Waiting for the train to come, she put her earphones on and hit shuffle on her iPod. Nothing is more comforting than the sound of familiar music blasting in her ears, drowning out the sounds around her. Because amidst the shuffling of feet, people in conversation, children squealing and the whirr of the world, an eerie silence of loneliness surrounds her.

As the train pulls in, she moved swiftly and found a seat. Sandwiched between two obese individuals, she closed her eyes. Because despite the encroachment of personal space with people in close proximity, she was alone. That is how the human mind works, we tolerate encroachment of personal space in public because we imagine others as inanimate object... And once someone in your personal space starts interacting with you, we are disturbed and move away.

Heaving a sigh, with EXO-K's 'Mama' playing in her ears, she opened her eyes and observed the world around her.

At a corner, near the dormant sliding doors, there were... a girl, and a boy. They were talking, smiling at each other. She was reminded of a time when she had such moments. It was a boy, who used to hold her like she mattered. And now, it is no more. Better to have lost than to be held... and then dropped and shattered to pieces later, She thought.

It worked. She didn't feel regret about leaving that jerk of a guy. For all she's known, she had done her best holding on to something that could die at any moment. But there came a time where he had hurt her one too many times. He didn't know to treasure her, and she was done being a cheap, manipulated individual in the world. To save her soul from further damage, she left.

A part of her still wanted her love. A want to be held like she mattered. To be important, to be treasured, to be loved. But she knew to stop expecting. If she was alone, maybe it was because she was meant to be. And if it's her fate, she knew that no matter how hard she tried, she would never win fate.

You're meant to be alone in this world. 


She has heard this being told to her how many times... And life continues to taunt her with the things she'll never have for herself.

Damnit, She thought to herself.

In the seat opposite hers, a girl in her early twenties was happily typing messages on her phone. She looked down at her own phone, and scrolled through her contacts, hoping to find at least someone she could chat with... Someone who was willing to spend time on their phones talking about anything under the sun with her.

None. She paused at a name she knew too well over the past month or so... But she knew that it won't be right to be talking to him. He was a close friend... Just not close enough. Everything she thought wouldn't happen, actually happened with him. A wave a huge disappointment swept over her mind as she pondered about the sequence of events they've been through.

The more she pondered, the more evidence she found for her disappointment. She saw how a friendship could be destroyed, and this time, she didn't want to save it. She figured it would cost her more to save it than it was worth. She thought of him as a close friend and was that close to trusting again... yet everything changed. Similarly, she wasn't really treasured.

Nobody like to be compared like that, especially not her. She didn't know what's wrong with her life. No matter how hard she tried, she'd end up lagging behind someone who she didn't know how-the-hell-he/she-got-there. Blame it on the damn fates again. Just when she was doing so well, the fates panicked and plopped someone else there to foil her plans. Damn fates.

'NEXT STATION, DHOBY GHAUT INTERCHANGE. PASSENGERS...'


She sighed once more, picked up her bag, stood up and got ready to alight.

Afterall, everyone ends up alone.