Re: Online Saga
.... continued from posts #1, 8, 17, 46, 68, 88, 128, 159, 175, 193, 210, 223, 237, 257, 288, 323, 368, 416
On his flight back, Ali had an eight-hour layover at Bangkok and he had planned to meet Hamyza, a Malaysian girl. Hamyza was coming from Kuala Lumpur to meet Ali only for 7 hours. Ali knew this girl for many years as his business associate and had maintained a casual friendship with her mainly via emails. Even though when they first knew each other, she was getting serious but Ali cleared his position to her. He told her that he was already married and had a daughter and was not looking for any relationship. Being colleagues, they maintained their casual friendship. When she came to know about Ali’s separation and then divorce with Irrum, she came a little closer to Ali. But Ali again had told her that he did not want to convert his friendship into a relationship. He had a very clear mind about the long distance relationship and also about their cultural differences. They had never met in real and she always expressed her wish to meet him. She had quit Microsoft and was working for another technology company these days. When he told her about his current trip to Pakistan, she asked him to stop at Kuala Lumpur for a day or two. He could not afford to spare any time at Kuala Lumpur due to his time constraint but asked her to come meet him at Bangkok for few hours if possible. She agreed to do so.
Her flight was to arrive 30 minutes after Ali arrived at Bangkok. He walked toward the gate where she was arriving and started waiting for her. She came out and had no difficulty in recognizing Ali. It was lunchtime and they decided to do their lunch at the city. They took a taxi from the airport and went to the city. They had lunch at some fine authentic Thai Restaurant. She was quite excited to meet Ali and kept talking to him all the time. She had also come out of a failed relationship and was single now. That relationship had made her rebellious towards Malay men and she was more interested to meet non-Malay man in the future. After having lunch, they checked into a hotel, as she had to spend the night there. Ali had to continue on his flight to US but she had planned to return home the next day. They went to the room and got themselves refreshed. They sat there for a couple of hours and talked about their lives. It was time for Ali to go back to the airport. Hamyza wished some miracle to take place so that Ali could stay there forever. No miracle happened so she decided to go with him to the airport. Ali got his boarding pass and spent his last hour with her. She looked into his eyes for the last time and said good-bye to him. Ali left while she had some extra moisture in her eyes. What a weird feeling it was! Two friends yet strangers met for few hours and then departed forever. This was nothing more than watching a pleasant dream for both of them.
Ali reached home on Sunday evening and went to get his daughter Ayesha right away. Even though this was such a short and busy trip for him, he still missed Ayesha a great deal. He took her into his arms upon seeing her and brought her home. She told him all about her trip to France. She said, “Daddy, I missed you so much. I was thinking about you even when I went on top of Eiffel Tower”. He told her that he missed her even more. Rohi called him up the next day and asked about all the details of his engagement. She admitted that she though about him all the time especially the day he was getting engaged. Ali started calling his fiancée on regular basis. His intention was to get to know her and develop mutual understanding. He was however quite disappointed with her intellectual level. Though she had completed her masters in psychology from a decent college in Pakistan yet her English proficiency was so poor. Her general knowledge wasn’t all that great either. Ali was having a hard time to communicate with her. They did not have much in common to make their discussions interesting. He was thinking that over time, she would learn about things and develop compatibility. Sometimes he would get really frustrated but he remained patient. Love was nowhere near this relationship. They both were trying hard to get close to each other but things were not happening.
Ali had started his side business once again. He would spend his weekends and all the extra time he had into this business. His business started picking up. His parents came back from Pakistan as planned. He got his father engaged in the business as well. Ali bought land on a hillside to build a custom home. Life appeared to be back on track for him while Irrum was somewhat unstable since her husband was sent back to France. She would sometimes get her frustration out on Ali. She would make some excuse and start yelling at Ali over phone. Ali would ask her to talk to him decent only if it was in regard to Ayesha else he was going to hang up. He actually would hang up on her when she became indecent on the phone. That would make her even madder but she was helpless. She constantly threatened Ali that she was going to fight for Ayesha’s full-time custody. Ali would tell her to go right ahead and do whatever she could do. Ironically Ali’s mother became Irrum’s friend and talked to her all the time.
[RIGHT]..... to be continued[/RIGHT]