Superstar

New York

"What? New York?" Saket asked Palash.

"Yeah." came the reply.

No matter how much she ignored him, he was going to meet her, and NOTHING could stop him. He wanted answers to certain questions that had been bothering him.

So he got up to leave for the airport. While on the way, he asked Palash some details about the flight.

Palash told him that the plane was due to depart in 2 hours, which meant she must've already entered the gate.

As soon as he reached the gate she was supposed to depart from, he realized he'd never seen her. How was he going to spot her?

He quickly dialed her number, hoping her cell wouldn't be on silent mode.

IT RANG.

He heard "Midnight Memories" ring in the distance. 'It must be hers.' he thought.

She wasn't difficult to spot then. There she was, just about to go in through that departure gate.

Joanne was elegantly dressed in black. Black skinny jeans and a black sleeveless hoodie.

He saw her look down at her phone and smile. THAT'S JO.

Saket ran to her, calling out. "Jo?"

She looked up.

As he got near her, he saw her family staring hin down. He felt nervous.

"Don't bother. It's now or never. Come on." he told himself.

He took a deep breath and, without a word, hugged her.

He felt aware about the many pairs of eyes fixed on him.

But he didn't care.

Jo pushed him away, clearly uncomfortable.

"Sorry" he mumbled.

A satisfied smile spread across her face.

He was glad he saw that smile.

"Who's he?" he heard a lady call out, who must've been her mum.

"My long time crush, Mom." she said.

Meanwhile, Saket noticed something written on her left forearm. He held up her hand to see it clearly.

It was a tattoo. SAKET. That was what was tattoed.

He looked at her. She had tears in her eyes.

He didn't know what he was doing, her hands held in his, he looked her right in the eye. "Don't go." was all he could say. He forgot about the questions he wanted to ask, about the answers he wanted.

"I have to." she said, choking.

"When will you come back?"

"I'm going for 3 years. That's the course duration. After that, its my choice whether to stay or not."

"No vacation?"

" I guess i get one every Christmas."

"Okay."

"Saket? You've grown so much. Its been 4 years, right? You must be 20 now. I missed you so much."

"Yeah, I'm 20. I missed you more."

"You're almost a man now. Not that cute teen anymore, but a hot man."

"And you? You're a lady too."

That made her smile.

She let go of his hand, and gave him a peck on his cheek.

He could do nothing but watch her leave. He turned to look at her family, her dad was red with anger. One of her friends, Mitali, was holding him back.

Jo turned, for the last time, before disappearing into the crowd.

"Run." she mouthed.

Saket smiled. He didn't want to. He CHOSE to face her dad.

[I thought this was the cutest thing Saket could ever do. Well, Saket is the cutest and he's bound to do cute things, isn't he?]