He had an ear to ear smile adorning his face as he yanked her closer, smashing his lips right on hers. Hands traveled all over each others' not-so-unknown curves and spots.
The rest was watched by the walls and heard by the air around.
Lying in each others' arms under the warm quilt, clothes scattered on the floor like carpets, disheveled hair, and eyes closed.
Well, he was back in his cabin to grab some much-needed sleep, until she popped in front of him and threw all his luxurious dreams of taking rest far away... not that he complained. Her presence gave him the peace he had been looking for, ever since he returned from Corsica. He sighed audibly in contentment.
"You know...", She paused not knowing how to continue.
"What?", He asked lazily untangling her hair with his long fingers.
"Umm.. no nothing. Let it be.", She seemed hesitant as she rolled above him hiding her face in the crook of his neck, smelling his scent.
"Spill out, Sugar tits!", he said caressing her back.
"Err... Don't misunderstand okay?" He turned their position and stared directly into her eyes intensely, as she laid under him.
"Who's this hesitant girl hmm? The girl I knew, she never hesitated to say anything on the face if she didn't like it... Everything that was on her mind, was directly on her lips... She never hesitated to or even flirt openly.", He said playfully and soon added with concern moving a few strands of hair from her face, "What happened?"
Taking a deep breath she started, "You know I thought all that happened between us... back in Corsica, meeting at Bonifacio, pretending as imposters, being physically close... very close and then parting ways... even though we had promised each other that what would happen in Corsica, would stay there only. And once we step out from there, we'd not remember anything that happened there. But I failed. I broke my first promise to you. Initially, I thought-" She was cut in between with a wet kiss right on the spot he'd left his mark 15 minutes back making her clutch his hand tightly.
She continued, "Initially, I thought, it might be an infatuation and an Indian guy I met in Corsica, whose name or any kind of identity was unknown to me or precisely, an Indian guy I named 'Sexy Pants', would be forgotten with time... but that never happened... and I was carrying the baggage till now. Or maybe, something or the other kept adding up in that baggage from each place I ever went after Corsica. Call me mad, but I wished crossing paths with you again like we did, in Corsica... But was left disheartened every time.", she ended with a sad smile. He noticed a teardrop in the corner of her eye wriggling to roll down any moment, as he bent down and kissed it away.
"You know, I thought it was only lust from your end and I was being foolish to involve my heart in it... But then-"
"If not 'love', it was surely 'like; from my side. But never call it 'lust'!", he said, boring her eyes in his. He looked determined. She smiled stroking his jawline and later replacing her hands with her lips.
"And even today, I felt you were somewhere around, at the airport. But I was already running late for the flight that was destined to make me find you, so-"
He cut her in between saying, "So I wasn't wrong. That was you only." She stared at him, confused. "The guy you bumped into, back in the airport, was me." He said with a goofy smile. She looked amused. "But you seemed to be too much in a hurry to even look back at the poor person, you broke whose phone huh?!", he teased earning a spank in his right shoulder.
"Your phone was okay, and I saw it, okay?! I was actually running late, Sexy Pants! And only if I knew it was you, I'd have not even thought once about the money I spent in booking myself a seat on this flight or even the rest 255 passengers before kidnapping their very own Sexy pilot, you know. So you should be thankful of me, Captain.", she said grazing her lips over his. He chuckled.
After almost an hour of shameless teasing, stealing pecks, and comfortable silence, Manik sat up with a jerk scaring her. "What happened?", she asked sitting up as well, holding the quilt close to her torso as he jumped off the bed.
"Put them on!", he said throwing her clothes on her face. She highly ignored his order and glared at him throwing her clothes away from her face just then they felt a strong shake.
"What's wrong, Sexy pants?"
"Hurry up, Nandini!!", he said with urgency. She obliged this time.
"What's wrong with the flight, Manik?", she asked again as they stepped down the stairs and this time, she sounded a bit terrified and her grip on his hand tightened.
"You're scared?", he had a teasing grin stuck on his lips. She glared at him. He stopped in the middle of the stairs and pulled her to his embrace, "Might be some turbulence. Nothing to be scared of, Sugar tits." She looked up at him still in his hold. "Go back to your seat and fasten your seatbelts, okay?" She nodded pulling out of his embrace.
"You take care of yourself and your passengers as well, Sexy pants.", she said as they parted ways after descending the stairs. He chuckled walking into the cockpit.
On the way back to her seat, she was stopped by a shrill voice. "Seat number 12A!" It didn't take her long to recognize who that was as she rolled her eyes turning back with the fakest smile possible.
"Miss Makeup kit oops Miss Alya Saxena, I have a name. And that's definitely not 'seat number 12A' as long as I remember." Alya's nose flickered in anger and Nandini giggled mentally.
"Control your tongue, do you understand?! And what the hell were you doing upstairs huh? Don't you know that area is prohibited for passengers?! Wh-"
"Don't you think you should do your job of ensuring the passengers' security after the turbulence, instead of making a hill out of a mole behind me?!", Nandini said with a tight-lipped smile.
