Nora Holmen liked to think of herself as focused and ruthless. At 19 she had made cheerleader despite her average looks. At 21 she had married one of the wealthiest men in her hometown, though he had cancer. At 25 she had made it to the board of a multi-million dollar company. At 28 Nora became a multi-millionaire owing to her her late husband's $30 million insurance policy. By the the time she was 30, her intimidating boardroom stare was the topic of magazine articles and talk shows. All her life's conquests had not prepared her to handle a plane crash.
She was flying to Los Angeles from Mexico City, halfway into the journey the pilot had woken up all the passengers and had them strap on life jackets. The plane had crash landed in the desert. There were more than two hundred people on board but only thirty one had survived the crash. Both the pilots had died and the two surviving crew did not know anything about where they were. The first two days were spent salvaging water and food from the plane and waiting for rescue. By the third day only a few liters of water was left and the survivors started to fight for it. It took three deaths and dozens of injuries to bring them to their senses and set up rationing for all.
Nora was among the ten people who volunteered to scout the surrounding area for water. That night, after failing to find water, Nora had cried. Scared, hungry and thirsty, she was feeling her mind retreat as despair loomed ahead. The rescue teams arrived that night, bringing water, food and medicines. By the next morning all of them had been airlifted to Los Angeles and Nora was finally able to process what she had witnessed. The savagery of some and restrain of others. The generosity of the man who gave up his share of water to break up a fight. People ganging up to harass the surviving crew as if they were responsible. The brink of desperation she had faced and the tears of relief at watching the rescue teams arrive.
In the hospital she had time to think about the last few days and she realized that while many of the survivors were just following others, there were two or three who had helped and supported others, including her. One of them was a young man of Asian descent they had called Amir. She had not seen him in the first class, so he probably was not very wealthy. But what she had witnessed of his generosity and calm, she had liked very much. Nora decided for once to act on her impulse and tottered to her feet, tying her robe she shuffled out of her room.
It took her ten minutes to find where Amir Ali was and bully her way into his room. He was awake and watching the news. Nora sat down beside him, taking a few breaths to recover, she told him her impressions. Amir was already saying that it was no big deal but Nora requested him to listen and went on to say that she had lived till now mostly to accumulate money and powerful positions to earn more money. But now she wanted to do something more meaningful, something she thought would make her happy. She wanted to marry Amir and was willing to commit her life to make their marriage successful.
Amir had laughed and said that they should speak about this after a few days but Nora had insisted on her commitment and saying that it did not matter who Amir was because she had seen "what" he was. They met three times over the next day and night and Nora did not ask at all about Amir's business or family; only his likes and education and travel and such. Finally Amir kissed her right before they were discharged and and said that he would have to think about marrying her. If she could give him a day, he would call back.
Amir called the next morning to say yes. Nora felt her heart skip a beat in excitement and joy for the first time in many years. It was much later, after he had presented her an engagement ring, that she came to know that Amir was one of the reclusive dot-com billionaires.
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