CHAPTER 3 - THE ENCOUNTER
The meeting of Natasha and Damien was a chance encounter one could say. It was on a flight to Paris during one December close to Christmas. Natasha and Ariane another young Flight Stewardess being the most junior crew members of their team on a flight from London was requested to operate the flight to Paris out of Dubai instead of returning to Colombo as scheduled as the other flight was short of crew members. Both girls were visibly upset as they had purchased Christmas gifts for their families and were looking forward to spending Christmas at home.
Natasha much to her distress was left to console her young colleague Ariane as she was saddened at not being able to spend Christmas with her boyfriend back home. AS they made up their minds about the situation since there was not much choice they decided to send their gifts through the senior crew members of the London flight back home to their respective families. Besides they had little time to feel sorry for themselves as the following morning they were heading to Paris.
Meanwhile Damien was in Dubai on the scheduled flight to Paris and of course they had not met each other before and was seemingly unaware of what was in store for them. When the flight landed in Paris and the crew was on the way to the city hotel the senior crew members were humming tunes in the bus, Damien was merrily singing " she will be coming around the mountain.....wearing her yellow polka dotted bikini" and other gay tunes.
Everyone had a beautiful surprise as they entered Champs Elysees as the entire stretch was lit up with small white bulbs, it was an absolutely breathtaking sight and you could say Natasha fell in love at first sight.
The crew settled in at the hotel in Paris, the stay was supposed to be for three days, and it was only on the second day during a crew gathering in the evening that Natasha and Damien literally met for the first time. They were among their colleagues exchanging pleasantries and having a glass of wine when someone suggested they play some games to break the ice amongst the new crew members. Much to her surprise Natasha found herself saying "why don't we play some music and start dancing'? and thus it became an interesting and eventful evening. Neither Natasha nor Damien left a lasting impression on each other, it was more like a casual friendly encounter.
The crew planned to meetup the next evening again as it Christmas eve, they dressed up and got music ready and food organized. They were lucky enough to receive a bottle of champagne courtesy of the hotel. The evening turned out to be quite enjoyable and memorable. A few of them had one too many and were happily knocked out. When Damien suddenly put his arm around the shoulders of Natasha and suggested they dance, She was pleasantly surprised but felt a wave of shyness enveloping her, anyway they did dance for a short while. Natasha became very aware of his presence as they danced very close to each other, Eventually Damien suggested they go outside the hotel to get some fresh air to ward off the intoxication. Although it was in the wee hours of the morning the midnight walk in the cold air turned out to be rather romantic and friendly. They discussed their chance encounter and Damien ended pacifying the two girls as they were still feeling pangs of homesickness, especially Ariane who was missing her boyfriend because this was the first time they were away from home during Christmas.
In the course of conversation Damien asked Natasha whether she has a boyfriend and she replied "no, but I do have lots of friends" . Thus developed the friendship between Damien and Natasha. And what do you know, there three days in Paris turned out to five to six days . then they flew to Zurich and stayed another seven days as they were all snowed in; as flights were unable to operate to Europe due to inclement weather. As a result the crew met up often to go have their meals and shop around together. All in all the flight during Christmas extended to two whole weeks . By the end of their stay no one was complaining, instead everyone was happier for the chance encounter and forging new friendships. Natasha and Damien bonded well and was pleasantly surprised at their romantic encounter in Paris popularly known as the city of romance.