Our Love Among Corona

Emotions At Istanbul Airport

In a moment, I will leave Istanbul. Transit time is almost over. I cleaned the table, put the books back in, including the coloring tools I deliberately brought to kill boredom. The worry in my heart does not go away. My emotions are still mixed. Luky is still trapped in Tallinn. The sudden encounter with Saad among the thousands of people here, how could we cross paths. A coincidence? Feels impossible. Besides the universe has a story in the future that may still be stored.

"Our story's unusual Vashla. It must be a sign of something we may have been waiting for a long time. The universe always has a way of building its story" Saad's last words.

I shuddered to think about it myself. What is expected. I don't feel like I'm waiting for him. That I'm waiting for Luky, my love, yes. "Hihhhhh." I said to myself as I shook my body and head. What feeling is this.

"You good?" an old man across the table asked.

"Yes, I'm good. Bye" I waved at him. Leaving behind her gaze that she did not know how long she was staring at me from behind.

I kept walking past the people towards the gate of my flight. A young man suddenly passed me and acted like a child. He spread out his hands and walked like a plane in maneuver.

"Mhhummmmm...hummmm.." he rang his mouth as he swerved in front of me.

I can't believe this, I told myself. It was a really strange day. My heart was filled with sadness, worry and now I saw someone acting in front of me.

"Bhummm bhummm.." he shook his hands and body in front of me. Our position is so close. He brought his face closer to mine and then laughed.

A handsome man, having brown eyeballs, he wears a hat and a backpack. Fix, these young people mostly drink, I thought. But it was still broad daylight, he was drunk near the waiting room. I shook my head and continued my journey. Passed through several other gates, and then I arrived at the gate I was headed to. I threw my body in the chair. In front and in the row of my stool, sat some Indonesians.

As always, it is easy to guess Indonesians everywhere. Some are speaking in Indonesian, some are in Javanese. Even without speaking, clear from the face of the Indonesian. This is Turkey, of course many Indonesians come here. Whether working, school or business. Just a moment I leaned back, with tired eyes, back and whole body. Suddenly people were screaming.

Me and a few others looked towards the sound. A woman accompanied by a man, perhaps her husband I guessed, berated the officer in English. He pointed his finger at the officer while telling him to check the documents he was holding. This scene lasted for some time, until another officer came and tried to finish what was going on.

"It looks like Corona and all this chaos of flight schedules has made people emotional everywhere" said the middle-aged man sitting near me.

"Yes, I think so too" I said.

He continued to work with his HP. I'm grateful he's not talking to me right now. Because I'm really tired of all the events today. Starting from my breakup with the man I loved in Tallinn, seeing people crying from being stuck at this airport whose flight was cancelled. Then met Saad, though greatly comforted by this meeting, but the unrest continued.

Looking at the drunk young man in the middle of the day at the airport and playing around in front of me. And just watched the fight. I hope, hopefully, things will improve and I want to rest for a while while waiting for the boarding announcement.

I can't imagine if it's delayed or even canceled. My body really needs a rest right now. I imagined sitting in a plane seat that I had checked in online before and getting into a window seat. Then put my body on the backrest and then fell asleep. How nice to imagine this.

I lined up among the others towards the boarding queue. Until I saw a young woman shivering coldly in the row of benches near me sitting earlier. The young blonde woman seemed to be enduring the pain. From a sitting position, then he curled up on the chair. Body shivers.

I wanted to ignore this scene, because I also had to get on the plane. But my heart can't pretend, I can't let it suffer like that. I want to do something for him. I lowered my backpack and then ruffled to see a piece of cloth or scarf that I usually always carry into the cabin. There are two, I'll give one to him, my mind.

"Hi are you okay? Do you feel cold?" approached her.

"Hi, I'm okay" he replied and I knew he was lying.

The people who were waiting in line saw me. Maybe they think I'm taking a risk. The woman I spoke to was clearly in a high fever. His body shook with his mouth closed. What if it turns out he was having a fever due to Covid-19 virus infection. Shouldn't I come any closer, maybe he'll pass it on to me. No, my instincts say I have to help.

"Take this. You will need it" I told him.

He did not get out of the chair, still curled up. Then I covered her body with my cloth. His tall posture was not perfectly covered with my cloth. I usually wear it as a scarf or as a blanket on the plane.

"So kind of you" he said before I passed.

I'm back in line. My mind was left on the woman in pain. I decided to notify the airport staff.

"Thank you, this way, please" the officer said as he finished checking my passport and ticket.

"Hi, I need your help!" I said to the officer.

I explained the condition of the sick woman there and asked the female officer who checked my ticket to ask her other colleagues to help the woman. This officer responded kindly to my request and then called another colleague to check on the woman's condition. Relieved, as they responded quickly and I walked down the corridor to get on the plane.

In life, sometimes we don't have to think much about helping others. Open your eyes and heart to look around. Life is not only about ourselves but also about those we meet on the journey. I have always held this value in my life. Living beyond yourself, living beyond your own interests. Thank you to the mentors in my life, who have also never stopped reminding me of this value to keep. I threw my body in the plane seat. What a journey, I thought. In one day, I had so many emotions. Change, and so drain energy.