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Chapter X: A Meeting with Unknown




I tried to look as fine as possible. I cleaned my eyes with both of my sleeves. But, I could not remove the swollen part of my eyes. I can’t think how I looked at that moment. He slowly plugged out his earphones and politely began to speak.
“Hello madam? Is everything alright?”

I gave him a forceful smile and in broken words, “I am fine. Nothing is wrong here. Thank you.”
“I see that something is not really going good with you. Your eyes are swollen. You had been crying for a long time”, he insisted again.

“It’s nothing. Just a family problem. I had to cry. I am sorry, I look terribly bad here”. I began to stand and walk towards the school. He followed me.

“You are a teacher here in the school right? Glad to know you today”. His voice followed with his footsteps.
“Glad to know you too”, I replied him without bothering to look back. He kept following me.
“Where are you going? Sorry to ask though”, I asked him.
“I have a friend there in your school. He is also a teacher there”, he answered.
“You can go ahead”, I told him offering him a long path ahead.

“No! It’s okay. We can go together. I am Wangchuk by the way. I am studying there at Lovely Professional University. May I know you please?”, he asked me again.

I was shocked and frustrated to walk along with such kind of person. He was looking for a corner in circle. He introduced himself although I didn’t ask him to. I told him to walk ahead of me but he denied. Finally, I had to force myself introduce myself to him.

“I am Lekyuen. I am a new teacher here in the school”.
“Thank you so much madam Lekyuen. Children might be so happy to have a new teacher in the school”, he giggled.
He was getting into my nerves. I turned back towards him and said, “Why?”
“What?”, he keeps on smiling.
“You told me that children might be happy to have a new teacher here in the school. So I am asking why?” I asked him again.
“Well, they have a new teacher to teach them”, he teased me again.
“Every teacher is responsible to teach them. There is nothing to be happy about me teaching them. That’s normal”, I tried to defend my stand.

“But madam, do you know? Rukubji is a remote place. The winter is freezing. Not a single person wants to come here. Few years ago, there was a shortage of teachers. I heard that even the Office Assistant had to teach children”, he explained to me as if he knew everything about the school. I had to agree. The winter was cold as he said but I didn’t know about the shortage of teachers. For a moment, I had forgotten my grievances. I was listening to that irritating person.  He kept following me.

I began to hesitate. So, I asked him, “I am going home now. Please can you go to your friend’s house? Thank you for your company”.
“I am sorry that I will be following till your house. My friend stays next to your house”. He denied again. Is it an excuse? Or he has a friend? I wondered but I continued walking without bothering about where he was going.

After reaching the door of my house, I picked my keys from one of the flower pots. Flower pots are my favourite place to hide my keys. I didn’t look at him. I started unlocking the door.
“Madam Lekyuen, I leave you here. It was nice to walk with you till here. Take care”, he told me before he returned to the same way.

“Why are you going back? You aren’t going to visit you friend? May be he stays in one of those buildings”. I pointed my forefinger to a Teacher’s Quarter.
“No! I am not going. I don’t know any of them there. I just wanted to accompany you till here. Well, see you again”, he told me
“Hey! What do you mean?”, before I got an answer, he ran away at the fullest speed.
About hundred meters away from my home, in a diminishing voice, I heard, “Chat!…you!…evening!..”
What! I thought. How would he chat with me in the evening.

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𝐖𝐞 𝐋𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐬!

𝐖𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐬  𝐖𝐞 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐦𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡 𝐖𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐮𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐖𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐏𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐚 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐖𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐞𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧  𝐖𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐨𝐫 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐢𝐩 𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐢𝐠 𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐬  𝐖𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐲 𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐬  𝐖𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐖𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐚 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐤 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐖𝐞 𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐠𝐞 𝐚 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐛𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐖𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 ...