Heiress in Distress

•Chapter 30•

A mother urges her son to settle down from his position at the window. He's on his knees in his seat, sticking his upper body -forehead, nose and palms first- into the window. I can't help but smile at his fascination, as I begin to wonder how Élise would react on her first flight as a toddler.

She finally sets him in his seat upright, and he allows her to strap him to the seat with a grumpy scowl on his face.

He folds his arms defiantly, "I wanted to see the cotton candy,"

His mother tries to explain that they're not cotton candy but rather clouds. A fairly negligible urge to reflect on that analogy has me lingering only a minute longer.

I take my position in the staff cabin and strap my own seatbelt, leaning my head against the board.

At exactly 10:15 AM, the plane descends toward the runway, before slowly decelerating and finally coming to a steady, neat cessation.

My colleagues and I split, a group stays behind to check the isles, seats, overhead compartments and basically everywhere to ensure no one has anything important left behind, and the other group, which I participate with, stands by the gates, bidding the passengers farewell and wishing them a safe trip towards their home/destinations.

It's not until the plane is completely cleared off passengers that Aurick and the Co-captain walk out of the cockpit. I only give him a bored, ephemeral side glance before looking back forward, coupling my professional posture with a formal scowl.

He stands next to me, stretching, "That was a placid flight,"

I don't respond.

"We need to talk-"

I turn to him, "That was a placid flight indeed, Captain Aurick. Now if you'll excuse me, I'd like to spend my lunch break peacefully,"

•••

It takes all of an hour or so for the new passengers to begin filing in and we have to launch into another cycle of the same routine.

And although it's too early to judge just yet, I'm already finding some solace in the routine and the natural compliance with the schedule, which somehow stands at the opposite end of how my life plays out.

Thankfully, Aurick understood my decision to keep our relationship strictly formal and has stopped pursuing me.

The flight back is only faintly interrupted by unnoticeable flaws in the weather, which do no more harm than disrupt this poor woman's abdominal tranquility.

I give her a sympathetic smile as she stumbles back from the restrooms. She plops herself down on her seat, leaning forward and closing her eyes.

I squat on the floor next to her, "Here," I hand her the steaming cup of ginger tea, "This should help with the nausea,"

She takes the cup and covers her mouth with her hand, nodding in gratitude.

It takes 3 hours and 45 minutes in total to get back home and surprisingly I am beyond exhausted, so when I walk through my front door, cross the living room, and fall face first into my bed, Clara does nothing but laugh.

Clara leans against my doorframe, with Élise sitting on her hip, "This is the part where I ask you how your first day of work was,"

My phone dings next to my head on the bed. I unlock the screen, immediately frowning at the text message from the bank.

Upon reading the message, my eyes almost bulge out of their sockets, "A 1000 Euros have just been transferred into my account,"

Clara doesn't even hide her shock, "Oh my God. It's only your first day," she says, only slightly confused. We stare at each other, eyes going wider with every passing second.