The Proposal: Part 3 of 4

'Can I please sit by the window’, Zara inquired.

Seeing that Zara and he had been talking all the way upto their seats, Rahul had assumed that the gentleman in question would move to the aisle. Of course, he did not. Wasn't the universe supposed to conspire to help him achieve his dream?

The energy he had gathered from the time Zara arrived at the airport until the time they entered the airbus, all went pop in one second. Even though Rahul had silently started counting backwards from fifty in order to somehow get a grip on his emotions, he was far from relaxed by the time he was done.

He wondered what Gaurav would have said if he called him right now. Possibly, something glib like patience is the key!  Yes, that sounded wise enough.

As they buckled themselves into their seats, a subtle floral fragrance wafted towards him.

How does this happen to me, Rahul thought to himself as he felt the tightness around his chest melt away into insignificance. She is a whole seat away and the fragrance was making him loopy in the head. Giddy with delight was one way to describe how he felt, but the whiff of her fragrance somehow made him feel a little positively towards getting off at Bangalore.

Naima and Ashish just could not believe what they were seeing.

‘He just is not getting a break today’

‘Do you remember that time when I asked you out? That opportune moment had come after 4 days of having decided that I liked you mister. Each day, I used to be all charged up about asking you out on the way to college and decided it was hopeless on the way back home. I don’t envy Rahul one teeny tiny bit’

‘I know from a dependable source that you had a crush on me since the welcome party. That was a good month away from the day you asked me out’, Ashish replied with a goofy grin.

While Naima and Ashish playfully exchanged notes about their week at work, Rahul had plugged in his ipod and had reached a state of calm by the fourth song in his playlist. He did not notice the glances Zara threw at him whilst the music worked its magic on him.

He looks so peaceful, Zara thought to herself. She was almost certain Rahul was a little taken aback when she asked for the window seat. Looking at him now, she felt fairly certain that he hadn’t felt even a bit weird that she had chosen the window seat.

But she had no other option.

She had a massive crush on Rahul. Worse, Ashish had figured it out. And just to prove him wrong, she had taken up a bet to not sit alongside Rahul on the flight today. There was no point in letting anyone know about her stupid crush. Naima had told her that Rahul was interested in someone. What good what it do? What if Rahul got to know, got uncomfortable and distanced himself?

Zara knew the four of them would pretty much be stuck together for the trip. She hoped there was plenty of booze at Zubin’s. If the twenty minutes at security were anything to go by, she was going to need a major distraction to survive his dimpled smile over the extended duration of the next four days.

Ashish glanced to where Zara was sitting a few rows ahead. As he noticed Zara throw  another glance at Rahul, Ashish giggled to himself. He felt like the devil. Rahul was going to kill him after tonight. Zara was obviously going to say yes, but he just decided to make his buddy sweat a little before that.

If Naima could keep secrets, he would have definitely told her. But she couldn’t keep anything from Zara - the two were thick. He still didn’t know why Zara had kept it from Naima. He had not asked and she had not voluntarily offered any explanation.

Tonight was going to be a night of revelations.

To be continued...