As she reached the exit of the park, she realized that she had to again roam over to the bus stop. The buses and taxis were not available at that moment. Sophia's mind tensed up. Her eyes were about to shed tears and she was about to sob when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned around to find Joe, whose face revealed some expected conversation from his side.
" Sophia, there won't be any bus available at this moment. You are only killing your time. So, Instead of wasting it any further, you should immediately reach your destination, through the vehicle at hand." advised Joe, placing his hands on Sophia's shoulders.
After attending to the piece of advice, Sophia paused for a while. She kept rolling her eyes in several directions and then looked at Joe with creased brows. Then, Joe clasped Sophia's hand and took her a few steps away after crossing the gate and pointed at a black Fortuner.
Sophia's eyes became slightly moistened as she looked at the car. She covered her mouth with both palms, with the ends of her lips slipped upwards and wide opened. She was gazing at this car with ecstasy, and her mouth began to gulp the saliva that drooled peeking at the looks of that car.
" Is It yours....?" asked Sophia, stressing the word, to which Joe answered back," Yes, it's mine. I know it's quite small and might seem uncomfortable. But it was only for today, as today I took a break from my business activities. I will not prefer this one next time."
He turned his eyes to the girl only to find her staring untiringly at the car. She rushed towards that car and touched it. " You know, Joe, I like Fortuner very much. I never missed a single t.v. advertisement of it in 365 days. My aunt had a Fortuner too, which she bought on a 7-year loan agreement. My cousins used to travel a lot in it, but no one ever allowed my presence inside the car. I was not even allowed to touch it. And then, after the expiry of 7 years, the bank officials approached the home and took custody of it, because of the failure of my aunt to repay the loan along with interest." narrated Sophia, stroking every external part of that car.
" Come inside this car, Sophia. You will reach your destination safely and quickly," said Joe, signaling Sophia to sit inside the car. Joe's insistence on having her seated made her step inside that car. When she seated herself with a throbbing heart, her heated body got relaxed. The shelter of that Fortuner and the chillness of the air conditioner energized her fatigued body.
Sophia's eyes rolled over to the grey polyester car seats, neat and unscratched, the polished hand brake, and the sterile rearview mirror. Everything inside this car was perfect. It was as if this car was purchased recently.
Then, Sophia began wiping her lip with her tongue and gulping her saliva as she stared at an orange juice, that was hooked with a glass holder, attached to the side of the seat. She craved it so much, that she pulled it out of the holder and opened its seal. Then, without caring about any occasion, she began consuming the juice, emptying half of the bottle.
When she withdrew her lips that were pressed to the bottleneck, she found Joe staring at her with crossed arms and a loose expression through the window. In an instant, Sophia placed that bottle in the same holder and turned her eyes away from Joe's gaze. Joe seeing this started laughing loudly and seated himself inside the car and rubbed Sophia's hands.
Then kissing them, he said," Oh, dear! why do you always have to worry about silly things? Just use any of my items without permission. If you keep scaring yourself like this, I will consider that our relationship is shattered." Saying so, Joe posed himself as a friendly guy.
" By the way Sophia, you didn't tell me where you want to go. Please insist on communicating the details of the location," Joe's utterances were that of a teacher or high official.
" Please drop me at Georgia's institute, which is 7 km away from here," said Sophia, giving out a serious grimace.
" But why do you want me to drop you at your college, dear? Don't you want to go home now, it's already 1:20. "
" My college gets over at 1:30. If I didn't enter the college and pose myself to be there the whole day, my cousins will find out that I wasn't there. This will make them angry and they will treat me harshly."
" So you are afraid of your mean sisters, right? They only care about their interests above anybody else. I noticed it on the first day of my visit to your house. Don't you ever speak out in favor of yourself? You should support yourself, to support me in the future."
All the objections and pieces of advice Joe uttered passed by Sophia's ears unnoticed. While Joe was mocking her cousin's character, Sophia continued to gaze at Joe with love. She placed her palm below her chin and smiled at Joe, while Joe looked straight at the road and continued with his discussion. It was as if Sophia liked this version of Joe. He appeared cuter while criticizing someone.
Then suddenly, Sophia yawned and exposed herself to sleep in the car seat. Joe looked straight into her eyes and kissed her cheek. " Sleep dear, you are already tired of your aunt, your cousins and this cruel world. Sleep is a good remedy for a person in distress. He should entertain it instead of foregoing it. I will surely wake you up at 2 pm, till then have a good resting period." said Joe in his same sugary tone. Both of them had already reached the college and were standing beside it. They were relaxing inside the fully air-conditioned car.