Desde sempre e para sempre Chapter 10

Desde sempre e para sempre

Chapter 10

Always and forever, that had a nice ring to it. She liked it. Naina opened her book and wrote down the phrase as well as the meaning next to it.

She looked at him but he was resting on his chair, his eyes closed. The lights on board had been dimmed too. She yawned as she hugged her knees and got comfortable on her seat. Resting her head on the window panel, she closed her eyes. She was going to be home in 8 hours. She fell asleep with a smile on her face.

A couple of hours later, Gael woke up with a bad feeling. He tried to move in his seat, his body ached cramped up in that seat where he barely fit. He couldn't feel his legs either! He tried to get up and stretch his legs when a drowsy Naina grumbled in her sleep and shifted. She stretched her hands and legs like a cat, all in her sleep, and then cuddled with his arm. She sighed and became comfortable again. Well, that was it for his plan to stretch his legs!

Naina was doing a lot of mumbling in her sleep. Sometimes, her forehead would crease into a frown and then she would grumble something, make herself more comfortable on his arm and go back to sound sleep until the entire process started all over again…

He laughed silently. Looking at her next to him had driven the bad feeling away with which he had woken up. She was probably having an argument with someone. He was sure she was winning; there was no doubt about that. If he had learned anything about her at all…

Gael turned his laptop on and started going through his files. He didn't make any noise, he didn't want to disturb her and, of course, the rest on board.

“Pratibhaji! Pratibhaji! Are you okay?! Here, drink some water!”

After she stopped coughing and controlled her breathing a bit, she looked up. It had scared everyone. A group had already gathered around her.

“Should we call your grandson?”

“No!” she replied with a raspy voice. “I am okay. Just a coughing fit. Don’t worry about it. It happens all the time and there is no need to inform my grandson about it. I am a bit tired, I would like to go back to sleep.”

The people including the staff listened to her and walked away.

It was soooooooooooooooooo comfortable…Oh, she could remain like this forever! She moved her head a bit and found the sweet soft spot of her pillow, which was actually really hard, and sighed. This had to be the best nap she had ever had. Oh, another day at the UN would begin soon…which saree was she going to wear today? Yellow? Pink? Maybe red? Oh! She could match it with the white and red polka dot file cover she had just bought! And she could finally wear the red pumps that she had bought two weeks ago! What were they going to discuss at the UN today? Was it the discussion on money laundering? The Kyoto Protocol? Or was it…”

She woke up with a sharp intake of breath, her hair sticking to her face, her eyes wide open now and…had she been drooling?!

She looked down and realized that it was not a pillow she had plastered herself to…

Gael: “Oh thank God!”

He grimaced as he stretched his arm, his bones popping. He then stood up and damn! Everything was popping. That’s what happened if you don't move for 7 hours straight with a log leaning on you!

Naina was still disoriented. She looked around trying to understand what was happening around her. Where was she...what was she doing? That had been one hell of a nap if she had no idea what was happening to her!

Gael turned around and looked at her. She was sitting there like Bambi with wide doe-eyes!

Gael: “What’s up with you?”

She remembered that voice! She remembered him! Yeah!

Naina rubbed her eyes: “How long was I out?”

Gael: “You missed two services.”

Naina: “Huh?”

Gael: “7 hours, I think. The last time I checked we were less than an hour away. We will be descending soon.”

She gasped: “WHAT?! WE ARE HERE! WHY DIDN'T YOU WAKE ME UP?”

She scrambled out of her seat, grabbing her bag with her and rushed to the restroom.

Gael shook his head: “You are very welcome. Next time bring your own body pillow on board.”

But she was already in the restroom.

Gael was getting impatient. They had less than an hour left and she was wasting it in the restroom! She had slept more than half the flight! While he knew he could never have his fill of looking at her, he had yearned for her to wake up so that they could talk to each other. He felt like telling her everything about him just so that it would have her talking about herself…And now she would rather spend her time in the restroom?!

He started tapping his fingers on the armrest irritated and edgy. Why was he feeling like this? Nevermind that! It didn’t matter why he was feeling like this or what he was feeling! Right now, with the clock ticking and the announcement made by the captain that they were approaching their final descent…he just wanted to look at her, hear her voice, see her smile, make her laugh…

The restroom door unlocked. He was angry with her and so didn't look up but as she left the restroom, he heard the sweet melody of her bangles and he just couldn't resist. He looked up…

There was complete silence as he gazed at the sheer beauty standing before him. She was shy and cautious, he could make that out. She was unable to look at him. He didn't blame her because he was just staring at her, speechless…breathless…

Gael Breno Bourgeois stood up and lowered his head to bow before her; the only way he could think of to honor her; to honor the beauty, the complete woman, before him.

Slowly, she walked towards him in a simple black and white saree with gold embellishments. Nervous, she tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear and he noticed that she had changed her bangles too. She was now wearing simple gold bangles and beautiful gold earrings that were a staple of Indian traditional jewelry. He was surprised he had noticed every tiny detail. She stood before him instead of just sliding inside and taking her seat. Both of them were just looking at each other.

What a transformation! He would have never imagined…She truly was the best of both worlds!

Gael: “Thank you.”

Naina: “Thank you?”

Gael: “You brought me home.”

Naina looked down but he knew she didn't understand. He stepped closer and tucked his finger under her chin to gently pull her face up.

Gael: “Non è nel mio orecchio che bisbigliasti, ma dentro il mio cuore. Non le mie labbra baciasti, ma la mia anima.”

She looked at him confused. He knew she didn't understand.

“Ladies and gentlemen, this is the Captain speaking. We hope you had a pleasant flight on board flight AI 101. We are on our final descent to Mumbai. We have certainly enjoyed having you on board and we hope to see you again soon. Thank you for choosing Air India for your travel…”