Chapter 202: Too cute

Kevin gave the signal for the pilot to start the engine and taking his cue, he started doing his job. The side crew door closed slowly and when it was shut tight, Kevin sat and buckled himself to the seat. The propellers started rotating and the side wheels retracted. The helicopter rose up slowly and in an instant, it leaned towards the front taking everyone's breath away in fear. But the next moment, the helicopter stabilized itself and it started flying beautifully.

Everybody sighed a breath of relief, but they sat stiffly in their seats not daring to move even an inch. Kevin chuckled seeing them and he tried to ease their nerves. This was the first time they were riding in a military helicopter and they were bound to get nervous. "Don't worry folks. Our pilot here values his life as well as others'. No harm will come to you, I promise."

Though his words were assuring, it did not soothe them much. They sat as still as a boulder with only their chests moving as they breathed. Of the lot, Ian was the calmest. He sat unaffected by the fact that he was in a helicopter. Seeing Ian's calm expression, Kevin assumed him to be either too scared to even speak or was actually unafraid by the situation he was in, unlike the others.

After ten minutes since the helicopter took off, Ian was the first one to break the silence. "How long will it take for us to reach?"

"Exactly seventy-one minutes," Kevin answered.

"That's fast."

"Its sure is." Kevin nodded with his eyes closed. "You guys can take rest. We still have an hour to reach. Make use of this time as much as you can. Let me warn you beforehand. Once you reach the border, I don't think you will be getting much sleep."

Everybody understood what Kevin wanted to convey. The battlefield was a mess with the number of soldiers getting injured every day. Now that the medical assistance was on the way, they would assist the soldiers by tending to their injuries. The work would be a hundred times more stressful than they did at the hospitals. 

Since they had time, some of them went back to sleep, though they had trouble doing so in the beginning. The thought that they were in a military chopper had made them quite stiff and their minds were still reeling it. So, they had trouble falling asleep. However, it did not take long for them to feel drowsy as they had nothing to do and were getting bored eventually. 

Aria, Ian and Stuart sat beside each other and they made small talks occasionally. "Stuart, you knew I was in this city. Why didn't you call me when you landed here?"

"Ah, that. My phone broke when I was in London and since I was going to change my number eventually, I couldn't retrieve the saved contacts."

"Hmm. Now that you are here, give me your number."

"Sure."

Silence engulfed them again and nobody spoke for some time. However, Stuart couldn't control his curiosity anymore. He wanted to ask the one question he had in mind since he saw her. "Aria, how is Noah?"

His question rendered Aria speechless. Her cheeks unknowingly got painted with a shade of pink and she tried to avert her gaze from her friend's scrutinizing gaze. "How do you know about him?"

"Many people know about him. What's so surprising in that?" 

"Ah." Aria realized that Stuart was asking casually and he did not know anything about their relationship. But Stuart's next question swept her off her feet. "How far has your relationship gone after you returned from London?"

"You knew about it?" She looked at him incredulously.

"Yeah. Why? Did you want your relationship to be a secret?"

"No. No. I did not mean that." Aria tried to evade his question. "I had no idea you knew about us. That's it."

"Nothing can hide from my eyes."

"I can see that."

"You know.." Ian interrupted their conversation. He had been listening to them since the beginning and now he couldn't stop from inviting himself in their chat. "Stuart and Joshua would make good buddies."

"Now that I think about it, they sure do. Just imagining them together is making me uneasy. I don't want to end up being their target of fun." Aria said.

"Who is Joshua?" Stuart asked confused.

"He is Noah and Ian's childhood friend."

"Ohh." Stuart only knew about Noah. He had no idea who Joshua and Ian were and that they were friends with Noah. "Does he tease people too?"

"You have no idea. I am fed up with him and sometimes my only wish is to murder him." Ian said clenching his fists thinking about the annoying man.

"But.." Stuart prompted him to continue when he sensed that Ian had more to say.

"But, he is my best friend. So, I just let him as he is."

"Aww. Such a sweet friendship. Now I'm dying to see who this man is."

Kevin, who had eavesdropped right at this moment, butted in. "Who is dying? No dying on this chopper. We cannot afford to have a dying person here and if doctors themselves are feeling this way, what will happen to us soldiers who need you. No dying, please. Hold on to your life until the battle ends and also many decades after it."

The three people laughed hearing his words.

"You are a funny guy." Aria asserted.

"When you are filled with boring people around you, somebody has to take up the responsibility of lifting up the group's mood. You guys have no idea how stressful it is to take up this responsibility." Kevin wiped his non-existent sweat on his forehead as the two other soldiers gave him a bored look.

"I side that. Even I feel so tired doing this highly strenuous job."

"See. Like-minded people." Kevin gave Stuart a high-five.

Ian and Aria blinked at each other for a few seconds and immediately they started laughing. Aria even had tears in her eyes. These two people were just too cute in her eyes. They were like the stress relievers, just the kind of people they needed in the highly stressful place they were going.