Sudden Encounters

    The sun was shining outside.
    Igor knew it must be shining, for it is summer and there were over thirty-five degrees outside. It must be shining and sweat must be flowing down everyone's back out there. It was a summer morning and Igor judged the clock to be about half past nine, but still, the heat never gave the noon a precedence and was present two hours after sunrise.
    Nothing of that was evident here, in a subway wagon which just rushed between two if its stops. The aircon blew a colder air among the people and as the train wasn't full during this hour, it made some difference. Igor was standing near the window and was watching the blackness of the tunnel as he wondered if he would manage to reach the office before he starts sweating beyond belief, after he leaves the train.
    The blackness changed to a neon illumination as the train approached to its next station. People could be seen outside as they waited on the platform for the train to stop and open it's mighty gates.
   "And a whole lot more to go", thought Igor, having enough of the traindrive as the door opened and the people rushed in and out. Then she came in.

    Igor locked his view upon her instantly and she came to stand exactly in front of him, looking directly in his eyes. Igor stopped thinking. He stopped breathing. He knew that Japanese rarely face an unknown one that way, save for when they carefully listen to the words of another or when they are about to kill an enemy. And her eyes were awesome. Deep black and warm, an amazing beauty, with a typical asian conture which made each one of her breed so sweet. She closed her eyes and reopened them without ever moving her gaze away from Igor's eyes. Very small amount of blue makeup was there, almost nothing, but enough to give her face a slight gloom of alien color which only enhanced the strike of her gaze.
    Igor was totally unprepared for this sort of action before he had his first coffee and he reacted like an owl hit by the bright light. Still he managed to gather himself enough and not to loose the lock his eyes had upon her.
    He could now see the whole of her face. Her nose appeared soft, slightly pointing upwards, her lips were full and lipstick on them was the colour very close to natural one. She had her mouth slightly open and revealed the white of her teeth between the lips. Her long black hair surrounded her face and fell down over her shoulders. It looked half-wet, like dried with the towel, still having a fair amount of moisture in it, but Igor knew that to be the effect of the one hairwax or another.
    Words were not needed. Her face was saying it all. She was in a hurry and angry, as if she had an argue with someone few moments ago. There was no sadness, just rage and anger and a fair amount of confidence. She was the first one to herself and her selfrespect forced others to respect her as well. She would give trust to noone, that was a thing one would have to fight for and bleed before having won it. What a rare combination, Igor thought, the strength and the power without hiding emotions. Her overall beauty was stunning and Igor mentally slapped himself across his hand, as preventing it to rise and touch her.
    In the meantime she was observing the environment within the wagon, looking in all directions, slowly, with no rush and never examining the same thing twice. Finally she directed her view to the window, as if having found nothing inside the train what would look more interresting than the darkness of the subway tunnel. She looked lost in her thoughts for a while and then her gaze met Igor's again. A slight irritation was reflected in her eyes.
   "Excuse me, what are you looking at?" She spoke the question in perfect english and Igor heard one of most melodic and most soundful voices his ears ever recepted. There was irritation in her voice, but it was controlled. Someone had made her angry this morning and it was no time for jokes. She looked at him, not really awaiting an answer, the fact she spoke was just a result of her anger.
   "I am looking at you, isn't that obvious?" Igor answered in a tone which matched his mood completely - party, beach, cocktails, barbecue.
    She obviously didn't expect any answer and the one she got was the last one she believed possible. Obviously, she was similarily impresed by Igor's gaze as he was by hers, for she lowered her head to face the ground and her lips formed a faint smile. Then, as if having collected the strength she needed, she raised her head again.
   "Yes, that's obvious. But WHY are you looking at me?" Her tone was the one of irritation again as she forced the smile to fade.
   "The reason is obvious as well. No need to posess a magic vision to see that", answered Igor instantly.
   "I am bound to this train for another boring quarter an hour and you are by far the most pleasant vision in here, my Lady", he continued. "My eyes see nothing else worth looking at."
   "And they are some eyes", she added and Igor felt something gripping hard inside his stomach. She fights back with the same weapon! The contact has been established! He couldn't believe his ears. He nodded in approval.
   "And I know centuries may pass until they see your match again, my Lady. It shall be a long time in the train with something to think of and nothing to see." As he spoke, the train entered its next stop, a station called Nagatachoo which was either the destination or a transfer point for most within the train. She smiled again, this time wider. She said nothing more, but turned to face the window again while the train lost on speed and finally stopped.
   "Bye, bye", she said and gave Igor a full, beautiful smile. He gripped the metal frame of the window feeling like he would lose the ground beneath his feet any moment. She turned and left the train. As she walked away, Igor noticed he hadn't seen anything of her below her chin. She wore a light blue T-shirt whose colour matched the makeup on her eyes, a jeans shorts, and a pair of light japanese summer sandals. The whole combination revealed the overall beauty of her good shaped body. He observed her movement until the closing door blocked his view and he realized that he moved from the position near the window without noticing it. He turned his back to the now closed door and sat down on the ground letting his back rest on the door.
   "I be damned", he whispered, having his head between his hands as the train accelerated, leaving the station.

