Tale of Silent Longing

21 | Flight to San Diego

The next evening, Illahi  and Tanya  reached the airport at 6.00. On reaching the departure lounge, they found Jahaan  sitting on top of two of his bags and glaring into his phone. Apart from Tanya , there were twelve other people who were going on that trip which included Jahaan , Jordan , and Reeva's families along with two other ladies. Reeva's friend Anika  was also accompanying them.

Before Tanya  could surprise Jahaan , she saw an old lady struggling with her heavy luggage. She could barely lift her bags and was panting profusely. Tanya  asked Illahi  to accompany Jordan  and others while she started walking up to the old lady.

"Hey, Jahaan !" Illahi  greeted him from behind.

He turned around and was taken aback on seeing Illahi  there.

"Oh hey! What brings you here? Do you have a flight back home?" Jahaan  asked.

"Nope! I am coming with you guys on the trip.
Jordan had asked me to join you all" she answered while pointing at Jordan .

"Oh, so you came on your own?" Jahaan  asked while looking around her. Before Illahi  could tell him about Tanya , Mrs. Mehta  spoke up, "Yes. Why do you ask? Did you want to invite someone else too?"

"No mom. I was just asking. I don't really care about who all are coming" Jahaan  replied curtly and went back to scrolling in his phone.

Jordan  started helping Illahi  with her bags while Mrs. Mehta  went back to her friends.

Although Jahaan  said that he did not care, deep down, he just wanted to know whether Tanya  was coming on that trip.

"If Illahi  is here, why didn't Tanya  tag along with her? I am sure she must have gone home way before we planned for the trip or else she would have never missed this opportunity to explore San Diego" Jahaan  kept thinking to himself while being on his phone.

He convinced himself that Tanya  would not come and would not be there on the trip but for some reason, he kept looking around every now and then, as if he was in search of someone. He was looking at the staircase when he suddenly saw a familiar face climbing down the stairs and walking up to him. It was none other than Tanya .

On seeing Jahaan , she started smiling from ear to ear. With a huge grin, she started walking up to him.

"Whenever she walks up to me with that smile of hers, why does it seem like she is moving in a slowmotion?" he thought to himself while looking at her.

She came right in front of him and stood there.

"Hey Jahaan !" She greeted him with a smile.

"Oh hey! Are you coming with us?'' he asked.

Just then, Jordan  came there and picked up jahaan's bags. "Get your bags checked quickly. The boarding is about to start." After saying this, he left with the two bags.

Jahaan and Tanya  started walking behind him with their bags. Jahaan  was carrying just one backpack and Tanya  had one on her shoulder and one on her back.

"Hey Jahaan , please walk slowly," she said while struggling with her luggage. He turned around and started waiting for  Tanya  to speed up.

Once she was close to him, he grabbed her bag from her hand and said, "The trip is just for a week and you are carrying a bag bigger than your size". Tanya started blushing and did not say anything.

After entering the flight, Jahaan  kept all the bags in the overhead bins and spoke, "I think everyone has got onto their seats. You should get seated too."

"Yeah, I will just use the loo and come back". After she got to her seat, she started peeping out of the window like a small kid. She was traveling so far away for the very first time. She had barely ever stepped out of Minnesota and now, going to San Diego was like a dream come true. She got a little scared initially but soon calmed down. Mrs. Mehta helped her to compose herself. All of them had their seats close to each other. Jahaan and l Jordan were sitting right behind Illahi and Tanya . Anika and Reeva were also sitting nearby. The moment Reeva saw Tanya , she smirked.

"Oh, so the love letter girl is also coming with us for a free trip. I knew that you would be here when I saw Illahi . Oh girl, you never disappoint me," Reeva remarked sarcastically.

"We were invited to be a part of this trip and we are here for our friends. Even in our wildest dreams, we would never plan a trip where we'd have to see your face all day" Tanya replied with a smile.

Before Reeva could come up with a reply, Mrs. Mehta started talking to her.

"Where is Jahaan ?" she asked.

"His boarding pass is with me" Mrs. Mehta responded.

"He must have gone to the loo" Tanya replied.

"Mrs. Mehta , you could give his boarding pass to me. I will give it to him" Reeva chimed in suddenly.

Mrs. Mehta looked at her and said, "Don't worry Reeva , Tanya will give it to him, their seats are closer to each other anyway."

Then, she handed the pass to Tanya and went back to her seat. Reeva was not enjoying Mrs. Mehta giving extra attention to Tanya .

"Mrs. Mehta has never spoken to me this way. What spell did Tanya  cast on her?" she thought to herself.

"Don't worry, Reeva . Tany is going to regret messing up with you. This trip is going to turn into a disaster for her," Anika whispered in her ear.

Hearing Anika , Reeva passed on a wicked smirk.

"Surely it will, and I will make sure that she regrets messing up with me," Reeva thought to herself.

After a while, Jahaan came back. He was carrying a bag which had some cookies and some candies. He handed over the bag to Tanya which surprised her. "Why have you got this
for me? We will be getting food on the flight...duh..." Tanya remarked.

"Well this isn't just for you Tanya , we all are gonna have it," Jahaan responded coldly.

The truth was that Jahaan did not know what Tanya would like and so he got stuff that he assumed she would prefer to eat. However, he did not want to show that in front of her. After all, he was Jahaan - the snob.

"Well, here is your boarding pass. Your seat is right behind ours, next to Jordan ," Tanya informed him with excitement. Jahaan took his pass and sat on his seat.

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