𝓤𝓼 𝓐𝓰𝓪𝓲𝓷𝓼𝓽 𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓦𝓸𝓻𝓵𝓭

- Chapter 3 -

LONDON AIRPORT

Usually the flight from Noor's city to Dublin takes five and a half hours, but due to the unexpected bad weather conditions, at the beginning of May, her plane had to land at London Airport. The passengers were divided into two separate flights to Dublin, one direct flight and another one after two hours, While everyone was fighting for the direct flight, she chose the flight that was two hours later. She wanted to rest a little. It was her first time on a plane and it was not a pleasant experience with these turbulence. In addition, she vomited twice and suffered from back pain during the flight.

She stood looking for an empty seat, the airport was incredibly crowded. Finally she saw an empty seat next to a man reading a book with a small suitcase that he placed on the floor. She headed there.

“Is this chair taken?” she asked without looking at the man
“No,” he answered kindly,
“Can I sit?”
“Yes, of course.”
“Thank you.” she sat , resting her elbows on her thighs with her hands covering her face as if she was about to start crying. Her left leg began to shake as a response to the stress and anxiety she was feeling , her heart started  beating rapidly, she was struggling to breathe. She knew that it was the beginning of another panic attack.The last time it happened to her , she asked her family to take her to the hospital because she felt she was paralyzed and going to die, but now she was alone, her family wasn't there and probably these people won't even care, that's when she started crying.

“Hey, hey .. are you okay?” The man next to her asked.
“I think.. I think I’m having a panic attack...” she said while trying to catch her breath.

“ Okay,  is there something I can do for you? Do you have medication to take during attacks?”.
“ Yes, yes, it is in my bag, but first I want some air.. I can't.. I can't breathe.”

The man gently hold her hand and took her to an open place within the airport, but away from people. She started crying again and speaking in her first language, things that even she won't remember after the attack. Her whole body began to shake, not from the weather, but from fear. That's when he grabbed her tightly and hugged her to comfort her. Her face was buried in his chest, her hands wrapped around his waist. “Shh, everything will be fine,” he said, his right hand gently holding her head, and the other was barely touching her back, but she could still feel it as it was an inch away from her. After minutes he gently stepped back, “Come on, take your medicine.” He gave her the pill and allowed her to drink water from his bottle. She rested her back against the wall behind her, as breathing began to return to normal. They stood there for perhaps five minutes, not speaking, just standing , she took a deep inhale to allow the largest amount of oxygen to enter her lungs, closed her eyes and exhaled, this was a breathing exercise she used to do to calm herself down and was so useful on many occasions. She repeated the exercise three times then opened her eyes.

“Are you okay?”
“Yes, thank you, that was very kind of you, sir.”
“Oh, no need, please call me Cillian.” he put his hand in his pocket and took out a tissue and gave it to her to wipe her  face from tears.
“Thanks Um, I need to go to the restroom. Do you know where I can find it?”
“ Yes, it's at the end of the corridor on the right.” he pointed
“Ok.”
“Do you want me to go with you? I mean, I'll wait outside, of course.” he laughed out of embarrassment at what he just said.
She couldn't hide a smile “ I'll be fine, I'll be back in a minute.”

She entered the restroom and was looking at the colorful tissue he gave her, thinking how nice of him. Once she looked in the mirror and saw her face, the mascara was running out from crying and her eyes looked like the eyes of a panda. "It's clear why he gave me the tissue." She mumbled . She wiped her face and washed with water until there was not a drop of makeup left. She looked pale yes, but it was better than looking like a clown with that panda eye makeup. As she made her way back to her seat next to Cillian, everyone was looking at her, or to be specific, all the women's eyes were on her. She began to wonder if there was still something on her face, or worse, had she forgotten the zipper of her pants open.