Our office was located inside a high-rise building in one of the business districts of our city. It wasn’t right smack in the middle of the said business district, so thankfully it wasn’t as crowded as the more central areas. But the disadvantage though was that it was still a distance away from the main commuting stops.

It wasn’t that far though, as a nearby train station of our metro rail was about a 15 minute walk from our building, so it was still fairly accessible. That same train station was connected with several shopping malls, places where we would go have our lunch from time to time.

That 15 minute walk would take you through a mixture of larger roads and smaller streets, and it was in one of those smaller streets that Vivien had a very particular experience one early morning.

* * * * *

<[email protected]> yo

<[email protected]> v seems kind of out of it

<[email protected]> anything happened?

<[email protected]> hmmm

<[email protected]> not sure

<[email protected]> let me check

<[email protected]> or you could ask her yourself

<[email protected]> lol

* * * * *

<[email protected]> v got mugged

<[email protected]> O_o

<[email protected]> what?!

<[email protected]> when?

<[email protected]> apparently earlier this morning

<[email protected]> while walking to the office

<[email protected]> O_o

* * * * *

Sad to say, the place where we are from isn’t exactly among the safest cities in the world. While business districts were generally relatively safer, by and large random crimes like theft do happen from time to time.

I personally have had my own fair share of encounters with thieves as well. There were experiences of pickpockets trying to open my bag in crowded places (they all failed). Once someone tried to grab and detain me near the slums (I managed to evade them). Another time I ran across the road amidst speeding cars to escape from a pair of thieves running after me (I was able to outrun them). What took the cake was getting cornered in the stairs that lead to the entrance of one of our train stations. When the guy took out a knife, I knew there was no escaping anymore.

So these things happened fairly often, and I was familiar with them as well. I also knew that encountering something like that can be shocking as well, especially during your first encounter. So Vivien being in shock right after it happened was quite normal.

But I had a bit of a dilemma about this. Would it be appropriate to talk to Vivien about what happened to her immediately after? On one hand, showing care to your friend is always a good thing. On the other hand, she might just want some space to calm down and let the trauma pass. I’m sure having lots of people ask what happened isn’t exactly the most helpful of things.

In the end, I simply decided to just ask her how she was.

* * * * *

<[email protected]> hey

<[email protected]> i just heard...

<[email protected]> how are you feeling right now?

* * * * *

As expected, it took a bit of time before she got to reply to my message.

* * * * *

<[email protected]> i’m more or less fine

<[email protected]> thanks for the concern though :)

* * * * *

I guess she was mostly coping fine with things, thankfully.

* * * * *

<[email protected]> so… what happened?

<[email protected]> where did this happen?

<[email protected]> i was walking from shaw station to our office via emerald street

<[email protected]> i think it was a little past 7 am

<[email protected]> some random guy placed his arm across my shoulder

<[email protected]> pointed something that looked sharp at my side

<[email protected]> and asked for my phone

<[email protected]> so i handed it over then he just walked away

<[email protected]> it happened so fast

<[email protected]> i just proceeded to the office in shock afterwards

<[email protected]> took a while before things sinked in

<[email protected]> hahaha

<[email protected]> O_o

<[email protected]> that’s kinda scary

<[email protected]> at least you are safe though

<[email protected]> that’s one good thing to be thankful for

<[email protected]> yeah

<[email protected]> good thing i didn’t scream

<[email protected]> haha

<[email protected]> :o

* * * * *

There was not much more I could stretch that conversation to, so our conversation about that soon ended. But this situation presented me a very particular opportunity. And in a very rare move, I actually had a plan to do something quite unlikely of me.

* * * * *

Our working hours were semi-flexible, meaning one could come in anytime between 8 AM and 10 AM, and leave as long as one is able to complete eight hours of work. And as someone who usually came in before 8 AM, I could technically leave by around 5 PM (this included the one-hour lunch break). Normally I would do so, but on this day I decided to tarry a bit. Everything was set for me to leave, but I decided to wait for Vivien.

And when Vivien finally left the office, I soon quickly followed after her, as discreetly as I could.

