I exited the crew room and started making my way towards the plane.

Raising my wrist, I looked at the time, "I guess I'm a little early."

Just as I raised my head I saw my good friend, the head air hostess, Pearl coming my way.

Her uniform was perfectly pressed and her hair tied up in the neatest bun. Her warm and welcoming smile completed her look.

Just as she noticed me her smile grew wider and she hurried towards me.

"Hey Tara, guess what? I was on my way to you only." She said with her voice being blessed with pure joy as always.

"Oh really? Why tho?" I asked.

"That's cuz-" she paused taking a good look of me, "Are... you heading somewhere?" she questioned.

"Uh yea, to the flight" I replied.

"Flight? Wait weren't you on evening flight?" Her face was dipped in confusion.

"Actually, Captain Ram can't fly today so they needed someone to replace him. So here I am" I explained to her.

"Ah.. I had heard about Captain Ram's condition. So it means you're on that flight. I see" she nodded to herself in agreement with the situation.

As she nodded, her eyes suddenly widen upon some sudden realisation.

"WAIT THAT MEANS YOU'RE ON 11:45 FLIGHT TO PARIS?!!" She gripped both my arms and shook me vigorously.

"Yea- I'm- On- That- Flight-" I somehow managed to complete my sentence.

She let go off me and pulled my cheeks at once.

"Ouch- what's that for!!" I asked her not understanding her childish behaviour.

"You'll get to know soon!" She patted my head and pushed me, "You shouldn't be late, now go, go"

"Uh- Pearl?" She ignored my call and entered the crew room.

I shrugged it off and continued my way.

It wasn't that long till I reached the plane.

Passengers had started boarding on.

I too boarded on and entered the cockpit. The First Officer wasn't yet here.

I made myself comfortable on the seat.

"CAPTAIN RAM.... huff.. huff.. I'm sorry I'm late" A person dashed in the cockpit.

I quickly looked back, a man as same as age of me was panting badly with his head facing down.

I guess I know who this is...

"Capt-" He stopped as he raised his head and saw me.

"Tara?? You?" His eyes were on a verge of popping out.

"Tara? Just Tara?? Where's the respect, First Officer?" I said glancing him from head to toe and slightly smirking.

"C'mon, we are school friends! Do I really need to call you Captain?" His hand gestures while saying that, made him look like a done child.

I raised my eyebrow to protest, instead of using my words.

"FINE, Captain Tara! Are you satisfied now?"

"Yep, you may take seat, Akshay" I smiled a little.

He walked in and took his seat, "Is Captain Ram not available? Because I'm quite sure I was going to fly with him."

"Captain Ram got into an accident in morning while coming here. It wasn't that serious but he won't be able to fly for sometime. They needed someone to fill his place so here I am" I explained.

"Oh..... I didn't knew this"

"Outdated as always!" I rolled my eyes.

"Come on I'm not t-"

Loud sound of people cheering,  interrupted us.

"What's this fuss?" We both looked at the cockpit's door.

The voices increased and claps sound could be heard too.

"I'll check" Akshay said while standing up.

I stopped him.

"No, you wait here. I'll check" I patted his hand assuring him to sit as I go and check.

I stood up and walked towards the cockpit's door.

Opening the door I walked out.

People's crowd was totally visible, they seemed to be hyped about something.

I moved towards the passengers.

"Please move aside, please move. Avi! Avi? Where are you?" I called for Avi, the head air hostess of this flight.

"Excuse-" Out of nowhere someone pushed me, making me bump into the passenger before me.

"I'm so sorry, I acc-" my mouth automatically stopped upon noticing the person I bumped into..

"It's okay" His words sweeter than any chocolate entered my ears making me go on the 9th cloud.

He gave me a small smile before moving to his seat through the crowd.

The world seemed to stop around me...

His sweet voice echoed through my mind, again and again.

"It's okay..."

"It's okay..."

"Captain! Captain Tara!!"

I was so lost that I couldn't catch Avi calling me.

"Huh?" I looked at her with confusion.

"I'm sorry you had to come out of cockpit. The crowd went wild after seeing the popular singer, Darsh here. But don't worry now, we'll take care of it." Avi assured me as we both looked at the retreating crowd and some air hostess guiding Darsh to his seat.

"Um... Well take care of his needs and try to give him the privacy he needs" I said not trying to sound too much obvious of being a fan.

"Yes, Of course Captain"

My full focus was on him, his plain white shirt under a blue leather jacket and blue jeans looked perfect on him.

As I was lost in admiring him, for a split second our eyes met...

Time seemed to slow down.... His perfect dark brown eyes drowned each and every part of my soul....

My mind began to play all his composed romantic songs one by one...

This very split second ended as he cracked into an smile and waved to me in tiny ..

OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG!

