That One look !

Hi,

Before I start this story, I want to confess one thing: whatever I write here is absolutely true. Nothing is fictional.

Let’s begin—

That morning, I went to a salon for a haircut and beard trim, which cost me ₹150. At the end, I asked the barber to shave a line through my eyebrow, because I had seen many young people doing it and thought it looked stylish. But on me, it looked cringe. I even remembered my sister telling me, “Why are you acting like a chapri?” (Chapri means kiddo or rebel in Hindi — basically an insult).

Later, around 12:30 AM, I finished my duty in Electronic City. My room was in Marathahalli, and the only transportation available at that time was the airport bus, which cost ₹100 to my stop. I sat in the front because no one else was sitting there; only a few people were at the back.

The bus started moving. I put on my earphones and began watching Instagram reels about places near Bengaluru for a one-day trip. I was deeply lost in my phone. When the bus reached Silk Board, a lady got in with her boyfriend. He dropped her into the bus to go to the airport and then left.

She sat uncomfortably in the front, opposite me. After a few minutes, I noticed she was in an awkward situation. The man sitting next to her was staring at her like some hungry animal in a zoo. She couldn’t raise her voice or react — but should she really have to?

He took advantage of her silence and started showing her his number on his phone, giving her constant creepy eye contact. She was clearly uncomfortable.

My scrolling stopped for a second and I focused on what was happening. Hitting him wouldn’t have been a problem for me, but I didn’t do that.

Instead, I just gave him one strong angry look — a serious, direct eye-to-eye stare. He became uncomfortable, his confidence broke, and he couldn’t continue his nonsense. After a moment, he got up and moved near the gate. He even got off before his stop.

A few minutes later, I don’t know why, but the lady got up from her seat and sat beside me. I’m sure her opinion about me changed at that moment.

When my stop came, I stood up to leave. She thanked me with a small smile. I’m sure she reached her destination safely and comfortably.(28/11/2025)