HE

Off to a good start? Aziel! Are you actually thinking that this can be just more than just an encounter? You?! You actually want to get yourself into talking and maintaining a relation with a person? Just keep it low, nothing more nothing less. You’re always surrounded with people all the time, you’ll find one eventually. Let’s just not turn this into an un-meaningful happening. Just a cute once in a lifetime small of an encounter, that’s all this is and that’s all this ought to be.

But will I find someone as intriguing as her?

Lord I think I need to give my brain some time-out.

Off to a good start? Aziel, let’s just forget this.

I found myself smiling in my mind, she managed to place her baggage somehow, her next hurdle was to get inside her seat, and I did the natural. I just got up without asking anything and just showed her by way of gesture to get in.

That’s when she spoke to me again. Her voice felt so very comforting that when she thanked me, I instinctively, without giving a second thought replied with an, “Always”. Wow! Could this be even creepier? I just told an ‘always’ to a person I barely know, let alone what will she think of me?

I was waiting for her to say something back since I knew for a very fact that it was inappropriate to say always. But to my surprise there was no response…

I glanced very quickly at her direction to which I saw her giving a small smile to herself and nothing else.

5 minutes until departure, there was no one in 11(B); second after second this weird invisible tension created and grew between me and her, to the point where I felt suffocated. I looked towards her direction. I saw her, beautiful and like a kid. She was earnestly glancing outside not to the sky but on the ground. That’s when I saw it; the ground was prettier to look at than the sky. The ground was filled with direction lights for the airplane to go. She noticed the insignificant things and made me curious too.

I felt like there was light music playing behind while this was all happening, but then again everything happened in my head.

I knew she wouldn’t let me finish what I wanted to say yet I blurted out, “Sorry I didn’t mean to offend you. I genuinely wanted to give you a han-”

“Stop it”, she told.

“I know you were offering to help, I’m sorry”, she insisted. (By this time I was smiling small) The way she told all these things were even more fascinating, she didn’t look at me! Like she studied what she wanted to say beforehand. Haha! It was after the scripted lines that she looked at me and gave me a smile out of courtesy, not her genuine smile, I knew that.

1 minute until departure and still nobody between us. This sure is going to be a pleasant ride.