Irtaza was having a crappy day. 3 days ago, he had landed in Karachi, and he wasn't liking any of it. Nothing was on the schedule. For him, who loved being in control of everything it wasn't appealing to him. He had to attend an unscheduled meeting, and those associates had the chic to arrive late for it. If there was anything, he hated more than chaos, was unpunctuality of people and he little late jerks found something fashionable about it. It was not fashionable PERIOD! It was disrespectful and completely unprofessional. Long story short, the meeting didn't go well.

His professional life was in chaos while on the social side, his mother had been nagging him to meet this girl who taught at the university. Staring at the mobile screen, he cursed. 30 missed calls from "Amee". Why could his mother not understand that he wasn't interested in that university girl she had shortlisted for him.

He nearly missed his flight thanks to those the unpunctual sloths who had prolonged the meeting. He was still jet lagged, the pathetic window seat with just about zero space for him to stretch his legs was another horror he had to suffer. Times like these he hated being tall. Could it get any worse for him? Yes, it could. He just didn't know that right now.

Plugging his air pods, he played the recitations of Surahs. Something he did when he boarded planes or took actions that could lead to life and death situation. He wasn't afraid of planes, but he couldn't say the same about dying and leaving everything in a mess for his sister and mother. That was something he feared. A LOT.

Irtaza grabbed the newspaper which was folded in the pocket in front of him. He had been away from Pakistan for so long. It was better to get updated on the current affairs then appearing like a complete ignorant foreign return dude, in front of his relatives. He was that but people didn't need to know.

Irtaza was busy going through the criticizing article on the economic policies when he felt someone settle in the seat beside him. The fact that he wasn't the last one to board the plane gave his OCD self, a sense of relief. The Quranic verses which echoed in his head through the air pods calmed him. When they ended, he took out the air pods, placed them in his lap and decided to glance at the person who had been causing disturbance since the arrival.

Looking beside himself, he found a girl with her eyes shut tight, sinking in the fear. She wore a marron khaddar suit with an orange shawl draped around her. Her face was bare of any makeup which came to him as a surprise. What kind of girl goes out without zero makeup? He wondered. More importantly, still managed to look this breathtaking. He didn't know any before, but he did now.

She sure was a pretty sight. With her lashes resting on her cheeks as she squeezed her eyes with fear. Her olive skin wasn't able to hide the red that creeped on her face, and he wondered what was she thinking to have gotten all red? He grunted with disgust when the realization of her being aerophobic sunk. He hated flying with people who were afraid of flights. Because their fear of plane crashing, brought his own fear of death and oblivion on surface. Added to that he hated holding hands with strangers during takeoff and landing. Hand holding to him was personal. Just what I needed. He thought, vexed with the fact that the person sitting beside him was a chatterbox when he was looking for the comfort and solace.

Before he could return back to loathing, the stranger beside him, began whispering. He could perfectly hear what she was saying. She thought they were going to crash in Margalla's. And she regretted booking a flight on PIA. Could he blame her? Yes, he could. She should have gone by road or by rail if she was 'this' afraid of flying.

He would have minded his business like he intended to, but he felt like he had to make certain, that she knew that she was speaking out loud. If his ears were going to suffer, he would make sure that she knew of the discomfort she had been causing.

After not so politely telling her, that everyone isn't afraid of flying he turned back to look out the window. For him the conversation was over. It was weird but he felt oddly satisfied after embarrassing her like that. At his remark, she had blinked twice as if she couldn't believe he had just said it. He too couldn't believe that he had. Then, she had glared at the kid who was clapping with enthusiasm while turning red with embarrassment.

She didn't understand that he was done with her, for she began her apology for speaking out loud. An apology he wasn't interested in. But could he stop her? NO! The moment her chestnut doe eyes met his dark one, he felt his heart tingle. Which was odd. It had never happened before. His obsessive controlling self wasn't liking the reaction, she got out of him. So, he did what he could do best. He gave her the silent message of "NOT INTERESTED", hoping she'd get it this time.

