'Good evening. This is an announcement for the Air India passengers traveling to Nagpur booked on flight AI-918. The flight has been delayed due to bad weather conditions. We are soon expecting to announce the boarding. Sorry for the inconvenience caused.'

Slumping her petite frame more into the cushioned chair of the lounge, she hid her face behind her hands. After a moment of stillness, she exhaled a deep sigh of frustration.

Skimming her eyes through the swarm of passengers huddled around her in the busy Delhi Airport, all she could find was disappointment in their demeanor. Quite obviously, nobody would enjoy a field trip at the airport owing to a delay in flight.

Certainly, not her.

But for a change, when she dared to peep into her psyche, she found the very emotion amiss. Disappointment.

Reasons could be many or the only one she's dreading to conclude.

Hope!

Hope for a little something beyond her practical belief,
hope for a ridiculous possibility to swoon over her pragmatism,
hope for a little sprinkle of magic over the empirical icing of her life's cupcake.

Hope is a funny thing! It will lure you to hold its end only to pull you more with its magnetism.

But you can't refute the reality staring right back in your eyes. If only there exists a blind spot to reality.

There's a very thin line between overtly hopeful and hopelessly stupid. She's none.

She dragged another long breath and expelled three consecutive shallow sighs, each dispelling the weight of negativity, regret, and dejection.

Her professional life had been enough fodder for all those things but not once did she let them punch a hole in her armour. Nor would she let it happen today, never in her personal life.

She's a fighter, a fierce at that one.

She won't drown her life in miseries. She's no damsel in distress awaiting her prince charming. She is the princess and the queen of her life. She's going to be one hell of it.

Struggling to contain a lone tear at the bay of her eyelashes, she let out a humorless chuckle. She didn't anticipate this notable day of her life to turn out like this. Least like this.

Early morning when she was sitting at the Nagpur Airport for a round trip to Delhi, she was bubbling with so many unsaid emotions. One being prominent of all.

The answer to one life-changing question asked to her a few years back was dancing at the tip of her tongue.

Little did she know, it would die a slow death at her mouth only.

And no, she won't blame it on anybody. Except herself. Or Time maybe!

The little significance of time she's learning a hard way now.

She stealthily flicked a tiny teardrop at the end of her left eye as another announcement boomed through the capacious waiting lounge. The one she had no idea of how to react to. Yet again.

'Good evening. This is an announcement for the Air India passengers traveling to Nagpur booked on flight AI-918. The weather condition is turning nasty. We're afraid we might take another hour or so to begin the boarding. Extremely sorry for the inconvenience.'

She tilted her head slightly to gaze outside the glassed floor-to-ceiling wall reflecting the runway outside. True to those words, the clouds had puffed their cheeks with leaden candies that were about to snap and pop out anytime.

She couldn't resist trudging closer to the mayhem. Like she always had.

As she kept her hands over the shiny glass, a series of plump raindrops pelted against her slender fingers over the glass, at once. The little chaos of her heart rattled more vehemently against the chaos of the weather. His favorite weather.

What wouldn't he give to dance in those rains with her, to silence the boatload of insecurities that started to cage her heart. And today, what wouldn't she give to speak to him, unload the weight of the emotions her heart is slumped with.

To her dismay, luck isn't playing from her side today. Or maybe, never had.

Her vision focussed on a tiny puddle near the gates that opened into the runway. The transparent surface reflected a reel of memories she held closer to her heart. Every memory embellished with his face. Each frame is ruthlessly shattered by the harsh downpour.

Funny, it already felt like a heartbreak, even without a chance to talk to him.

And it's funnier how all of her thoughts had gathered themselves around him.

Painting a hazy picture of despair on the glass through a long pained sigh, she dropped her hand and headed back to her seat.

Is it the end of this story or just another chapter?

Slashing through her gloomy thoughts, another announcement blasted in her ears.

'Dr Siya Singhania. This is a special announcement for Dr Siya Singhania, a passenger of Air India flight AI-918 to Nagpur. Ma'am, we have been handed over your wallet at the lost and found section. If you could hear us, kindly collect it. Thank you.'

"Bloody hell!"