Kaija was completely speechless.
Even Juho was giving her a sorry look. "I can take care of that, you go," he said, pulling out his wallet.
"No, no, no!" She held both hands up. "I've troubled you enough."
She quickly paid for the drink and disappeared from that café, promising herself she'd never return to that place ever again.
As for why Kaija didn't stay to properly thank her savior, or at least prolong the conversation... She had a tiny, slightly awkward problem with Juho.
She found Juho attractive.
His soft black hair always fell carelessly to the sides of his face, like in one of those breathtaking movie scenes. He'd been the most supportive during training in this quiet, gentle way of his — holding doors, volunteering for the drills, helping others study exam materials.
All of those subtle details just somehow caught her eyes and strung her heart in ways that she wasn't even conscious of. But she was with Niklas back then, so she'd deliberately kept distance from Juho, exactly the way she'd escaped that café earlier. She only hoped Juho hadn't noticed she was blushing the entire time.
That night, unlike all the typical romance dramas she'd seen, she somehow had the most peaceful sleep, even after breaking up with Niklas. It felt as if she'd only become truly honest with herself about the whole relationship after it ended.
While she used to tell herself it was fine to endure long hours of painful sex with Niklas and pretend to enjoy the whole damn thing — the same way she'd endured his excessive smoking and gaming habits — she realized those were things she didn't even find remotely attractive. Maybe that was why she got over him so quickly, so unnaturally. Maybe she should even thank God that Niklas had cheated on her.
The next morning, Kaija arrived at work with the most proper makeup she'd ever managed to put on. Previously, no matter how hard she tried, her makeup always ended up looking like a work of abstract art. Better yet, she was assigned to the middle section with the Economy class rather than stuck with some cranky VVIP again.
Kaija stood at her assigned doors, hand to her chest, bowing slightly with a gracious smile whenever a passenger passed by as they boarded the plane. Then she spotted a pregnant woman coming with an infant.
The woman was packed, literally — a huge backpack on her back, her baby strapped to her front, on top of her seven-month-ish belly, both hands carrying two more bags. As if that wasn't enough, the baby started crying.
Kaija left her position and went to help the woman. She put the backpack up, then helped the woman into her seat. The baby still wouldn't stop crying, and he only seemed to get louder by the second.
Soon, some of the nearby passengers started looking visibly displeased at the noise, so Kaija decided to stay there and entertain the baby a bit longer.
"Come on, little angel, please stop crying," she begged, cradling him gently.
But no, he wouldn't stop. Even his own mother was helpless. That was when Kaija heard a drawling male voice shouting from behind her, his tone already heavy with anger.
"What the fuck is wrong with that baby? Can't you fucking put him to sleep? Seal his fucking mouth?"
She turned around sharply. It was a man in his fifties, his face all red, probably from rage.
Great, another crying baby, she thought. "I'm very sorry, sir," she said calmly. "The baby is feeling a bit uncomfortable. Please understa—"
"Understand my fucking ass! I'm not putting up with this screaming bullshit. I'm getting out of here."
Huh?! Out of here? This is a damn plane you're on now, dude, where are you gonna—
Before she could even finish her thought, the man lunged toward the emergency exit with the speed of light, his hand yanking the cover of the door handle open. Her soul left her body the moment she realized what he meant by getting out of here. The baby landed back into his mother's arms at once.
"NO! STOP! DON'T!" Kaija screamed. "NOT THAT DOOR!"
She ran toward the man desperately, her heels slamming against the floor loudly as all eyes in the cabin turned toward them.
"YOU CAN'T OPEN THAT DOOR!"
In one decisive motion, the man yanked the handle upward, and a loud puffing sound immediately followed. The emergency exit burst open. Air blasted through, and the emergency slide inflated in seconds, stretching all the way down to the ground below.
The gust that hit Kaija's face was freezing, but inside, her blood went even colder. The second worst thing that could possibly happen to a flight attendant — right after an actual crash — had just happened: an emergency door had been opened while it was still fully armed.
That meant the aircraft was now out of service. Soon, every passenger would have to disembark. Every flight scheduled for that aircraft — today, tomorrow, and probably for weeks — would be cancelled. The plane would need to be sent halfway across the world to have the slide reinstalled by the manufacturer, all at an eye-watering cost. In short, the financial damage this man had just caused was enormous.
Adrenaline coursed through Kaija's veins. She lunged at the man and slammed him to the floor with every bit of strength she had left. "You've violated international aviation law, sir!" she shouted, pinning him down. "You're to be detained and offloaded from this airplane right now!"
The man screamed and thrashed beneath her, but her fury overpowered his big, sluggish body. A strong alcoholic stench hit her nose. Turned out his red face wasn't from anger after all — dude was totally wasted.
Her crewmates rushed toward them, but by then, there wasn't much left to do. The damage had been done. Soon, airport security flooded the cabin and hauled the man away. The passengers were offloaded. Kaija's crew was escorted first to the airport office, then to the airline's headquarters.
Hours of investigation and questioning later, she was finally cleared to go home, but with a grounded status. That meant all her upcoming flights were wiped clean, indefinitely, until the investigation concluded and the airline decided what to do with her.
"No, no, no, fuck, no..." she muttered, staring hopelessly at her phone as the taxi sped through the city.
It was supposed to be a good day at work. It had started great. She'd felt as if God was on her side after the breakup with Niklas. Why did everything have to go so horribly, disgustingly wrong?
The elevator dinged as it reached her floor. The wheels of her suitcase dragged heavily behind her. One defeated step after another, Kaija reached home — only to find a familiar figure standing by her door.
Long, wavy golden walnut hair. Brilliant sapphire blue eyes, the very shade that mirrored hers. The last person she wanted to see right now — Marja.