Out of the Woods (HIATUS)

Epilogue

   "Good day, miss," bid the bubbly female flight attendant. I smiled as to acknowledge her friendliness. Slowly, I struggled to move down the aisle. It was my first solo travel, without my family nor my friends – and since it was my first, I decided to visit a place that was not too far and time-consuming. Somehow, I was certain that it would be a difficult one, since it involved me being independent – doing things by myself, alone in a new environment. Wow, when I put it that way, it sounded way intimidating than it actually was. But there is a start to everything, right? And to me, this was my first baby steps to exploring the world.

   It was not long until I reached my seat though; it was in the second row from the back of the plane. At that time, a young man of my age was already seated in his seat, which coincidentally was beside mine. In silence, I examined his face and praised his good looks; I was able to because he was napping. Yeah, cunning me. I ignored that cheeky thought for a while and stood on my toes to place my backpack in the luggage compartment on top.

   "Excuse me, sir," I said to the young lad. He opened his eyes and fixated them on me. I was literally able to see a big question mark floating on his head so I repeated my words. After half a minute of awkwardness, he got the message and stood up, giving me enough space to slide into my window seat. I made myself comfortable just before the take-off, while my neighbor, well, he continued with his slumber. As an ambivert, I did not mind at all.

   It had been an hour after take-off. I glanced out the window only to be greeted by darkness and clouds; just like what I was feeling at that time, dull and indescribable. I switched on my Asus laptop out of boredom and connected it to the portable WiFi. A few Google Chrome tabs were opened and I typed in YouTube, WhatsApp Web and Google respectively. I put on my headset and searched for Taylor Swift's Out of the Woods on YouTube. The song started to fill my head as I replied to some messages on WhatsApp and I only realised that I was softly humming to the song when my neighbor nudged me in the elbow. When I turned to look at him, he was already staring with those intense brown irises. I took off my headset and apologised for disturbing his sleep.

   "A Swiftie, are you?" he asked while pulling his laptop bag from underneath the seat in front of him. I nodded. He rummaged through the bag and took out his MacBook Air before switching it on as well.

   "Are you?" I asked, breaking the silence.

   "Pardon?" he looked at me in bewilderment.

   Damn, stop looking at me with those pair of eyes. I'll fall for you at this rate, boy.

   "Are you a Swiftie?" I repeated my question.

   "Ah. Well, I'm not exactly a big fan of TayTay, but I do love her songs," he said, slightly smiling. He gestured to the 'Out of the Woods' music video playing on my Asus and said, "Especially that one."

   "Why?" I asked, trying to keep the conversation running. Why not? It was a healthy way of killing the time anyway, since I had like a couple more hours before touchdown.

   "Probably because I love the background," he replied. "How about you? Why do you like Taylor?"

   I shrugged, indicating that I had no idea myself. A steward came by our row and asked if we did order any in-flight meals and my neighbor said yes. I, on the other hand, shook my head and smiled. I never bought any in-flight meals when I flew with Air Asia because it was too troublesome for me to book one online – yes, too troublesome. I peeked at the dish served by the steward and unconsciously, I gulped. It was one of my favourite foods and somehow, the smell of it made my stomach grumbled. Secretly, I regretted for not eating any supper back at the airport.

   My neighbor looked at me and asked if I was alright. I supposed he heard that embarrassing grumble and was just being thoughtful. I sheepishly smiled and said I was fine, but I knew I was not.

   "So, what's your name? We didn't really have a proper introduction, did we?" he said, wiping his mouth with a napkin. He took a sip off the plastic cup and motioned for the earlier steward to come by.

   "It's Aquila. Aquila Fay."

   "Say, Ms. Aquila would you mind if I order a meal for you too?"

   I was dumbfounded when he asked the steward if the meal was still available before I even replied to his question. Thankfully, nothing was left in the dining cart so the uniformed man was excused.

   "I don't mean to be rude, but I can tell that you're hungry. If you're fine with it, let's share this food. I feel bad enough for eating in front of a starved person," he said, pushing his meal towards me. "And, I'm not trying to belittle you with this act."

   "No, it's alright. It's your food anyway, and you paid for it. Besides, I have my Cadbury chocolate bar," I told him, with a wide smile carved on my face. I began searching for the snack in my pocket when I realised that I left it in my brother's car. Instantly, my initially bright face turned glum. My neighbor let out a tiny laugh.

   And I had no choice but to accept his humble offer.

   "I guess fate is in our way, indeed," he whispered.

Author's Note: Less than 1000 words, ey? Not an achievement I would be proud of, but since it's only the epilogue, I don't mind. Anyway, please do review - would be much appreciated. As for the name of the first-person protagonist, I wanted to use my name actually, but then I thought to myself, why not use Fay instead? Sounds chic.