W.SKIN LABORATORY Triple Care Sun Cream (SPF50+ PA++++)

5:50 PM — the bus hasn't moved an inch in three minutes in the Mohakhali jam, and the late afternoon sun is coming straight through the window glass onto Jerin's right cheek. She hasn't shifted seats. She hasn't pulled her orna over her face. Her hand is on the window rail, she is looking right into the light, and there is no sting on her skin.

Last month it wasn't like this.

Back then, on this same bus, in this same jam, Jerin used to quietly dread getting the window seat. She'd pull a tissue out of her handbag and wipe her forehead, and when she unfolded it there'd be an oil stain. By the time she got down, both cheeks were hot and the sides of her ears had gone red. The old pigmentation on her cheekbone seemed to be getting darker with all this daily sun. She wasn't using sunscreen — every one she'd tried left her face heavy, sticky, and by afternoon there'd be a pale film sitting on top.

Then she picked up W.SKIN LABORATORY Triple Care Sun Cream (SPF50+ PA++++). SPF50+ PA++++ — exactly as much as a Dhaka afternoon like this one asks for.

The tube makes a small sound when you press it, so small you almost miss it. The cream lands cool on your palm, a little thin — not a gel, not a heavy lotion either. Your fingers don't drag when you spread it; they slide. Almost no smell, just a faint clean note near your nose. It disappears in thirty seconds, and after that, if you touch your face, it feels like nothing is on it at all — only the texture is a bit smoother.

The bus is under the flyover now, horn over horn. Jerin takes the tube out of her bag, puts a little on the back of her hand, and runs it over her cheeks and nose — one more layer before her stop. The woman in the next seat watches. Jerin puts the tube back in her bag.

You might start liking the window seat too — try it once.