BEYOND THE REALMS #wattys2018

Chapter 12

Alisa's flight landed on time and she got her luggage in a considerable short time, despite the fact that Lal Bahadur Shastri Airport is huge and mostly very busy since it has attained the status of being international. The walk through the arrival lounge was long and the entire expanse of the glass wall and glass roof made her realize how sunny it was outside. The sudden glaring sunlight made her wince and she took out her dark glasses and put them on her eyes. When she made her exit to the meetup point, she looked around for someone holding up her name on a placard. When her eyes finally caught what she was looking for, she started moving towards the tall man holding her name bearing placard up to his face, making it nearly invisible behind it. Alisa walked till she came to where he was standing, and she said, in her polite and firm voice,

"Hello, I am Alisa Ahmed, and you must be Mr.Vishwanath Tripathy?"

Zayn abruptly pulled down the placard and looked at the slender girl who was standing in front of him, clad in black jeans, long black shirt and a black stole around her neck, with dark goggles on her eyes, her hair tied severely in a ponytail, a tote bag dangling on her shoulder and from the other hand, she was holding the handle of the luggage trolley, that carried one medium sized black suitcase and one laptop bag. She was a vision of black from head to toe and Zayn found that a little unsettling, adding to the fact that he was actually hoping to see a mature woman rather than a young, fragile girl, who was as per his knowledge, here on some kind of important business with Vishu bhai... How could such a young girl come down all over from another continent to talk about legalities here, or business... Or whatever? Heck! She looks like she has just got done with school.....

Looking down at the girl whom he was actually towering over, he tried to shrug off his thoughts and said,

"No Miss Ahmed, actually I am Zayn Azmi. Vishu bhai...Uh I mean Mr. Tripathy had an emergency at home and he asked me to come here and pick you up and take you to Azamgarh."

Alisa took off her glasses, and Zayn had the second jolt of shock at seeing her eyes. They were the most unique pair of eyes that he had ever seen. He was so taken aback that he didn't realize that he was staring at her. However he did realize that her eyes showed some signs of irritation, as she fetched her phone from her bag and started dialing a number. Zayn was still staring at her eyes when he heard her cool voice speaking in the phone,

"Hello, Mr.Tripathy..This is Alisa Ahmed speaking."

Vishwanath must have apologized and explained his problem to her,because in front of Zayn, her eyes changed their expression, from mild irritation to a look of understanding. And then she said something to Mr. Tripathy in an assuring voice, but Zayn did not hear her. He was completely caught off guard by the most beautiful eyes he was beholding....Those eyes that were of a rare color... that were expressive...but somehow, those eyes lacked something...what is it that they lack? He thought...

Alisa had finished her call and she was putting her phone back in her bag, when she lifted her face and saw him, looking down at her with an incredulous expression on his face. Mistaking it for offence, she quickly said,

"Uhh I am sorry. Actually I am here for the first time and I was just being cautious. I hope you understand."

Zayn heard her this time, her eyes now looking straight in his eyes, and he felt a very strange kind of magnetic pull emanating from those eyes. Alisa frowned a little on his silence, and seeing her frown, he dragged himself from the magnetic pool of her eyes somehow and cleared his throat, and said,

"No it's okay...I understand. It was wise of you anyway."

"So shall we make a move now? My father in law told me that it takes a few hours to reach Azamgarh."

Zayn got the third shock of his life in a matter of fifteen minutes of meeting her...

Father in law! Is she serious? This barely out of school girl has a father in law too! And Vishu bhai had said this client's daughter was coming down! How Come he forgot to mention that it's a daughter in law I would meet!? He thought, and in a dazed confusion, he blurted out, "Father in law? Are you married!?"

Alisa looked at him sharply, the irritation getting back in her eyes at such nature of questioning from a complete stranger. But then she calmed herself down and resorted to a simple one line answer.

"Yes, I have been married and I have a father in law who is more like my own father."

From her tone, Zayn deduced correctly that she was annoyed by his intrusive question, but he could not stop himself from saying,

"You look so young. I never would have guessed that you are married!"

On his sentence, he saw her eyes taking a strange expression, this time it was sadness... Then he saw her shaking her head as if she was trying to clear it or shrug off a thought; she lifted those eyes to his again and said in a quiet voice,

"I was married, but my husband passed away two years ago. Had my husband been alive, it would have been him, who would have come down here. He was the owner of this house in Azamgarh." She finished with averting her eyes and then turned around to hold the handle of her luggage trolley.

Zayn had the fourth shock... A widow too!

This was the maximum number of shocks one could have within twenty minutes of meeting someone for the first time. But his shock was quickly replaced with a sense of sorrow.... He said in an apologetic tone this time,

"I am sorry Miss Ahmed for your loss. I did not know. And my constant questioning must have disturbed you. I am really sorry about that. Actually I cannot keep quiet if something nags me, and you looked so young and fragile that I thought you were fresh out of school or something."

Belatedly he realized that she may not have liked the outspoken comment about her physical appearance, so he added regretfully, "I am sorry, I shouldn't have said that."

Alisa, who was not so used to of being questioned and talked to so frankly anymore, found this invasion in her personal space a bit annoying, but she was a little surprised at the directness of this tall, handsome stranger...and she also understood now that why he had been looking at her with such incredulous expressions earlier.

She nodded silently to his apology, and started moving, when he again spoke up,

"Hand me your trolley please."

Alisa did not even look at him this time. She quietly left the trolley handle and when he started moving, she also started walking slightly behind him. She had put on her dark goggles again when they came in direct sunlight.

He did not say anything else on their way from the airport exit to the parking lot where he had parked his car. He kept her luggage in the boot of the car and asked her politely to seat herself on the front seat.

He came around and got himself seated in the Driver's seat and after checking that everything was in order, he started the car. Alisa was back in her non communicative zone and was looking outside through her glass window. Zayn was also quiet but he wanted to break the ice and make her talk again. He wanted her to open up a bit, moreover he wanted to melt the "Robotic Ice Queen" he was thinking she was, as she seemed so distant and aloof...totally oblivious to him...

Alisa who was unaware of the name he had given her in his mind, and the impression she had left on him, was silently watching the greenery outside the airport. She even saw a Monument of the Varanasi city and she had a sudden urge to ask Zayn about it...but then she ignored her impulse and rested her head on the head rest.

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