she and him

I saw him every day sitting on the high swivel stool inside the café alone. Every day he would drink up the beer very slowly and quietly like a snake drinking water in a sparkling river of a deep silent tropical forest. I could clearly see the movement in his throat as the liquid went down after shimmering for a moment inside the glass. Then he would place the glass on the table without making the least sound.

There was something that made me feel all weird and creepy every time I saw him. There was something in him that was too similar with me. My mom, she told me never ever talk to strangers when I was a kid. I obeyed her all these years but suddenly as soon as I saw him I wanted to talk to him so badly that I went straight towards him and sat on the next stool the first day. Apparently, since that was the first time I saw him I couldn’t approach him but sat silently listening to the sound of the flickering water in the glass. I sat and sat for a couple of hours till he left the place.

My mom used to tell me to neglect those people whom we meet either randomly or purposely until and unless she tells me to talk to. I couldn’t differentiate between one person to another. Whatever my mom said, it was the truth. And that only I trusted, nothing else. She said she didn’t cry at all the day my dad left us. He didn’t tell anything, he just left and never came back. She didn’t cry because she was a very strong woman and that i should be also like her.

I never relied on a guy my whole 19 years of life, like asking for help or any sort of thing. I hardly talked to my friends and my so-called neighbours because I believed in and trusted her only. She was the only one I had. Only she existed in my life and no one else.

But the day I saw this guy I was totally different. I felt as if I had just found something which I had been looking for my whole life. Gradually I started talking to him. That day I asked,'You like hanging out here?’. 'Yes’. And that was the end. But a few days later I made another attempt . He was a nice guy and he loved lemon juice so much. He made it every day and had it for the past 15 years every morning. He was so good to me and even said he saw me stting near the window alone looking outside through the thick glasses every day in the evening. Thus, soon we became close. As each day passed we became closer and closer. Once it rained so hard. Every drop of it hit the roof so hard. As usual I was sitting inside the café when he popped up from nowhere when I lost all the hope that he would come that day there. He said he had a wife and left her some 19 years back and since then been alone regretting his whole life why did he ever leave her. I felt a sudden beating in my body which was so hard I almost showed off the associated expression to him. I thought to myself, that’s something which happened in the past, why can’t I give him a new life instead of just sobbing over the past. He said, if he had a daughter she would have been of my age. Suddenly I got up and went outside. I came back and told him I don’t  wanna continue the conversation anymore. He saw my mom standing on the other side of the road silently through the glass and the clear raindrops holding a blue umbrella staring at him with an indifferent look. His eyes were glistening.