Chapter 1: Path Crossed By
"Khushi, where on earth are you? Hurry Up the flight's about to leave, they are almost going to close the boarding", Khushi heard Preeto exclaim as she rushed through the terminals to board onto her flight. "Preeto, breathe! Turn around, you can see me", Khushi spoke into the phone as she rushed to the counter. She screeched to a stop nearing the boarding desk and slapped her boarding pass on the table. "Just in Time", the lady at the counter smiled as she checked the documents. Khushi returned a weak smile as she tried to catch her breath and ignored the angry look her best friend was courting. "here you go", the lady set before stepping out and letting Khushi and her friend into the tunnel that led to the flight. "Preeto, relax there was a sudden aarti at the Mandir, so I got late there. But I'm here now don't worry." "Khushi you nearly gave me a heart attack I thought I was going to have to leave without you", she pouted. "But you didn't! I'm here now. And we are going together. Dekhna sab kuch accha hi hoga ab". She said chirpily as the Flight attended showed them their seats. Khushi immediately shut her eyes as the flight started moving and headed towards take off. "devi maiyaa devi maiya", she chanted panickly. Preeto saw her best friends's plight and held onto her hand reassuredly. "It's okay Khushi, the flight has taken off." "Khushi opened her eyes slowly to see the plane has shifted to a horizontal position and she could almost see the delhi gate becoming smaller as the plane turned away into the hollow night.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, Welcome Aboard on Singapore Airlines. This is Captain Reed and you're on Flight SA231, from Delhi to Chicago. I hope you all have a pleasant experience with us. The Drinks will be served shortly. Happy Journey", the voice over spoke out. Khushi heaved a sigh of relief as she looked back down at the miniature city that was disappearing beneath her. She didn't know why but she felt a jittery feeling in her heart, like she was anxious for something. As if something was waiting for her and she didn't know if it was good or not, but for some reason her heart kept telling her it was good. "Hey devi maiyya, Please stay with me and let everything be good in this trip", she prayed before plugging her ear phones in and closing her eyes.
"Khushi!!! Khushi! Wake up!", Preeto tried to wake up Khushi who had fallen asleep. "Khushi wake up, the plane has landed in London and we need to rush to catch our next plane to get to Chicago. Hurry Up!" Khushi blinked her eyes open only to see the plane almost entirely empty. She got up and grabbed her cabin baggage and rushed out the plane with Preeto. "Preeto you're worrying for no reason. We still have nearly an hour left until the next plane. Let's get something to eat! I'm hungry", Khushi said as they walked through the terminals. They stopped at the next fast food place they could find and started to eat. "Khushi I'm so excited. This medical internship is such a good opportunity for us, especially after become full time resident doctors", Preeto beamed. "I know! Thanks to Devi miayya, we were the only two selected from a pool of four hundred applicants! I can't wait to learn so much there", Khushi replied excitedly as they paid for their food and started heading towards their flight's departure gate. Just as they were about to sit in the waiting area, their heard a voice over speaking out something similar to Khushi's name. "Khashi Gahpta, please head to the enquiry desk at Gate 21 immediately", the voice reported. Khushi grew alarmed, "They're calling my name. Why are they calling my name. Preeto that's just two gates away. I'll go see what they want", she said gathering her stuff. "Khushi, wait I'll come with you", Preeto got up too but Khushi stopped her. "No, you stay here. They're almost starting to board now. I'll be right back. Switch on your phone", she said before rushing to the gate. "Hai Devi Maiyya, why are these people calling me", she thought as she ran towards the gate in such a hurry that she bumped into a black suit and they both fell down. "I'm sorry", she said as she got up and turned to look at the man who fell down.
She saw a pair of two angry brown eyes looking down at her and her heart almost skipped a beat. There was an unexplainable familiarity in those eyes, and that was strange because she had not seen this person before. "Can't you see where you're going?", he gritted through his teeth. Khushi was taken back at the unfriendliness in his tone and normally she would apologize in any situation, but that tone of his irked her completely. "Excuse me. I was in a hurry. It was a mistake", she said. He stared back at her for a moment. "Well next time, make sure who you're with before making the mistake", he said arrogantly before answering his beeping phone and heading off in the opposite direction. Khushi's jaw dropped, what did he think of himself? All she did was bump into him accidently and he replied so rudely, as if he was the king of this world! And why did this stranger's rudeness hurt her so much? It was almost scary the way her emotions had rushed at her for a moment. "Lard governor kahi ka", she said before rushing to the desk the annoying voice over was asking her to go.
