... I waved goodbye to my friend.

“Excuse me, sir?” A terrifying panic engulfed me and it shows through my voice. I quickly queried a man in his early 20’s. Wait. 20’s? “Sir?” He turned, giving me the worst sceptical look I have ever received and my heart skips a beat even listening to his ever furious tone. “I am so sorry; I have no intention at all. I am in a hurry, so can you just please tell me where Gate 7 is?”  He smirked and did not reply. I guess he is still mad at me for calling him, ‘sir’, anyway, what is the big deal? Get over it. “I do not think you have the rights to call me sir, at all.” Still? Someone is desperate in need of help here before she missed her only chance back to New York City and do not get fired by a well-known narcissistic editor-in-chief. Therefore, he needs to move on and tell me the exact location before I lose it!      

  “Listen carefully, man. I have an important flight to catch and so far the only human being I can spot is you. So if you can kindly answer my question, I will be delighted.” Control! I coached myself through since I am known for losing my temper in public, and in this case, I cannot afford to do so. “Huh? Delighted? Do I look like an airport tour guide that I can give you the actual location? Try finding someone else, easy.” In this kind of situation, I will go ballistic and choked him to death instead, not even a single word decided to crawl out or ‘dance’ at the tip of my tongue, I was just speechless. How can anybody be this rude and such a waste of time? “Are you serious?”  He raised an eyebrow and looked offended, never expect I will hit back with a question. “Like I said, I am not an airport tour guide. Find Gate 7 yourself.” I gave him my, ‘You are died to me’ look and turned indignantly, not bothered of what he might be thinking. Well, who told him to be this rude to a young lady who accidently called him, ‘sir’? 

  I ran as fast as a lightning to Gate 6 after the lady at Gate 7 pointed my mistake when I was supposed to be at Gate 6, 5 minutes ago. Checked my ticket, fast walk towards the plane and eventually, a smile on my face, but not for long after I found out that I am supposed to sit beside that arrogant little fellow! “You?” I took a quick glance at the sit beside him and saw, B-16. Double checked my ticket and it is my number! “Ma’am, please take your sit. We are about to take off.” His expression says it all. He knew there was no such thing I am going to sit beside him and bare for the next 6 hours, neither do I. “Is there any other sits empty?” He smirked and fastens his seatbelt. I can feel a heavy scent of happiness coming through my way, but stopped after the flight attendant said there were no sits available. He unbuckles his seatbelt and stood up, “What?” Now I have noticed. Well dressed, neat, latest hair style and the one thing I cannot take in is that his face complexion is even more radiant than mine. I can tell positive metrosexual. “Excuse me, we are about to take off. Can you please be seated?” I have no choice but to suffer the next 6 hours with a metrosexual freak.

  3 hours passed by with a snap of a finger but pause afterwards. I could not even take a nap because of his cologne constantly hitting my nostrils and kept my brains awake. Jeez, not even a girl put on that much cologne! When I turn to him, the only thing he has been doing is reading through ‘FASHION BAZZAR’ magazine. Weird, I think he is a little bit fashion forward to read that kind of out-dated fashion magazine. He paused and turns to me, obviously I happened to appear at the range of his eye view while he was paying full concentration on an out-dated magazine; dated, 16 July 2006. “What is your problem?” Before we meet eye to eye, I quickly stare at my nails trying to act nonchalant. “You are talking to me?” With no trepidation, I act as dumb as I can since it is really difficult to do so. “Maybe you are good at it but I am not as dumb as you.” That is great. I failed in acting.

  “This is Captain Paul speaking; passengers please fasten your seatbelts. We will be arriving at JFK airport soon. Thanks for flying with NYC airlines.” Just like that, nightmare is officially over. “Finally, I can breathe well.” I said, not whispered. What is the point, anyway I am not going to see his annoying face anymore. As soon as I passed the security check, I ran as fast as I can to the taxi stand. 20 minutes left before my boss arrives. “Taxi!” I flag down a cab and got in. And guess what, that arrogant dude did the same, how could I not spot him? “This is my cab!” He pointed to me. This means war, nobody dare steal a cab away from me. Rebecca Dixon. “Get lost, and no one will get hurt!” He sat calmly and even mentioned his location. Wait. 5^TH avenue? “5^th avenue? You are heading to KARA’s?” He just nodded and grins as though it is a big deal to go there. Trust me, I work there and heaven does not exist. Pure mundane. “I am going there as well, and I am in a hurry. So, can we share a cab?” He widens his brown eye and gave a sceptical look, now what? “Fine, we can share it.” I wonder where that came from.              

  I ran up those marble made stairs while channelling the inner athlete that appears only when I am in a hurry. As the transparent door slide opens, I can feel the adrenaline rushing up my spine, I am so scared! Maybe she has arrived? When I saw my best friend, Helen at the corner, suddenly everything started to move in slow motion. I slowly extend my hand and grab hers, “Ten more seconds left!” NO! I almost cried listening to that. I let go off her and straight ran heading towards my desk, if I did not make it to my desk in time, I will no longer hold the pose as a fashion columnist. “She is here.” Helen yelled from the front as I just land my hands on my untidy and minuscule desk. I turn my attention to the door and slowly, she started to appear. Today, she wore a Dolce & Gabanna white trench coat with a knee long red dress, moderate accessories and I love those sparkling Jimmy Choo ankle high boots. Miss Dona Mary, editor-in-chief, narcissistic and no longer a role model in my eye. “Okay, Rebecca?” I just nodded. “You are panting. Just ran and came?” What? She noticed. “No.” The other staff narrowed their eyes because obviously they saw me running as though I was being chased by a cheetah. She just nodded and ignored me like always. “I have an announcement to make; Rebecca will be Miss Columnist for page fifty five to fifty seven while the new fashion columnist is Josh Maynard.” Fifty five to fifty seven? What is going on? “Rebecca, is there any objection?” I shook my head and I regretted. Who is qualified enough to take my position? “Now I will introduce you all to Josh Maynard. Josh?” A tall, clean looking guy with a ten out ten fashion sense came into the picture. It was that guy from the airport! No wonder he gone missing after we came down from the cab. I just could not believe my eyes. He grins my way and without any warning, tears start streaming down my cheek.

