'Ms. Brenner, I have booked the taxi and your ride must be here anytime now. Is there anything else ma'am?' receptionist at Hyatt asked.
'Thank you Vicky, I am ready to check out. Please have my invoice ready,' she said and replaced the hand unit back on the base unit.
She had her flight at 1345 however she did not want to stay there for one more minute and had asked the reception to book a taxi at 7 AM so she could start off with her journey as early as possible. She had nothing that she could call her possession and that saved her a lot of time in packing her stuff. She had just a small strolley that she had packed the night before and an iPad that was still on the dock.
She poured herself some tea from the pot that she had ordered earlier that morning and walked to the balcony of her hotel room. It was peak summer and day broke so early that even at 6.30 in the morning it was as bright as noon. She took a quick sip of the chamomile tea and looked out of the balcony not trying to focus on anything in particular. Breeze bringing with it the coolness of Yarra river, rumbling sound of trams on the Melbourne streets and some random noise from the TV she had left running from the minute she checked in to the hotel room were her company for the morning. Her oldest companion on her wrist said it was 6.40, she took the ticket from her jacket pocket and gave it a glance yet again and walked back to collect her strolley and her iPad.
'Hello Ms.Brenner, hope you had a pleasant stay. I have checked you out. Ready whenever you are,' Vicky said and handed her the invoice.
'Thanks Vicky,' she said and presented her Visa debit card that read Ann Brenner and expiry date was not until another two years.
'Thank you ma'am,' she said after the eftpos terminal spit out a chit that said approved and gave her the card back. 'Your taxi is here ma'am,' she said and gave her a crisp smile.
She walked out of the hotel and could spot only one taxi waiting and she walked straight towards it. She did not wait for the driver to come and open the boot, when she saw the driver unlocking the boot she opened it herself and placed her suit case inside, closed it and stepped inside the car and took the front seat.
'Where are we going today?' asked the driver looking at the rear view mirror to judge if he could take the car backwards.
'Tullamarine, international terminal please. Thank you,' Ann said and undid her iPad cover.
'So vacation 'eh?' the driver said.
'Matt,' he said pointing to the license that was placed on the dashboard.
Ann did not say anything and just responded by shaking her head that did not convincingly say neither yes nor no.
'Where are you flying love?' Matt asked.
Ann was not in a mood to strike a conversation with a cab driver and just wanted to keep the conversation as minimum as possible and said 'Home.'
'Freakin son of a bimbo,' the cabbie shouted at the car in next lane when it came right in front of them without any signal. 'Stupid drivers you know, dunno how these fellas pass their driving test,' he said and when Ann did not comment back he just made a gesture to say up yours at the car in the front and raised the volume of the radio.
Ann was trying to focus on the check list she had made on her iPad and checked for her ticket once again and opened an application that showed a world clock. It was 7.40 AM in Melbourne, the application showed most of the remaining world to be in the past and she checked the time at her destination, it was 2.10 AM. Except for some occasional rant of the cabbie the drive from the hotel had been calm and she arrived at the airport ten minutes before the clock would strike 8.00 AM.
Ann got out of the taxi, picked her luggage and handed the cabbie with 5 x $10 notes and did not bother to get a receipt or the change.
She knew she had lot of time before the gates were opened for her flight. She got herself a copy of Herald Sun and a bottle of water before finding a place where she could sit and wait. She read a couple of segments on the paper and before she knew, she was drifting away in to her past only to get emotionally agitated to send out few drops of tears skidding out from her either eyes. She felt a hand on her shoulder and when she looked up she saw an elderly woman. 'Are you alright dear?' she said.
'I am sorry, I..nothing. I am alright,' she said wiping the tears off and gave her a weak smile.
'When is your flight dear?' she asked.
'It's at 1345 ma'am. Where are you up to?' she asked her.
'Oh, I am going to Milan dear. I will be joining my family there. My grand daughter is taking part in a philharmonic concert there,' she said and took out a photograph from the middle of a book she was reading and showed it to her.
'Her name is Bella,' she said. She saw the girl on the photo. She was looking at a mid teenage girl who was posing with a violin.
'She looks pretty and I am sure she is good with the violin,' she said and returned the photo back to the old woman.
'My name is Ann Brenner,' she said.
'Good dear. You don't look like a Jew dear,' she said and immediately added 'I was just joking Ann.'
'No you are right. I don't look like a Jew,' she smiled 'I am not one and not a German either'
There was a call announcing that the check in was opened for passengers traveling to Hong Kong in Qantas. 'Oh that is for me dear. I have to change at Hong Kong,' she said and got up to join the check-in queue. When Ann realized she was struggling to pick her luggage she offered to help her 'I will get that for you ma'am,' and picked her strolley.
