Five Times
Chapter 4

May 15, 2018

To tell about Abinaya, She is an introvert. She feels comfortable when she is with her family and she will be more comfortable when she was left alone. She lives in a separate world which is filled with books, portraits, paintings and of course movies at times. She loves to disappear in the world of sketching. So she chose to pursue fine arts and she was currently doing masters in it. Apart from this, she loves to travel a lot and that’s why she readily agreed to this trip.

Abinaya, with a lanky physique and a waist length curly brunette that was tailed back in a pony, was sitting in the waiting hall, checking the time. It was 11 am. She was totally fed up. Her anger towards her parents rose with each passing second. She had managed to control it as long as Diya was with her. Diya really made her feel alive. They wandered from one corner to the other; Diya narrated some incidents that happened back in her school. Diya delighted Abi with her childish games. But this didn’t last long as Diya fell asleep after an hour or so. Ahana was busy talking to her hubby over the phone while having Diya on her lap.

Abi had no one to talk to. She was worried about waiting for an hour. She looked at her parents who were sitting one row before her. They didn’t finish talking about their history even then. She wondered what on earth they were discussing 24X7. Just then her mom glanced at her from the corner of her eyes. Following that, her mom whispered something to her dad pointing in her direction. A sudden fear engulfed her mind.

“What will I do if they call me there? I have to nod to whatever they talk and have to answer them like an obedient girl. I can face a hundred interviews in her life than facing this”

Before her dad could turn around and see her, she quickly left the place and searched for a new one that could hide her from four pairs of eyes. Her dad’s eyes followed her, but she didn’t care. She fastened her steps when she constantly looked back while moving forward. She was in such a hurry that she didn’t notice the one coming in the opposite direction until she bumped herself at the person. The moment she smashed herself on the person, her eyes closed in a jerk; her legs automatically stepped backward and she cursed herself for hitting the person. She slowly opened her eyes muttering “Sorry sorry so….”, but her voice staggered when she fully opened her eyes to see the velvet black eyes staring back at her.

She gasped in shock and she stepped back further on seeing a male figure standing in front of her, who is none other than Adhitya. Her body shivered. For a second, her past played in her mind. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath to desist the thoughts from her mind. After a while, she calmed herself and opened her eyes again.

The velvet black eyes were still staring at her.

“Abi… Are you okay?”

Her legs trembled and she couldn’t balance herself there for long. She suddenly lowered her gaze replaceing it hard to make eye contact with him. Because every time she looked into men’s eyes, the pair of lustful eyes haunted her. So she chose to look down whenever she had to talk to men.

She just managed to say, “Yeah… Okay… sorry…” under her breath; still gazing down at the floor and quickly left the place.

She heard him calling her twice but she didn’t dare to turn.

She found an empty place and sat there; her hands massaging her head. Her body quivered. Despite being in the air-conditioned room, she was sweating profusely. She constantly rubbed her palms that went chill. Her wheezing problem made her gasp for breath. She hurriedly took out the inhaler from her sling bag and puffed in. She felt a bit relieved. She tried hard not to think about anything. But she couldn’t. She then walked around and got some magazines to read on. But she couldn’t concentrate on that either. She took her phone out and tried listening to music to distract her, but in vain. She finally gave up and just sat with heads down, balancing it with her thumb and index fingers.

Now, it was two pairs of eyes that got recorded in her mind. One was the senior boy’s and the other, Adhitya’s. Her mind kept replaying those two eyes one after the other. She squeezed her eyes harder when she saw the lustful eyes and released her eyes when she saw Adhitya’s. It continued for some more minutes. Her eyes opened automatically when she had an unusual feel. She noticed some difference in both the eyes. But she couldn’t figure out what it was. She again closed her eyes. She saw the one pair of eye measuring her up and down while the other was just fixed with her.

‘All men are not same’ her parent’s voice reverberated in her mind. She abruptly opened her eyes. Now, she got the proof for their words. Soon her heart and mind started to argue with themselves.

“Don’t get fooled by believing one blindly,” said her mind.

“But, I think..... that, he is a good person. His eyes confirmed me that” said her heart.

“You just saw him once. Don’t get trapped in his net”

“But………….”

Though her mind won, her heart still had his eyes registered.

She came back to real life when her phone buzzed. It was her mom. She wondered why she called her.

“What ma. I am here reading some magazines,” she lied.

“Stop whatever you do. It’s time for the flight. Come soon.”

It was only then she checked the time. It was 11.50. God!!! How did the time move? She hurriedly went near her parents. Diya was also up by that time hearing the announcements. She went and sat by Diya’s side. She noticed Adhi sitting there with his parents. He was clearly visible to her without any obstructions.

She wondered at the strange feeling in her heart. It made her look into his direction. Her mind tried hard to control her. But at times, she couldn’t resist herself admiring his black eyes and the way he ruffled his wavy hair. Truly, this was the first time she felt attracted to a male because till this time she didn’t even dare to look at anyone.

“Don’t get fooled” her mind again warned her. But now she hardly listened to her mind and continued to look at him.

The flight arrived. Diya was treading on air when she saw the flight landing. It took some fifteen minutes to get into the flight. Abi found her window seat and made her comfortable there. Her parents sat beside her while Diya and Ahana’s seat was just the row before her. She didn’t miss to check with Adhitya. He was with his parents at the adjacent row, his heads tilted towards the window, eyes peeping out. She smiled praising her luck, for keeping him at her eyesight. It was not more than seconds; he suddenly turned and looked at her. She quickly shifted her gaze to the other side. Her heart raced.

“Did he notice me? Did he saw me eyeing him? What will he think? Will he think I am desperate to look at him? Will he judge me wrong? What will I do to prove him that I am not wrong?” Her heart came with the bundle of questions.

“Why do you need to prove him anything? Why are you getting nervous? Why do you worry thinking about him?” Her mind had its own bundle of questions.

She was again stuck between her mind and heart not knowing whom to answer. Also, the only answer she had for all the questions is “I don’t know”. Yes. She was not sure about the feelings that she had for him. She then decided not to look at his side.

“Not again,” she said to herself.

Once everyone was in, the air hostess instructed about the safety measures and the flight took off. Abi slightly looked through the corner of her eyes to check with her parents.

“uhhhhhhhhh…….Can’t they just seal their mouth for god’s sake” she gaped cursing her luck this time. What a change of mind within seconds.

She longed for shifting the place so that she could escape from her parent’s boring talks again.

She peered into the seat before her to check with Diya. Diya was worried about not getting the window seat and looked sad.

“Diya… you want this window seat?” she hushed under her breath.

She suddenly reacted with a yes and started dancing in her seat. They quickly exchanged their places and Abi felt relieved.

Ahana was on Abi’s right, ready to doze off any second. Lack of sleep made Abi tired and she too decided to rest and angled her back with the seat. Only by then, she noticed the one sitting on her left. The person had her head rested in the window; her thick black hair that was let free blocked her face from Abi’s vision. But even without seeing her face, Abi could say that she was not well. She told Ahana about the person crying beside her. They felt bad for her and wanted to help her. So Abi slowly lifted her left hand and placed on her shoulder.

The person whirled towards Abi in a jerk.

Oh my god…. the seducing blue pairs of eyes, the sharp nose, and the cherry lips made her look like a girl from heaven. But she was not at all happy. Her reddish eyes and pink nose had assured that. She gazed at Abi with her eyelids filled with tears waiting to roll down.

“What happened….Why are you crying?” Ahana asked in a concerned tone.

The next moment, her tears started pouring down.