* * * * *

“V, wait up.”

I called out as I briskly walked towards the elevator lobby.

“Let me join you on your way to the station.”

I figured since I was taking the same route going to the station, I could just walk with her towards it. Sure, our train routes were different, but we can simply start with small things. Plus, it might give her a better presence of mind to walk the route where she got mugged with someone she knew, even if there really wasn’t much I can help with in case there were more thieves waiting.

“Sure,” Vivien replied.

* * * * *

The elevator ride down 28 floors was awkwardly silent. As much as I tried planning on how to pull off creating an opportunity to spend some time with Vivien, I completely missed the part of preparing what to actually do. It seems like introverted people like me should always have some conversation topics prepared beforehand.

Baby steps, I suppose.

* * * * *

Upon reaching the ground floor, I did manage to get my bearing straight.

“So how are you coping now with the mugging?” I asked Vivien as we started walking in the direction of the train station.

“I guess i’m ok now. Sure it was shocking at first, but after a while it subsides.”

“That’s good to hear then. No trauma, right? A friend once told me that after his brother got mugged, he was so traumatized he ended up as a shut-in.”

“Hey, it wasn’t that bad. It’s just a lost phone, not really that big of a deal.”

“Hey, some people get traumatized having a knife pointed at them. For all we know you might get flashbacks while walking the same route,” I replied giving a shrug.

Vivien chuckled. “Is that why you’re walking with me right now?”

That was not planned. I knew I had to cover my tracks and play it cool.

“Hey, this is also my normal route. Plus, you know me, I’m part of the go-home-early-club,” I answered nonchalantly even as deep down I was having some cold sweat.

“Right…” Vivien replied with a smirk.

* * * * *

“This is where I got mugged,” Vivien remarked as we turned the corner.

I quickly glanced around the street to see any possible sign of trouble. It was late afternoon, so the place was littered with various people rushing to go home. Obviously, no mugging would happen at that hour.

We continued to walk forward, passing through the spot where Vivien got mugged.

“So what are your plans about it?” I asked.

“What do you mean?”

“Are you planning to make a police report about it?”

“Nah, seems useless. For all I know some cop might be using my phone now.”

“You have a point,” I nodded. Law and order wasn’t a strong suit of our place, and cops were quite notorious in some places.

“Well, I guess I’ll just buy a new phone and move on,” Vivien added.

“Your family already knows about it?”

“Yeah, I borrowed Shirley’s phone to tell them and have the line deactivated. Hopefully no funny messages were sent on my behalf,” she quipped.

I smirked. It was great to see she had her usual humor back.

“So how about tomorrow? Still taking the same early morning route?” I asked.

“Don’t know. Maybe. I mean, what are the odds of this happening again?”

“I know, you should just try walking faster,” I joked. “That’s what I did during my high school days.”

“So how did that work out for you? Was it effective?” Vivien chimed.

“For the most part I guess. Well, expect when the time I got cornered and a rusty knife was pulled out. Not much I could do at that point,” I confessed. “But you know what, you should just get your boyfriend to drive you to work.”

Vivien laughed. “That’s unlikely to happen.”

* * * * *

The next morning, I decided to wait at the train station quite early. I figured I might chance upon Vivien and walk her to the office. This was the least I could do as a good friend, or so I told myself, even if deep down I knew it wasn’t as benevolent as I was convincing myself with.

And so I arrived at the station around 6:30 AM, 30 minutes earlier than the time Vivien would likely arrive, and an hour-and-a-half earlier than our earliest login time at work. And so I waited until 7 AM, at which I started paying much more attention at the arriving people, and hiding from people who might recognize me.

But Vivien had not yet arrived.

Another 30 minutes passed, and still Vivien did not come. And soon enough, it was almost 8 AM, and I decided to call it quits and head for the office. Perhaps Vivien called in sick for the day.

* * * * *

Much to my surprise though, I arrived in the office only to see Vivien already there. As it turned out, upon learning of the mugging, Vivien’s boyfriend did decide to drive her to the office from then on.

Perhaps I ended up just jinxing myself in this situation.