The Falling Petals...🌺

Away-from-her....

Shelton, Connecticut.

Day One

I remember well. It was Saturday evening, around 7:30 PM, when I checked into my hotel. At the reception, while making the payment with a few travelers' cheques, I made sure my room had an internet connection.

The bellboy helped me up to my room on the first floor. I handed over a dollar bill to him, then entered my room, leaving my baggage at the door itself, and rushed to open my laptop bag and go online at once. I logged into messenger. Yes, that was the very first thing I did.

It was early morning in Korea and I knew she would be waiting for me.

And she really was.

We'd decided earlier that this was the time we would be on chat. Though, because I'd expected a shorter journey, I was somewhat late. And after the eight hour journey from Busan to Heathrow, the three hours in transit, the eight hours from Heathrow to New York and the 2 hours, by cab, from New York to Shelton, I was severely jetlagged.

But those twenty four hours of not being able to talk to her overrode everything else.

She was delighted to see me online. And so was I. But her delight was greater which is why she wrote so many messages in a fraction of second:

Heyy... Shillang... you der.
How r u... wen did u reach.
How was your journey? Where are you now?
You der?
BUZZ

And I didn't reply, just asked her, "Did you miss me?"

"Soooooo much dear. And You...?"

"Hmmm... I will let you know but first switch on your speakers and accept the voice chat request."

I told her everything about my journey—the flights, the transit, the passengers and how I missed her amid everything. She told me how she spent her entire day without talking to me. Even her family realized how much she was missing me. Hearing each other's voice after an entire day was so... touching. This had never happened in the past six months. We kept talking for a long time and it was only when the electricity went off in Busan and her UPS, too, gave up that we finally bade goodbye.

Which was when I realized that I should take off my shoes (which I was wearing since the day before), should bring my luggage (which was still in the gallery) into my room and that, in the haste to talk to her, I had left my wallet at the reception.