Connecting Flights

It was one of the busiest airports in the world. Every single day thousands of people walk through this airport to get to their destination. It was around sunset time when she plopped down on one of the chairs in front of her gate. She was annoyed at the further delay of her flight. She still had a few hours before they opened the gate or changed the gate again. Sighing, she dug out a half read book and opened it keeping the bookmark safely inside her bag. 

As she got engrossed in the book her phone started chiming. She ignored the first two chimes but decided to see what the commotion was all about when the phone wouldn’t shut up. 

She had gotten a few messages from an ex. An ex with whom she hadn’t had any contact in the past couple years. The only way she knew he was even alive is that he was viewing her Instagram stories regularly. Apart from the one time she texted him asking if he was fine after she saw in the news that his city was under attack. He briefly told her he was okay and he lived a bit farther from the affected area and that was that. She wondered what had gotten him to text her. 

Hey

How are you? 

Also where are you? 

I need to show you something. Can I FaceTime you? 

Quizzical could be the only word to describe how she looked at the cryptic messages. She knew he was always like this. She almost smiled at how he hadn’t changed a bit. She replied back saying 

Umm… yes. Sure. What is the matter though? Why the urgency? 

Her phone immediately got a FaceTime request from him and she accepted it. She felt like her heart was going to explode at this sudden action. He was never one to initiate phone calls. He hated it. He loved texting her everything. But suddenly he is happy to video call her out of the blue? She could hear her own heartbeat already. 

As the video opened up she didn’t see his face but the back of someone’s head. Her head to be precise. She started frantically turning around on either side to see where he was. After all these years, she couldn’t believe that they were meeting. At an airport of all places. 

Amongst the blurry faces there he was. Grinning like the fool he always has been. Her tension eased up and her eyes softened immediately at the sight of him walking towards her. She cleared the seat next to her and motioned for him to sit. She didn’t know if they should hug. After all they had broken up almost a decade ago. She wasn’t sure what the protocol was anymore. She hardly understood the dating lingo nowadays much less what to do when you see an ex you hadn’t seen in a very long time. As soon as he sat down he started going off on a rapid recounting of how he noticed her but wasn’t sure if she was her as she sat down. He texted her and hoped she would be the one to take her phone out. He got the idea to video call her to make things more interesting and see how she reacted. He was quite pleased with how she frantically searched for him. 

Throughout his rambles she heard only the gist of it. Her stomach was full of butterflies. She was just staring at his face, at how his eyes gleamed of the same mischief she once saw,  at how his lips moved while he told her the saga of how he is going back to the country where he worked after a family vacation. She just didn’t register when he asked what she was doing and where she was headed to. 

It took him waving his hand in front of her face to bring her back down to planet earth. 

“Oh yeah, I was at a work conference and extended the stay through the weekend to relax. I booked my own flight for the return so chose a transfer that gave me some extra time to do things slowly. And it has been delayed for the third time today. So I am hoping I will get to go home on time!” 

He laughed a bit.

And then he asked the inevitable question. “How are you doing?” 

She was a 32 year old workaholic who had no family left alive. She didn’t even want to have pets because of her constant travel. But he knew all that. She knew that he kept tabs on her and knew what was going on in her life for the most part. She also understood that he wanted to know how she was really doing. 

“Oh you know. I’m just going on with life. You tell me, how are you doing?” 

“Oh same old same old. Spending as much time as possible with my nibblings.” He grinned.  

She knew he loved kids. He always wanted to have children of his own. Even when they were dating he would fantasise about having kids with her. For she only ever imagined having a family with him. Of all the men she ever dated, he was the only guy with whom she dreamt to have a future and kids. She never understood why he was still single though. They never had long enough conversations to cover that topic. 

He was a 35 year old entrepreneur who was taking care of his family’s business. Being the youngest of 4 children he was never taken seriously and he took advantage of that as well. For as long as she knew him, he was the playful marauder like guy who had a mischievous aura about him. That is until they got together and she could read him like an open book. 

He said he still had a couple hours before his flight which would be departing from the next gate. 

They both sat in silence for a minute before she broke it. 

“How come you never got married?” might as well go for the jugular. 

“Well, I just never had time to think about it. Was chasing a dream that wasn’t even mine until I looked around and there was no one around to celebrate it with me. I regretted missing out on ‘The One’ and never bothered to jump into the dating scene again.” 

And once again a comfortable silence fell among them as she processed what he just told her. What did he mean by ‘The One’ Her mind burned with curiosity. 

“Why haven’t you gotten married?” he asked her. 

She laughed a bit. How would she tell him that she never found what she had with him again? 

“Nothing and no one measured up to it I suppose.” She shrugged. 

“No one? Not even me?” He smirked. 

There it was, that playful glint of his. The one she fell for. She was now dreading the time she will have to spend looking at it. 

“That is a rabbit hole neither of us want to open right now.” She replied with an earnest smile adorning her lips. 

A part of her wanted to say yes to him. No one measured up to his standards. No one made her feel the way he did. But what good will come out of it? The reasons they broke up for are still there. They broke up majorly due to the cultural and religious differences between their families. And the fact that they don’t even live in the same country anymore. All of the reasons are still valid. His family is never going to accept her and even if they did, the society will not. So why bother go through all that? 

It would have been a different issue in your twenties. In your thirties you were just too tired to fight. You start choosing your battles and battling loneliness is much better than battling a bigoted society. 

They had what she would call a beautiful but weird relationship. Although they were friends through college, they did not explore the possibilities of romance until they moved away for higher studies. Distance never deterred them. In the three years that they were a couple they met once and even then never even laid a finger on each other. She still laughs at the fact that the one guy she truly loved is the guy she has never even kissed. Of course that is not something she will tell him now or ever. For he didn’t need her to tell him that as well. He knew her very well to understand that. He had deep regrets on never fighting for what they could have been. But when it came down to choosing between her and their general safety he was practical enough to choose the latter. They were not ready to just drop everything and start from scratch somewhere. And now it just seemed too late to do anything about it. 

“C’mon I am curious now.” He egged her. 

She just got up. “I am getting some coffee. Do you want some?” 

Understanding that she certainly did not want to delve into the topic he nodded and got up with her. 

Sipping on the overpriced coffee they discussed a myriad of things including the weather in their respective countries multiple times. It was obvious that they wanted to say a lot of important things but nothing ever left the tip of their tongues. All they did was take in the presence of the other one as much as possible even through the uncomfortable silences. They both cherished these few hours. It is the most time they have spent together physically in a very long time. It was all they can get from a life that was tedious and cumbersome. 

As time ticked by she heard the boarding announcement being made for her flight. In agonising speed she packed up her things and got up. She really did not want to leave so soon. Tears were forming in her eyes already threatening to spill. 

Right as she turned away she felt herself being pulled towards him into a hug. She didn’t hold back and hugged him tight, trying her best not to cry over the unspoken words between them. She felt him press a kiss on her head. That did it for her as she openly started crying. She wanted to never let go of him. 

But they both broke their embrace slowly. 

“Goodbye darling!” she said for which he smiled through his own tears. 

Mustering up a grin as wide as possible he said “Goodbye meri jaan”