Chapter 48 Ascension
\[Lilia\]
It has been a while since I last boarded a plane. My mother was still alive when we migrated, and I was only eleven years old then. I could feel Aya’s excitement radiating just as we paved the way through the long corridor, following Val and three other men that carried our things.
I honestly don’t know what to feel with Val right now, after our conversation last night, though I could sense he doesn’t give a damn about it. Maybe I was just overthinking too much and put meaning in everything, though what I feel was saying otherwise.
Maybe that was nothing after all and I was just putting unnecessary things inside my head.
Oh, God, what am I thinking?
“Can you imagine? We are going to a place with great architecture and food.” Aya skipped right beside me, looping her arm around mine.
She looks so happy and excited, I guess I couldn’t rob her of that. I have never seen her this way, right after I escaped and Kael hit her in the face. However, there’s no assurance that this travel would be a pleasant one. I don’t know what came into that beast’s head to bring us along. Could it be another auction? What will he buy this time? A person?
“We may enjoy the food but I am pretty sure that the only view we will see is from above the sky when we land,” I say to her. I don't mean to be a downer, but we shouldn't have set ourselves up for failure by having unrealistic expectations. We might get disappointed in the end.
Aya glared at me, unbounding her arm around mine as we continue to walk down the hallway until we came through the grand staircase.
“You’re such a dream buster, aren’t you? Maybe, just maybe, Master Kael will let us out even just for a bit,” she bleated exasperatedly.
Kael, I doubt it, but maybe. “We can only hope,” I shrugged and followed closely behind Val.
Speaking of the devil, Kael was already waiting for us in the car. This one is different from the one we used when we came to the dome yesterday. I recognize the brand of this car, it is a white BMW sedan, though I don’t know the model. One of Kael’s men opened the door for me and I just gave him a subtle nod as I get in. Aya, on the other hand, was in another car, maybe with Val.
Kael was busy with something soon as I settled in. He was holding a folder and his brows cinched tightly as his eyes skimmed through the document. Ignoring me entirely, which is glad by the way, remembering what happened between us yesterday. Sighing aloud, I turn my attention around me, and just as expected, the interior far exceeded the term lavish, though it wasn’t as intricate and detailed as the first one.
“Move,” he commanded promptly, jolting me out of my seat with a single word. My head whipped towards him as I thought that he was pertaining to me, but to my delight, he was talking to the driver and had not even spared me a glance. The car revved up and accelerated, and the long queue behind us followed.
The entire car ride went uneventful, and we are now stopping through the private section of the airport that only we could enter.
Aya and I met a few minutes just after we arrived, and I could practically see her eyes brimming with happiness.
“Your face could tear apart anytime soon,” I say to her, breaking her trance. She was like a little girl, her eyes moving around so much. Then I remembered how she got here. A victim of human trafficking traveled through a container van, and I feel bad for bursting her bubble.
“Come on, Lilia, don’t be such a spoiler. This might be the only time I could travel abroad via private access,” she retorted, hugging her backpack on her chest as we weaved through a narrow hallway leading towards the exit and into the runway.
“Alright, but we have to be careful though. We don’t want Kael throwing us off the plane once he gets annoyed,” I gently reminded her, knowing exactly how much Kael can change his temper without us noticing the cause of it. I already experienced it first-handedly and multiple times. It’s a miracle I am still alive up to this day.
“Yeah, right,” Aya mumbled. She might realize as well that what I said was right.
The two of us had fallen into a comfortable silence. Now that I have come to think of it, I somehow can consider myself lucky. If by chance someone had purchased me aside from Kael and I became just like those pets on a leash, my life would have been entirely different to what it is now. Maybe, my fate wasn’t that too bad? Yes, he had humiliated me and infringed my right to control my own body, but when I look at it from a different perspective, no one is as privileged as I am when compared to those people on leashes. Instead, I wore the most expensive ring and a diamond-crusted collar.
However, nothing compares to these things when it comes to the freedom I so much desire.
I was in my own bubble of thoughts and barely even observing my surroundings to notice that we have boarded the private plane. I was absentmindedly following Aya’s figure, walking down the aisle when an enormous hand suddenly grasps my arm, jolting me out from my reverie.
“You stay with me,” Kael's gruff voice grumbled behind me, throwing my heart into a flurry of beating. Aya halted on her steps and turn around to look at me, but her eyes went wide when she sees Kael holding my arm.