"You-" Alya was cut in the middle by the announcement. Nandini smirked walking back to her seat flipping her hair.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your Captain Manik Malhotra speaking. We just experienced some turbulence, which caused some engine troubles in the left-wing. Luckily, this jet is equipped with 4 engines and we still have 3 functional engines. So there's nothing to worry about. I've turned on the fasten your seatbelts sign back on, so kindly fasten your seatbelts. We'll be reaching our destination 15 minutes after scheduled. Till then, sit back and stay calm."
"Why are you smiling like a creep since then, Malhotra?", asked Aryaman narrowing his eyes as he was done with the announcement. Manik himself didn't realize he was doing so and soon covered it up.
"What?!! What are you saying?! When did I smile? And why would I smile even? Cause an engine went dysfunctional or what?" and laughed making Aryaman even more suspicious. Manik caught Aryaman staring at him and raised his brows mouthing a 'what'. Aryaman shook his head.
__________
"Please be sure to take all of your belongings. If you're going to leave anything, please make sure it's something we'd like to have. *chuckles* Thank you for flying with Air India. We hope you enjoyed giving us the business as much as we enjoyed taking you for a ride." Nandini giggled making the old woman stare at her in disbelief.
Finally, when the flight came to a standstill, the passengers started gathering in the walkway to get their luggage out from the overhead compartments and move out of the flight earlier. And Nandini couldn't even get out of her seat as the oldie beside her, took her own sweet time to pack her belongings. She sighed in irritation.
Manik and Aryaman stood by the gate, greeting every passenger with a smile. When Manik's eye fell on his girl, who failed every attempt of reaching out to the overhead compartment.
"Excuse me, Miss Makeup kit, as you seem jobless, can you help me with my baggage.", Nandini teased her as the other flight attendants seemed busy with passengers. Alya glared at her.
But before she could call her again, she felt someone's presence behind her. "May I help this beautiful lady?", said a male voice from behind her. She immediately turned behind just to see a guy in the pilot's uniform staring at her with a cheeky smile.
"Yeah, please. And thank you for the compliment, Aryaman Khurrana." She giggled.
"Oh, I didn't know I was that popular, that beautiful ladies even know my name." She laughed pointing at the nameplate on his uniform. Aryaman smiled sheepishly.
"So may I know your name? Well, I don't mind calling you 'beautiful lady' too." Now he was flirting openly, she laughed remembering how she flirted with Manik in Corsica. Aryaman pulled her bag and she walked beside him. Her eyes momentarily searched for her guy, who currently seemed busy with a cabin crew/makeup kit.
She flared her nose turning to Aryaman and said, "Nandini. I'll take your leave now." She walked away pulling her bag from him.
"What was that?", Aryaman said to himself. "Wait wait! Can I get your phone number?", Aryaman yelled as the aircraft was almost empty now.
"Whose phone number do you want, Aryaman?", Manik asked as he stopped Nandini on her way holding by her waist.
"Hers... umm-", Aryaman didn't know what to say as he himself was confused about the two of them now.
"Oh, you want 'MY girlfriend's phone number eh?!", asked Manik with a smile, but eyes spitted fire. She glared at him and not for once he looked at her. Aryaman looked dumbstruck.
Manik took his trolly bag and walked out still holding her by the waist. She kicked his toes with her pointy hills making him yell in pain. "Ughhh what was that, feisty woman?!"
"You aren't allowed to smile with those makeup kits!", she warned.
"Makeup kit? Who?!! Oh wait, do you mean Alya?! If yes, then that's the best naming for her everrr! I'm proud of you, Sugar tits.", he laughed. "Can't wait to call our kids with such crazy names." She looked up right into his eyes. "And also, you don't need to be jealous of a girl I keep running away from, okay! My heart was with you since the moment we met at Corsica. And it'd stay with you till my last, bear with it.", If it was a warning, then she'd love to get warned this way every moment. Blood rushed to her cheeks as she left her bag, stood on her toes, and threw her arms around his neck.
"I love you too.", she whispered. He wrapped his arms around her as her feet left the ground. "Thank you for meeting me again on the flight and making a boring, regular journey an exciting one!", she said digging her face in the valley of his neck.
"And I don't mind taking you on every flight of mine from now onwards.", he shrugged putting her back on the ground.
"Is that a free offer?" she asked raising her offer with a hint of tease.
"I think so...", he smiled as his eyes sparkled like a twinkling star. Her face reflected the exact same.
~The End~
A/N: On many of your demands, here is the epilogue for "On the flight". Hope it was good enough not to bore you haha *trying to hide the tensed face behind the laughter*
And thank you all for all the votes and comments on my last chapter and also for the great rankings to this OS. Means a lot to me. Loads of love to all of you!
And also, I'm sorry to keep all my "I will be waiting" readers wait for so long. Since this story is finally closed, my full attention would be on IWB only, and hopefully, I can write Chapter 36 soon and publish it asap. Thanks for being patient y'all.