When the stars align! (2)


*Click here for the previous part(1)*


 After the primary check, Akash entered the airport. He had done his web-check-in already, so he got his boarding pass quickly. The trolley bag was checked in and Akash started walking towards the security check counter. Just then, a dupatta got entangled in the hook of his bagpack. He felt a pull and looked behind. But the girl had untangled it by then and was moving to the boarding counter. Akash could only see her back, her petite frame pulling the trolley bag. She had wavy hair, let loose. The pink dupatta swayed as she walked. The airline employee was helping her with the boarding process.

Akash proceeded for the security check. He put his mobile, laptop and chargers in a tray and was about to pick another tray for the bagpack, when a girl dressed in a pink Salwar-kameez stood beside him. She also picked the same tray. Their fingers touched and Akash withdrew his hand. "Sorry Miss, but the que for women is to the other side", Akash said, courteously, pointing towards the opposite direction. 

"Oh I'm sorry", the girl said as she put the tray down. She looked at Akash and then to the other side. "He is right, all the women are queuing up that side, while there are only men here. Why didn't I pay heed?", the girl thought to herself, while collecting her things and putting them back into her bag.

As she picked up her mobile, charger and pouch, the utilities from the pouch spilled on the floor. She tried to catch hold of them but was in vain. She then took out a srunchie from the her handbag and tied her hair up in a pony. 

Akash stood there watching her. He forgot to load the tray onto the conveyor for the security check. She was the same girl with the petite frame. She looked beautiful. Her fragile fingers, pointer-finger adorned a delicate golden ring, her slender neck now exposed as she had tied her hair, her eyebrows tensing while picking up things, Akash kept glancing at her. 

But the que behind, pushed him forward and he came to his senses. Akash wanted to help her but got dragged ahead. His eyes kept glancing behind. The girl finally gathered her things and moved to the que for women.

Akash finished the security check and walked to the shopping area. He once again looked behind, but didn't locate the girl. He proceeded further, peeking at the shops on the way. He stopped by a coffee stall and ordered a filter coffee. 

Akash sat down on one of the chairs arranged in front of the open stall. He took out his laptop and started working. The man from coffee stall called out his name and Akash fetched his coffee. Filter coffee was served in the classic style, in two steel glasses, a narrow one containing the coffee and a broader one to pour the coffee into it, to make it less hot a.k.a. drinkable. Akash kept pouring the coffee from one glass to another a few times. The fumes from the hot coffee escaped into the air. And Akash saw the same beautiful girl emerging from behind the fumes. The girl got seated on the chair across him. She was looking around as if trying to search for something. She was holding a book in her hand.

"Once upon a heartbeat** That seems a love story", Akash's soliloquy as he glanced at the book in her hand.  

The hot coffee burnt his fingers and as Akash kept the glass down, "Oowe", he blurted. 

The sudden sound attracted her attention. She looked at Akash and gave an unsure, hesitant smile. Akash smiled back, but his was a genuine one.


*Click here for Part 3*



**Once upon a heartbeat is a novella written by me. Those who haven't read the story can read it here -Once upon a heartbeat!

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