"Come this side. We need to see what's going on," he catches my shoulder, putting one arm around me, to gently guide me to a more empty side. My heart is still fluttering wildly. I feel the bouts of fear as people bang on the closed doors. It has been five minutes and the compartment is a death trap if we aren't rescued soon.

"I am afraid," I breathe.

"Relax," he places his hand on the side of my face, cupping it gently. "Let's talk."

"About what?"

"What are you afraid of?"

"The darkness. The crowd—"

"Mmhmm and?"

"Death, maybe. We're trapped here. You know people die every day. No one cares." I feel the words catching my throat. No one cared when that truck hit Jonas' car and he lay there bleeding. No one gave a damn about my cries for help. I was unable to move as I had been pinned beneath the mangles of the destroyed car. I shudder.

He grabs my shoulders tighter even as I hear people outside trying to wrench the door open. "Why do you fear death?" his voice was strict and I couldn't just ignore the question.

"Because I have so much to do. I want to be the managing director of a big company and have luxurious beach holidays every month. I want to go abroad and I want to find a loving husband, the most beautiful proposal and the hottest sex—" I stop short, clapping my hand over my mouth. Did I just say that? Oh shit!

Jason gives a snort. "El em ae ow" he chuckles. LMAO? What the fuck? How dare he make fun of me? I push him aside. "You can laugh your ass off as much as you like but this is your fault. I'm scared stiff and you just. It's not fair—"

"Life isn't a fair game." he says.

But before I could retort, the door opens and the tsunami of commuters thrust themselves out of the door, squeezing themselves out into the dark tracks.

"Suicide" "Power breach" the words are flowing from somewhere. "Neglected duties" "pathetic government" "No votes"

God! People can be so irritating sometimes. They'll drag the media and the apathy of the government to daily commuters. "Seems like a guy jumped on the tracks to commit suicide which led to the driver applying the emergency brakes. Something went very wrong and the power supply to the train got cut."

Jason is beside me, holding my elbow as I struggle to find my footing along the rails, joining the hoard of daily passengers cursing their luck or constantly making calls to inform that they'd be late for their appointments. Others not getting the cellphone tower seem to be looking at the vaulted concrete ceilings of the tunnel with a hope of some miraculous Wi-Fi connection popping up.

"Quite an adventure, wasn't it?" his words make me look at him. There is a faint blue glow coming from somewhere and the straying light is catching on his eyes, making his whole frame look something out of a dream sequence. It's like if I close my eyes, I'll wake up and see none of these ever happened. I let a stranger hold me so close. I felt the connection. Stop there, Pat. Don't let your thoughts wander. You have Brendan and he would've done the same thing in a crisis. Or would he?

He would be dragging me along and running into the stampeding crowd. He would've been the first to throw himself at the door. He's impulsive. I've seen how desperately he pursued me when we were at high school, running after me with flowers or placing secret letters in my bag. They were childish but thrilling at that time. But I was a confused teenager too and I didn't give in to him at once. I was afraid my mum would drive me out of the house if she saw me roaming with a boyfriend.

I smile remembering how he had struggled to get down on one knee with a rose but had ended up landing flat on his bum and spoiling the moment. I felt real pity for him and decided to give it a try and it clicked. I was average at studies and so mum didn't actually mind me going out with Brendan as long as I came in before curfew.

"Earth to, Patty-cake" Jason snaps his fingers in front of my face. "Where did you get lost?"

Now you can't actually tell a hot guy standing beside you that you're thinking about your excessively childish boyfriend.

"Well, just wondering whether I'll go back to work today, " I shrug instead.

"You've been through a lot. Let's go for lunch somewhere and we can talk about why I was coming to your office in the first place. Bet you forgot all about it in the melee," his voice is overflowing with the light mirth that attracted me to him.

Is he asking me out? No, I possibly couldn't. I have to return. But then I need to know why he came in the first place—

"Lunch is on me and I didn't actually give you the option to back off." he breathes into ear, interrupting my train of thoughts. "And what I know about you in this brief encounter is that you must be dying to know more about me."

"Actually I think I'll accept your offer," I say in the politest tone possible, my voice not betraying my excitement.

"Here," he lends me a hand, dragging me out of the dark into the dry daylight and beams at me.

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️