The Smell of Exhaust and Wet Pavement

Dear Delyara, I opened the cabin door at 1:35 AM to check the external gate padlock, and the sudden scent of heavy vehicle exhaust mixing with wet asphalt caught me completely off guard. It smelled exactly like the loading docks near the canal in London where I used to walk after my late-night university seminars—that sharp, industrial smell of a city that never stops moving toward its goals. Back then, the night hours felt full of potential, a wide-open canvas before the launch of a professional career. Tonight, it feels like an absolute trap of economic survival. Standing on the wet tarmac under the yellow glare of the sodium lights, the difference between the boy who carried those textbooks and the man carrying this clipboard feels like a physical bruise in my chest.