Nila first saw Bin at an underground metro station in America, where the air smelled of iron and rushing time. The train had not yet arrived, and the platform was crowded with strangers, yet fate placed them side by side on the same cold metal bench.
Nila sat quietly, her hands folded in her lap, staring at the glowing map above the tracks. Beside her, Bin pretended to look at his phone, but his eyes betrayed him again and again. He kept glancing at her—carefully at first, then with growing curiosity. There was something about the way she tucked her hair behind her ear, something about the sadness resting in her eyes, that made him forget the noise of the station.
Each time their eyes almost met, Nila felt it. She did not turn her head, but she knew she was being watched. The silence between them was heavy, filled with unspoken thoughts and unasked questions. The roaring sound of an approaching train echoed through the tunnel, yet neither of them moved.
Two strangers.
One bench.
And a moment that felt like the beginning of something neither of them could name.
That was how Nila and Bin met—
in a place meant for departures,
not for destinies.😊