Turning back to look outside the window, dismissing her for the second time, he thought about her eyes. They weren't brown. They weren't chestnut either. They were honey colored. And the color grew dark when they dilated with fear. Was it her eyes, that gave her that innocent look? He didn't know how but suddenly; his heart was grooving "Ankhoon main teri ajab se ajab se adain hai." (There is magic in your eyes?) Shaking his head, he closed his eyes. No time for relationships Irtaza! Hashim ki shadi attend karo and just go back!

He heard her huffs and puffs as the plane took off, but he didn't say a word of reassurance to her, mainly because he didn't know how to reassure her. He didn't do reassurance. Plus, what if, she started crying. He had a lot on his plate and didn't want to be involved with a mess. Also, she needed to get grip of her silly fears. In life, no one offers you kind words of encouragement and support. He had been offered none at the death of his father. Not even from the relative. Expecting kindness from strangers who you don't know, was foolish. Moral of the story, he wasn't going to offer her the words of reassurance she wanted to hear. His heart kept telling him that he should have at least diverted her attention.

Throughout the flight, he felt her eyes on him, but he was thankful that she kept quiet and didn't try to spike a conversation. He was in no mood for conversation.

He knew that there was going to be turbulence for he had checked weather app. It was nothing to panic about. But his fellow passenger thought differently. Her doe eyes grew larger when the Captain made the announcement. Against the Captain's request, she began panicking. Here we go again, he thought as he she began speaking.

And while she was at it, she began saying the stupidest, weirdest stuff he had ever heard. She wanted her parents to cry at her death, so she knew she was missed. She was concerned about her eyes after the crash. The absurdity that left her mouth, made him wonder if the flight was carrying mentally challenged people. He even looked at her hand for some sort of tag that mental patients wore. There was none. Strange, he mused to himself as her words registered in his mind.

I don't think there would, even be a dead body if we crashed, let alone the eyes.

He wanted to comment, but that was cruel and quite low blow even for him. Plus, her eyes were already way too large, shock may lead to her eyeballs popping out in his lap. They aren't large. And you know that. Her eyes have gotten to your heart and now you are criticizing them to get over this infatuation you have with her eyes. His sanity mocked him.

So instead, he decided to try to reassure her. Surely the Captain didn't want two emergencies at a time. The girl sitting beside him, looked like she was going to have a cardiac arrest.

He began his reassurance but that just went over her head. It made him regret of going against his better judgement. Frustrated, he muttered an insult under his breath. He did not know why he felt a pang of guilt for being mean, but he did and to cover up for that he reasoned that the insult was to get under her skin and get her mind of the apparent crash. But she was adamant, refusing to let anything get to her except of course the plane crash. He was hating the amount of un-reasonability that she had sputtering.

Irtaza was glaring at her, but she didn't know that. She had closed her eyes tightly in fear and anticipation. He wanted to shake her shoulder and get some sense into her. But why try when you know you are going to fail, the realistic part of him said. The moment she slightly opened her eyes and looked at him through those hooded lashes ; he had his confirmation. She was beyond saving and it was not because of lack of trying on his part.

The plane ascended up and instinctively he reached for the armrest as he heard her whisper that they are going to die.

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! I am trying to calm her, and she is trying to turn me into herself. Panic stricken, scared and confused.

Irtaza was repeating his mantra for the flight as she kept repeating her's.

You don't argue with the fools. Don't argue with the fools. Like Euripides said, "Talk sense to a fool and he will call you foolish. This girl is beyond help, Irtaza. Don't get into argument with her. Let her be. It's a free world. He told himself.

But against his better judgement, he contradicted her again about the crash. He had too. There was too much left that needed to be done. He had to find a suitable guy for his Meenu first, who'd look after her when he couldn't. Good, dependable guy from a respectable family! And then he needed to get them married. After that he could peacefully die. But not before that. NOT BEFORE THAT! Meenu was just a kid. The angel of death should give him time. Sometime, at least.

