Learning to love

Chapter 3- 60-40

I walked down the aisle, looking at all the products with a basket held in my hand. Barley, Barley, barley... I spoke to myself as I scanned the names on the packs of different types of Flour. The store was bustling with people on the a Sunday, the usual, there were romantic couples buying supplies for dinners, families with little kids to pass the hot sunday afternoon in free air conditioning, and people like me, those who came here to get away from their families or to actually buy much needed groceries for the week.

"Yes, I'll get the right ones, please calm down" a strangely familiar voice came from the person sharing the aisle with me. Out from the corner of my eye his appearance was of a well off business man, not the millionaires or billionaires types but the type that was emerging into the business world, the sleeves of his light blue shirt were rolled up his arms,exposing slim but defined arms textured with light hair. The collar of his shirt was unkempt as if it had been tugged at uncomfortably from time to time, turned a duller colour by the sweat and dirt of the day. He looked like a man that worked, a man that worked hard to achieve success. An admirable trait.

I moved my attention back to the shelves as I bent down on my knees to check the last shelf,aha... I reached to pick the last pack of flour and put it in my basket. I stood up with the basket awkwardly hand from my arm, pulling on my skin and due to the weight of everything in the basket, I shifted it to the other hand in futile attempts to make it more comfortable. Finally annoyed, I huffed the basket into my arms, holding it against my chest and obscuring my vision with the 3 kg pack of Barley.

I started to walk out of the section and towards the checkout desks. Instinctively I took a step and another and another, slowly making my way. The man still shared the aisle with me but i hoped that would move aside to let me pass.

Suddenly a heavy force crashed into me, the basket digging into my chest pressing against the tight wire of my bra, my arms gave out under the weight and loosed. As the basket hit the tiled floor, the pack of flour burst open and flew everywhere, wafting it way into my nose and mouth, after which I began to cough and sneeze.

I bent down to examine the damage to the contents of the basket. The person who bumped into me also bent down to pick up his products, my eyes surveyed him more closely, he had very pale skin, dotted with light freckles around his nose,his hair was golden brown, like caramel that framed face and balanced the high cheek bones.

I packed up the basket and stood up, I looked down at him and said in an authoritative tone, "if you don't know how to walk, then learn to stay at home."

He stood up abruptly pointing his index finger towards me, "if you don't know how to talk, then learn to keep quiet."

"You were the one talking on the phone, you shouldn't talk on your phone while walking"

He looked at me as if I had grown another head eyebrows scrunched up and eyes wide open "you shouldn't talk on the phone while driving, it's okay to talk while walking"

"Well people like you shouldn't be allowed to talk while walking, because you can't even pay attention to where you are going!" I replied back hotly, my voice getting louder and more high pitched as I continued to speak. I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply to compose myself.

"Say sorry" I said to him in a semi-calm tone.

He's eyes snapped up to meet mine,grey not a steel grey but iron speckled with black, like an old, worn out sword. "Excuse me", he said in a confused manner.

"Say sorry", I repeated

"Why should I say sorry?"

"Because you bumped into me"

"Ma'am this was a front on front collision not a front on back, it is as much my fault as it is yours"

"What? I clearly couldn't see, it was 70-30"

"70-30", he repeated outraged, I notice how all throughout this exchange the volume of his voice had not change, it was soft and small, he seemed like a man who only showed anger and dramatic emotions if they were necessary.

"Fine, 60-40", I said with a finality in an attempt to not prolong this.

He stared at me in silence with a blank expression on his face.

Not wanting to waste my time any longer, I huffed, picked up my stuff, twisted my nose and stepped around him to the counter while he cleaned the flour off himself.

***

I got off my motorcycle after parking it in the hospital staff parking and made my way to my office. I tried dust off the remains of the flour that was stubbornly stuck to my scalp in a failed attempt. I was fuming with anger, the nerve of that man. I grinded my teeth and rolled my eyes trying to calm down.

I walked in to the busy hospital hallway, nodding and waving at my colleagues and patients.

"Dr. Sonakshi", someone called out from behind me.

"Dr. Williams", I called back turning to face him with a big smile.

The short man walked leisurely over to me, he was in his lab coat and wore a stethoscope around his neck, a pair of clear white gloves hung from his pocket, unused, probably a false alarm.

"How are you today?", He asked cheerfully.

"Great sir, How about you?"

"I'm as good as always", replied studying me close, his eyes wandered to my hair, my hand slowly reached up self consciously as he cleared his throat.

"I'm so sorry, I was at the grocery store and this man, not even a man a grade A as.." I started rambling trying to explain myself, as he looked at me with his eyes raised. I opened my mouth again to say sorry when his phone rang saving me from further embarrassment and smiled sheepishly.

Dr. Williams picked up the call and smiled "yes, of course...yes I'll be there as soon as I can... no obviously not,I'm leaving the hospital right now."

After the phone call he looked at me and said, " Why don't you take the day off Dr. I have to go on housecall anyway, there won't be anything much to do today, we have a lot of reliefs today".

"You're going on housecall?", I asked confused, "why can't they just come here, an ambulance could pick them up".

He smiled sweetly and said, "you have to go on housecall for a board member of the hospital and you definitely can't keep them waiting".

He rushed past me almost running out to the door. I stood there for sometime, thinking about what he had said, about the emergency, even though I didn't know this stranger i felt bad for them, hopefully everything is ok.

I shook my head, shaking the thoughts out and turned to follow Dr. Williams out of the hospital.

Hello to the 4 people who have read this so far. First of all, thank you for doing so, I hope that you like my book so far and that you can recommend it to others. secondly... this feels like a primary school speech but anyway, I am planning to now upload more regularly, maybe even weekly if I don't get writer's block again,I have promised myself that i will see this story to the end and I hope I can keep it.