No Strings Attached

Chapter Two

“Welcome back, Miss Kim. Here’s your seat. I’ll help you with your luggage,” the air stewardess said.

Jennie handed her red Prada calf leather briefcase to the air stewardess before taking a seat in the Business Class section of her flight. Though it was only a short flight, she was thankful the company allowed her to travel in the comfort and privacy of Business Class. She eased herself into the comfortable seat as she flipped through the inflight magazine.

Soon, the plane arrived at the Haneda Airport. Jennie got up from her seat to take her briefcase from the overhead compartment. She bought a bottle of red wine from the duty free store before heading to the luggage belt to collect her bag.

Once Jennie stepped out of the airport terminal, she was greeted by the usual friendly looking Japanese chauffeur who led her to a large Japanese sedan that was parked by the side of the road. She couldn’t wait to get to her hotel so that she could unwind in a nice bubble bath with a glass of red wine.

After a relaxing bath, Jennie felt refreshed. She tied her hair in a bun and watched a bit of cable tv before looking at her conference notes. She was scheduled to do a short presentation on the third day of the conference and it was her habit to read through the notes once before the actual day.

Unzipping the bag and Jennie realised something was amiss. The contents of the bag didn’t belong to her. She couldn’t have been dazed after just two glasses of red wine. Reaching into the bag, she pulled out a clear folder.

“Chocolate mint tart? Jelly roll cake? Chi Chi Dango Strawberry? What are these? Recipes?” Jennie said in amazement when she looked at the random scribbling on the papers in the file. The bag definitely didn’t belong to her.

“Oh my God! I must have taken the wrong bag when I left the plane. My materials and Macbook are all in there!” Jennie slapped her forehead when she realised the mistake she made.

She looked around the other contents in the bag, hoping to find some sort of identification of the owner. The only clue she had was a hotel reservation slip. Fortunately the owner of the bag was staying at the same hotel as Jennie.

“Miss Manoban L.L. Hmm…I’m pretty sure this person has the same bag as me and had probably taken my bag by accident. I am very sure this bag was the last one in the overhead compartment when I took it out. Anyway, I better swing by the concierge to see if this person has checked into the hotel. At least I could do a bag exchange,” Jennie muttered to herself, feeling frustrated.

At the hotel lobby

“Excuse me, I would like to find out if this person has checked into the hotel. We got our bags mixed up at the airport and it so happens that the owner is staying here. I would like to contact her to get our bags exchanged, thanks,” Jennie explained to the lady at the reception. She pointed to the red Prada briefcase she was holding.

“Hold on a moment, let me check,” the lady replied politely.

A few taps on the keyboard and some clicks of the mouse, the lady said, “Miss Kim, Miss Manoban has not checked in yet.”

A frown appeared on Jennie’s face. “Please let me know as soon as she has checked in. She probably took my bag by accident, and I need the items in my bag urgently for the conference which starts tomorrow. Meanwhile, I’ll leave her bag here since I have no use for it. You can hand it to her when she gets in. Thank you for your help.”

Jennie wrote her mobile number and a brief description of her bag’s contents on a piece of paper and handed it to the staff. Fortunately she saved her conference notes in Dropbox and could access it via a computer anywhere anytime. She went to the Business Centre to get her presentation materials printed as a backup, just in case she couldn’t get her bag back in time.