Waiting

He saw his mobile almost the twentieth time in fifteen minutes. There was no message. He put his mobile back on the table and leaned back with the heebie-jeebies in the chair. There was not enough rush in the restaurant. He was waiting for her message badly; not knowing why he began to wait for her message today. She didn't tell him that she would message, even though she hadn’t talked to him for the previous three years. But don't know why his heart was saying her message will come today. He was feeling upset at home so he came into the restaurant. He glanced at a watch it had been 10 pm. Normally, it is a peak time for the restaurant, at this time, many people visit the restaurant to have dinner. But today, a very small number of people were there, and this was suitable for him. That's why he had been sitting there for a long time. He didn't want to meet people at this time.

 

He has a few calls from his friends but he didn't receive them. Suddenly a message came; he picked up his phone abruptly. It was the routine message from the SIM card

company. He set his mobile back on the table. He got too busy to see the restaurant. There were three rows of tables. In the first row, on the left side of the wall, just two boys were sitting. The middle row was fully empty, and on the right side, where he was sitting, another two boys were sitting. They sat at his backside so he couldn't watch them, just could listen. Sometimes they talked about politics and then suddenly changed their topic and talked about their personal discussion. In front of them, a TV hung on the wall. Sometimes they began to discuss news or any scene that they watched on TV. The only two of them whose voices spread throughout the restaurant. There were just five people there at that time.

The restaurant was quite small but beautiful. Walls were completely decorated. It was painted well. They seemed to be a great model of wall art. His right side wall was decorated with different paintings of food. In front of him, there was a large counter for the reception, where two salesmen were sitting. They were playing with mobiles, sharing videos or photos, and chuckling. He had been gazing around for a long time. Then he realized there were just he and two

salesmen who were left in the restaurant. He picked up his mobile, but there was still no message. He got up and ventured out of the restaurant. Outside, the night had gone deep. Many shops were closed. He headed in one direction without any purpose. He didn't want to go home right now. There was a little darkness in some places due to the closed shops. Four boys were sitting in front of the one closed shop, telling dirty jokes to each other. One of them whispered to others to see him and they smiled. He didn't notice them and passed. The weather was awesome, a little cool breeze blowing. Summer was almost ready to go. Winter was knocking on the door.

“We can't talk anymore with each other." She said to him last time.

"But why? Why couldn't we? "

 "Because it’s not right."

 "But how is this wrong?" He asked forcefully.

 "Thus it's wrong, I can't talk."

He got out his mobile again from his pocket, glanced at it, and put it back. Now he had reached the almost hustle area. A couple of the stalls were open. A few men sat there,

taking tea and talking. He didn't want to go home right now so he sat at a bench

and ordered a cup of tea. A few people stared at him for a while and then again

got busy in their conversation. The tea stall was exactly at the corner of the road. It was almost empty yet, a couple of vehicles passed instant passage of time. He had been sitting there for a long time, staring purposelessly around with lost in thought. When he got out of his thoughts, he realized the night had grown darker, deeper, and duller. Just a single person was left there. All the other men had gone. A cup of tea was lying in front of him; he picked it up and took a sip. It had become a cold drink. He put it back. He noticed another man was staring at him, when he glanced at him he stood and sat near him.

"Are you alright, I didn't see you in this area before. Where do you live?" He asked him

sympathetically. He didn't want to tell him anything, so he stood up, saying nothing, paid the bill to the salesman, and headed in another direction. He watched the time; it had been 1:30 am.

 

He kept strolling. A bench was laid in front of the closed shop, and he sat there. There was nothing there except darkness and silence. He had been sitting there for a long time. Then dawn appeared. Now a couple of vehicles began to pass. After some time a road cleaner reached there. He saw him wondering. He glanced at his mobile, but there was still no message. He put his mobile back in his pocket and headed towards home.