A Flight of Love

Chapter 1 - Last Call

"Maa, I don't need to know who it is. Don't need to know her name, her number or even how she looks like...." Or rather Abhimanyu Birla didn't want to know the strangers name, phone number or face. "If you have seen her or know about her and you think she's fine then I trust you. I trust your choice, okay?" I am okay with whomever you decide."

"But Abhi, this is your marriage we are talking about here beta. Choti moti baat nahin hai." Manjiri Birla tried to reason with her son from the other end of the line.

"Maa, when I first said I don't want to get married, aap ne tab toh meri baat suni nahin. Shaadi karlo, get married, marriage is an important step in life bol bol kar mujhse haan toh kar wali. And now jab main haan bol chukha hoon, aap ko uss mein bhi problem hai. Kya Maa. What is this. Pehle aap khud decide karlo ki aap ko chahiye kya? Main shaadi karun ya na karun."

"Beta, I'm just asking for you to be a little enthusiastic about the wedding. You know. Try to meet the girl, get to know her and then you, yourself decide if she's the right one for you or not."

Abhimanyu took a deep breath, "Maa, I've seen the marriages in our family. None of them are happy or thriving. They are just co-existing. And there are no guarantees that my marriage won't end up like that either. I know you are going to feel bad about this and trust me that is not my intention but marriage is simply not my priority. I love you and respect you and that is why I said yes to getting married, because that is what you wanted and that was what was required from me. Ab isse ziyada aap mujhe se hope mat rakhna because shayad main woh poora na kar payaon."

Manjiri held her phone close to her ear, trying to think of the right words to say. She knew her son. Abhimanyu was a man of his words. She knew he has said yes to marriage just because of her and she also knew that there was no pushing the topic of courtship or meeting the prospective bride she had chosen for him because he had decided against it.

"Theek hai, beta, jaise tum kaho," she replied, feeling defeated.

Abhimanyu could tell from his mothers voice that he had made her unhappy. That had not been his intention at all. "Maa..."

Before Abhimanyu could further explain himself in a bid to cheer up his mother, an announcement sounded over the Intercom systems.

"All First and Business class passengers traveling on Emirates flight EK148 from New York to Delhi via Dubai, please make your way to Boarding Gate C-45 now."

"Maa, the boarding has started, I gotta get going. I'll see you soon, okay? Love you!"

"Love you too, beta."

Abhimanyu ended the phone call, took one second last swig of the coffee he was sipping and made his way to the boarding gate. As he was walking towards the gate, the hairs at the nape of his neck started to rise and became aware of the goosebumps starting to form on his forearms. His heartbeat, which had always been steady, monotonous, was slowly getting louder and faster.

He looked at his coffee cup in confusion. Could it be the coffee? No, this wasn't the first time he was drinking coffee. Then why?! What was causing him to have this out of body experience.

Before he could react, he felt his head being knocked by a hard object and his body being pushed forward with immense force that he almost tripped on his own two feet in a bid to stabilize himself. He felt a body, small, tiny being pressed against his, causing his hand to crush his coffee cup enough to have the lid pop open and the coffee swoosh its way onto his pristine while button-up shirt.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry!" A mellow, apologetic but slightly distressed voice called out.

"Hey, watch where you're going!" Abhimanyu, shouted back at the same time.

Before he could stop the stranger, a dainty, tiny woman —girl —lady who was a good few inches shorter and about 100lbs lighter than him, carrying a guitar which honestly looked like weighed as much as her or even more was already a good few feet away in the distance.

The sound of her anklets and the clicking of her silver bangles was the only thing he saw as she sprinted away. She was wearing a floral pink ankle length dress with flats.

Abhimanyu trashed the empty cup of coffee and made his way towards the men's washroom for a quick clean-up and change of clothes. The boarding had just started for business and first class passengers which meant there was still time.

~*~

"This is the last and final boarding call for all passengers traveling on Emirates flight EK148 from New York to Delhi via Dubai, please make your way to Boarding Gate C-45 now."

Abhimanyu hurriedly made his way to the gate. The gate was almost deserted. He handed his boarding pass over to the gate attendant.

"Ah, Mr Birla. Welcome Sir. We'd been waiting for you. Please make your way down. Have a safe journey."

Abhimanyu nodded his head, "thank you."

As Abhimanyu made his way though the passenger boarding bridge, he came across the same guitar that had smacked him on the head laying outside the plane.

A flight attendant greeted Abhimanyu as he entered, "Welcome sir. Your seat is 12A. Right through here."

"Thank you."

Abhimanyu made his way to his seat and came across his co-passenger already seated and indulging herself as he guessed from her stature in the flights safety manual. His eyes immediately noticed the bangles she was wearing. He'd seen them before.

"Excuse me." The stranger didn't look up from her safety manual but acknowledged him by pulling her feet in, and triggering the sound of the anklets she was wearing.

Abhimanyu felt a sense of deja vu come over him. He knew those bangles and the sound of those anklets. He'd seen and heard them before. Not too long ago. The sudden urge of acknowledgement dawned on him and he realized that she was the same girl who had bumped into him not too long ago. She was Guitar Girl.

"You know, people generally take a moment to look back at what or who they bumped into and apologize before running away."

He didn't know what prompted him to say what he did or why he said it, but a part of him wanted to push for a conversation. He's never done this before but just something about her, maybe it was the bangles, the anklets, the guitar or simply just the rudeness of her to not stop and apologize caused him to speak up.