Airplane Mode

Airplane Mode

A young man, who was not very good at school, hated college, studied and worked in a field that he disliked, became a banker. A job he hated since his first day.

Before that day came, his mother, father and he went to buy some suitable clothes for the job; the clothes that he later found out was fashionable only for his beloved father who by the way helped him get the job that he still hates and assisted him throughout his dark days of college.

At his first day of work, he found out that he was the youngest person in the branch, which was located about two hours away from his parents’ home… oh yes, he lives with his parents.

Besides being the youngest in the work place, he also realized that he was not the only one who hated the atmosphere there; it appeared to be a common theme.

Day by day, the shy inexperienced young man become more familiar with his boss; whose un-proportional mustache, made him look like the tall skinny mouse of the “Flushed Away” animation movie, the only difference was that his boss wore glasses on; and his colleagues of his little department with their limited expectations and motivations, but on the other hand, his knees shook and he drowned in his sweat whenever he interfaced with customers; a matter that was not a big surprise to others, because in his first day at work, he literarily let them deepen his hands into work routine, another thing that he was not happy about.

As time passed, of course, slowly as his boring, red tape, employees’ life, he gained some experience and became more tough than he was at first and realized that he was not reflecting his true being, not having clothes that emphasized his true age. At times, he felt the urge to share with someone his hidden, shy and unexplored feelings.

He decided to achieve one of his teenage dreams when he used to fantasize about getting married at the age of eighteen.

Due to his shyness and miserable confidence, specially among females, along with not having a single relationship with a girl; that dream was so far away from even getting close to reality.

He tried hard to solve that issue by putting himself into some embarrassing situations where he would have to come up with something convincing in order not to look like a fool in front of complete strangers. He even started to ask for tips. He also read and listened to learn how to get closer to women and how to let them like and even want to be with him.

I cannot say that his debut was a success, but at least he tried and tried. Then he tried more and got rejected a lot. Some women threatened to make a complaint against him at his work place. The bright part about that story was that he always acquired some knowledge about what was supposed to be done and what was not.

That day came when he finally met a customer to whom he was attracted. A playful girl who seemed to have fun in her days. He could tell that she was may be in to him as well. Which encouraged him to get closer to her. He decided to make his first move and it was a success!! He managed in a way or another to get her phone number.


After the first phone call with her, his feelings changed one hundred-and-eighty degrees; he finally felt his heart beat for the first time in his twenty-four years.

As the days passed, the couple became closer than the day before, even faster than the ticking of their young hearts. They called each other on a daily basis, talking for hours without a single awkward moment of silence, only ending the phone call when the sun came up and there were only a couple of hours spare to sleep.

They moved to the “I like you level” although he was pretty sure of deeper feelings towards her. He preferred to say the special word to her in the right place, at the right time and so, the agreed to see each other.

They met at last in a hotel lounge; everything that night looked perfect but not as perfect as she looked. She was sitting on a couch near a small fountain enjoying a romantic melody, softly played on a black piano by a formally dressed pianist. He saw her sitting there looking like a princess waiting for him and thought to himself, “I must be Gods’ most favorite human being to win this gorgeous lady whom I know I do not deserve.” He could see her but she could not see him as he walked closer without getting his eyes off her.

He finally stopped in front of her and opened his mouth with her very dear name to his heart “Dalia”, he said. “Do you know that you are the most beautiful lady in the crowd?” He finished his sentence with a wide-open eyes and a smile. He expressed his extreme happiness of finally meeting her and how much he felt gifted to get to know her in person. When finally got himself together. He held her hands in his two hands, looked straight in to her eyes and said, “I love you”.

She was extremely shy, her face blushed and turned into red, her wide brown eyes kept looking down yet a cute little smile was drawn on her small mouth.

That was their first moment of silence, so he retreated his hands to his side of the table, leaned his back to his chair and his mode turned into blue.
Then, he felt her silk, soft, little chubby warm hands on his cold hands and with a smile she whispered, “I love you too”.

You can imagine his feelings when he heard her reply. He had been dreaming of this moment since he was an eighteen years-old kid; to love and be loved in return. He was just like Jon Bon Jovi said, “I never knew I had a dream until that dream was you”.

They have decided to see each other every weekend. On a Saturday afternoon, they met at a café by the river.





