A few weeks earlier, it was a lively spring morning.
'Lucien Hawk,' who was a student of history by profession, traveled by train from his village. Although it was his first journey, he was able to enjoy it with a rather calm mood.
He was alone on the journey. To accompany him, there was only: a worn-out black suitcase. Though the suitcase wasn't very large, it could carry all his necessary belongings. But gripping it tightly in his palm while passing through the narrow corridor of the second class was quite difficult.
"Oh no… I'm sorry!"
The suitcase became the cause of his misery when it fell onto the bodies of the low-income passengers on both sides.
"Hey boy! Can't you watch where you're going?"
The man stood up from his seat and glared at Lucien with angry eyes. Though it wasn't Lucien's fault, even after he moved away, the man kept shouting at the top of his voice. Hearing his shouting made Lucien's heart tremble.
'Good thing I didn't have to share a seat with him. Otherwise…' he muttered in his mind.
Before finishing his thought, he swallowed it down—no sound escaped his lips; he calmly steadied his pupils. The very next moment, he slipped his hand inside his black coat and tried hard to find something. When he found a small piece of paper inside his empty pocket—where even a whole orange could have been hidden—his eyes sparkled. He let out a sigh of relief, as if an icy coolness had washed over his heart. He lifted the paper onto his right palm.
"Number 302," he muttered to himself.
It was the seat assigned to him, which, according to the railway authority, had been reserved for him. Thinking his seat must be nearby, he slowed his pace and stopped, observing the seats around him with sharp eyes.
"298... 299..." he whispered.
Thinking his seat was a little farther ahead, he moved on. He looked around, but all the seats were empty—only the scent of a barren desert reached his nose.
"Unlucky," he thought.
He had hoped that beside him would sit a beautiful woman, and that for the entire journey they would talk while sipping warm tea together.
But instead, he found an empty seat in a lifeless compartment, and only the green scenery outside to comfort his broken heart. He took a deep breath and sat down in his seat.