To Hawaii
1187 Words
The journey to the airport started in silence. When it became unbearable, Natia started eating the sandwiches. She offered some to Alexander, but he just ignored her. So, she decided to eat it all by herself. She doesn’t want the food and grandpa’s efforts to go to waste. The only problem was grandpa had prepared it for two, and he had unrealistic expectations of how much one could eat, especially when it came to her. After a while, the time between her bites increased and she began to sigh after forcing each bite down her throat.
“You know, you are not going to be starved there.” Aleksandr told her, annoyed.
“I just don’t want to waste it.”
“There was no need to accept it in the first place. We are not going on a camping trip in the middle of a forest.”
Natia let out an exasperated sigh.
“For one, grandpa made it with love and care. It’s rude and inconsiderate not to accept it. Two, he wasn’t going to let me leave with an empty stomach. So, you were just wasting time arguing. And three, you are not going to starve in the middle of a forest. You just need to know how to gather food.”
Aleksandr shook his head and turned away from her at the end of the sentence, but, she wasn’t finished.
“And it won’t hurt you to take a bite.”
“I don’t want it.”
“It’s just peanut butter and cheese.”
“I don’t like sweet sandwiches”
“It’s spicy, not sweet! One of Grandpa’s special.”
“I am allergic.”
“I saw you eat peanut butter cookies earlier. Did you not know it was peanut butter?! Are you alright? I am so sorry, I should have told you it was peanut butter. I -”
“to milk. I am lactose intolerant.”
“Really? I was lactose intolerant too, when I was a baby. But, then I slowly developed resistance as I grew up. Now I can drink however much milk I want. Actually, I couldn’t digest many things when I was a baby. Grandma had a hard time feeding me. Whatever new things I ate, I would either throw up or have an upset stomach. But, now there is nothing I can’t eat.”
Aleksandr turned to her irritated.
“WILL YOU JUST SHUT UP?”
“You are not really lactose intolerant, are you? You drank milk tea earlier.” She lifted a brow at him. "Unlike the peanut butter cookies, it is not hard to figure it out. It's simple. You just have to look at it. Unless you are blind, which you obviously are not." She then frowned, thinking about something. "Or color- blind...I don't know if you can figure it out if you are color-blind. The smell and taste will be different, of course-"
Aleksandr sighed and took a sandwich and had a bite, all the while glaring at her.
“Will you stop talking now?”
“Sure. I am eating anyway.”
“DON’T EAT ANY-MORE. YOU ARE GOING TO GET SICK.” He snatched the packet from her. ‘What a bother.’ She heard him muttering.
Annoyed with him, she turned to the other side, to look out of the window. She could watch the outside views. It’s better than talking to him , anyway. However, she wanted to ask him many things. So, she couldn’t hold herself for long.
She turned to face him again. He was turned away from her, staring out the car window. Probably trying his best to avoid her.
She started to call him. But, then a thought crossed her mind. What should she call him? Aleksandr is kind of too long. She would have gone with Alex if she hadn’t heard papa calling him Sasha. Should she also call him Sasha?
“Can I call you Sasha?”
“No.” He replied in a deadpan voice.
“Then what should I call you? Can I call you Alex?”
He looked at her as if she was dumb.
“You can call me Aleksandr Andreyevich.”
“Uh.. Don’t you think it’s a bit too long?”
“It’s the proper way of addressing someone you have just become acquainted with. Or, you can call me Aleksandr Andreyevich Orlov.”
“No, Aleksandr Andreyevich is fine.”
She could deduce two things from his reply. The first one was a warning- Don’t act too familiar with me. The second was a statement- I am not going to consider you as my sister.
Natia was a little disappointed by his reply, but it didn’t faze her either.
“You can call me Natia or Masha. I won’t mind.”
Aleksandr just gave her a look and turned to the window again.
“Well..Alex,”
He turned and glared at her.
“ander Andreyevich,”she added immediately. ”I wanted to ask you something. Who else will be there on this trip?”
“Sofia and aunt Vera.” He then turned fully to face her. “I guess, you already know who they are?”
Natia just nodded.
“I thought so. You recognized me just by my name when I came to your house. I didn’t have to say anything.”
“Of course I knew it was you. Papa told me about you. And you look just like him.”
He continued as if she didn’t say anything. “You must have known about us as early as you knew papa.”
She nodded again. She found out about them on her first trip with papa.
“Well... I only came to know about your existence a few months ago.”
What was he trying to say? Natia was getting a little anxious by the way he was staring into her eyes. It was as if he wanted to drill in to her, whatever he was going to say, with his intense gaze.
“So, don’t push it. We are just two people who met for the first time a few hours ago.”
“Okay.” She replied meekly.
She could understand that, though. She knew she had a brother and sister for about ten years, while they only came to know about her recently. But, are they all going to avoid her on this entire trip? What was she going to do then? How will she pass the TEN DAYS!!
Nobody said anything for the rest of the way to the airport.
Just as Aleksandr said, they didn’t have to wait much time in the airport. They bypassed the main terminals to get to the private terminal and boarded their plane.
Aleksandr sat as far away as possible from her, in the plane. Natia didn’t try to bother him again either. She looked out of the window to watch the clouds as they flew over the Pacific ocean. But, eventually, her tiredness caught up with her and she fell asleep, not too long after.
- Writer
