She was hurrying down the departure hall, the distant voices of travelers filling her ears as she tried so hard to concentrate on what her nagging mother was saying to her over the phone. She shifted the phone from her left to right ear, and when she hissed, she made sure it went unheard. “I don’t understand what you mean, Mother. You know that I’m not coming back, right?”
She was sure that hit home, for her Mother was nearly murderous at the sound that escaped her lips. “Anna, what are you trying to say? You have to come back home. I told you there’s no way you’re visiting that bunch of—” Before the insult came, because it always did, Anna stopped her mother.
“Mom!” she yelled, her angry getting more prominent that she couldn’t hide it even if she wanted to. “I’ve told you several times that you have to stop insulting Nate, didn’t I? Why are you doing this? He’s the man I love, and sorry, but I’m already in the airport, and my flight is in the next fifteen minutes. I’ll call you when I land.” She was barely fuming when she said that. She didn’t know what was with her mother and Nate. He was a good guy; why couldn’t she see that for god’s sake? And he was handsome too. She thought Mom always loved handsome men, and it didn’t matter whether he was her age or not.
“What,” her mother screamed, and Anna had to take the phone away from her ears, for the next words might rupture her eardrums, “the hell? You are in the airport already? What do you mean? Since when did you start traveling alone? Where’s your assistant? Give her the phone. You need to come back home now, Anna!” Anna would have laughed this off if she were with her mother. But why bother to nag and become angry over this? Her mother knew so well that when she set her heart into something, she would have to do it no matter what.
But instead, it riled her up. “I’m an adult, Mom. I’m 22 years old for God’s sake. You can’t be controlling my life. Look, don’t bother calling me again if you know—” She was silenced when a strong shoulder nearly knocked her off balance, and when she closed her eyes to embrace the embarrassment that came along with falling on her butt, strong arms took over her waist until she was standing firmly on her feet. But that didn’t lessen her anger, she was fuming!
“Who the hell do you think you are?” she yelled, shrugging his hands off from her waist, and he looked at her. He was staring at her as though he had saved her life, and instead of a thank you, he was getting an insult.
“Anna, your medication?” she heard Mom’s voice from the other end, and that was when she remembered she was having a phone call, and she had to catch a flight in how many minutes? She looked over her wristwatch and rolled her eyes exasperatedly. It looked like today wasn’t her day after all, was it?
“You don’t need to remind me about my medication, Mom. I’m an adult. I can take care of myself. Bye.” She ended the call before her mother angered her even more, and when she looked at the man that stood beside her, maybe ready to apologize or…
He put a stop to her thought when he replied, equally angry as well. “I’m sorry, Miss. But you got in my way too. You’re walking without being mindful of your surroundings, and in fact, I saved your ass from falling to the floor, didn’t I?” Okay, he wasn’t going to apologize after all. From the way she saw things, he would likely demand for an apology from her.
She put her phone back into her handbag and firmly held the hook of her trolley. “This is your freaking excuse for nearly taking me down? That I’m on the phone?” She was yelling with her eyes closed as she wanted to exhaust her anger on him. She knew if she weren’t in a bad mood already, she would have both apologized and thanked him before she walked off, but nah, he would be the receiver of everything she had held back from telling her mother.
He stood straight, as though he couldn’t believe what had just happened and what he just heard. Glimpsing at his wristwatch, he figured if he stayed with this girl, she would likely make him even more late than he was already. He hissed when he stared back at how she was fuming and wished he weren’t as gentle as he actually was. “You’re an idiot. I don’t know what gives you the impression that I’d apologize to you over something that’s clearly your fault. I don’t know what you’re doing in the airport…” He let his words trail off as his gaze quickly wandered back to the trolley she was holding, her knuckles getting pale at the way she was tightly holding the hook, a murderous look in her eyes. “Or where you’re even traveling to. But really, maybe you’re heading to a train station and lost your way?” There was a mocking look in his eyes, and the smirk he had plastered on his face was ever so prominent that even though Anna knew he was more powerful than her, she wanted to give punching his face a try.