Just like that, all the running and suffering is for nothing. After what happened today, I felt like throwing in the towel but I need to pull up my socks instead. And again, what is left for me here? “Page fifty five to fifty seven is about health issues, good luck with that, Rebecca.” Josh Maynard will extinct if he does not start to talk properly. This time, I mean it. “Do I look like I am in the mood, jerk?” Thank god, just that word flew out of my mouth. Or else… “Chill. I know how you are feeling, but it does not matter anymore. Why not try to focus on getting me to my desk?” I can barely breath, thanks to this insanely annoying freak. “Anyways, you suit with Miss Columnist since you looked like a vegetable itself. While me, I am tall, good looking, knows fashion from A to Z and most important, a great writer.” Huh? This dude is seriously seeking for early death right now. How can he not notice the fist I am carrying, blind I supposed or overly excited to be in paradise? “Excuse me, readers will not Google search you. So looks does not resemble anything in journalism, get it?” His lips carved into a smile and with full enthusiasm, he opens his mouth saying, “Of course not, but since I am the cover for this issue, I need to be good looking, tall and fashion forward right? Then how is your best friend, Helen, page thirty six is going to write about me as the new fashion journalist?”             

  The entire world stops. I wanted to suicide as soon as he said that, this is going out of control! My day is getting even worse! “Cover? I don’t mind interviewing him since he is such an eye candy.” After Helen mentioned it, I did realize he is quite good looking. Promising height, great skin, brown sparkly eyes, cute smile and that hair, the jagged layers cut all through, adds plenty of texture and shape. “I wonder how he maintains that wavy hair of his.” He looks perfect. Hold on… There is no room for me to get infatuated by him, to me; he is still the meanest person I have ever known.     

  With the blink of an eye, the year is almost gone. I walked into the ballroom with full pride but it dies when I realize everyone is wearing jeans and our magazine company’s t-shirt. I know this is our company event but I certainly did not know that we had to wear uniform; instead I wore a black dress with my hair done into a bun. I have been showered with embarrassment, everyone is checking me out and the worse part of all is when Miss Dona started laughing at me. What should I do? Out of the blues, Josh grabs my hand and pulled me out. That action happened so fast until I lost track of where I am heading, is he going to tease me? Or maybe kidnapped me? The place was so dark, and I started to freak out. “Where are we heading?” We stopped at the middle of Times Square. Times Square? When did we get here? “I don’t care what happened earlier but I have something really important to say. I wanted to say in front of everyone but since you are dressed out of topic, I suggest here will be better.” My heart skips a beat and I could not take my eyes off him. When did he cut his hair? “What are you talking about?” Even though his hair distracts me, curiosity is still filling the air and indirectly shivering me.   

He slowly went down on one knee, in front of the Kodak theatre while thousands and thousands of pedestrians eagerly watching. “When you fall in love, everything stands still. Cherish the moment with all you can, and I spent it all with you. Slowly, feelings started developing and without realizing you mean the world to me Rebecca Dixon. Will you be my girlfriend?” I was speechless. I did not know what else to say. It is true that I had cried every single time, avoided him so many times just to hide my emotions. Is it because I fall for him? “Yes!” I said without realising that it was the answer to my question. And just like that, Josh Maynard was officially my boyfriend. The clock strikes 12, “HAPPY NEW YEAR!” The crowd went crazy and yelled beyond their actual lungs capacity. Under the stars, Josh and I shared our first kiss together with fireworks as the backdrop. It was the perfect ending and a great beginning indeed.        

So far, everything is on track, except for my job. I am still Miss Columnist, anyways; I do not care whatsoever about it. But then a phone call came, a life changing phone call. I have a sense of an impending doom; something smells fishy when I answered. “Josh just met an accident.” Everything turns black and white. My heart sank. Slowly, flashback started looming in front of me. Is he going die? Without wasting any more time, I grabbed my coat and exit the building with tears pouring down my face. What just happened? “He is fine. You can meet him now.” With a bright smile on my face, I carry into the emergency ward hoping to see the same on his face. But opposite happened, he frowned and trying to figure out who am I. “This is Rebecca, you remember her?” His father queried him with his grizzly voice and he just shook his head. My smile immediately disappears and let worrisome crawled in, he does not remember? Is this a joke? “Josh has amnesia. He can’t remember what happened to him so far. Everything is still in a blur state, but don’t worry. It will take time for to remember back.” The Doctor whispered beside me and I shook my head with tears streaming down my face. What we have together is now gone. There I was standing in front of a man, who appears to be a stranger.  

I waited for him to recollect all the memories we had together but it is time for me to move on with my life. I am now hired as the head journalist at a magazine company in Miami and decided to move there for good. But there is one thing I bare at the back of my mind; I will never give up on him. “I wish I can love you the way you do.” Is the only word he can say at the airport, the exact same place we met. Instead of tears rolling down my face, I smiled giving the last impression before I leave the city. With tears filling my eyes, I walked away from him with a fake smile and just for now… I waved goodbye to my friend.