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“I’m sure it’s not as bad as it feels right now,” Arianna said as she gently pressed the ice pack against Boss Tan’s ankle. “Make sure you keep it numb and elevated. Everyone will take care of you when we land.”
“I know what happens when one of us is foolishly injured like this. I’m not an idiot.”
Arianna didn’t take the bite of her superior’s words personally. She merely remained kneeling before Esther, grateful that this happened between meal services and not when everything was an organized mess.
It wasn’t until five minutes later, when Capt. Fan stepped out to see what was going on, that Arianna remembered her boss was sitting in a passenger’s First Class seat.
“Oh, what kind of mess have you girls gotten yourselves into?” The middle-aged captain shook his head as Esther politely hid beneath the blanket she had been given. “I expected better of you, Ms. Tan.”
Although he said it with a teasing chuckle, Esther was probably on the verge of exploding into a thousand shameful pieces. Nevertheless, Arianna was impressed that her supervisor kept a stiff upper lip and practiced perfect manners in front of the captain.
“My deepest apologies,” she said. “I have made a fine mess of the cabin.”
The pilot turned to Elle. “Who might you be? A passenger? Ah… wait a second…”
Elle quickly flashed him a smile. “Elizabeth Sparrow, sir. En route to Los Angeles after a long business meeting.”
Arianna swore she saw Elle wink at the pilot, but that was probably all in her head.
“Right. Ah, mind stepping over here with me for a quick chat, Ms… Sparrow?”
Elle followed Capt. Fan toward the cockpit. Arianna was compelled to stay with Boss Tan, who covered her face with two delicate hands and moaned.
“Are you in pain? Is there anything I can get you?”
Those hands descended Esther’s face so slowly that even Arianna saw the whites of her boss’s eyes. “My face. Bring me back my face.”
Her saying that in Mandarin got the point across quite clearly. “You have not lost face with me, Boss. This could have happened to anyone. It’s a miracle it’s yet to happen to me. Although, I may remind you of the time back in Singapura when I slit open my hand and required a biohazard crew to clean up after me when we landed in Jakarta.”
At least that made Esther chuckle. “Sometimes I forget you used to be a mess, too.”
“You’re not a mess. You merely misstepped.”
When the pilot and the passenger returned a few minutes later, Arianna had to return to her midflight duties. Yet she was pleasantly surprised when Capt. Fan insisted that Esther remain in her seat for the remainder of the flight while Elle was moved to a makeshift seat near the cockpit. This made Arianna raise exactly one eyebrow since only cabin crew were allowed to sit there. Either they or other employees jump between different destinations.
She’s not an employee… is she? If she were an employee of Royal Asia, then she must be a higher-up. But that was impossible because Arianna knew the names of everyone up the chain of command above her. There were three Elizabeths, and she was certain that none of them had the last name Sparrow.
Pendergast. Holt. Svenson. Those were the three Elizabeths that defined different parts of Royal Asia Airlines. Arianna was inclined to check the passenger manifest again, but she already knew that Elle was Sparrow. There was no way she could be on an international flight under any name but her own.
It’s a coincidence. A lot had happened on this flight, and now Arianna must step up and take Boss Tan’s place if they were to land without more hiccups.
Just another day in the air. She may not know where they were in relation to the international date line, but Arianna was confident in her ability to follow the rulebook to a T and get these people off the plane once they landed in Los Angeles.
Chapter 6
The only time Elle had been more grateful to get to her suite was when she went undercover in Economy and could barely move her neck by the time the plane landed in Singapore. This time, she was grateful to be out of the jump seat that had made more than a few heads turn in curiosity.
But Capt. Fan had done an admirable job not revealing her real identity the moment he recognized her. They had met before under much more amusing circumstances, but every captain of every flight she flew knew she was on board. Much like how immigration and security knew who she was because the government did not care about RA’s cute undercover ops in the air.
Although… that incident on the flight to LAX had done a wondrous job of showing how the crew acted under medical pressure. Elle would be sure to give a glowing review to everyone involved, including Esther Tan, who was in an infuriating circumstance out of her control.
After a quick nap in her suite, Elle grabbed her jacket and slipped on her travel flats before heading down to the hotel restaurant for an early dinner. The trouble with flying back to LA is that we get in so early. Lunch was over by the time Elle cleared immigration and customs, and it wasn’t quite yet dinner time when she arrived in her suite at exactly 3 PM. The nap only made her hungrier and did nothing to clear up her fatigue. Knowing she had a meeting over drinks with some of the other board members at nine… well, if she wanted food on her terms, now was the moment.
The only food served at that time was at the bar, which Elle was more than happy to sit at if it meant warm sustenance and maybe a watered-down cocktail to soothe her nerves. She had a report to write before she forgot the details of the flight, and her tablet was more than ready to prop up on the hotel bar while she ate soup and half a sandwich.
Except things were not that cut and dry. When the waitress told her to sit anywhere at the bar, the first thing Elle saw was that she was far from alone in her plans.
Hello, there. She would recognize that perfect posture and delicate hairstyle anywhere. Arianna may be in a maxi dress and had toned down her makeup after checking into the hotel, but she was still very much the First Class flight attendant that Elle had gradually come to know over the past few months.
