"Unfortunate"

He glanced at a wall clock, there was yet two hours for his flight. He came very early to the airport since he had finished his work in Dubai and didn't have any desire to go elsewhere so he figured he would pass his time by reading in an airport lounge.  He got busy reading again after watching the time. After a couple of minutes, a young beautiful girl entered the airport lounge and sat next to him. She watched at him for a few seconds then she asked,

 

"If I'm not wrong, you're Jawad, Jawad Ahmed Bashir. He picked up his face, glanced at the girl, and said, 

“Yeah, I'm Jawad, but how do you know me”?

 

She grinned, “How’s your favorite old bike that you cherished so much and didn't let anyone else touch it? Do you still have it now”?

 

He surprised and now he stared at her and tried to identify her then suddenly he almost jumped,  “Oh! you're Samreen, Samreen Amjad”?

“Yup, you're right. She replied with a great smile”.

 

“Haw! I didn't believe it. How are you? And what are you doing here in Dubai”?

 

“I'm doing a job in Dubai for the previous five years and now I'm going back almost in half an hour. And what about you? Where have you been until today”?

 

“I joined an architecture company after finishing my study, and I came here for some office work”.

“Hmmm. Alright. And… What about Tania? I guess you would have been married until now, after all, you got engaged even in university”.

 

He didn't reply for a while and was looking very sad. Samreen looked at him surprisingly, waiting curiously for his answer, hey mister! Where did you lose? I asked about Tania, is she alright? Did you get married to each other?

 

Then he picked his face up and said, “Yeah, we got married, but…” He got silent again.

 

 She didn't speak a word and was just waiting for him to complete his sentence.

 

“But she is not with me now”.

 

“Han! What're you saying this, where she can go, you're engaged in the university and everyone did know that you'll get married after leaving the uni. What happened? She asked curiously”.

“We got hitched after one year from our university. But God wanted something else, after one year of our marriage; she died in a plane crash”.

 

“What”? She gets shocked, “how might it be? How did it happen? She started to sob. It's so sad. I can't believe it. She was so nice, of course, you both were so nice, and everyone praised your couple in the university, considered as a great couple”. She wiped her tears with her hands and tried to smile, “Then you didn't try to marry again”?

“No, I don't want to marry anyone else now. Well, leave this all; tell me about yourself, did you get married”?

“No, I'm still single”.

 

“But why? Did your parents not force you for this”?

 

“They did a lot. But I didn't agree”.

 

“Why”?

 

“I wanted to marry someone but he committed to someone else”.

 

“Who was that? Was he in the uni”?

 

Before she replied the announcement started for the next flight. She stood up and moved ahead for boarding, saying, “my flight is ready, see you again”. But he asked her again, “tell me before going, who was he”?

 

She smiled and just said, “Who got engaged in the university” and moved ahead.

 

First, he got shocked then smiled and shouted; “Now I intend to get married again. She listened to him and replied loudly, “okay I'll wait”.

         

Then he sat down on his seat again, now he was looking happy. He opened his book again, but did not read, and closed it. He gets lost in his thoughts. Fifteen minutes later there was a commotion, the airport management announced, the plane that had just taken off had crashed, so all subsequent flights were canceled. Soon this sad news spread everywhere. News channels give breaking news about this accident. "All the passengers have died". He didn't make any move and Sat there for a while shockingly. Samreen's voice echoed throughout the lounge. "Okay, I'll wait. Okay, I'll wait." He stood up and walked out of the airport lounge.