'Oh thanks dear you are such a darling,' she said and they both walked towards the check-in counter. 'Have a nice journey ma'am and my best wishes to Bella,' she said once she had joined the queue.
'Thank you dear. You have a safe flight too,' she said.
Ann walked back to find another place to sit just when her phone rang. She knew she would regret irrespective of attending or not attending the call and pressed the accept button, 'Ann speaking.'
She could only hear sobs from the other Anne, she waited for few seconds to see if there were any words coming from the other Anne but she could hear just sobs some heavy breathing in between and again some more sobs and then she said 'Ted stop it. I thought we got over with this.'
'Ann please don't go,' Ted said and he once again went in to a fit of weeping.
'Ted, please don't make this difficult for me,' Ann said.
'You don't understand how much difficult you have made it for me Ann. You have broken my heart Ann and you would never know the pain I am going through because of you,' Ted said and some more weeping.
'Ted you knew right from day one we were not meant to be together,' Ann said. 'I know this is difficult and sure I am not making it easy for you either but this is how it is supposed to be Ted.'
'This is how you want it to be Ann. You are the one leaving and you are the one wishing to leave alone. I am happy to come with you Ann, please take me with you,' he said
'I am sorry Ted. I have nothing to say that would make you feel better. Sorry Ted,' she said and sent him off in yet another spell of weeping.
'Fine Ann. You are making a man cry and I am not ashamed of it. I love you and I have told that to you million times without any shame. You know how I feel about you. I love you Ann. Please don't leave me. I love you more than my own life,' he said hoping he would say the same at least once.
'I have to go Ted. I am sorry,' she said, her voice crumbling and clicked on the end button.
With in seconds of ending the call she received a message. It was Ted again and he had texted that he was coming to airport to kiss her goodbye and that he had rights at least for that. Ann did not want to see him fearing she might fail his resolve but still texted back JUST A CUP OF COFFEE:0)
She came around the waiting area of the airport few more times before the check-in counter for her flight was opened. She went and joined the queue and when she was some twenty people away from the counter she got a call from Ted, 'Where are you?' he said.
'I am just getting my luggage checked in. Where are you?' she asked.
'I have just come inside the airport. I will come over,' he said.
'No wait, I will come th..' even before she finished he dropped the call.
The queue had diminished from the front and Ann was the next to go. He just came around and hugged her from behind and started to silently weep. He was almost trying to use himself as a physical barrier to pull her out of the queue but he was over powered by her and she went to drop off her luggage and get the boarding pass.
'Hello Ma'am, can I have you passport please?' staff at the check-in counter asked.
She presented her new passport to her and after a couple of quick consultation with the computer console she produced the boarding pass and told her, 'You are on 31C, that is an aisle. Your flight is from gate 19, please be at the gates at least 15 minutes before scheduled time.'
'Thanks very much,' she said.
'Sir are you travelling too?' she asked at Ted.
Ted just nodded while wiping the tears off his eyes with his arms still tightly clutched around Ann's
'Thank you ma'am, have a nice flight,' she said to Ann before turning to attend the next flyer.
Ann quickly checked her watch and she had two more hours for her flight and she had enough time for a cup of coffee with Ted before she went off to complete her formalities with customs and border control.
'Please don't go Ann,' he said now he was not crying but the tears that were flowing out for so long had done enough damage to his eyes which were now very swollen and red.
'Ted, please stop doing this to yourself,' she said. 'You are the most wonderful person I have ever known and you don't deserve to go through all this.'
'Ann, I have never loved someone so madly. You are my first love and if I let you go this would be my last love,' he said.
'No nonsense. You are a great man. You are handsome, you do great in your career and more than anything you are very kind at heart and you deserve better,' she said. 'Come, I will get you your favorite cinnamon latte. Do you want them with marshmallows and whipped cream?'she teased him to cheer him up.
They walked towards a coffee house, she walked with her head on his shoulder and her hands tightly wrapped around him. He gently rubbed her arms.
'One hot cinnamon latte and one earl grey please,' he ordered at the counter and gave a $20 note. He got the change and dropped $1 each in the tips box and support cancer research box.
'Thank you sir,' the guy at the counter smiled.
They collected their order and found a place to sit. 'Are you coming back Ann?' Ted asked her.
'I don't know Ted. I might not,' she said looking straight in to his eyes.
'Can I come and visit you?' he asked.
