A Winter Night and a Stranger

She couldn’t wait there for long. Dusk was closing in, and her small feet were already shrinking because of the freezing winter. Just about when she decided to turn around the corner so she could face the road and call for a cab, that she heard loud sounds in the near direction. They were loud enough to disrupt the dead silence but too soft to stir her unperturbed mind. So she continued walking, faster with each step in order to battle away the cold.

A strong gust of wind brushed her frame, unsettling her lose hair. And within the same moment, a figure passed her like a flash of light. Before she could comprehend anything, another figure lunged at her and got her knocking down on the snowy cobbled road. “I’m sorry.. I didn’t mean to hurt you”, two perfect blue eyes shone in twilight and what entered her ears was the most fluid of voices, smooth as scotch. She looked up, this time definitely startled. He stretched out a sinewy arm, offering his hand in the bargain to help her up on her feet. She regained balance and he, too, had recovered his strength by then. He stood struck at the sheer beauty of that angelic face.

“I’m sorry again. I never intended to knock you down. Hope you’re able to walk”, he looked right into her eyes as he apologized for his sudden dramatic appearance. She staggered to maintain balance on both her feet and he momentarily clutched her by the arm to keep her. A sizzling current passed through her body making it tremble like a leaf.

“Why were you running after him?”, she said as she realized she hadn’t spoken a word ever since she could remember. That was funny. She wasn’t normally the kind who could stay shut for more than 3 seconds. But today was different.

“Oh nothing. He was running away with my wallet”, he smiled.
“Oh..”, she searched for words, “So were you able to have it back?”

“Uh.. no. That’s ‘cause I bumped into you”, he chuckled. A thousand bells chimed in the air.
“Well yes. You crashed into Me”, and they had a hearty laugh. Neither realized the stupidity of the joke.

They both paced up the street in the dead cold. No cab could be seen but a distant rumble of wheels came form the opposite direction which told him they were closer to the city now. He momentarily scanned her from the corner of his eye. Her boots, he saw, were small and lower than the calves. Her teal blue dress reached up to her knee over which she wore a pretty white parka which almost made the latter synonymous with the snow. He couldn’t help admiring her perfect brown wavy hair which had lost all consciousness of being in place- thanks to the strong blows of wind.

She realized he was noticing her, and her lips curled in appreciation. She unfolded her hands from her chest to brush aside her unsettled hair and faced him. “So where are we headed?”
He finally looked her in the eye and cautiously let his hand to her cheek, just below her right eye. Before she could realize what he was doing, he came closer and swept his hand over her face in what arrested her body with the most tingling sensations. She smelt the perfume of his tweed and wanted to consume it all. And in the deal, his chin made contact with her hair which seemed soft as silk. He wanted to die in their soft warmth. Both shivered. The night was brutally cold.

“Snowflake”, he smiled that honey smile.
“Thanks”, and she melted with the honey.

“Yeah.. so where are we going?” She tried coming over the awkwardness.
“I don’t know about you. But I’m going to stuff myself. Had dinner yet?” He enquired.
“No. You?”
“Nah. I’ve being roaming aimlessly all day. Moreover, the run behind that crook has increased my hunger pangs greatly!” He said in jest.
“Oh”, this time she laughed unrestricted. “You make it sound like you’re some hungry beast! Well”, she continued, “By the look of it, you seem decent. Though my dad has always told me never to walk with a stranger”. She joked back.

“Well then your dad was certainly right.” He seemed offended this time.
“But do I still seem a stranger?” Comfort once again resurfaced in his voice.

He flirted and she knew it. But it felt right at the moment. Just as it felt right to be walking next to a complete stranger whose, heaven knows, wallet had been picked and who had toppled her over on cobbled cold like a mighty gust of wind!

She didn’t know what to reply to that and he sensed the awkwardness drifting in again.

“Hey.. you don’t look like you belong here. New to the city?” He darted a gaze at her.
“Erm , yeah. I’ve come from another world”. She chortled gently, battling the discomfort of his sudden stare with an apt reply. He hadn’t heard ever a more pleasing laugh.

They both giggled again. And this time, she was assured of his presence on a bitterly cold winter night, in a foreign land. Quite surprisingly, his penetrating blue eyed gaze had not ruffled her so much as much as the thought of her inability to deal with the intensity of it. She mused at the thought.

“Lost in faraway land, eh?” This time he did not look at her.
She didn’t care to answer but looked towards him. His hand that reached up to remove the frost from his nose made her notice brilliant color on the white surface of it.

She caught his hand in a flash. The sticky warm liquid was imparted to the naked skin of her palm and fingers and she let out a little gasp.

“Why didn’t you show it before? Your gash looks really deep and serious.”. She herself was surprised at the extreme worry in her voice. Fumbling with her handbag for the first aid kit, she asked him to pull off his scarf. She always kept it with her but couldn’t find it right now. “Just when I needed it the most”, she muttered under her breath, exasperated. He caught the words and smiled to himself, quite contentedly. All this while, he kept his gaze fixed on her being, marvelling at the breathtaking beauty.

She finally pulled out her stuff and began attending to the wound, the gentle touch of her pearl silken flesh melting his pain away. They stood under the light of the lamp post that helped both see each other’s face.

Her hazel eyes, He peered, were full of concern- concern for a complete stranger on a devastatingly freezing night upon a deserted street.

His eyes, She saw, were oozing with gratefulness- the gratefulness of having met a woman who was willingly accompanying him on his unknown journey.

Both smiled at each other, neither aware of the reason or the need of it. Night had taken over and brought with it, a winter that was ne'er before known to either of the souls.

She shivered. He noticed.
He snugly wrapped his assuring arm around her waist. This time, the electric current of his touch made ripples inside her. Both walked along like it was the most natural thing in the world to do.

“Dinner?” He winked.
“Im starving”. She begged.