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My jaw drops. But it’s only Monday! “Wednesday?” I splutter. This can’t be happening. “I’m getting married! I still have so much to do when I get to Pakistan. This throws off all my plans.”
Sarfaraz shrugs as he scrolls through his phone. “That sucks.”
I’m slightly irritated by his lack of empathy, but I huff out a worried breath. “Okay, I guess I should figure out my next move.”
“That’s probably a good idea,” he says. He gestures to the phone in my lap. “You should check your inbox. The passengers on the flight were supposed to get an email with information about a hotel room for the night.”
I lift my phone and swipe it open to see I do, indeed, have an email from Jinnah International. They say sorry for the inconvenience, which is a funny way of apologizing for us almost dying on their crappy flight, but there’s a hotel next to the airport where they’ve booked me a room for the night. They make sure to mention that they don’t know how long the storm is supposed to last and that they’re fulfilling contractual obligations to lodge us for one night. After tonight, I’ll have to arrange my own place to stay.
I pocket my phone and pull on my backpack. Just as I stand up, Sarfaraz looks up from his phone. “Hey, wait a second.” His fingers brush against my own, but at the last second, he jerks his hand back and stuffs it into his pocket.
Confusion scrunches my nose, but I pause. “Yeah?”
His expression is guarded. “What happened on the plane...” Sarfaraz clears this throat. “If it wasn’t obvious, I get nervous on planes. It can get pretty bad, especially with long flights. I was super anxious about it and it made my temper short. I behaved badly to you, but you were still nice to me and tried to help.” His eyes tentatively meet mine. “So, thanks.”
My heart stutters, but I crush the feeling as I say, “Well...helping a stranger is the best thing you can do.”
This time, he lifts a brow. “And why is that?”
“Because it’s a selfless good deed,” I explain. “The kind where you don’t expect to be helped in return, because you’ll likely never see that person again. But that person will always remember the stranger who helped them when they needed it.”
Sarfaraz mulls over my words, ducking his head and pulling at a loose string hanging from the seam of his laptop bag. “I guess,” he mumbles. He abruptly stands. “Okay. I hope you make it to your wedding.”
He moves to walk away and I blurt, “Do you want to stick together?”
He pauses. “What?”
I barely stop myself from clapping my hand over my mouth. Instead, I cover my reddening ears with my hair. “If we’re going to be here for a few days, we could stick together. Might not be as daunting being in a foreign country if you’re with someone you know.” I pause, and add, “Even if you only know them a little bit.”
Sarfaraz considers it for a second, then says, “Thanks for the offer, but I think I’m good.”
“Oh,” I say, and disappointment pinches my side. “That’s cool. Good luck with the rest of your trip.”
“You, too,” he responds, and with one last wave, he walks away.
Great. I’m alone again.
I guess I should call Ammi and tell her it looks like I won’t be reaching Karachi for a few days, but honestly, I don’t want to deal with her freaking out. I’m trying not to panic myself; the last thing I need is for her shrill voice to be screaming in my ear about how I can’t be left alone in a foreign country. Besides, I keep saying I can take care of myself. So, let’s take care of myself.
With renewed confidence, I walk toward the exit. It may be the summer, but it’s pretty chilly outside, and it’s still raining. I scan the area, looking for a cab. I eventually locate one, and on the way to the hotel, I scroll through my phone for other places to stay. There aren’t a lot of hotels available, and the ones that are have crazy high prices. It’s a touristy area, after all.
I change course and look for hostels instead. I don’t want to spend the next few days sitting at this airport, waiting for the storm to pass. I don’t need anything fancy—just a place to sleep at night. When I lived in Seoul, some of my coworkers and I visited Japan, and we stayed in hostels each night before moving on to the next city. It saved us a lot of money, and it got me used to sleeping around strangers. Not that my mother knew; it was a coed trip, and I don’t know how she would’ve reacted had she known I was staying with boys. It’s incredibly taboo in our culture, especially because I was engaged at the time. Of course, I was with friends then so it was technically safer than if I were alone, but whatever.
If I do this, I might be able to sightsee, too. Parts of my favorite Korean drama, Crash Landing on You, were filmed in Switzerland. A quick search confirms the weather in the cities where they filmed—Iseltwald and Sigriswil—will be a lot better than the weather in Zurich. I can explore and still make it back in time for the flight to Islamabad. Tonight, I’ll stay in a hotel, and then tomorrow I’ll explore Zurich. In the evening, I’ll make my way to Interlaken.
I need to look on the bright side. Yeah, okay, this stop was unexpected, but I’m in Switzerland! I wanted to come here for my honeymoon, and when Imtiaz said he didn’t want to, I was more crushed than I let on. So now that I’m here, I’m going to take advantage of it.
With that plan in mind, I find a hostel in Interlaken. They don’t take reservations, so I’ll have to hope they have a place for me when I get there. God may have thrown my plans off course once again, but I’m going to take the location as a good sign.
Except...maybe it’s not a good idea to leave Zurich. Knowing my luck, I could very well miss my flight or maybe the hostels won’t have room for me to stay. I imagine wandering the streets for hours in the rain, trying desperately to find a hostel with enough room to take me but ending up with nothing. It’s safer to stay here rather than explore the areas where they shot Crash Landing on You, and it’d probably be easier to find a place to stay.
It’s okay, I rationalize to myself. Inshallah, one day I’ll come back to Switzerland, and I’ll be able to thoroughly explore. For now, I’ll stick around Zurich and ignore the pit in my stomach that longs for more than I’m willing to risk. Unfortunately, my body hasn’t caught up to the fact that my luck sucks. Missing my flight isn’t a risk I want to take. I’ll make peace with it.
Someday, Inshallah.
8
Maya’s Law #8:
