Yours, Forever

Chapter 1

Hello! Though this story can be read as a standalone one, I am writing this story as part of my other story, You Are A Fantasy. Not sure what that means? Please read the first two chapters of 'You Are A Fantasy' and then come back here. 

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1.. 2.. 3.. 4.. 5.. Yes, that was it 5B. Rohit slid his backpack in the overhead luggage rack and shifting the pillow and blanket already placed in his seat to the adjacent vacant seat, he settled in heavily. He'd already flown for close to seven hours, and another eleven hour long stretch was remaining. He hated these long journeys and hoped sincerely that this one was the last one for a long-long time.

"Excuse me!"

Rohit got up with a start as he felt a tap on his shoulder. What!? Had he fallen asleep already. He should've waited at least until the person occupying the window seat had boarded, but can he really be blamed? It must be the middle of the night in New York and the fatigue and waiting associated with long trips always made one drowsy.

He groggily looked up to see a girl looking at him.

"Excuse me, that's my seat."

He nodded and got up, offering a quick apology, more out of habit than anything else.

She stowed away her bag in the overhead bin, and quickly slid in towards her seat.

"Umm.. are these yours?"

He saw her pointing at the blanket and pillow he'd kept at her seat and forgot to pick up after he'd sat down.

"Oh, yeah! Sorry again!" He gave her a smile and received a pretty one in return. But, the feature that caught his attention was her eyes. She had lovely eyes, but those big, brown eyes didn't go with the smile she had on her face. They looked bloodshot, maybe due to lack of sleep.

Raising her perfectly arched eyebrows, she asked, "Is there a problem?"

Rohit hurriedly picked up his stuff from her seat, sitting down himself, stowing the stuff into the small storage unit on his side.

The crew had finally closed the gate of the aircraft and were passing around water and juice to the passengers. Rohit had closed his eyes again. Now, he could sleep without any interruptions.

"Parvati didi!" A shrill voice near his right ear made him open up his eyes. The source of the voice was a small girl, not older than eight or nine years.

"Hello, what's your name?" That was the girl sitting next to him.

"Riddhi."

"That's a very pretty name! Who gave it to you?"

"My mom.."

All three of them turned to look at a woman standing towards the very back of their section of seats along with a flight attendant.

"We saw you at the airport. That aunty," the girl Riddhi, pointed at the attendant standing along with her mother, "didn't let us both come here to meet you. She said only I could go for a few minutes."

"Awww! That's ok! Come, do you want a picture?"

Riddhi nodded excitedly and then looked at Rohit. There was enough space between the seats that three Riddhis could fit easily, but Rohit still pulled his feet towards himself as a gesture for her to go on.

The girl next to him - he couldn't recollect who Riddhi had addressed her as - pulled Riddhi onto her lap, took the phone from her little hand and clicked a selfie with her. She then pulled a few candies from her jacket and offered them to Riddhi. The child picked two and was off soon after, skipping all the way to the back.