Song & Melody

Chloe did not know about the alignment of the stars that night, Jefford did.
...

"P.S.?"

"Yes, I love you."

As Jefford is about to shut the lid of his macbook, Chloe sees the desktop wallpaper. A man and a woman, on the different sides of the street, walking towards the screen. Chloe can't recognize the faces of the characters. She is not sitting as close as Jefford to the laptop. But somehow she feels like the woman is Hillary Swank. So, she hunches - not bothering to tell the whole name of such a popular film - the diminutive, "P.S." of P.S. I Love You.

"I mean, yeah, that's the movie." Jefford corrects his previous statement.

Chloe replies sarcastically, "Either you could have omitted the 'yes' or just say, 'I love you too'."

"Whatever do you mean by that?"

"I mean... The name's P.S. I Love You. So since I said, P.S. That means I attached the 'I love you' silently, I guess. So, if you intended a pun, it were better if said, 'I love you too'."

"'I love you too' would have been better, no?"

"Apt. As I just explained before."

"Hey, I am not hitting on you!" Suddenly Jefford clarifies, catching the vibe brooding in the air. "Given a chance, I can be direct though."

It is the first time the night sees Chloe get reddened. She tries to keep a straight face, "If anyone here has the valor to hit us, it's Coronavirus."

"Actually true that," Jefford arches his lips downward.

A silence prevails. It is another normal night. Before and after the lockdown, not the days in between, Chloe comes to this pub every night, listens to people gossip, takes a drink, and homes back to the city, near about six miles from the hill. Somehow every time she returns home, she feels freshened up. So, she can not but turn up here every night after a cumbersome day of her daily tight schedule - her internship and household chores and so on. Although she is a regular customer at the bar situated in the lap of the mountain, there are no familiar faces, apart from the bartenders and the manager. The passers-by often break their journey here while passing by from a city to another.

But tonight is not probably just another night. At a critical juncture, as she eyes at one corner in the room, she catches the sight of Jefford, sitting alone, absorbed in his laptop on the table. As if he were dropped there by the Almighty knowing that Chloe would turn her face there right this moment. Finding a familiar face, she nears him from behind.

Jefford and Chloe attend the same consultancy for higher studies at top-class schools in the United States and abroad. They do not share any emotional connection, rather they barely know each other, just two persons, aiming for PhD at some great University, working on their preparations under the same counselor.

They went for an outing once. Before the world fell apart. Oh, not only the two of them. They were five. Chloe, Jefford, Elijah and two others. And that was the only time the two of them got to see each other beyond their professional boundaries. After that, they returned to their respective homes and went off to sleep. The two did not think of each other in their dreams.

The crowd sometimes can be a nuisance. A fresh air is something that could help Chloe from turning claustrophobic. Although people are maintaining the social distance, the confinement of the walls caging the masked humans inside is bothering her. Comprehending that, Jefford gets up. He has finished his task anyway. As though they can read each other's mind, Chloe puts on her overcoat and steps outside the pub. She would be anywhere, just not inside.