Seats

4:00 pm at the Amsterdam station.

His hand grasped hers and they ran towards the Eurostar train as briskly as they could. The next train arrived in 3 hours but the Eiffel was the most beautiful at 9 pm. Its tower top sent out light beams and the fireworks around lit up the entire city. They’d completed a year with each other, it was the perfect time to spend a night in Paris. There was finally a sense of relief once they stepped foot in the carriage. After regaining their breath, they turned towards each other and laughed on how they’d almost missed the train.

20 min went by and there were yet no empty seats available. Everyone had taken their places, and due to Christmas time, the entire carriage thronged with eagerly people who wanted to get back home. The Eurostar would only get vacant at the next station, Brussels. But Brussels was an hour away and he had no patience. Held her by the wrists and gaited towards the man who’d taken a seat by the door.

Pointing at the old woman right beside the man he tacitly asked him “Hey, don’t you think it’ll be a gentleman’s act to offer a seat to an elder?”

The man immediately got to his feet, offered the lady a seat and headed to find an empty place to the front of the carriage. Suddenly the doors unsealed and the woman stepped out of the train. As quick as he could, he grabbed the seat and pulled her on his lap. His wits had played their part, it was obvious the woman would get down at the next station. An affectionate smile was now visible on his face.

“What are you doing? People are staring at us!”, she whispered in her shy voice.

He budged even closer, smirked and said “So let them. The question is, who do you want to look at?”