   "You like her?" The funny voice came to his ears and Igor recognized the question to be directed to him. He raised his head and saw a slender man, his skin revealed his age to be more than seventy-five, but he was standing there with ease and confindence as if he was twenty. He wore a black trousers, a white shirt and a tie whose colour was a mistery, something near dark green. His hair was white and cut evenly at the length of his shoulders. Igor judged him to be some crazy professor, or a musician.
   "If I like her?", Igor replied and stood up cleaning his butt with his hand, "My Lord, I would drink her father's bathwater if she would go out with me only once!"
   "Ha ha ha ha!" The man laughed as he approached the door, doing as if he would leave the train the next time it stops.
   "And you have taken none of it. You did impress her a lot, for she doesn't hear such bold words often here. But still, you haven't noted her phone number, you don't know her name and you probably don't remember where did she enter this train and where did she leave it. You got no means to find her again out there. You missed it and you shall burn in hell for that, my son."
   "Other than that, if she noticed the mark of the wed you wear with pride on your finger, you never really had a chance."

    In one breath he said it all. In one instant he returned the vision of Igor's lovely wife into his mind and almost made him forget all this, as if it never took place. Indeed, he wears his wedding ring with pride and he holds an endless love for his woman in his heart. His ring is a clear message to any girl who might cross his way that she would never get more than a flirt, for only his most loved Lady Reny would ever get his love. The woman he saw in the train that morning is now but a faint memory, lost in the fog of the past, but the vision of his wife lives unfaded and visits upon him all the time, even if they have been separated for so long. He sees every line of her face, as if it was there, lovely, reassuring, and most of all, he sees that little something in her eyes that attracted him as he saw her for the first time. It is that little something he loves so much in Lady Reny and it is exactly her very self. He knows that little something is what his wife is, she cannot hide or change it and after many years pass and both of them get old, it would still be there, unchanged and he would never stop loving it.
   "Wrong, my Lord", Igor said.
   "I have been offered my chance a long time ago and I took it without hesitation. I would be a subject to burn in hell's fire had I missed her who owns this ring and this heart", he rose his ring to sight while putting the other hand on his chest.
   "My expirience can never be a match for yours, but I feel so sure about this as I only can. The one who gave me this ring is the one and only woman whose image never leaves my mind while the time fades out everything else. It is her I belong to and it is her I shall love until I let the air of my last breath out."
   "Hmm..." said the old man scratching his beard, as if weighing Igor's words. "You care for a drink after the sun sets with an old man like me?"
    Igor raised an eyebrow in question, sensing something is strange.
   "We argued this morning. She found a small cat in front of our door and wanted to keep it instantly. She always does that sort of things and cannot hear a no."
   "I am her father", said the old man as Igor listened, not believing his ears, wondering what else would this day bring.
   "And I can arrange a date for you if you would keep your promise."
   "Eh?"
   "You said you would come and drink from the tub after I bathe, he he he he!"