She did not answer instead she continued to look at him. She was looking at a physically well formed man sitting in front of her with a sorry look still hoping he could convince her from leaving. She could see he was devastated by her leaving. He was emotionally and physically hurt. She had never seen him like this. She did not lie when she told him he was handsome and he was very kind at heart.
'Ted, why are you putting yourself through this? You deserve better sweety,' she said holding his both hands and they both did not look away.
His eyes were swollen, he might have cried all through the night. He had casually combed his hairs and the gel held them under total control except for few strands that were confused between flowing freely and sticking to his eyes, perhaps he had some lip balm, there was no sign of any razor or trimmer coming in to contact with him for at least a week.He was wearing the famous jumper by GAP and a blue cotton stole around his neck. He was not someone who would be termed as “Greek God” but he was a casually elegant and a handsome guy. Ann never new why he was so deeply in love with her and why she never reciprocated his love. For her he was the only best friend and not a single day ended without seeing him or talking with him. Although she did not like Ted the way he liked her she always felt insecure when he spoke about any other woman.
Ted broke the silence and said, 'I hate you. I never again wish to see you,' and threw a tissue papper rolled in to a ball at her.
'Did you forget our agreement honey? By forty five if neither of us are in a relationship or married then we both get together,' she reminded him of their pact and once again held his hands and gave them a tight squeeze and winked at him.
He couldn't not blush and his cheeks instantly turned pink. He leaned forward from across the table and gave her a long hug and she did not try to end the hug earlier and wanted him to end it. He took his own time before giving her a quick squeeze to come out of the hug.
'Ted, you are a god send for me. If there is someone who knows my life better than me it is you. You know why I don't want to be with you. You know why I am leaving the country. You know you mean a lot to me,' she said.
He wasn't looking at her and was intently staring at a distant no where and nodded his head slowly.
'I will miss you more than anything Ted,' she said.
'I am sorry Ann. I did not want to make you feel bad or anything. What you see in front of you is real. A guy with a heart. I know you have some higher dreams. I do not want to be between you and your dreams,' he said. 'But promise me this, I will call you whenever I feel like talking to you, I will visit you should I feel like seeing you and most importantly I will wait until such time when you have achieved your dreams and then if you have not found your soul mate then you will come back for me,' he said.
'Ted you have my word. But I couldn't live happily if at the back of my mind I have the thought that there is one beautiful heart some thousand miles across the seas waiting for my dream to come true. You must leave without any confusion when you walk out of this airport and live each and every moment of your life with high spirit, meet new people, fall in love and live happily,' she said.
His eyes once again opened the flood gates and he collapsed once again and buried his face deep inside his stole without any sound and after few minutes he recovered and told Ann he would return in a minute and left to rest room. When he came back he was a lot more composed and they talked for some more time.
'You need to go Ann. You have to complete customs and border control. You have only fifty minutes,' he said and got up.
They walked together to the security check gate but she was not touching him, she kept a deliberate gap between her and him to protect herself from any breakdown.
Before she entered the security check area she stopped to give him one final hug and said, 'take care honey,' and then walked away. He had a faint smile on his face and was waving his hands slowly and suddenly she started to cry and ran towards him and threw her arms around him and gave a long hug and said, 'I am so sorry Ted.I am making a mistake by leaving you.'
'No Ann, you need to go. You have a dream and you need to follow it. I will be waiting for you.' he said and he wiped her eyes with his stole and placed it around her neck, 'you have this soul mate.'
He knew if he stayed there any longer he could jeopardize Ann's plan and turned back and ran towards the exit.She entered through the scanning frame and stood in front of the security officer who asked her spread her arms. She had spread her arms and couldn't wipe her eyes which were pumping out lavish dose of tears. The security officer offered her a tissue and stamped her passport clearing her as safe.
Ann completed her customs and border control and stepped inside the duty free area and she had about 20 minutes before boarding calls were made to her flight. She gave a call to Ted, after few rings she was greeted by his voice message Hi this is Ted Huxley, I am unable to take your call. Please leave your name and number and I will phone you back. Cheers!! 'Ted this is Ann, I am about to board the plane. I will call you as soon as I touchdown. Take care honey,' she left him a voice mail and instantly she got a message from him 'TC Ann. Have a safe flight xoxoxo.'
She took out her new passport and tickets to board the flight. She looked at the passport, last time she left the country was about an year ago when she, Ted and couple of other friends had gone to Manila. Then she was holding an Australian passport. She had since opted to change her citizenship. She was holding a passport which had three lions, one facing her and the other two facing to her left and right. Underneath that it read REPUBLIC OF INDIA.
Her eyes were still tearing but for a different reason. She kissed her passport once and left to enter the aircraft.
Annika Kashyap was returning to India.
