It Happened One Flight
Disclaimer: I do not own anything about this story… but the plot!
Chapter One: The Meeting – Part One
-"I never want to see you again!" said Hitomi.
A week later.
-"Yes I promise! ... I call you as soon as I land. .... No! I assure you, it's really no big deal if you can't come and catch me at the airport! I'm a big girl you know, I can take a cab!"
Hitomi had made up her mind a little too quickly but still, now that she had broken up with Allen it was the perfect time to realize her dream to go to Australia. Her stay there would give her space and time to get over his betrayal 'How could he have done this to me?' the thought kept hammering in her mind and staying in London, where they had hung out together so often was not a good way to heal her pain.
Yukari was living in Sydney now and Hitomi had never had the chance to go and see her best friend since she had moved there, after university, two years ago now. When Yuki, as Hitomi often called her, learnt about her childhood friend's break up she said she would take the first plane to get back to London to support her 'sister' - indeed, being a lonely child, she considered Hitomi her sister from the moment they got friends – but instead, Hitomi asked her not to do so "If you have enough time to come to London, you will probably have some time to show me Sydney around, won't you?".
And now, there she was... in Heathrow terminal 4's boarding room waiting for her flight to be called.
A lot of her childhood memories flew into her mind. With Yukari, she had spent hours dreaming about this island at the far end of the world. Since immemorial time, she has dreamt about South Pacific, fabulous landscapes where desert and sea were neighbors not to mention all these animals you can only find there: koalas, kangaroos, ostriches, kiwis... and they had promised that one day, they would go to Australia. So when Yuki after graduating got the opportunity of a job in Sydney, she simply seized it!
Hitomi was so lost in her thoughts that she had not even heard her named called for the third time already for she was the one remaining passenger to board the plane.
-"40A... 40A... Ah there it is! ... Excuse-me sir...?
-"Yes?" The man seated right beside her turned his head to her flashing her the most amazing smile she had ever seen so far.
'God Tomi...what are you thinking about? Be serious!' she thought.
-"Excuse me, I'm the window seat" she replied, trying her best not to stare at his beautiful mahogany eyes.
-"Ho!" he said still smiling and shifting aside to give her access to her seat. "Can I help you with your bag?" he continued.
-'Ye-yeah! Thank you!" 'Hitomi! Pull yourself together! You're going to complete your forever dream, you're going to Australia! Stop staring at him, stop it... STOP IT I SAID!' she lectured herself mutely while sitting down by the window.
-"I'm Van Fanel by the way!"
-"Pleased to meet you Mr. Fanel... I'm Hitomi Kanzaki."
-" 'Mr. Fanel'? Do I look so formal?" he said grinning. Please...Call me Van!" Asking her so he gave a big wink that made her slightly blush. "Do you go all the way to Sydney or do you stop in Singapore?"
-"All the way to Sydney!" she replied very excitedly "At last! I've dreamt to go to Australia all my life!"
-"Really? Then I'm afraid you'll have to cope with me till we land there then! And why now?" Van asked apparently quite interested.
'God! He's good looking, he's nice he seems interested and he goes to Australia! Hum... Keep focused Tomi! Keep focused!'
-"Hummm...I'm visiting a childhood friend who has been living there for two years now..."
-"Two years and you still haven't come to Australia? So what made you make up your mind?" he asked.
-"Well I..." she hesitated "No... You really don't want to know..."
-"No! Please! Go ahead... it's a pretty long flight so we'd better get friends if we don't want to get bored.
'Argh! Why does he do this to me? And with this smile...?'
-"Ok... I've just broken up with my boyfriend and really needed to see her, so... voila! There I go! It's a kind of 'now or never' occasion..." she said doing her best to hang the most natural smile on her face she could.
-"I'm sorry, I had no clue... I shouldn't have asked you..." he smirked but his eyes were lighted with some contentment.
-"Oh don't be sorry!" she interrupted him "you're not responsible for him flirting with his secretary three days after proposing to me!" she said looking coldly away, then realizing what she had been telling him she added "sorry... I didn't want to bother you with this".
-"It's ok, I asked for it!" he said with a broad shining smile.
'I must be dreaming... I'd swear he seemed glad when I said I had broken up.... Really must be imagining things...'
After a pause due to take off and the embarrassment to have exposed her life like this to a stranger, she turned to him and asked shyly:
-"And you..."
-"Single" he replied without letting her finish her question.
-"No I meant, is it the first time you go to Australia?" she said letting a little laugh out.
-"I used to live there when I was a teenager. I still have a cousin and some friends whom I visit from time to time."
-"Ok..." She really wanted to ask more about him but couldn't... she did not want to annoy him any more...
-"And now I'm going to see my cousin... he wants to introduce me to his girlfriend to know what I think about her before taking the next step in their relation."
-"You go just for that?" Hitomi couldn't but be astonished.
-"Well..." he smiled, amused by her reaction "I take advantage of this to spend a week there. And you... how long have you planned to stay?"
-"Unfortunately, I can only spend a week there too..."
-"Are you staying in Sydney or will you move around?"
-"Well I don't know since I'm staying at Yukari's and she works, I'll probably stay in Sydney... maybe a little in suburbs or so but I don't think I'll have the chance to visit a lot more. What do you think?"
