Trains, Among Other Things

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"Stesen berikutnya; Ara Damansara. Next station; Ara Damansara." blared the faceless voice over the speakers.

The little boy a few feet away from where she stood began to cling on tighter to the metal pole as the train began to slow down, his tiny feet almost losing balance. Thank God for his mum (or so she appeared to be) who held his arm just in the nick of time. The doors slid open, letting more passengers out than in. Unlike earlier this morning, the station was rather deserted. No queues of people on either side of the door. No hot breeze gushing into the train compartments too. Well, it was 11.15pm after all. As she watched the mother and son having a little chat about aeroplanes, her phone buzzed in her right pocket, waking her from her reverie. Before she could even reach for it, she knew half as much as she could guess who the late caller was. 

"Hey." 

"Hi. Just checking in to see if you got off work ok." 

Hearing his voice brought an instant smile on her face. Realising he could not see her reaction, she replied.

"Yeah. I'm on my way home now. Just grabbed some take out from the usual place."

They carried on chatting for several minutes, asking each other about their day. She mentioned about her boss giving her a hard time at work after lunch earlier, and he cracked a silly joke to make her feel better.

This was exactly why she fell in love with him in the first place. 6 years ago today, they had their first ever date over wan tan mee in Seapark as a celebration point for her first adult job. It wasn’t anything fancy but boy was it special! The conversations they had, the train ride home together, the way he made her feel- they're all still so vivid in her mind.

"Emma?"

Her train of thought derailed.

"I love you, Just. Thanks for sticking around all this time."

She picked up her backpack and walked out as the doors slid open once again. And there he was, near the escalator beaming at her.

“You know I love you too, baby.”

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