I couldn't take his looks nor this kind behaviour anymore..

I did a small dash towards the cockpit leaving Avi, bewildered.

Closing the cockpit door behind my back, I breath rapidly.

"Is everything okay? Why are you so red and sweaty?" Akshay asked upon noticing me.

"It's nothing!" I avoided his question and went over to my seat.

"Okay..... So what was the fuss about??" His sudden question interrupted me as I wiped my sweaty face.

"Uh... We- We have a celebrity on the flight" I tried not to stutter but the moments I had with Darsh left me blushing all over.

"Well..... not ANY celebrity would cause you to be blushing all over." Akshay asked upon noticing my blushing face.

That's it...... Akshay's too smart to be tricked.... I won't be able to lie... I need to tell him.

I took a deep breath and faced Akshay.

"It's him..... It's Darsh"

"It's him..... It's Darsh"

I looked straight at Akshay and said it at once.

He stared at me for a few minutes before busting in laughter.

"See how red you go just by saying his name! You must be a die-hard-fan" he tried hard to contain his laughter.

"Hey! Do I look that funny to you?! Huh!" I almost yelled at him.

He stopped laughing and looked straight into my eyes with a gentle smile.

"You look pretty cute when you blush, Captain~..."

.

Huh... ?  o.o

.

Okay, okay.... I guess that was smooth...

.

But...

.

Why are my cheeks suddenly burning up?!!

.

.

There was an awkward silence between us. Neither of us spoke nor looked at each other...

Just then cabin door opened, it was the head air hostess, Avni.

"All passengers have boarded, Captain. We are ready to fly." she said stepping in.

"Okay, we are prepa-" I was interrupted by Akshay.

"Avni, I heard there's an celebrity on plane.." he asked as if I our conversation never existed.

"You heard it right, First Officer. It's World-wide Famous Singer, Darsh!! I didn't believe it was him but when I got a closer look, I busted with mixed emotions!" Both her hands gently slapped her face as she hid her red cheeks.

"Oh I see, you like him" he asked while staring at me.

"Actually I'm his no.1 fan, and the idea of being on the same plane to serve him is-"

"I'm quite sure this is not a right place to speak these things. So why don't we focus on respective jobs. And isn't your question answered, First Officer?" I glanced at Akshay.

"I'm sorry, captain. I better leave." Avni left the cabin silently.

As soon as the cabin door closed he looked at me, "Well.. you need to focus too"

I gave him a nod.

Looking straight I took a long breath.

My occupied mind was now cleared and ready to fly.

We started the engines and soon the flight took off... we then were in mid air.

HOURS' LATER

Flight landed. We were now in Paris, the city of love they say.

"Great Flying, Tara" Akshay raised his fist towards me for a fist bump.

I slapped away his hand, frowning.

"Excuse me, Akshay. I always fly great and today was no different" I rolled my eyes.

"Well.. it was" he whispered.

"What do you mean?" my arms crossed as I questioned.

"It doesn't matter. Anyway let's wish the passengers" He removed his seat belt and moved out.

"Greet passengers? means Darsh... also .." my cheeks burned like fire while my heart raced as if it was in a marathon.

"Coming or..." Akshay yelled.

"I'm coming!" I quickly removed the seatbelts and rushed outside.

Opening the cabin door I saw the queue of passengers waiting to board off.

We wished each one "Have a good day ahead" as they pass by us.

In midst of all these, my eyes searched for him.

That was when I was caught off guard by a little girl who approached me.

I knelt down to her level.

"Captain, can I become a pilot too?" the little girl asked me.

"Of course, dear! You can be anything you want to be." I patted her shoulder.

"Really!! Then I want to fly with you, Captain!" the little girl exclaimed with pure joy in her eyes.

"I'll love to have such a cute and sweet co-pilot." I smiled.

She gave me a quick hug before leaving with her parents, "Bye Captain! We'll meet again"

"Bye dear, have a great day!" I gently waved back at her.

"I hope she becomes a pilot" I whispered to myself.

"I too hope the same" ....

This voice..... It's him?

My head involuntarily moved towards the voice source.

Only to find Darsh smiling at me sweetly.

I quickly stood up, staring at him.

"Easy there Captain." he chuckled at my quick moments.

My cheeks were redder than a ripe tomato.

"Uh… I... Have... a great day." I completed messed up in front of him. Embarrassment ate me leaving no crumbs behind.

"Thank you for the safe journey. You, too, have a great day, Captain!" saying that, Darsh boarded off.

But my mind kept replaying his words again and again. I doubt if I was too obvious.

"Well, there goes the last passenger. Now we are free till the eve! I want to get some sleep!" Akshay yawned.

"So are you heading to your training? I heard you were going on a 3 months training period" he instantly questioned.

"Yes. My training starts from tomorrow." I answered.

