Amor Fati - Our Love, Our Fates [COMPLETE]

Part 19 - Serendipity

Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru, A Month Later - Early Morning

Rohini breathed heavily as she entered the aircraft. She was highly embarrassed, she was after all the last person to board the 7 a.m. Vistara flight to Delhi. She offered a weak smile to the crew as she pulled her trolley bag inside. She had been booked into the Business Class by the Office Admin and was a bit pissed off. She had qualms about wasting money when she was perfectly alright traveling economy class.

"Hello Stranger ..." a deep voice broke her musings as she located her seat number and hoisted her luggage to the counter above. Rohini looked down to find Nikhil in the next seat., looking all dapper in a white shirt and deep blue jeans, the sleeves of his shirt folded to his elbows. He removed his sunglasses and beamed at her.

"Oh hello. Fancy finding you here" Rohini responded as she slid down in the seat and buckled up.

Nikhil grinned as the flight readied for take off. He noticed Rohini clutching onto her hand rest as the pilot started manoeuvring the plane. Her knuckles were nearly white.

Rohini found him staring at her hand and smiled

"I am very bad with take offs. And touch downs too. Despite travelling pretty frequently. Since I was a child"

"What do you do then, every time?" Nikhil asked, as he felt warmth spread all through him.

An impish smile now graced Rohini's face - "I squeeze my eyes shut and belioeve as if I am clutching onto my Dad's fingers"

Nikhil grinned again. As the flight accelerated, inching towards take off, Rohini leant back into her seat and closed her eyes. As the front wheel took off, she squeezed her eyes further. And found relief flooding through her as she felt Nikhil weave his fingers through hers.

A few minutes into the flight, Nikhil leant sideway and whispered "Now this is the time when you let go off my fingers, especially because I realise you are enjoying squeezing the hell of out them ..."

Rohini opened her eyes and looked at their intertwined fingers and then at him, only to find his eyes dancing in merriment. They stared at each other for a moment and then burst into laughter, as the pilot announced that the passengers could now unbuckle.

...

"Are you travelling for work?" Nikhil asked, as he reached for the water bottle.

"Yeah" Rohini nodded, as she unfastened her seatbelt. "There is an office in Delhi, a small one. We have a lean team over there. Dad wanted me to go and check some technical stuff and attend a meeting or two. Big contract, I presume."

She looked at him - "How about you?"

Nikhil sighed

"My sob story. Ajja wants me to meet some potential business clients from Sweden. They are already in Delhi for some meetings with the Industry Secretary. I have been requested to be part of the Project from the very beginning."

"That's great" Rohini said as she looked at him. He seemed more relaxed and casual than the few other times that they had met. Which was indeed great.

Rohini remembered the calm outburst that night in her apartment. She had always guessed that something had gone horribly wrong with Nikhil, but she had never thought that he would confide in her about it. About all of it. Unabashedly.

And she had been touched that he had trusted her enough. Rohini had often wondered how he was doing and had thought of calling him, but had hesitated. Of course, she couldn't just call and ask him how he was doing. She wondered if there was more, but time flew away in between.