"WHAT????!", Khushi couldn't believe her ears as she heard her senior doctor ask her to board onto the next flight to go to Singapore on the phone. "But Mam, Can't you send someone else. You know how much I wanted to do this internship", she reasoned with her stubborn senior. "I know Khushi. And I'm sorry about it. But we need a doctor to represent HealthCare Hospitals at the medical camp there. And since you have the most experience out of all our residents, I have to send you there. Look you don't have much time. I already have booked a ticket to Singapore, the flight boards in fifteen minutes. Just go to Gate 23 and show them your passport. I'll answer whatever questions you have once you get there. Check your email, I've forwarded information to you", her senior said before hanging up on her. "But Mam!", she exclaimed. What was wrong with today, everything was turning upside down. But she didn't have much time now, she needed to ran to Gate 23, but crap Preeto was going to kill her. She didn't have much time, but she had to see Preeto first before heading to her flight, so she ran again.
"What happened Khushi", Preeto grew alarmed as she saw Khushi catching her breath. "I don't have much time but Dr. Lavanya called and told me I have to go to Singapore right away for some medical camp. And my flight's in like 10 minutes. So…. I need to go", she finished slowly as she looked at Preeto's face. Preeto looked at the guilt and pain on her friend's face. "It's okay Khushi. It must be important otherwise, Dr. Lavanya would never send you there. I'll be fine. And you can probably join me after the camp right?", she tried to cheer her friend up, who was almost in tears. "Its okay Khushi! Devi Maiyya hai na, sab theek hi hoga", she wiped Khushi's tears. Khushi Hugged preeto tightly, "I'll miss you!!! Take care!", she said before running onto the gate to catch her flight.
As she sat in her seat in the business class, which was near the window, she closed her eyes tightly chanting Dev Maiyyas name. She saw someone sit next to her, but didn't both to look up. She was petrified of take-offs and she always held onto someone's hand when the plane took off and this was her first time on her own. She felt the plane move and shut her eyes tighter. She gripped onto a side of her seat and absently gripped onto the arm that was on the handle next to her, like she always did whenever she travelled with her friends or her sister. The person turned to look at whatever was restricting his arm and his eyes grew alarmed as he looked at her. He was about to take her hand out of his arm, but something stopped him from doing so. There was a pure chastity on her face. There was a childishness in the way she shut her eyes, there was innocence in the way, she kept murmuring something. And as the flight started to take off, the grip on his arm grew tighter. He realized she must be afraid of flights. And for some weird reason, he put his hand on top of hers, to kind of assure her. Khushi felt a tingling feeling as he did that, but didn't dare open her eyes. "Are you scared of takeoffs?", he asked her softly. And Khushi stopped her chant, and nodded at that weirdly familiar voice, could it possibly be…….? But she didn't have time to ponder as the plane left the ground completely and pressure glided in her ears. "Shh…..relax", he said looking at the girl next to him. And for some reason, Khushi felt better, that voice was soothing and she felt protected by his grip on hers. Arnav on the other hand just kept staring at her, lost in his thoughts. Finally after the plane had taken off, he felt Khushi loosening his grip on his hand and he grew alarmed. What the hell was he doing? What was happening to him? This was weird, he had to get away. He immediately snatched his arm from hers, opened his seatbelt and got up to leave before she could open his eyes and actually see him. Khushi felt the sudden movement and opened her eyes only to see no one next to her. Who was that? She pondered and looked around only to find no one. Arnav on the other hand rushed to a flight attendant and asked her to change his seat to the first class which was vacant and she gladly did so. He stared at the passing clouds and tried to erase the image of the girl which has started plagued his thoughts and tried to sleep a little. Khushi on the other hadn was dumbstruck, who was that person? Why did he just leave like that. She asked a passing attendant, if this she knew who the passenger seat next to her belonged to and the attendant said she would try to find out. She came back a moment later to say she couldn't reveal the identity of the person, but only that he had shifted to the first class now. Khushi was lost as she looked into the passing clouds, just like the soul that was only a few rows ahead of her. Little they did know, like the changing shapes of the clouds they were passing through, their lives were about to change forever.
Cricket
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