-"It is true that there is a lot to see in town and if you want to visit it properly, you actually may need the week. But that would be a shame if you did not go and see some typical areas like I don't know... Kangaroo Valley at least. It's not that far from the city and it is so very beautiful. There's this forest you can go and you can see kangaroos from very very near, and if you bring seeds, you have a lot of small parrots that come and eat in your hand... but be careful with kangaroos if you feed the birds... they will follow you to have some! It's truly exceptional!"
-"Kangaroos! I've always dreamt to see kangaroos for real and koalas. I know it's a bit of a cliché... to go to Australia and wanting to see those animals but still..."she said with her two emerald-like eyes glittering with excitement.
-"Then you'll definitely have to go there!"
While the meal was being served they had made a pause in their conversation, leaving Hitomi dreaming about her stay and Van looking side ways at her child-like enthusiasm that he found very refreshing.
While they were having coffee, Van asked her a little more about her.
-"May I ask you something Miss Kanzaki?"
-"Sure you can... but only if you call me Hitomi, Van" She said lingering a little longer than needed on his name to emphasize the fact that he made her call him by his given name.
-"Well, Hitomi, what is your occupation in London?"
-"My occupation you mean job or hobbies?"
After hesitating a little, he retorted
-"Since you seem to propose, let's say both" he said with a side smile turning into his breath taking smile revealing perfect even white teeth.
'Oh no! Not this killing smile of his again!'
-"Well I am translator in English, French and Spanish. So very interesting, hu? And as hobbies I like photography, writing, horse riding, skiing – pretty hard to practice in London – watching movies, going to parks and sit and watch people go around, observe them ... and singing... but nobody enjoys hearing it" there she couldn't retain a light giggle and made her smile bigger than it was till now, enlightening her sight even more.
Never before the young dark- raven-haired man had seen such an attractive glare. To him, her eyes seemed like emeralds or young leaves at the beginning of spring, when they gleam with dew. And when he got his mind back he had dangerously leaned closer to her what had caused her to blush quite violently for the suddenness of it, "I'm sure you sing lovely" he said with a soft smile. And just then he realized that he had unconsciously made his voice deeper and silkier; this thought brought a soft flush on his cheeks, but very soon regained his composure.
-"I assure you really don't want to figure out if it is true or not..." she muttered, fighting a quivering in her throat. After allowing herself the time the send the dark shade of pink off her cheeks she added "And you? What do you do in life?" her voice was still a little hesitant due to the previous wave of emotions that had submerged her brain and mesmerized by the intense amber- mahogany gaze on her.
The question made Van turn his head a little to think how to put his phrase in order.
How he hated that question... Usually, when people got to know who he was, they changed their behavior towards him.
-"I don't actually work..."
-"Oh! Looking for work? ... Sorry that was rude." She had had the reflex to cover her mouth with her hand saying that, like children when they realize they have said something wrong.
-"No, neither... Actually, I sometimes help my father with his business waiting for the moment to inherit it. But I don't have much to do... and will not either. We top the organization but there are managers to take care of everything."
-"Wow! This must be cool to own his own business!" Hitomi said impressed.
-"This is not a big thing, really." Van usually had to say so because it caused envy and it was his way to protect himself, though knowing it was not fully true.
-"But since you work only from time to time, what do you do the rest of the time?" Van started to be reassured... Hitomi hadn't changed the way she was talking to him.
-"Indeed... it leaves a lot of free time so I travel a lot, make contacts everywhere, I also enjoy photography, doing sports, sitting in parks... I can spend hours on sunny days just sitting and watching people around... it helps me focusing on what is important to me.
-"You're right to take advantage of your time to travel.... I'd love to do so too... but unfortunately, I can afford only few travels and most of the time, when I have the money, I don't have the time and vice versa..." She said casting him a broad shining smile. He felt a sort of envy that nobody had shown him before... there was no jealousy in there, it was more like a sort an admiration. Van thought that Hitomi might be the first woman no to try to come onto him at all costs to take advantage of his wealth. He was so glad to see that she had not changed her behavior after telling her that he was a spoiled little rich brat.
(Sigh)-"I wish I could travel more often... I bet you have seen a lot of things, haven't you? Where have you been that left you the biggest impression?" she yawed "do not feel like you have to answer... I'm just being too curious".
-"I've been to many places... but the most powerful to me is India." He saw the questioning look on Hitomi's sleepy face so he started to tell about his Indian experience: "I went with my cousin. We traveled from Mumbai to Calcutta, with backpack, whether on trains, hitch-hiking or on foot, and we made a hook, quite a big one I have to admit, by Agra to see the Taj-Mahal. It is such an impressive country. You feel so little compared with the weight of culture and traditions and the mass of its people..." Hitomi heard the voice fading away as she gradually slipped to a very comforting sleep, thinking of India and the tales she had read when she was a little girl.... As for Van, whereas he was speaking he perceived the sound of his neighbor's even breath almost immediately followed by the sensation of her head against his left shoulder, which caused him to blush.
'It's been quite a while since a girl last made me blush' he thought feeling the burning of his cheek. 'Feels weird'. A soft smile blossomed on his face as his stare landed on the girl him whose shoulder he, almost unconsciously, wrapped his arm around, letting sleep take him to slumber-land.
To be continued...
A/N: Ok people... let me know what you think of this (flame accepted if justified - but go easy on me: this is my first attempt to writing and English is not my mother tongue :p) and if you want me to go on with this story...
Athanase
P.S: Thanks to Natcha and Remedy, my two proof readers.