Five. Four. Three. Two. One. The pedestrian light turned green exactly as I stepped onto the lane. The honks of cars during the afternoon rush were drowned out by the pop music playing through my headphones.

My pace had already adjusted to the beat of the music. It was faster than that of the other pedestrians scrambling to get home after a tiring day at work, hoping to catch incoming buses before everyone else did. I sighed as I watched them from a distance, running toward a bus that hadn’t yet come to a full stop. Thankfully, I could walk home instead of facing the same ordeal.

I had already reached the entrance to the underpass, but I chose to stay a bit longer, feeling the breeze pass by. I stared at the dilapidated building on the other side. It had already been emptied out, and protective nets and scaffolding had been put in place. Hopefully, the demolition process wouldn’t cause much disturbance to the surrounding office buildings.

As I started walking down the underpass, I heard the faint sound of drums playing. I removed my headphones to listen more closely. The hollowed underground revealed a group of musicians busking at the far end. I was already in front of them when they began their next song — 4 Non Blondes’ “What’s Up.”

I watched them play while everyone else passed by, seemingly uninterested. And then the all-too-familiar lines echoed:

“And I say, hey-ey-ey. Hey-ey-ey. I said, ‘Hey, what’s going on?’”

I realized I was singing out loud along with the musicians. And I wasn’t the only one — she sang the lyrics at the exact same time I did. I tried to pretend it wasn’t me, but she was already looking at me.

Crap.

We both laughed sheepishly.

She was in her corporate get-up. Her ponytail made her laughter even harder to hide. The sling of her laptop bag hung comfortably on her small shoulder.

One thing was strange, though — I had seen her before. It felt like the whole experience had already happened. From the “What’s Up” song to the moment we laughed together. Was it from a previous day? A different place? Somehow, I had that gnawing feeling that I’d already seen her.

She slowly walked closer as she continued to watch the musicians. I pretended to listen, too. After the song ended, she turned to face me.

“Hi. Have we met before?”