"Oh … So you are free now? We could explore a little Paris today if-"

"No way. You need some sleep. Plus I need to find the hotel they allotted me and stuff." I said re-entering the cabin.

"Oh I guess then, this is our last met" Akshay looked straight into my eyes. And his eyes seem to hide sadness...

What's wrong with him these days…

"Till I return, Yes" I patted his back.

"See you soon, Captain Tara. You can move ahead, I'll wind up the rest."

"Sure?"

"Yes, you can count on me." he smiled.

I smiled back and left the cabin.

As boarded off the flight, I checked my phone for the address of my assigned hotel.

Address: R/405, Red Rose hotel, Street 45, Paris ××××××, France.

I walked out of airport and took a cab.

The hotel wasn't that far from the airport, it took me 20 minutes to reach there.

As soon as I got off from cab I received call from, Mrs. Ravina the in-charge of our training and my best friend's mother.

"Hello? Tara??" I heard her

"Yes, ma'am" I replied.

"Did you reach the hotel?" She asked.

"Yes, I'm standing right outside the main entrance." I answered her question.

"Good. I actually wanted you to know that your room is a floor beneath than the other trainees. Due to odd trainees number we couldn't fit in 2 floor, leading one trainee to move a floor down. I allotted that room to you since you're the most responsible out of the crowd. I hope you can understand, Tara." she explained

"Oh, it's totally fine! I don't mind being on a different floor as long as I can have a peaceful time for reading." I assured her.

"Thank you, Tara. I'll meet you tomorrow. Have a good rest!"

She hung up.

Okay...so... I'm on a different floor... Cool!

I quickly entered the Red Rose hotel and moved towards the reception.

Taking my room keys, I walked towards the lift.

After reaching the 2nd floor, I began searching my room.

My room was second last room from the hallway.

After entering it, I tossed my handbag on the bed and first rushed to see the balcony view. As expected it was beautiful.

"Nice view! But I know something more nice.... A hot shower!" with that I moved towards the bed where my luggage was resting.

Taking my outfit of the day, I walked in the bathroom for a nice and long shower.

After bath, I jot down to place my unpacked things at their respective places. After all I had to spend my next 3 months here for training.

I completed my work, and now it was time for reading!!

I threw myself on my soft comfy bed, a perfect spot to read my favorite romance book, "Her second Love".

"Okay... So where was I..." My eyes scanned through the book for my bookmark had failed to do its job.

"There!" I spotted the paragraph where I had last read.

I was about to start reading again, but a medium loud music interrupted me.

It wasn't that bad, but I need a peaceful place for reading.

I respectfully waited to see if the person himself lowers the volume, but it seemed he has no intention of doing so...

"Okay… I had enough! I can't wait forever, I need to put some manners in that person's head." I tossed my book on the bed and stormed off towards the door.

As I unlocked the door, the music became clearer. The beats were bang on, but I wasn't really in a mood of dancing. All I wanted was to see Ayesha and Arun together, the main leads of the novel I was reading.

I walked to the next and the last door of the hallway, I did not hesitate to give it a good knock.

*knock* *knock*

No response.

"Hello?! Excuse me, can you open the door?" I said out loud with repetitive knocks.

Still no response.

"What the hell! Is this person deaf or something???" I raised my hand to knock one last time before deciding to complain at reception.

But something unexpected happened, really unexpected...

I did raise my hand to knock on the door, but it instead landed on something soft yet firm.

It was bare chest...

SOMEONE'S BARE CHEST?!!

I quickly retracted my hand and raised my head for apology.

Just as my eyes meet with that person my cheeks burned awfully as recognized him.

My legs went numb as he stared right through my soul with a small smile....

I was about lose my balance, but he caught me in right time.

"Watch yourself, Captain!" his voice dipped in the world's sweetest molten chocolate entered my ears.

It'll be a lie if I said I wasn't on the 9th cloud.

After all, it was The Darsh in fr-

"Hello? Captain? Are you listening to me??" his sweet voice re-entered my ears but this time it brought me back to present.

"Huh? Ah.... I'M SORRY!!!!" I quickly made a distance between us.

"Huh? Why are you sorry? I should be the one apologizing you, captain." he said with sad eyes.

"Uh..." it was all that left my mouth not knowing why he was apologizing.

"You see, I embarrassed you by opening the door in this... condition..." his cheeks where tinted in little pink color, he was blushing???

That was when my eyes left his face examined his body...

He was in shorts and was shirtless...

SHIRTLESS???

I quickly turned away.

"I'll quickly wear something"

"yes please" I said trying not to sound too excited.

As I heard the door close behind my back, I finally let go of my chest which I unknowingly held on.

As I processed things that just happened a sharp thought more like novel trope crossed my mind.

My crush next door????????????