She, I and Rain

My friend and I came out of the office at 5.50pm. It was raining. I gave my rain coat to him and decided to leave the office in shuttle. I borrowed his umbrella. Our shuttle reached another campus.

I got down from the shuttle and started to walk. I watched another associate. She is speaking to a security with our company’s umbrella in her hand. I could figure out what she is speaking. We can carry our umbrella only till the parking. Probably she is arguing about carrying it to gate. Finally she failed in her effort and gave the umbrella to the security.

She came running to the platform. With her right hand she took the shawl and covered her head. She had a novel in her left hand, close to her body to prevent it from getting wet.

 She came to me and said, ‘If you don’t mind..’

‘Yes, you can come’, I said, even before she complete her sentence.

She thanked me and came under my umbrella. I smiled at her and she smiled back. It is just a smile for formality. The novel which she had with her is ‘Nights in Rodanthe’. She must be an ELT like me or else how could she be free to read novel during office hours.

This is completely new to me. Walking with a pretty girl, that too a stranger, under an umbrella, close to each other. I walked much slower than usual. I wanted to make it a long journey. But how long can I take to cover this 50 metres distance? We came out of the campus. 

‘Will you be crossing the road? I just want to take a call taxi’, she said.

‘Yes, I will’.

We crossed the road.

‘Thank you so much’, she thanked me.

‘Its OK’, I replied and started to walk in the opposite direction.

Moral: Naan romba nallavan.