Everyone was looking at them as if there was some sort of circus going on. Irtaza wasn't liking that one bit. One of the bald dudes sitting in front of gave him an apologetic look thinking the girl was related to him. And Irtaza raised his hands up, as he shook his head in denial. GOD NO! He wanted to shout at the bald man who had turned away before knowing that they weren't related. But could he blame the bald dude for the assumption. No! He couldn't, considering the girl kept talking to him throughout the flight as if she had known him since ages. What was that song,

"Tera mujhe say phelay ka naata koi , younhi nai dil lubhata koi ? Janay tu ya jaane na !"

The girl had an audacity to shake her head at him in defiance to the claim he made about not dying. As if she didn't believe him. So, he began again, " It's just slight turbulence ......" But she was in no mood for justification, instead she said something so bizarre. It was taking all his self-control to not to shout at her or bang his head in the window for not missing the flight.

His control hadn't been tested to such extent before. The last time he was this exasperated was when he had to listen to the prosecutor question his client and call him tactless (Who by the way was a very well-known orthopedic surgeon ,the best in his field). She asked him, his client, if he had ever treated a 'tibula' fracture and the doctor had replied with a 'no' after which she started grilling the poor doctor (Note the legs bones are tibia and fibula.) When Irtaza tried to object, the judge had plainly overruled the objection and they all kept going. The prosecutor kept shooting questions at the poor doctor. And then went as far as "Why does he even have medical license if he is this unexperienced." She ranted about his credentials and all of them being bogus because he hadn't even treated a single fracture of tibula bone. The shit show took 15 precious minutes of his time as the circus of the doctor's incompetency went on, until his turn came. When it was Irtaza's turn to question the witness, he had looked at his client who was flustered by the prosecutor's questions and had asked just one question.

"Why have you still not treated a 'tibula' fracture?", emphasizing the bone name. The poor doctor had answered, 'Because there is no bone called tibula'. The whole court room erupted into laughter, even the judge had coughed to cover up her laugh as she ordered to maintain the decorum.

Lucy Hamilton, the prosecutor hadn't been this irritating as the girl's whose name he didn't know was being. For she kept to her stupid claim instead of accepting his better judgement. He was still trying to process what she was saying when he heard her say Kalma Shahadat. She wasn't just plainly stupid; she was also very over dramatic.

Irtaza felt like pulling his hair. Hell, she was getting on his nerve. And then she had the audacity to look at him as if he was the insane one. Maybe he should just put the air pods on, instead of listening to her. But it would have been extremely rude of him. Apart from her self-consuming fear that led to a verbal diarrhea, she hadn't done much to earn his wrath. She hadn't even flirted with him like the flight attendant had. Nor had she tried to sneakily touch him. The thought was just crossing his mind when out of nowhere, she grabbed his arm.

And to say he felt the sparks would not be untrue. She snatched back her arm as if she had touched the hot wire. Did she feel them too? He wondered. But he cared less about what she thought. For now, he was concentrating on the fact, how her touch didn't make him want to puke like everyone's else. He had hated when Ayesha used to touch him. He hated when his coworkers would unnecessarily pat him or poke him. Then why did he not feel the same disgust at her feather like touch ?

"Tuu jo chu lay pyar say aram say mar jaon" his alter ego provided. And he felt like banging his head in the front seat with such a force so that he won't be able to see the morning light. Something was extremely wrong with him.

Before he could answer the question that he had raised about her touch not feeling bad, she began speaking again. She told him everything a stranger shouldn't know.

26? She didn't seem like 26. And she definitely didn't act like a 26-year-old grown up. What a dilemma to be in. Being a loser when your rest of family are big guns. It was something, he thought he could sympathize with. Plus, she looked so miserable while saying that, that he had too. He actually felt this elephantine urge to pat her hand and tell her that she wasn't a loser even though she seemed like one. But before he could she jumped to another topic.

