidst the pouring rain, hoping to make his way to the nearby coffeeshop for temporary shelter before he leaves to hail a cab at a taxi stand. He throws his brown coat over his head as his eyesight started to get blurry with the gush of rainwater endlessly hitting his face. It was a terrible situation to be in, with the slippery pavements and the unintentional bumping into grumpy strangers, and he had hoped he never left his workplace in a hurry only to be caught in the heavy rain.

Trying to keep up with the speed of the rushing crowd, he tried to lift his feet, soaked in his heavy, water filled shoes at a very fast pace. He forced to lift his feet at less than a second intervals. Seeing the coffee shop in a distance, he was very determined to move faster and finally reach the shelter. But what happened next was a split second event. He seemed to have tripped on a smooth object sending himself gliding and having no control of his balance before he landed on the pavement, the rough floor smacking his face. The shock he encountered left his body limp and numb while he tried to understand what just happened to him. Oblivious to the man blocking the pavement, the crowd continued and trampled on him.

After a few seconds, a miracle happened. People seemed to realise he was there and began to avoid stepping on him. Weirdly enough, while he could still see rain continuously hitting the floor, he did not feel anything. It was as if the rain decided to stop just at the spot he had been on. He wiped the dirt off his face and began to slowly rise from his helpless state, moaning a little when his body started to ache badly. Then he slowly turned and looked up. And there she was. His heroine.

Dressed in a long black dress, with a headscarf nicely fitted on her head and a thin veil draped below her eyes, she held an umbrella above him with her glove-clad hands and signalled him to get up. He quickly scrambled up, embarassed by the situation. He wiped the dirt of his clothes and picked up his drenched coat and looked at her.

"I'll shelter you to the nearest coffeeshop" she gently said in calm voice.

He became shocked upon hearing her voice. It was weird to hear a fully covered up woman talk. It's like they don't seem to have a voice with all that fabric wrapped over them. Realising his shock, she looked down and took a step forward causing him to quickly snap out of his thoughts and follow her. Despite offering to walk him there, she seemed to have maintained a certain distance from him as if ensuring that their bodies dont come in contact.

Once they reached the coffeeshop, she swiftly moved away from him, getting ready to depart from the place and continue her own journey. He didn't even manage to thank her and she was leaving! Wasting no time, he shouted to catch her attention.

"wait! Please wait kind lady."

Hearing that, she stopped in her tracks for a second. She turned around, still looking down, showing that she had heard him. Then she slowly turned to look at him. For the first time, he looked at her clearly. Under the bright lights of the coffee shop, Alexander saw the most enchanting pair of eyes looking at his direction. With the kohl traced along her waterline, it seemed to intensify the rich bluish green colour of her iris, like the colour of a beautiful clear sea. It was very bright and striking and beautiful.

" Please, can I buy you a cup of coffee? I would love to return your favour with this simple gesture", Alexander voiced out after clearing his throat.

Her eyes lit up but her hands slowly waved as if to say 'its okay'. But he knew that she was being humble. After all, who wouldn't want a cup of warm coffee in such a cold weather? He insisted that he would buy her coffee and after awhile, she hesitantly gave in. As he queued up, she stood in a distance from him and just continued looking down, occasionally looking inside her handbag, as if to distract herself from the awkward situation. He wanted to speak to her but it didn't seem like she was interested.

Soon, he reached the front of the line and ordered the coffee shop's specialty, two warm cups of mocha latte with a slice of cinammon bagel to last him while he waits for the heavy rain to stop.

"Alright, that would be $10 sir!", the lady at the counter cheerfully said.

Alexander reached to his pockets for his wallet and started to panic. He tried every pocket on him and on his coat, but his wallet was nowhere to be found! He started to freeze when he realised that he must have dropped it somewhere and the sheer panic was written all over his face as the veiled lady took a step forward and paid for the coffee and bagel with her own money. His face turned red realising that she had once more saved him and he had made things worse instead of  returning her favor. Now he has two favors to return. But as walked away, he smirked. Maybe this is a great way to get to meet her again. He would ask for her phone number and he would bring her out for lunch or dinner next time. He looked up smiling but he immediately wiped off his smile when he realised that on a table near him, there was his latte and bagel, but she was nowhere to be found. As he approached the table in a hurry, he saw a piece of serviette with an inked note saying,

'Thank you but I have to go'

Alexander sunked in his seat and grabbed his hair in frustration. Will he ever get to see her again? He took a sip of his latte while looking out at the rain and began to wonder why he was so interested in her, before he drowned in his pool of thoughts in the comfort of the wooden chair of the coffee shop.