“You called me an idiot?” she scoffed, as though she couldn’t even believe her ears. She stared at the nametag written on his left breast and said his name, “Jack Roberts.” Her gaze lingered up and down his attire, and that was when she realized who he was. “Oh, so just because you’re a pilot…” She palmed her face to help calm herself down because if she didn’t calm down, she might do something even worse, and that would only delay her from getting to her flight and getting to Nate. “Just because you’re a quack pilot, you dare call me an idiot? I don’t know what you really are, because apart from being an asshole, you’re clearly stupid.” She giggled in such a way she was sure would rile him up. “You even have the guts to say I should have been in the train station? You would have been a gardener in one of my mansions, or worse…” Her glaring eyes scrutinized his body as though to figure out which category would best fit him, but when she did, she hated to say that he was well-built. His biceps were even poking out of his white sleeves. “Well,” she flipped her hair back and smirked. “A bodyguard wouldn’t look bad on you.”
She could see the way he was both trying and failing at controlling his rage, and all she wanted was for him to have an outburst of that, so she would have an excuse to call whatever agency he worked at. He moved toward her in such a powerful stride that even though discreetly, she took a step backwards. “Jack!” They all heard his name called, and he stared between her and the caller before he walked away, his face a shade of red.
“Jack?” she called him back, and when he turned, she was certain that if he were standing a mere inches away from her, nothing could stop her from showing her fear outwardly. “Stay away from planes, for I’m sure you’d be the worst pilot to ever live.” She sensed the indecision from the way he took a step toward her then toward his obvious colleague that was staring at him urgently. “Stupid!” she yelled out again, not minding the way some of the travelers turned their eyes on her to see who she was referring to.
She flipped back her hair and walked over to the waiting area and sat down, feeling fulfilled. The look on his face was everything. As she waited, a call from her secretary came through, and even though it made her scowl, she picked it up. “What is it, Julia?” she questioned.
“I’m sorry, Ma’am. But your Mother just called. She wants me to cancel your flight, and I thought I should let you know before doing that…” Anna abruptly stood up.
“What do you mean? If you dare do that, Julia, I’ll make sure you regret that.” She ended the call, and just when she was about to call back her Mother to vent another frustration on her, she heard her flight being called, and she decided not to do that. It would only be some hours, and she would be in Florida together with Nate, and all of this wouldn’t matter anymore.
She remembered the way he smiled, the way his body felt against hers, the way he held her as though she was a priced possession he couldn’t dare lose. A slow smile graced her lips as she stood up to board her plane. She wanted to call him and decided not to. The whole plot of this was to surprise him, and in three days, they would have their three years anniversary! Which was what drove her to pay him a visit. Last year, they didn’t spend their anniversary together. She wanted to have a blast this time and, hopefully, a proposal.
He would propose to her, of course. He loved her, and he had been indirectly asking her about marriage recently. She couldn’t wait for him to propose to her, so she could proudly revoke her mother’ words of him being a bad guy. She had said, “I know bad guys when I see them, Anna. Nate will only break your heart. I’m so sure of this.” And, of course, every time her mother had said this, she had argued with her, and mostly, they ended up fighting about it. Anna so badly wanted to prove her mother wrong.
She knew Nate would never break her heart. He loved her too much to do that to her. In fact, in their relationship, he loved her more. With a new wave of confidence and eagerness to meet the love of her life, Anna walked over and boarded her plane. She walked over to her seat and sat down, and beside her was an old woman that warmly smiled at her. Being soothed by thoughts of Nate, she smiled back at the woman and nodded her head before she sat back.
She stared at her bare hands and thought that by the time she boarded her next plane, she would be the soon-to-be bride of Nathaniel Clayton. And in a few months, she would be Mrs. Clayton. How amazing did that sound? She muffled her giggle with her palms and buckled her seat belt as ordered. And then the commanding voice of the pilot engulfed the plane.
“Hello, my name is Jack Roberts, and I’ll be your pilot…” She didn’t have to hear the next words he had to utter for her to know who the voice belonged to. She thought she had already declared him a quack pilot? He would most likely get them burnt in the air, and when they would next land on earth, it would only be their ashes.
She tried to stand up to ask them to change the pilot when a flight attendant came over to her with a smile, “Can you please get back on your seat, Ma’am? We’re taking off now.”
Anna wanted to talk, or even argue with her, but then all the occupants of the business class were staring at her with curiosity in their eyes. She could only nod her head with a faint smile and firmly held her fingers together. She was getting nauseous as the plane began to take off, and when she checked her bag for her pills, they weren’t there. Well, she thought she was an adult, didn’t she?