Trivial Conversations

There was no agreement in it...

No promise...

Not even an acknowledgment that their daily meetings had become a habit.

And yet, Mahra had started timing her departure...

With suspicious precision.

One morning, she arrived five minutes early.

She stood, looking at the street, then muttered:

"I'm not waiting for him... I just... beat the bus."

"And I beat you."

She turned quickly and found him standing behind her, as usual...

He held the same coffee cup, and a smile he knew provoked her.

She said coldly:

"You're creepy."

He replied:

"And you're predictable."

He sat on the nearby bus stop, and she — after hesitating — sat on the other end.

"Do you know?" Salem said,

"I'm starting to think you like this place because of me."

She looked at him expressionlessly:

"I like it because it doesn't talk."

He smiled:

"You hurt my feelings."

"Get over it."

A small tissue seller passed by,

He stopped in front of them and said:

"Want to buy?"

Salem took out money and bought a whole pack from him.

Mahra asked him:

"Do you need all those tissues?"

He said confidently:

"No, but I like to look like a good person in front of you."

She looked at him for a moment, then said:

"You failed."

He laughed, but he gave the boy the money and said to him:

"Keep the change."

The boy left smiling.

Mahra watched him in silence...

Then she said:

"Well... you succeeded a little."

Another day, Salem brought a book with him.

He said, waving it:

"I read this yesterday."

Mahra took it, looked at the title, then said:

"This is a philosophy book... you?"

"Do you have a problem with that?"

"Yes, because you don't look like someone who can get through a single page."

"That's so unfair... I read three pages."

She laughed... really laughed this time.

He paused for a moment, as if trying to memorize the sound.

Then he said quietly:

"Your laugh is different."

She fell silent at once and returned to her composure:

"Don't comment on ordinary things."

"It's not ordinary."

She looked at him...

But she found no reply.

Small things began to change...

Mahra, who had hated talking...

She began to answer back.

And Salem, who had always joked...

He sometimes began to fall suddenly silent.

On a cloudy morning, Mahra was a little late.

She arrived in a hurry...

She stopped, searching for him with her eyes.

He wasn't there.

She felt a sudden unease... for no reason.

She sat down, looking at the ground, then said in a low voice:

"It's fine... it doesn't matter."

Two minutes passed...

Then his voice came from behind her:

"Were you about to admit that you missed me?"

She turned quickly, looking annoyed:

"You're late."

"Only three minutes."

"You were late."

He smiled:

"That means you were watching the clock."

She fell silent...

Then she said:

"I was watching the bus."

He sat down beside her, but he looked more tired than usual.

She noticed.

"Are you okay?"

He was surprised by the question...

Then he said lightly:

"Is this the first time you've asked about me?"

"Don't change the subject."

He smiled, but the smile didn't reach his eyes:

"I'm fine... I just didn't sleep well."

She wasn't convinced.

But she didn't press him.

And between sarcastic talk and strange silence...

Mahra began to realize something she hadn't yet admitted:

That Salem's presence...

Was no longer a passing detail in her day.

And at the end of that morning,

Salem suddenly stood and said:

"Tomorrow... I might not come."

She raised her head toward him:

"And why are you telling me?"

"Just... so you won't wait for me."

She looked at him steadily and said:

"I'm not waiting for you anyway."

He smiled, as if he had heard something completely different...

And said quietly:

"I know."

He left...

And Mahra remained in her place for a few seconds longer than usual.