Being married is not an achievement, he wanted to tell her. Scream that actually. But again, he didn't. It was beyond him why people considered getting married an achievement? Being happily married is an achievement indeed but just the act of getting married, wasn't. She did not seem in the mood to listen to anyone right now and he wasn't going to talk. When she said she hadn't dated, Irtaza stared at her with disbelief.

'Idhar bhi loser',(Loser,again?) was the first thought that came to him.

Why is she telling me about her love life? Did I ask her ? No ! Can she shut up?

You know she won't.

Do I seem like I am interested?

NO!

How is it possible that she didn't date? She is pretty like a picture. Jhoot tu nai bol rahi yeh ? ( Is she lying ?)

Par why would she lie now , when she didn't earlier. Plus, what person who think he is dying , lies.

STOP BEING THIS CYNICAL Irtaza. He told himself. He shouldn't care. He shouldn't be thinking about her relationship status or about her! Period. But he couldn't help it.

Maybe she has sucker manners and toxic personality. Or maybe her sheer stupidity scares all the guy away. He thought as he gave her an accessing look. He didn't know why he was still debating on how she was single while she kept jumping from that topic to another.

A sense of respect bloomed in his heart , for her keeping it halal. He couldn't help admiring that. It was very very hypocritic of him. But he couldn't help but admire that. Given his own relationship that had just ended on a very bad note, he was glad that at least she had seen sense in that department. Maybe she wasn't as ridiculous as he thought she was.

Before he could further appreciate her decision of not dating, she voiced her regret . He took a deep sigh as he listened to her crooked logic behind not dating Abdullah who even wrote her poetry.

The moment she said, she didn't date Abdullah because he was short, gone was the respect and admiration, he had for her. Irtaza could never get why girls were so obsessed with the tall guys.

Why do they want tall ones? It was pretty hypocritic of women. Was it not? At one place they want everyone to accept that all body sizes are pretty, and beauty is not about the skin tone, while on the other hand they be rejecting guys just because they are short.

So, she likes poetry. Doesn't seem the poetic type though. Probably Abdullah is sitting somewhere, chanting 'Alhumdulilah' that she had not dated him. Who could tolerate such a babble mouth?

You are tolerating her. And listening to her , paying attention to each and every syllabus that leaves her mouth.

That is because I am forced too ! I am sitting beside her; He reasoned with himself.

He didn't know this Abdullah guy, but he was sympathizing with the poor fellow. The moment he moved his numb leg slightly, he felt the tingling feeling shot through them and he extracted back his misplaced sympathy. More leg room to stretch legs, over the few extra inchesthat made women kept throwing their selves at him. He never would get the obsession women have with tall men, who would make them stutter. He passed her another look of disapproval as he listened to rest of her secrets, judging her for every word that left her mouth.

When she apologized to him for judging him, he felt like he had been punched in the gut. Because since the moment she took her seat beside him, he too had been judging her. And he wasn't even sorry for that, unlike her.

To give her judgement some credit, she had gotten the abroad part right, if not his school. Not that he was going to tell her that she had been right about her assumptions. When she told him that she knew he disapproved of her, he didn't contradict her. His heart told him to, but he didn't. Because he did disapprove of her. What didn't settle well with him, was the look of melancholy that's crossed her face when she said, everyone did too.

Irtaza was debating about the kind and -less rude phrase to say when he was rescued by the flight attendant, who gave him an apologetic smile for having to suffer such an ordeal.

Kalma-e-Shadaat? Was she real? Even the kid curled up in his mother's lap isn't being this dramatic like her. Damn,she is ridiculous ! And a god damn people pleaser! She shouldn't care what I think of her. She should have told me to shove the disapproval down my throat, but she didn't. She is gullible, stupid, overdramatic and an overthinker!