in the train ride

The soft thud of the newsboy throwing the morning papers on the porch perked Kairos Jang's ears as he hurriedly scrambles to get the newspaper. Passing the fourties thread will get you like that. Taking the rolled-up news, he walked inside to his brewing coffee continuing his mundane routine.

"What has this world come to?" he exclaims exasperatedly at the dozen news of crime logs painting the front page. Muttering profanities under his breath he continued to flip through the paper.

A buzzing sound from beside him took him out of his intense news reading session. With a sigh, he turned to the buzzing phone and rolled his eyes. Reminder. Reminder. Blah blah. Folding the paper in his hands softly, he stood up and walked towards his front door looking remorsefully at his half drank coffee.

He stood in front of his foyer mirror and fixed his tie, grunting when one side did not loop through as he wanted. Redoing it then. After all that was done, he was out the door and making his way towards the nearest station.

"The next Manhattan bound train is arriving at the express track. Please stand away from the tracks-" the loud yet static voice boomed throughout the platform. Shuffling away from the yellow lines, the powerful whirl of wind accompanied by the incoming train slapped the faces of the people standing on the platform. Kairos' hand flew to his face as he tried to tame his unruly hair. The hours spent trying to tame his hair gets ruined every morning on his commute to work. Don't even know why I try so hard at this point. With a sigh, he stepped into the train looking around to find an empty seat but with no luck. He slid into a corner, his back slightly against the door as he pulled his phone from his pocket going through his emails.

"-stand away from the closing doors-" the hazy voice of the operators draws down as people of different walks in life get in and out of the train. Kairos' eyes trails a pair of male that took a seat a few feet away from him. Their hushed whispers and laughs, along with clasped intertwined hands made Kairos' heart clamp.

The sudden onslaught of early morning PDA made Kairos look away from the sight. He felt warmth overcoming his face as his heart continued to constrict further. He looked towards the route map on top of the couple, grimacing when he realised he still had eight more stops till his workplace. His gaze, albeit his resistance, moved towards the couple. A hint of a smile painted his face as he studied the couple. The pair was laughing at something the other was showing, body riverbrating with the bounds of giggles coming out. At some point Kairos had to look away as he felt he was looking longingly at the pair and if someone with a mind reading ability was to tune into his mind that would be embarrassing.

The eight stops passed by quickly but to his dismay the male couple got off on the same station as him. To make it even worse, he was walking a few steps behind him. Are we going in the same direction? Oh lord why!? He would hate to admit it but it felt nice. Nice to be able to freely walk hand in hand with the person you love, no matter the gender. But he was envious tenfold. The cold December wind blew past him, filling the void in his chest as the soft wind blowing on his hair felt like a hand ruffling his head. It felt nice.

The dried leaves crunching under his feet, the murmurs of the busybodies around him, his vision unconsciously looking for the couple made his seemingly numb heart ache for something. Someone. He mind moving towards the door he locked away deep into a corner of his mind, covered with dust and cobwebs. The door he turned away from ages ago, promising to not dwell upon it. But the pain and feelings were still there, fresh, as if it was all yesterday that it happened and not more than a decade ago.