Somebody to Love

Chapter 26 : Picture Of You

Airports. What do you love most about them? The smell? The crowd? The announcement? The restaurants? Or duty free shops?

It was Monday night and KLIA was buzzing with people - travelers, friends and family of the travelers, probably a busload of them. I went to grab some coffee after checking in. Nazrul was nowhere in sight. He texted me earlier that he might be a bit late. I told him it's okay, although I'm not that familiar with the airport. There were signs everywhere and info kiosks in case I lost my way to the gate.

Nazrul found me as I was entering the aerotrain. "Hi! Sorry, something came up. Thank god I made it on time," he laughed.

"Yeah! Thank god you're here. I don't think I can survive alone in a foreign city."

"If I missed this flight, what would you do?" He teased. I shrugged.

"Tell the crew to retrieve my luggage and go home, I guess." 

"Seriously?" Nazrul jabbed my shoulder. Well, it's kind of annoying when he did it too often. I feel like punching him when he did that in public. 

I didn't answer, we embarked from the aerotrain and I looked up to the signage to find the way to our gate. "Left," said Nazrul. "To the left... to the left," he added.

Oh my god! Was he singing Beyonce's song? I giggled silently. Nazrul had multiple personalities, I concluded. Will he start doing some Justin Timberlake moves during flight? Oh no!

"What?" He asked, perhaps noticing how I rolled my eyes.

"Nothing. I just hope you don't sit near me in the flight."

Nazrul's raised his brows a few times and made a confident face. "You'll see."

In less than 20 minutes I found myself seated right next to him. He got the aisle seat. "How? I mean, I checked-in much earlier than you!"

"I told the secretary which seat numbers I prefer. So, when she booked our tickets, she put us together." Nazrul smiled proudly.

I was quite shocked. Well, I haven't traveled since forever, by the way. "You mean the company  paid for the seat numbers?" He nodded. "What a waste of money," I added.

"Well I know what I want. And I want what I want." Nazrul sang to the famous Spice Girls' tune as he adjusted his seat belt and signaled to me to put on mine. 

"So, are you Posh or Ginger?" My reference to the Spice Girls members stunned him.

"You know them?" I nodded. "They're way before your time." He was trying to tell me I was too young. And then I remembered something.

"Oh! You've listened to my YouTube playlist, right? You know I listen to old songs." I waited for a few seconds and tried to catch Nazrul's facial expression. He just stared at his entertainment screen in silence. I wonder which song from my playlist came to his mind at that moment. 

"Ok, I have to admit, you have good taste in music." He gave me a dry smile. A female flight attendant approached us and signaled to me to adjust my seat upright as the flight was ready to take off soon. I apologized to her and struggled to find the button. Nazrul showed me how to do it. 

"Thank you Mr. Nazrul," said the flight attendant. Nazrul winked at her.

"No problem. Small matter," he said. I was sure the whole cabin crew knew him. He's a frequent flyer with the airline. 

I wanted to ask Nazrul about Dwen but didn't know how or where to start. I could only think of old songs, guitar, talent, young college boy and how moody Dwen could be sometimes. So, how was I going to start our discussion?

"Which is your most favorite song?" Nazrul touched my palm, perhaps he noticed I was miles away. I turned to him with my mouth agape. "I mean, which is your favorite song from that playlist?" 

"Oh! Hmmmm..." I had to juggle my mind to remember the song titles. "Picture of you, Boyzone."

The pilot was announcing something but Nazrul was paying full attention to me. "Why?" He asked.

"Because it's a song about friendship, good friends and how they're so supportive of each other. It's growing on me, becoming my happy tune now," I explained and Nazrul noticed something. 

"Growing on you? Does that mean you just started listening to it, or what?" 

OK, I was caught. "Well, truth is someone just told me about that song and I went to find it and added to my playlist."

 "Who?" Nazrul touched my palm again. As long as he didn't jab my shoulder in this flight, I was OK. 

"Oh, I don't know. Some voice in my head," I laughed but Nazrul had a very serious look on his face. 

"I think you're crazy," said Nazrul before sitting upright as the flight started to take off. 

"I think so too." I scrambled to find the sweets in my pocket. There was a tip I read in a female magazine for people who are nervous to fly. Put some sweets in your mouth, close your eyes and try to relax as the plane take off. I was doing exactly that and didn't speak to Nazrul for the next hour or so.