AN ENCOUNTER WITH A STRANGER

it was almost 8pm, it's raining so hard and i have no umbrella. I don't wanna get stranded so i hurriedly went to the street. I ran so fast as if somebody is chasing me hoping to reach home immediately. While running,i saw a waiting shed, i hurriedly stopped to catch my breath and wipe myself to dry. My house is quite far so i decided to stop for a while to let the rain stop before i continue walking. hours passed and the rain continue to pour, I'm shivering and all wet, again, I don't wanna get stranded, i'm tired and all i want to do is to reach home and rest. Since I'm all wet, i ran again as fast as i could and didn't bother where i'm heading to until I bumped into somebody.

"are you alright?" the voice said.


"no i'm not! I'm all wet and tired. Sorry by the way, i didn't noticed you.i'm in a hurry"

"how could you notice me, you were running so fast!"

"oh well..yeah..i don't have a choice but to run...i need to get home."

"you're wet, you have no umbrella. Would you mind if I take you home? where do you stay?"

"oh no! don't bother, it's okay I'm quite near, besides you'll be out of the way."

"i don't mind," the voice continued. "I have my umbrella, we can share, it's quite huge, besides you don't need to run."

"we'll thanks!"

"so?...shall we?.."

"sure!"

I didn't know what came into my mind why I accepted his invitation.I didn't even know him, he might do something to me, probably he's criminal and stabb me to get my money and cellphone. But I didn't bother,all I want to do is to get home.
"where do you live by the way?"

"oh i live a few blocks away from here, i live in an apartment alone"

"oh nice, was it fun?"

"kinda, because nobody bothers me and tells me what to do, but it's very tiring because i have to do all the chores by myself, but over all it's okay."

"that's interesting!"

we exchanged conversation while walking until we reached my apartment.

"is it here where you stay?"

"yes"

"nice pad"

"thanks!, would you like to come in for a while and have some coffee?"

"oh no thanks! it's very embarrassing."

"no it's not! i have to return the favor you gave me"

"of course that's not a favor! i was the one who offered"

"come on, just come in.i only invite once, once you refuse i won't invite you anymore hahaha"

"okay..okay"

"please have a seat and feel at home."

"thank you"

"oh by the way i haven't ask your name, oh my god! hehehe."

"i thought you wouldn't bother to ask that hehehe. I'm Brad and you are?"

"I'm Justine, and thank you for bringing me home."

"it's a pleasure! besides, i don't wanna see you running under the rain at those time."

"wow, how sweet! how would you like your coffee be prepared?"

"black coffee will do."

"okay no problem!"

Brad and i had a small chat at my apartment while drinking coffee together. he is a nice guy, i could tell the way he speaks, very educated and well mannered. i didn't know what came into my mind why i let this man come over to my place when in fact he is just a stranger to me by that time. so what if he offered me his umbrella. so what if he took me home, it doesn't mean i'll trust him easily...with that i, i don't know either.

after finishing his coffee he already said goodbye, after all i'm very tired too and i want to rest either at that time.

"oh well thanks for the coffee and for the small talk, i have to leave now and i believe you want to rest already coz i can tell by the look in your eyes."

"oh yeah i'm sorry...thank you for bringing me home and thanks for gracing my invitation."

after Brad left i decided to go to bed.

the rain didn't stop. it rained the whole night,and it is still raining when i woke up, so i didn't hesitate to bring my own umbrella to work.

it's about to go home again, good thing it's no longer raining, i don't need to rush up again and besides I'm bringing my umbrella. i was about to cross the street when i heard a voice calling my name. The voice is very familiar so i looked back. to my surprise it's Brad, running towards me.

"now you're the one running"

"yeah, I'm running not because i am caught by the rain hehehe, i saw you going out of your office that's why i ran. so you work here?. my office is just right there."

"really? what a coincidence!"

"yeah, are you busy tonight?'

"i'm not, why?"

' i just thought of inviting you for a dinner."

"dinner? oh no thanks! it's very embarrassing."

"embarrassing?why? you invited me for a coffee last night and now i'm inviting you for a dinner. come on, please don't refuse, i only invite once, otherwise i wont invite you anymore haha."

"hey ive heard that before, that's my line."

"so?......"

"okay sure!"

"wow thanks!"

i wasn't able to refuse Brad's invitation, he insisted that's why i accepted it. we went on a nearby restaurant and had dinner. we had conversations again and i didn't know that we share common interests.he is very funny, he has a great sense of humor.he never ran out of topic.

days passed and our dinner was followed by another dinner and another dinner and a series of date. he always waits me after work and walks me home.if he don't see me, i always receive a short note on my apartment door saying "i didn't see you today" "i went home already" "don't make yourself tire" and so on and so fort.

with those kind of things, i didn't help but ask myself, "is he courting me?" "does he likes me?" or "was he just a nice person or he's just simply like that, and countless of questions that runs on my mind. i don't wanna misinterpret his actions i might get the wrong signal. i don't even wanna ask him about his intentions because i don't wanna assume that he likes me. we'll it's up to him what's his purpose of doing all these. what i know right now is that I'm happy being with him, i enjoyed his company since the first time we met.

But things suddenly changed. Days passed and he started not seeing me the way he used to do. No more text messages coming from him. I thought he was just busy, but months passed and still no text from him. I tried to reach him send him messages but still no reply. I called but he's not answering. I tried to figured out what went wrong. Why he suddenly ignored me, a lot of questions came into my mind and kept on figuring things out. I just told myself that I think he is no longer interested in me. Somehow I felt sad by what happened, but good thing I didn't expect too much from him, otherwise I'll be devastated. Until now, i didn't bother to know what happened to him. i just hope someday, while running under the rain, I'll bumped into him again!