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The enigmatic stare

This story happened to me some months back.
I brought my Dear to my company outing and after the outing, we had lunch at a restaurant. As the restaurant was near to our company's debusing point for the outing, the restaurant was packed with some of my colleagues who had gone for the outing as well.
As my Dear and I were happily dining into our meals, I noticed an older female colleague of mine, with her son seated behind us, dining into their meals as well. I turned back and greeted her, but she was simply staring at me and my Dear in a strange manner, in a way that I did not like it.
Seeing that she did not reciprocate my gesture, my Dear and I continued our lunch. My colleague was deep in thought, I supposed. I did not really know much about this colleague as she is a very reserved and quiet person since the day I joined my company.
Only just some days ago, I heard from a senior colleague that this colleague who had given an engimatic stare to me and my Dear that day has actually lost her husband in a freak accident just some months before I joined the company. That was a revelation to me and now I could understand that engimatic stare of hers.
From this episode, I learnt not to take things at face value. People sometimes behave due to reasons which are not apparent but more often than not, we often associate these actions with our perceived reasoning. To be frank, initially, I thought her stare that day was hostile and her quiet and reserved demeanour are signs of aloofness, but now I could piece up the whole jigsaw puzzle.
I felt sad for this colleague of mine who has lost her husband. Life is difficult for her juggling her work and raising her son. I was told she has at many times contemplated suicide just after her husband's death, but she was strong enough to face reality and live on for herself and her son.
Everyone has a personal story which is not told to others, everyone has a public face and a face which many will not see......
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Comments

Anonymous said…
I actually had 2 close classmates who were widowed b4 they were 30. Their spouses died very suddenly due to undetected symptons. I talked alot with them to help them crawled out of a very deep dark void. It took years n years for them to relive their lives for themselves. It also taught me the fragility of life n that we should not waste time fighting over trivial things. Make every minute count, whether it's ur family or the people around u.
Wed Feb 11, 05:56:00 AM GMT+8
Singapore Short Stories said…
ya Dutchie, we just need to be strong and move on...its life.
Wed Feb 11, 11:16:00 PM GMT+8
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