Natasha

First time I met her three months back when I was returning from London. It was a usual business trip. The flight was delayed for two hours and I was waiting at visitor lounge after security check. I opened my laptop to finish off the pending work so that next day I could be a bit relaxed in the office.

I got up to get wine for myself when I saw a beautiful, blue-eyed girl entering in the lounge. She was looking for a place but there was no vacant table. Giving her an admiring look I headed towards the bar. When I returned she was standing near to my table still looking around for a place.

“Excuse me, you can sit here if you don’t mind” I offered her the vacant seat opposite to my table which she happily accepted.

“Thank You, Very much” She said while pulling her cabin baggage near to the table.

Once settled, she spoke “The place is surprisingly crowded today. By the way, I am Natasha”

“Hello, I am Sagar.” I replied. We did handshake.

She was very friendly and easygoing girl. Within couple of minutes we were talking like we were old friends. I told her about my work and my frequent business trips to London. I came to know that she was working for an export-import firm in Delhi. She used to travel very often to London, Germany, France and many other European countries. This time she was on her way to Paris; her flight was also delayed. She told that she would stay in Paris for two days and from there would take a flight to Delhi.

With Natasha, two hours waiting period felt like seconds. Then there was an announcement for the departure of my flight. We exchanged our telephone numbers in India and I moved towards the Entry Gate.

A week after reaching India I called Natasha but could not connect. Thinking that she might be out of country, I didn’t try again. For next couple of weeks I was too occupied with work to think anything else. In this time neither I called nor did I get any call from Natasha.

Then, one Sunday she called me up and asked me if I were free to join her for lunch. We met at a restaurant and she told me that she was quite busy in traveling since the day we met at London Airport. That day onwards we started meeting very often. I never succeeded getting her on phone. She used to call me whenever she was in the city. We spent a lot of time together. She was staying at Girls hostel as a paying guest. I always dropped her some distance away from the hostel.

After two months, I realized that I was in love as I started missing her so much when she was away to her trips. Always thought about her and could not concentrate on my work either. So I decided that I would propose her on our next meeting.

It was two weeks later when she called me up to inform that her brother Mike was coming from London to meet her. He would stay here for next four days. She tried to do a hotel booking for him but all hotels were booked because of an international business meet held in the city. She asked if her brother could stay in my flat for a couple of days. I agreed because I was staying alone in a two bedroom flat and had one extra room.

While Mike was here, I was very much busy with my office work and could not spend much time with him. He did not mind that. Natasha had taken a week off from her office and she took him to visit many places in the city. Since I was not able to give much time so I made it sure to had dinner with them daily. Many times I thought of talking to Mike regarding our relationship but before that I wanted to know Natasha’s consent too. All these days, I could not get a chance to speak to her.

Three days had passed. Next day, Natasha informed me that she had got an urgent call from office and had to travel to Paris the same day when Mike was leaving. She would be back next week.

On last day when they both were to fly, Mike thanked me for all my help. I drove them in my car to airport to see them off. It was five in the evening. Mike’s flight was in thirty minutes while Natasha’s was an hour later. After see him off Natasha turned towards me, she thanked me again. Her flight was ready for departure and she turned to go. My heart began to race. I wanted to tell her how much I loved her. I didn’t want to wait for one more week to express my feelings. Some force inside me pushed me and I hold her hand and said – “Natasha, I Love You.”

She looked bewildered, but then smiled. She didn’t speak anything but came forward, kissed me and left without saying a word.

I was so happy when returning from airport. I knew what that kiss meant. She loved me too. I was on the seventh sky. I wanted the whole world know that she loved me too. Suddenly a deafening sound brought me back from my lovely thoughts. Immediately I pushed brake pedal and came out of the car to see what the matter was. A thick cloud of black smoke was going up in the sky. The smoke was coming from the direction where International business meet was holding up. Whole traffic stand stood for a couple of seconds and then started floating without any direction. Everyone was in a hurry to get home quickly. I too rushed to reach home safely. I knew an alternative way to avoid main road traffic. It took me half an hour to reach my apartment. “Breaking News - Bomb blast at International Business Summit” was flashing on all TV channels.

Today I am behind bars. I have been tagged as a terrorist. The later investigation revealed that it was a terrorist attack that was planned by masterminds across the border. They did a proper planning before executing the operation. Interpol confirmed that a regular communication had been happening between terrorists and their bosses for last four days until the day of the blast. The phone, which was used for these communications, was landline phone of my apartment. I did have international calling facility because of my business work. A couple of email communications that seemed to be the status and execution plan for this deadly mission, also sent from my personal laptop which I kept at home when Mike was staying there. To put my point upfront I handed over Natasha’s mobile number and hostel’s address to cops. But they found that the mobile number I gave did not exist and no girl named Natasha ever stayed in that hostel since last two years. The number from which she used to call me was a prepaid calling card purchased using a fake id and address. It was of no use of finding her office address either.

I still can remember her last smile at the airport but instead of “I Love You” from her, I hear only one voice from every news channel, every newspaper, every social organization and every common man of the country - “Hang the Terrorist”.