A mosquito

It was just five o'clock in the afternoon. I turned off my computer, closed the office door, and went downstairs to clock out. Stepping out of the office building, I noticed the sun was still high in the sky. Early summer evenings at five are still quite sultry.

I opened the car door, got in, and immediately turned on the air conditioning. It was rush hour, so the roads were quite congested. While waiting at a red light at an intersection, I habitually turned on my favorite song in the music app and put it on repeat. Suddenly, a mosquito flew by in front of me. I didn't pay it much attention. When it passed in front of me a second time, a slight annoyance crept in. I thought, it couldn't have gotten in during those two or three seconds when I opened the car door and got in. This mosquito must have been in the car all day. Despite the high temperature inside the car at noon, it hadn't died; its vitality was truly impressive.

The car continued moving forward. Given the limited space in the car, the mosquito kept occasionally flying past my eyes. As it flew more frequently, my irritation gradually increased. Just as I occasionally turned my head to look for it, my left cheek suddenly hurt. My first reaction was that I had been bitten by the mosquito. Instinctively, I took my right hand off the steering wheel and slapped my left cheek, but I missed the mosquito and ended up slapping myself hard. The bite area itched a bit, and I scratched it with my fingers, which somewhat relieved the pain and itch.

At this moment, the mosquito flew to the front windshield, seemingly trying to get out, continuously bumping against the glass. The buzzing sound started again near my ear, and I realized there were two mosquitoes. One of them seemed to be taunting me, buzzing around my head and occasionally attacking my neck or arms. My irritation and anger reached a peak, and I started waving my right hand around, trying to drive them away. For a moment, I lost my grip on the steering wheel, and the car swerved toward the side of the road. I quickly grabbed the wheel with both hands, steering it back on course, breaking into a cold sweat.

But these two mosquitoes seemed to be teaming up, launching coordinated attacks. I even speculated about their relationship. I couldn't afford to be careless anymore. Despite the high temperature outside, I opened all four windows, letting the hot air rush in, hoping the mosquitoes would fly out. But after a few minutes, for some reason, they didn't leave. One mosquito even hovered near the open front passenger window several times, almost going out but not quite.

I turned the air conditioning to full blast, hoping to blow them out. After about five or six minutes, the two mosquitoes were still inside, occasionally flying past my eyes, asserting their presence. I had no choice but to close the windows again. Whether they were tired or I had run out of options and decided to ignore them, we seemed to coexist peacefully until I drove home.

After parking and turning off the car, I looked around inside for a while but didn't find any trace of them. I let it go. I still felt a bit annoyed when I got home, though I couldn't pinpoint exactly why.