"Thank God!" Ria let out a sigh of relief as she felt the cool waft escaping the temperature-controlled metro carriage on her face. The door had parted like a mother's embrace, but it became less inviting when the contents of the carriage spilled out, swamping her like slime.

"Madam, move forward no," she heard a voice, gruff yet low, almost as if the speaker was breathing into her right ear. Her body let out a violent tremble.

"Stay away from me, you creep," she turned and shot back at the speaker, her eyes wide and teary.

The man's face was strained with all the effort it was taking him to hold off a collective desperation of people behind him about to board the metro. At the sudden outburst of the woman before him, he could only manage to shake his head and blink as he adjusted his eyes on his accuser's face.

"What? Haven't you seen a woman before?" she said, gnashing her teeth. "Or a woman who could stand up to you?"

"I only asked you to move forward. Why are you shouting at me?" His frustration was only matched by that of the people behind him. They had now begun moving around them, like ants around a stone obstructing their path, to get to the door.

It was true. All he had said was that she moved ahead. But she could not shake off the feeling of this unknow man's breath on her ear, invading her space. She could now feel it wriggle through her ear, throat, liver, kidney, spleen — it was everywhere. It was the same feeling all over again when her English professor had tried to get physical with her only this afternoon, in the empty staff room. She had run away, banging the door shut. She couldn't bear the idea of sharing a closed space alone with another man, so a cab home was out of the question. She had not travelled by metro in years. She didn't have to. Most of the days her father would drop her off in his car and on other days an Uber became her means of commute.

She had thought she'd be safe among people, a lot of them women themselves. But now seeing nobody cared for her outcry, she began regretting her decision. Tears began swelling in her eyes, and without another word she started wading through the onrush of passengers still flocking towards the carriage.

Just when she thought she was out of the thicket that brought back years of judgement, shaming, unwarranted attention, cat-calling that she hadn't even realised then, she felt someone tugging the sling of her side bag. She felt that trespassing breath rising up to clog her heart. She stood still for a moment as if paralysed by the venom of a predator. The only thing that moved was the lonely bead of sweat that trickled down the side of her head. The moment that bead of sweat left her chin, she heard her heart pumping again. She had had enough and decided to stand her ground. She turned back and yelled, "Let go off me."

"I am not doing anything. Just look," the man said, pointing at his kada (bracelet), which had tangled with the sling of Ria's bag.

"Oh, I thought ... I ..." Ria couldn't think of anything to say. And by the time Ria collected her thoughts to say something, the man was smiling.

"You should have tried the lady's bogie. It is not crowded," he suggested, his voice still gruff but reassuring.

"I am sorry. I've had a terrible day." Her fingers, which were now balled into fists, relaxed.

"You know, not all men are the same," he said, still smiling. "You overreacted. But that's okay."

Her fingers collected themselves into fists again. She felt a sudden surge of heat like mercury rising in a thermometer, but this sensation had no trace of fear in it. 

"Yes, you are." She yanked her bag free and stormed off. 

.................

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