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Arianna wasn’t shocked that Riley had used female pronouns, but did she have to do it in English? Out loud? Everyone on the cabin crew spoke English! What if someone had heard her? Like Charmaine? Oh, God, like Charmaine!
“I would very much appreciate it if you didn’t spread rumors around.” Arianna was in the unfortunate position of having to respond in English since that was the only language Riley fluently spoke. How are those Mandarin lessons coming along? Not that it would have mattered. Most of the crew spoke Mandarin, too!
“Not my intention,” Riley said. “But I meant what I said. How about when we land, I buy you a drink? Your choice of place. I’m getting pretty good at navigating the MRT now.”
“Didn’t you peg me as in love with someone else?”
“It’s not a date, Aria. I want to talk. About… anyway, stuff.”
Arianna hesitated for too long before answering. Rachel See-Williams stopped by to confidently chide everyone for falling behind in preflight chores. That was Riley’s cue to head to the cockpit while Arianna attempted to channel her good feelings back into her veins as she continued to drop things and forget what she was writing on the forms.
She flipped through the First Class seating chart, preparing her brain for welcoming her charges on board. Rachel had gone over it as usual during the preflight meeting, but Arianna had been too out to lunch to recognize a very prominent name.
“Ah!” she chirped as she hurriedly put the list away as if she would be caught blushing over who was about to be the first to board. No wonder Rachel had droned on and on while Charmaine whispered to her coworkers. While the heiress about to board was far from a big enough celebrity to get a meeting like Wendy and Lisa had garnered, this was bad for Arianna, who had seen the onboarding woman naked.
In a very… intimate way.
“Welcome aboard Royal Asia.” She went straight to the script, bowing at her waist and keeping her gaze on the floor. “Allow me to show you to your seat, Ms. Liu.”
Don’t look at her… don’t look at her… Luckily for Arianna, Genevieve Liu was on Charmaine’s side of the First Class cabin. And with such prominence in Singaporean society, Boss Tan would probably take it upon herself to serve one of the richest heiresses in the city-state. For the love of God, fine with me. Yet Arianna was the one available to show Genevieve to her first-row seat and help her stow her bags in the overhead bin.
“Can I get you something to drink while you rest?” Arianna asked.
“A ginger ale would be lovely, thank you.” The svelte and sensual woman with long, naked legs in a skintight dress instantly relaxed in her private seat as if it were the end of a long day. “It helps settle my stomach during takeoff. You’d think I hadn’t flown for most of my life with the way it acts.”
“Of course. One second, Ms. Liu.” Arianna made the cardinal mistake of glancing at Genevieve’s smooth shins before turning away. Those are the sexiest legs I’ve ever seen. Arianna saw beautiful legs on the daily, but Genevieve was lesbian Kryptonite to any Singaporean resident. There were cutout tabloid photos of her hanging up in Tiger Lily, making her the unofficial mascot of that particular Singaporean sapphic scene.
And it always made Arianna blush to see the fashionable heiress up on the gay bar walls, including photos of her throwing parties at Tiger Lily for the neighborhood, even though the property went out of its way to never, ever reference the leaked sex tape starring the gorgeous woman who may or may not have the best plastic surgery in the business. The kind you can’t see!
She brought Genevieve her ginger ale while Charmaine seated the next First Class passenger. “Here you are, Ms. Liu. You may leave the empty can in that receptacle for us to collect after takeoff.”
“Thank you kindly.” Soft fingers brushed against Arianna’s as the can passed from one woman to another. “This is my first time flying Royal Asia, believe it or not. I usually fly private since… an incident. Are you the one who is in that riveting marketing campaign?”
Bile. That was bile in Arianna’s throat. “Y… yes. You recognize me, Ms. Liu?”
“How could I not?” Genevieve’s sweet smile was probably practiced, but it felt genuine. That was what beguiled Arianna enough to forget the other passengers in her cabin. “Your face is one of the reasons I decided to try out this new airline. It worked on me.” She sipped her ginger ale. “If this is the kind of woman representing the beauty of Singapore, then sign me up.”
That was a wink! Maybe not a flirtatious one, since Arianna knew that Ms. Liu was taken by some Japanese real estate protegee, but wasn’t that the power of these confident women who had spent their whole lives being angelically beautiful? With their wonderful legs and their perfect, uh…
It was very rude to think about a woman’s sex tape when staring down her cleavage.
Pull yourself together, Arianna. “Thank you very much. That is kind of you to say.”
“Are you going to be the flight attendant to help me today?” Genevieve glanced at Arianna’s name tag. “Arianna. What a beautiful name! I had a great-aunt named Adriana.”
Well, that sealed Arianna’s fate. When a famous passenger – let alone a famous Singaporean passenger – requested a specific flight attendant, that was what she got. Boss Tan found out about it long before Business Class started boarding and told Charmaine and Arianna to switch sides for that flight.
“What’s got you all flustered?” Charmaine asked up in the air when they prepared the meals for their passengers. Arianna kept forgetting whether Genevieve wanted the duck or the beef Wellington. Damnit! It’s the American turkey dinner! Many of the Asian passengers loved to pick that one for the novelty, and Genevieve had been no different. Don’t screw it up! “You’ve got someone famous, right? I don’t know her much besides she’s big in Singapore.”
“She’s a very rich heiress. Her family owns Orchid Grove.”
“Oh. Oh.”
“Yes. It takes us an extra five minutes to fly around it when coming in for landing at Changi Airport.” Arianna sighed, settling her nerves.
“Wait. Isn’t she the heiress with the…”
Arianna shushed her; Charmaine gasped in scandal.
