The Scenic Life

Chapter 7

                           •°•

We wait near the luggage aisle, waiting for our bags to come on the conveyer belt. Vihaan still has a stupid grin on his face, I feel like smacking him dead, but I cant do that here.

I'll have to wait till we go to the hotel.

Which reminds me!

I turn my head towards him, and ask,

“What's the name of the hotel we're staying at?”

He looks up from his phone,

“Uh, its called Jai mahal palace, its about 15 kilometres from here.”

I nod my head, readying myself for an awkward taxi ride. I spot my duffel bag first, and keep my eyes on it the entire time its travelling towards me, but before I can even get it from the conveyer belt, I spot a dude bending and taking the bag.

I assume he's confused his bag for mine, but even after a minute of waiting, he doesn't keep it back. Beside me, Vihaan notices me glowering.

I go towards the dude-bro with my usual confident stride, planning to ask for my bag back, when I notice Vihaan following me.

I clear my throat in front of the bro-dude, who is almost six feet tall. He raises his eyebrows at me, while putting the straps of my duffel bag on his shoulders, “I think you lost your way, lady.”

I narrow my eyes at him, “I haven’t lost my way. The bag on your shoulder is mine, you can check the label on it. Please return it.”

He rolls his eyes, “Miss, with all due respect, this bag is mine. Now scoot.”

Now I'm insulted. But before I can even start the string of cuss words at the tip of my tongue, Vihaan creeps up from behind me, one hand on the small of my back.

My mind is too riled up to acknowledge the contact.

He goes towards the bro-dude, neck to neck, and says in a quiet voice, “Listen here, you turd, this bag belongs to my colleague here, her bag has a label. And if you don’t give It to her right this instant, she will break your bones with her words alone.”

I'm flattered, but I don’t show it on my face, keeping my face stoic so that his statement feels at least a bit true. The bro-dude looks at us both, then sighs, removing the straps from his shoulders. Vihaan takes the bag from him and hands it to me, without breaking the eye contact with the bro-dude. The bro-dude scrunches his face in irritation and withers away from us.

I put the straps of my bag on the shoulders, Vihaan turns towards me and says,

“Did he really think he could steal a bag just like that?”

I shrug , “He seemed pretty dumb, you can't blame him.”

He nods in agreement, and we continue watching the conveyer belt, now with heightened alertness, with invisible knives in our hands.

                          °•°


Its almost seven in the evening by the time we get all of our luggage. Vihaan hails a taxi towards us, and the driver gets out to keep our luggage in the back of the car. I sit in the backseat, while vihaan sits in the passenger seat, next to driver.

The driver sits and turns towards vihaan, “Where to sir?”

“The Jai mahal palace, its almost 15 kilometres from here, I guess.” He says, and looks back again at his mobile where he has the GPS on.

The driver nods, “Okay sir, we'll get there in no time. Do you mind if I put some music on, madam?”