WHY NOT?

The beginning........ She had sat in her seat on the plane for close to two hours now, headphones blasting her favorite rock song. A book in hand, her eyes moving from left to right and back again. Engrossed in her book, she had become oblivious to her surroundings. She did not notice the man who had sat next to her since the journey and was replaced by a younger, tall, tan man. The younger man seemed to have been immediately hypnotized by her beauty. He sat in his seat fidgeting, trying to figure out how to spark a conversation. An hour had passed and the young lady's eyes and head began to hurt as she was tired. Putting a bookmark on the page she was on and then closed her book on her lap. She then took off her headphones, stretched a little, then proceeded to massage her temples ever so gently to calm her now raging headache. The young man who had been waiting patiently for a moment like this jumped at the chance to start a conversation "umm I'd advise you to take some painkillers for that" He said so casually while masking his nervousness. She slightly jumped, startled by the deep voice coming from beside her clenching her chest "Oh you scared me there" She said looking at the young man while smiling sweetly. "Um sorry I exchanged seats with my manager because he has to tend to my little brother, he developed a fever all too suddenly, you see," he said shyly as he scratched the back of his neck in an attempt to calm his nerves. She had started to search for her backpack for her first aid kit, moving her pencil case and a few notebooks aside. " It's fine, I understand the hustle of traveling with family," she said as she opened her first aid kit and took out a bottle of painkillers. As time went by, the young lady and young man got so engrossed in conversation. They talked about family, and how hard it was to keep bonds strong. They talked about religion and its hypocrisy. They talked about the pressure of being young in today's world. They talked about how hard it was to have relationships and maintain them. They joked about 'new' music and how crazy gen z seemed but also talked about how gen z was ready to have difficult discussions, unlike their generation. He made it a point to ask her about who she was and have her talk about herself. She was an open book with a few hidden pages at least. That was her description of herself. His information was everywhere online and he had very little control over what he got to keep for himself. The two were so similar yet so different. As they sat in their seats, he realized he would love to always have her in his life. Her perspective was different, a little weird but beautiful at the same time. "So what brings you to South Korea?" He asked, looking at her straight in the eyes, trying to see if she had recognised him. "Umm work" "Technically it's supposed to be a little vacation but I plan on spending most of my time working" she responded nonchalantly. "I don't mean to pry, but what is it that you do exactly? I mean for work?" He continued, asking to try to get as much information as he possibly could. For some reason, he felt that this moment was going to be the beginning of the rest of his life. "I am a writer. I write for a living" she responded with a smile. "Oh, I love to read, what do you write about?" He asked. "Well, it depends. I have written books in different genres... I am trying to write something in the romance department but I am not good at love", she explained. How she was bad at love, he thought. Noticing the puzzled look on his face, she tried explaining why she thought like that. "You see I don't even know how to explain it, but love is not something I am well versed in, it's not something that I have ever loved. I just don't know how to pen it down in a way that makes sense". "I get it... I suck at love too. Not that I do it intentionally, it's just that I never really have time. My job demands all of my time" he said, nervously picking at his fingers. "I didn't ask earlier but what do you do?" She asked genuinely curious. He thought it through and decided to give her half the truth because he realized that she had no idea who he was. "Umm I am a music producer and songwriter" he answered "Wow that sounds fun," she said while looking at him with a tiny smirk, she was thinking of all the things she has heard happens in music studios. "No don't give me that look. I already know what you are thinking" he said with a shy smile. "What do you think I am thinking?" She asked laughing, her laughter was like music to his ears. He loved it so much yet so soon it scared him but it also excited him. " You think I am a man w***e" he said it so matter of factly she almost choked on her saliva. "Umm don't put words in my mouth" she responded nervously looking at her hands "Sorry force of habit... I assumed you had thought that, most women I meet assume that once I tell them what I do" he explained. "Oh," she responded absently minded as played with her fingers. An awkward silence befell them. He didn't want this to happen, he wanted them to be talking light-heartedly. He was now filled with fear of losing her, and this confused him so much because he just met her. Where were all these crazy feelings coming from? Why was he feeling this way?. He couldn't let this chance slip through his fingers. He had to say something to kill this awkward silence before it was too late. "Please don't hate me" he whispered "I don't," she said. "I am sorry I made you uncomfortable", he remarked. "It's ok.. umm you know we have been talking all this while and I still don't know your name.." she said smiling at him brightly. " Well introduce yourself first you are the lady, you know what they say ladies first " he said smiling at her. "ok. I am Caroline Mwila". she said stretching her hand towards him. Grasping her baby soft hand into his larger hand with a bright smile he responded "I am Dylan Kim , nice to meet you Caroline".