“I—it’s okay, Lilia. I will be with Sir Val,” she stammers for a bit, bowing her head at the sight of the man that stood behind me and shuffling on her feet as she quickly moved forward, following Val’s bulk that refused to even spare a look behind him.
I kind of feel sad that he hadn’t talked to me that much, but I was kind of a bit worried at the man that was dragging me closer towards the cockpit, then we stopped. I turn my head and look over my shoulders, I noticed that all of the other passengers were situated at the rear part, while here, in this remotely secluded area were only the two of us.
My chest ached from pounding too violently. I don’t know why I am feeling this strange. I have been with Kael many times already, yet, I always got these heebie-jeebies consuming me.
So, instead, I diverted my attention towards the interior of the plane, and what I saw made my mouth drops wide. The design emphasizes flowing lines with warm wood tones that are offset by clean, modern white and black accents. It was like I was in a five-star hotel room instead of being inside a literal plane. Cabin windows are concealed by panels that can dim automatically from blackout curtain dark to totally transparent. Display monitors and touch screens for entertainment are integrated into wall panels, visible only when they're turned on.
There’s no way that I am still inside the plane, and if not for the intercom that suddenly spoke, directing us to take a seat as we are about to take off, I would have thought Kael had transported me unknowingly to a hotel room.
“Sit down now, kukla,” Kael ushered me towards the sofa-looking seat that has belts attached to them. I begrudgingly followed him and took the place where he set me down.
I was about to pull the belts and fastened them myself but he preceded me with it. I just look at him, his gaze focused on the straps, securing me. I didn’t know I was holding my breath the entire time he was so close to me. His expensive perfume permeated my nostrils and were embedded in my brain. I curled my fingers on my side as it itches to rake on his neatly combed hair, wanting to ruffle them. However, those were only in my thoughts and instantly bursts soon as he moved across me and settled himself.
“Why are we the only ones in here?” I asked curiously, trying to calm my pent-up nerves, looking at him after he had done snapping his seatbelt.
Mainly, this part is spacious enough to accommodate more than two people.
“Do you have to question everything?” He squared his gaze on me, his voice was cold and hollow. I could not discern if either he was angry with my inquisition or he was just bored.
“No. I was only wondering,” I whispered, not wanting to prod his mood.
Kael didn’t respond, and took the magazine set on the glass table between us and began to read, while I was left on my own to entertain myself.
I felt my stomach drop and my gaze went towards the window, seeing that we are now ascending into the sky. I hold my breath, my chest pumping faster as I tried to calm my nerves, until the view outside filled with a never-ending blue sky and a sea of cotton-looking clouds. Just then, I finally relax.
Not a moment after, the curtain partition on our cabin suddenly swipes open and a beautiful lady in her red flight attendant uniform came. She was so tall that I have to crane my neck just to look at her on the face, her pointy high heels accentuating her long legs and I suddenly found myself overly insecure.
I could only wish I had her height. I would be contented, though I am not as beautiful as her.
“Is everything alright in here sir?” She asks sweetly to Kael, showing her perfectly straight rows of pearly white teeth and swiping her mascara-coated eyelids in his direction. She was holding a bottle of liquor and an empty glass. I look at the name tag pinned on her chest and read her name as “Shai.”
She pour the amber-colored liquor into the glass, filled it in half, and handed it to Kael. I watch him take the glass from her, his eyes brushing from her head to toe. And for some reason, this flight attendant woman named Shai suddenly unnerves me. I don’t know why, but I wanted her out of our sight at this very instant.
“Yes,” Kael uttered briefly before he took a sip on the drink then his attention went back to the magazine he was reading. Seemingly nonchalant about the heated gaze the flight attendant was giving him.
“Okay, sir. I will be at the back if you needed me with anything,” she softly responded, turning on her heels as she walked away without giving me a glance. Does she not see me? Am I not a person to her? Why didn’t she offer me something, or ask me if I wanted a juice or a soda?
It’s obvious that she only went here to catch Kael’s attention, which she successfully did.
“You were glaring, kukla,” Kael’s voice suddenly broke the silence, jolting me out from my gaze searing at the closed curtain where Shai had gone.
I immediately blinked out, and cleared my throat, meeting Kael’s eyes. “She likes you.”
“No, she wants my cock,” he vulgarly stated, chugging the liquor Shai had given him and putting down the magazine he was holding, then fixed his bemused gaze on me, “are you jealous?”