Estimated reading time : 3 minutes.
He was in a jolly mood that day. After a week-long period of gloom, he could finally gather some sunshine for himself that morning. Nobody’s words could hurt him into depression anymore, he reminded himself.
He parked his motorcycle at his usual spot. Took out his mobile phone and texted his wife “Just reached the office parking. I am going to kill that presentation and win the pitch today.”
He hurriedly started climbing the stairs towards his office. Immersed into his mobile phone’s screen held in one hand, he chuckled at some random video his wife shared with him a while back. He had held his office bag in his other hand. Head down, he kept on climbing the stairs. Someone ahead of him opened the door halfway and he followed soon. The opening got narrower as the door began to close.
He hurried as he took his eyes off the screen. Through the corner of his eyes, he saw a woman walking straight through the same door. He was closer to the door and with his momentum he could pass faster through the door. He turned sideways, tried to shrink himself as much as he could to allow her & himself to pass.
“I’m sorry!” he mumbled as he realised their shoulder brushed briefly. He had always avoided touching and getting touched by random strangers in crowds. It made him uncomfortable.
“Could you not have held the door wide and let me pass first?” The woman yelled. “Chivalry is dead.” She continued as he froze on the spot listening to her ear-piercing comment.
She slid her goggles from her eyes over her head, raised an eyebrow and rested her other hand on her waist sideways. Her expensive bag dangling by her shoulder that got accidentally brushed against him, briefly. She muttered something else that he could not hear properly but it sure were words that reeked her superiority complex. Contempt shot through her eyes before she turned and went away.
He did not understand if he misbehaved which he never intended anyway. He himself apologized first soon as he realized the brief brushing of shoulders. Did that touch make her uncomfortable? Did she consider him someone who would seek pleasure in such instances?
Or did he wish this to happen subconsciously? Had his male ego awakened with her uncalled-for comment?
Was he a hypocrite in reality? No! He was not. He continued thinking about the incident. He had always held womenkind with utmost respect and high regards from as long as he remembered.
He settled in his chair at his office and looked outside through the window. The gloom started to loom over as those words began to hurt him again. He felt his throat choked with emotions gradually and he was unsure if he could even stand up for the presentation.