Love In The Night Sky

III. Creep

⪼ iii.  Creep 

I STEP out from the stairs and check the neighboring environment. I check the two most vital places; the high apartment and the house next to mine. Shalini auntie almost caught me one time while I was busy admiring the guy, while blasting some music through my earphones. When I noticed her presence, I immediately mouth some words and shrugged my shoulders as if I was dancing. She thought that I was listening to music, and left.

Thank goodness she can't see the terrace guy that I now have a crush on.

I sigh from the memory and start my pace. I turn to see if he had come, but it seems I am too early this time. I click on my homescreen button to see that the time is 6:55 pm. I sigh again.

I complete two laps in the meantime and finally, the terrace guy comes from his terrace door. I let out a soft gasp and bit my cheeks to stop from smiling. If I wanted to stay secret with the whole crush thing, I need to stop acting excited. Indian aunties can tell if you are smiling or not by just the silhouette. I need to stay safe.

But I guess my happiness is written to be short-lived. 

I see the man in his thirties standing and blending into the darkness. If I wasn't alert, I would have never found out. As if sensing my stare, he goes out of sight into hiding again. 

There is a difference between me, the terrace guy, and this old man. This man only comes to the terrace to find girls of vulnerability. I saw him gawking at his neighbor, that she only walked for 5 minutes before leaving. The terrace guy and me, though I do have a crush on him, I don't leave or come to the terrace solely because of him. Yes, I do look forward to him. But he is only my drive. I haven't even met him or seen him face. 

And the terrace guy never walked because of me. And I know this because I tested a lot of times by pretending that I was leaving (don't ask me why)

"Gosh, how uncomfortable." I mutter to myself. I can sense his stare, piercing through my back. Perhaps I shouldn't have worn a skirt. Thank goodness I wore a jacket. 

Unable to take his intense gaze, I stop walking and stare directly at his silhouette. As if on instinct, he goes to hiding again. I scoff out loud at his pathetic cowardness. Is he really a man or is he a boy? 

But I knew that he would keep doing this and me staying is not a good option. I am practically feeding his imagination by staying. So I take one look towards the terrace guy and leave early. 

"What happened? Did the guy not come today?" My brother asks as soon as I sit on the sofa. I nudge him, hardly. 

"Are you crazy? What if mum and dad heard?" I scold him but he simply looks amused and smiles cheekily. 

"Wouldn't that be a sight to behold, my dear sweet little sister?"

"EWW!"

"Stop fighting." Mum calls out before slipping into the kitchen.

"So?" He asks, now that mum isn't nearby and dad is working on his files in the bedroom and attending important calls. 

"Well... you know the Greens Apartment, right? The man came again." 

My brother frowned. I'm nervous to tell him this. Even though my brother is never the violent type, the memory of my brother with a bloody mouth as he beat the 4 boys who bullied me as 4v1 and still won, still haunts me. He is ruthless and our entire family knows it. 

"I swear, he is gonna get it today." He stands up and tries to walk towards the door but I grasp his wrist. 

"He probably left. There is no use now. He would deny it." 

Honestly, I am scared. I have never experienced things like this before. And I've heard things from other people about how many stalkers have tried to kill the person they stalked. What should I do? I don't really want anyone to know about it. Especially not mum and dad. 

ᶻ 𝗓 𐰁

The next day, I stand at the stairs. The first thing I do when I get to the terrace is to discreetly check for the terrace guy. However, this time, I directly march towards the wall and peek to see if the old man is there. He isn't. And I smile. 

I start my walk and bite my cheeks to stop from smiling when I stop the guy whom I thought of all day throughout this day, that even Esther was quite interested in this 'terrace guy' that I talk about. 

Of course, my happiness is always limited because the old man comes again.

I pause, and he hides again. Pathetic little garbage. 

I hope he steps on a stone barefoot because I know that he is too broke to even buy a Lego for his future son. 

I hope that when he eats biryani, he chews on a cardamon.

I hope that when he takes a leave, his office invites Beyonce and BTS.

I hope he gets a near heart attack, thinking that he missed a stair. 

Because of him, I'm anxious. Because of him, I'm always checking my left. Because of him, I take the opposite direction. Because of him, I have to return early.

Because of him, I can't see the terrace guy. 

That builds me some rage. I reach the side where I can see his silhouette but quickly look around to see if there is anyone spying on me. When I see no one, I turn and look directly at the old man. 

Because of you guys, girls come early to walk. Because of you guys, people rearrange their time. Because of you guys, I hesitate to walk in a particular direction. Because of you guys, I back up. Because of you guys, I can't sleep at night. Because of you guys, I feel unsafe to go to my terrace. My own terrace, my own house and my own property. 

I step as close as I could to the wall so that the street light illuminates my face, making sure he can see me.

"F*ck you." I don't scream, I don't yell, I mouth. This is probably the most childish thing that I did but oh gosh did it feel so good. I don't look to see if the guy left, I start walking again.

I'm sure he will be the one that can't sleep at night as he thinks of this event, haunting him till the rest of his life. 

I did it. I drove someone away. I drove someone away. For the first time, I wasn't a coward. 

"Now I can always see you with no troubles." I mumble, batting my eyelashes dramatically towards the terrace guy.