Soft and Warm

It was a Wednesday. I usually like Wednesdays because it signals the middle of the week, and that’s when things start to really happen before the end, the dreadfully boring Sunday. I have an affinity with Wednesdays—but I didn’t like this one. It was rainy and dreary and I was wearing an outfit that made me look fat. 

I was on my way to Ortigas for a job interview. I left early for the 3 PM appointment but I somehow managed to get stuck in Cavite for one and a half hours and then in EDSA for almost two hours. The bus was crawling at a snail’s pace. The rain was falling harder. Everyone was getting bleaker. It was a bad Wednesday to be out of the house, to be anywhere outside your comfort zone.

When I got down at Megamall, all the cabs that passed me by were taken. I was terribly late for my interview so I decided to walk to the building. It was a long, fifteen-minute walk. My Vans were getting soggier with every step I take and I felt my legs numbing down, for which my severe lack of physical activity can be blamed. I was hurrying to meet someone before the interview and he is a rather impatient and busy man.

I was near. I saw him behind the glass walls of the tea shop. As I sat down beside him, I felt soft relief and warm happiness course through me. This is where it all began.