Amaranthine Odes | ONC 2022

◻Chapter 05◻✔️

◻Elegiac Embers◻

Am I a pest? Until you run away, yes, I'm a crisis. I can reign to rot you. Stop running. Oh, my master, make me your friend.
~FEARS
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Honk! Honk!

He kept pressing the puffed steering with every halt he made with the inch-by-inch move of the traffic.

Agh! This day can't get more exciting.

He sneered as he rolled down the window to look at the stagnant vehicles crossed and jammed before him.

Oh my... These honking four-wheeled, giant bison and two-wheeled, lean dogs and the toxic black smokes. Pity!

His sweat dribbled down his nape while some thick spurts of sebum heavied his face.

"Looks like it would take an hour or more." A man from the nearby bike commented to his friend behind him.

"Bro, almost an hour has passed," Tushant replied with an enraged smile.

The maddening haste of honks made them toss their heads to realize the flashing streaks of blue and red siren some meters behind them.

"Uff! Bro, move the dog- sorry, bike to the sides. Then let's tail behind."

Tushant's words earned his wink. As he tilted the handle to the sides, Tushant moved his car to the other side. As every vehicle allowed some gap, the siren lights approached nearer. Snaking through the trivial spaces of the croaky road, the other men kept up their tactics.

Once the silent sirens began to cross them, they steered their wheels to gear behind the white-boxed vehicle. As the fight for dominance began, Tushant began to close every ounce of the gap he could find, blocking every other vehicle, even if it cost him some pungent profanities.

Too many bugs and hoppers!

He slurred as the bikes kept intruding on his moves to get off the clustered traffic. With wise blocking and annoying sudden brakes, he surpassed the rugged road. Sighing out the dusty wheeze, he turned up the windowpane to breathe in the conditioned air.

He pushed in the cassette that his hands could first pick from the dashboard. The harmonious instrumental music collection made his lips spurt the joyous smile that shined through his eyes.

"Now this feels better!"

He swayed to guitar and piano tunes as the bass glided up to fall. Between his iffy relaxation, his eyes caught up on the signboard glaring in white lights in the day from the corner blind turn of the windy road.

"Kaapi 2.0?"

Curious giggles lit up his eyes as he looked at the icon of a happy samosa offering the steaming silverware, with a cheese-made cone hat on the other hand. He halted the car at the entrance and pushed his phone to the side pockets.

Locking the doors, he strode to the teal marble-floored reception. Reaching the crude stone desk placed in the background of coarse brick walls, he pulled out the heap of gold coffee beans printed on the card. As he strode through the folds, ten parallel pages were behind the thick brown sheet.

So much to choose from?

Fleeting through the menu for a good four minutes, he looked up at the pearly white smile, the only visible part of her bangs-covered face. Cornering some strands to reveal her happy browns, she stood bent as if to spill some secret.

"One smoked coffee with some salted breadsticks, please." He said with his palms ruffling his bangs to the sides. He attempted to read her name through the teal and coral apron adoring her beige collar shirt. His eyes wandered through her petite curves only to stop at the two buttons left open at the top.