She waited for him in a table near fascinating scenery, but he wanted nothing but to see her and to memorize every single feature of her face.
“Why are you staring at me”, Dalia asked in a joyful manner. He replied as if he was answering another question, “ I like your little scar underneath your left eyebrow, your long chestnut fair hair, your delightful cleft chin, your baby upper lip; and oh, your nose, can we swap noses please”. He was obsessed with her nose.

It was a nice April afternoon. He walked with her, not giving a second thought that it was a long way to her home. They wanted to spend as much time as they could together. They walked through the gardens by the river, hand in hand and found themselves under an old historical aged bridge, which separated them from the entire crowd at the street.


The couple closed their eyes and before they even thought about it, they kissed and for the first time. He felt like heaven was blessing him with love. There was not a thing more soft and tender than her lips kissing his and not an imagined nor created thing on earth more moist and smooth than her tongue touching his. It was a timeless moment. It was a moment where the time had stood still. Unlikely, his heart was bouncing out of happiness. Then, they opened their eyes and continued their walk.

Despite looking much older than her age, Dalia was a freshman in college; however, she was very crazy about getting engaged to him as soon as possible. The more they got closer to each other, the more she abandoned her shyness. Actually he had been surprised to see the wilder side of her character, but accepted it right away as a healthy diversity between them and as a good thing for their relationship life.

As the time passed, he started to think that Dalia’s wild side is not as good as he previously thought and that he could not tame her character wildness nor her mode swings anymore. Whatever he did was not good enough for her, until the day came, where she said to him over the phone, “I cannot see you any more.. my father wants me to marry my cousin”.

His mind was blur. He could not understand what was going on and answered, “But why?, we were supposed to get married. Let me talk to your father.”
Before she hung up the phone she said, “Do not bother talking to him. There is nothing you can do. Just take care of yourself”.

Just like that she let him go, without even a good closure to their relationship, keeping him wandering around trying to find out what happened, what had he done and why had their dream of being together for their life time faded without even knowing the reason why.


Six months later (or may be a little more), it was a busy day at work, when a text message on his cell phone was received. He checked his phone and found out, it was a message from Dalia. He read it to himself with a happily worried heart “I wonder if you had forgotten me, I did not forget you. Anyway I just wanted to say hi.. take care”.

“She came back! ”, he said to himself and suddenly, his rotten black and white workday turned into a colorful one and he could hardly wait to get home and give her a call.

He went home, barley took his shoes and his jacket off, closed his room’s door, grabbed his cell phone and dialed her number. “What happened?.. where have you been?… are you still engaged?”. He was curious like never before.

She responded, “I was engaged to my cousin for only one month, could not stay away from the man I love. I could not let you talk to my father, because you would have got rejected then. I could not let that happen to you”, she answered with a true passionate voice.

They became more sentimental than ever and they decided to get engaged by the end of the year then, get married the year of her graduation. She shared some thoughts of how her engagement and wedding dresses would look. They also talked about where to spend their honeymoon. He talked to her father and asked her hands from him, who was very welcoming and happy.


The more closer to their commitment plan, the more she began to have her mode swing, acting weird and came up with the “unfaithful man theory”. Tried to apply it on him, however, because he never looked to another girl but her, he knew that it was just a plea. Trying to convince herself with, in order to leave him again.

That was exactly what happened. They were on and off for approximately five times, with at least six months timeout period in between. Every time she left, she had no convincing reason for neglecting his feelings. Although, he knew that she always would come back, no matter how long he have to wait for her text message.

Whenever she reappeared, a more difficult character would come along. He would often challenge himself to keep their relationship alive, accept her apologies and her outrageous explanations only because, he wanted to live and die in the arms of the one he love. Life to him was as simple as that.

Nevertheless, this time was different; he could feel that he had lost her forever.

It appears that there is no escape from ending this story now, because our young man here has decided to turn his cell phone on “Airplane Mode” so that, he could move on with his life without waiting for a text message from the playful girl who were just trying to have fun in her days regardless others feelings, as he first thought about her since the first day their eyes met.

P.S I forgot to mention the young man’s name, but maybe that is for the best. He is trying to start a new life with a new name and mentioning his name now will ruin everything for him. Let us keep it that way and hope it works for him someday.