The Boarding Pass – Part II

The sadistic thrill of the mystery woman enticed me. In these few minutes, I realized I did not ask her name. She was an amazing beautiful woman around 30 something. She had an attractive persona in all respects and most importantly her character made for an interesting conversation. She was definitely from a Middle East country with an upper middle class upbringing and more than that I could not decipher why she became so friendly with me for no reason. I had one more hour for boarding the flight. My gut feeling asked me to go on.

Me: “Wooohhooo! Ok, Miss Boarding Pass. I would have loved to ask you for a drink but liquor is banned here. This airport is too small to even take a stroll. No other decent restaurant to even sit with nice ambience and good music. So, let’s play a game. What say?”

She: “Do you think I will enjoy it? I would hate to say it was boring on your face.”

Me: “I am an entrepreneur my friend, I don’t let go opportunities just like that. I always try even if I know there is no chance of success.”

She gives a big blush now. May be I had made a good start. But I didn’t have much time. Don’t think, just go on.

She: “What’s the game?”

Me: “I ask you any question of my choice. Your reply would be a question which is both an answer to my question as well as a question for me. One who gets stuck for want of the question loses the game.”

She is now stuck in a blushing mode. “Ok!” she said. After all, I had left no choice. I had scored lot of runs in power-play now.

Me: “Keeping aside your socio-cultural background, what do you think about co-habitation with opposite sex?”

She: “Why do we have to live together in a relationship or say fuck for that matter?”

Me: “Don’t you think every couple in a relationship wants to say some time that we have reached this level?

She: “Wouldn’t that be limiting relationship under some pre-defined protocols?”

Me: “If not, won’t relationship just become an object of convenience?”

She: “Can convenience ever be termed as objectionable or hindrance to one’s choices in life?”

Me: “Can it be equated to convenience of hitting on a stranger with an excuse of returning the boarding pass?”

I ordered a chocolate croissant (prawn shaped dish according to her) once again through my gestures to the waiter. This Costa Coffee is surely getting 5 star reviews from me for the complimentary affair it offered me today.

She: “You mean the same way men never hide the merriness of opportunity when woman makes the 1^st move?”

Me: “What if men do not express themselves and sound pricey?”

Long pause and she bursts into laughter. We both smile at the audacity of the situation.

She: “That’s all. I can’t continue. I don’t want to lose. I can’t think of an answer or question or answer-question or whatever it is.”

Me: “Well, I would have preferred losing here. In that case, I could have easily asked you to give me one more chance and play again.”

She: “Shut up and listen. I like you. Let’s do something crazy. Same rules apply. You are not allowed to ask anything.”

She said so many things at one go that I could not do anything except nodding with a big smile. We got up and we took the elevator from 1^st to 2^nd floor. 2^nd floor was a lounge area. We moved to the lounge. Of course, she managed it by talking to the receptionist in some Arabic language.

Me: “We could have come here early.”

She: “No, We couldn’t. You won 20 minutes with me in this cozy place.”

Honestly, I have no fucking idea what she is up to. She is way too ahead and fast than me and I have to catch her speed. She ordered something without asking me. I was just trying to anticipate her next move. We moved to a couch in a cozy area with some serene music. Waiter comes with two glasses of some drink. She paid it instantly after a little you-me about who pays the bill.

Me: “Drinks are served here…………” She stopped me with finger on my lips.

She: “You wanted to drink with me and so here we are we drinking to good time we had. Cheers!”

We kept silent for a few minutes. We are still silent. I don’t feel like saying anything. Even she seems to be just enjoying the silence and the time. I thought I should make the next move. It was to move one level up. I am a man after all, it’s my job to make it easy for her. I tried to get closer to confuse her with my intent. She is unperturbed. Her eyes seem to be asking me, “Why are you taking so much time?”

Ok, let’s go ahead. There is hardly 10 minutes left for boarding time now. As I moved ahead towards her, she is suddenly distracted by something on the door. I tried again but she is stuck at door. Her body language has changed dramatically now and she is behaving like a stranger now. I don’t know what happened suddenly. She continues to behave strangely. No words are exchanged for a few minutes.

She suddenly gets up and excuses herself to go to washroom. I waited to seek an answer from her when she returns. After 3-4 minutes, she returns and………… Hola! She has now gone to sit on the table with a man. What is happening here? I realized in few seconds that he was among the ones who entered the lounge when she was looking at the door.

I waited for a couple of minutes for this feeling to sink in. Alarmingly, the man with her comes to me and asks, “Can you please pass on the bag? My wife was sitting here and she forgot it I guess.” I gave him the bag in shock and surprise.

It took me a while to sink in the feeling. I don’t know what just happened with me. My phone rang with boarding alarm and I decided to move. As I moved out, the woman gave me the most amazing smile which brought the old world charm of memorable meetings. May be she just wanted to say, “I was just having a good time. Mate!”