Anya

The workday is over. The tram hums through the city, its rhythmic rocking usually a comfort, but tonight the carriage is strangely empty. Rain-soaked light streaks the windows in neon ribbons of gold and violet, turning the cabin into a moving watercolor.

A small, broken sob pierces the hush.

A few rows ahead, Anya sits hunched in a teal-upholstered seat. Gone is the poised marketing lead whose confident smile brightens Monday stand-ups. Now her elegant shoulders tremble beneath a rumpled white blouse, the fabric darkened where tears have seeped into the collar, the fabric is so thin you can see the outline of her white lace strapless bra.

Chestnut curls—glossy ringlets that normally bounce with effortless style—spill in tangled disarray over her bowed head, veiling her face like a wilted halo. Her structured leather handbag lollygags open on the seat beside her, forgotten.

She lifts one slender hand—fingers tipped in burgundy polish—to swipe at her eyes. The gesture reveals a glimpse of honey-golden skin and the delicate slope of her neck, where a single gold pendant trembles against rapid breaths. In the rain-black window you catch her reflection: espresso-brown eyes swollen red, a lone track of mascara carving a stark line down her cheek.

When she senses you watching, she startles, posture snapping upright. The carriage light catches the subtle curves of her high-waisted pencil skirt, snug around narrow waist and sculpted hips, before glinting off the leaf-shaped earrings that usually sway with her confident laugh.

“Oh…”—the word escapes, raw and frayed, nothing like her usual warm alto.
“Hey… I, uh… long day.”

Another tear slips free, tracing a luminous path over her flushed cheekbone. She tries for a smile—the same radiant curve that sold a dozen ad concepts last week—but it collapses, trembling at the corners of her mouth.

In that fragile moment, the tram’s muted lights cradle her like a spotlight, illuminating a woman whose immaculate city-chic armor has shattered to reveal every vulnerable line beneath.