TUHIN RAHMAN

For the third time she looked at the man and missed another heartbeat. Oh god! How a man can be so beautiful! He was more than that! If there was something to apply she would do that. She in her mind kissed him many times on his cheek and lips. She was also pretty. If a man would ever look at her, look for a second time. But this man was different. He did not look at her for the second time. Just a glance at her then idly averted his eyes to another direction. He got up in the same compartment of the train and sat in front of her row, on the other side. Rani could see his face clearly. When he first got in the compartment he wore beautiful stripped full sleeve shirt that was tucked under a black pant. A nice shiny buckle on a leather belt. He was just a prince. He entered into the compartment and put his leather bag onto the shelf above his seat. She could not avert her eyes from him-the beautiful prince.
And now it was thirty two, she tried to count, thirty two times she looked at him and every time she swallowed. She did not do it before. Never! No man before him could attract her eyes this way. Is this called love at first sight? May be. Rani thought she would go and sit beside him and extend a hand to introduce. But she could not. No woman can do that, she thought, a matter of prestige and shame. What if she tried to pass beside him and push him and acted that she fell? Would he come to get her up?
The train gave a whistle. Her heartbeat started beat faster. Would he get off? The train started to slow down. But he did not get off. Rani heaved a sigh of relief. Now this was 66 times she looked at him. An old woman was observing her and bent down towards her, and said something to her ear. Rani was jerked and looked at her. The old woman was laughing. "He is looking great, isnt he?" she said, "if I were you I would go and sit beside him, hi hi hi."
"Sorry, you are wrong. I am looking outside. Not at him."
She coughed but said nothing.
The train whistled again and like before Rani missed her heartbeat. She prayed that he wont get off in the next station. She prayed and prayed. She looked and looked. This time she was not staring at him. She looked at him shamelessly. He turned his face and looked at her. She wondered, he just looked at her blankly. She has never seen a man like him. All the men she saw were not like him. They all gawk at her. But this man was not like them at all. And this made her attraction burgeon more and more about him. The train started to slow down. Ranis heartbeat became more faster as she watched him getting up. He wake up slowly. Yawned and then started to go. Rani heaved a sigh of relief again. He was not getting off the train. He just went outside the compartment. If he had gone he would take his bag with him. The bag was just right there on the rack. The train had a five minutes break at the station. Rani waited and waited for her prince. She could not ever believe a man would be so beautiful. She promised this time she would talk to him. Its needless to keep a burning charcoal in her heart forever. But she wondered. The man was not coming back. The train gave a whistle and started to move forward. Rani ran to the window and leaned over. She saw the beautiful man was standing at the tea stall and sipping a cup of tea. The train started to move faster. Rani knew either the man was deaf or he was absent minded. She instantly took the bag of the man and jumped outside. This was her last chance to talk to him. She got down on the station and started to walk towads the man. He turned back to Rani and saw her coming towads him with the bag and suddenly he started to walk fast to another direction.
"Hey". Rani cried from afar, "take your bag."
The man must have been a deaf or he could hear her. He had raisen a little more speed and began moving away. Rani almost ran on the platform towards him and cried. But he did not listen. And then the most traumatic sight took place. The whole station was shaken with a deadly blast. Ranis body tore into pieces and thrown in every direction. All the glass of the station shattered. People waiting at the station fell down and groped for a safe place. They were running to and fro. A little later all the hustle and bustle came to halt. People gathered at the point where Ranis shattered body lied lifeless.

The beautiful man ran into a big room gasping. "That fucking girl started to follow me with that bag." he told the bald man sitting inside the room.
"So you missed the operation?" asked the man, "to destroy that train?"
The beautiful man said nothing.
"So where is the point importing beautiful man in our terrorism arena? Your fucking beautiful face does not come into any use killing people. You are fired."
The beautiful man came out of the room and vanished in the air.

Police came a little more later. People described her as a terrorist. Police believed them. Because they saw her shouting and running just when the bomb blasted. It is very reasonable for her carring bomb. Nowadays police had been informed that terrorists started to include beautiful girls and men in them. She was one of them.
But nobody knew that Rani saved all the people of the train and sacrified her life. Her maiden love for a beautiful man invited her to the abyss of blackness.

(A copyrighted short story by Tuhin Rahman)