Five months later.
Starlight Airlines' headquarters, Z City.
Kaija walked into the headquarters with a sulking look on her face.
Her hair was done up neatly in a French twist without a single strand astray, her light blue flight attendant dress hugging every curves on her body perfectly, yet her black high heels were slamming against the polished floor in heavy, irritated steps, the suitcase behind her creaking loudly.
Before leaving her apartment for work, she'd gotten into a fight with her boyfriend of four years, Niklas.
He'd already fought her every day when she first told him she wanted to apply for this flight attendant job. After she finished required training and officially started flying, things only got worse.
Today was no different. Niklas had stormed out of her apartment calling her a worthless slut again for doing this indecent job. He said sooner or later she would cheat on him with some old pilot, if she spent all day walking around, bending and kneeling in that tight uniform.
Her frustration was indescribable. It wasn't even like she loved this job. She was only doing it because it paid better than any other jobs available to a 22-year-old fresh out of college like her, and she still had a S$50,000 college debt waiting for her in the bank.
How could a young man once so polite and thoughtful became so unbelievably rude and unreasonable in just four years?
A weary sigh slipped out as she pushed open the door to the briefing room.
It was a morning flight duty. The room was packed, as usual.
Just as Kaija stepped over to the makeup tables in the corner to touch up her cheeks, her phone vibrated in her pocket. It was a text from Niklas.
"Can't wait to see you. Don't forget, Blue Dreams Café, 6 PM."
Her lips curved into a smile. She'd thought he'd ghost her for days like he usually did after their fights. Now he was reaching out first, and even asking her on a date? Maybe he felt guilty for the insults he'd thrown at her this morning.
She quickly searched her keyboard for a kissy emoji. Before she could hit send, another text came.
"Love you, Marja."
Kaija's finger froze above the send button.
There was only one Marja that both Niklas and she knew. Her best friend from childhood, Marja Ralpha. But, was she really? Now that the truth had punched her in the face, she wasn't sure what to think anymore.
She thought of texting back, or calling Niklas right away and screaming into the phone like in some dramatic movie scene. But in front of this many colleagues? And waste a golden chance to catch them both right in the act?
No fucking way.
She already had the location, the time. All she had to do was wait until her duty was over, then head to Blue Dreams Café before 6 PM. That way, neither of them could deny their crimes.
She bit down on her lip, drawing in slow breaths to steady her shaking hands, and slid the phone back into her pocket. Then she quietly went to the dressing table, reapplied her lipstick, and joined her crew at the briefing table like nothing had happened.
As expected, Kaija was once again the youngest face at the table. She took the seat next to the purser, with two more girls sitting opposite her. They were flying a single-aisle aircraft today, so only four crew members including the purser were needed for this duty.
"Who wants to volunteer for Business Class today?" the purser asked.
"Depends on how many we're having in Business Class today, sister," one girl replied quickly with a bright smile. She'd been around long enough to know when to volunteer and when not to.
The purser lifted her gaze, her mouth curving into a knowing smile. "Six pax outbound, one VVIP inbound."
All three girls froze, Kaija included.
The girl from earlier was the first to break the dreadful silence. "I've been up there so many times now," she said, her grin widening even more. Then she turned to Kaija. "Why don't we let our new girl get some more practice?"
The other girl chimed in just as brightly. "Kaija here comes from the latest batch, right? Practice makes perfect, Kaija. Maybe you should take Business Class."
"What do you say, Kaija?" the purser asked, tone casual as she pulled out her phone to check something.
Next to her, Kaija lowered her face and rolled her eyes in silence, smirking bitterly. If she retorted or deflected now, being the newbie she was, she'd only be signing herself up for some lovely chatter behind her back.
Something like...
"Oh, that girl Kaija, she's new but she doesn't want to learn anything."
Or maybe something like,
"You wouldn't wanna fly with that Kaija, she's laaazy."
So as a result, Kaija had no choice but to accept her grim fate.
She gave her two dear colleagues that friendly newbie smile, then turned to the purser and said, "Of course I'd love to take Business Class today! I look forward to learning a lot from you, purser!"
The purser didn't care to reply to her typical newbie response. She quietly wrote down Kaija's position on the flight info paper, then turned her attention back to her phone.
Kaija stole a glance at her screen. Turns out the purser had looked up that VVIP passenger's name, and now she was reading a news article about him.
Charles Kosonen.
The last name said it all. The Kosonen family that owned half the media & entertainment companies in S Country and beyond.
The man wasn't just any millionaire whose name no one had ever heard of. He was a billionaire. The CEO of Kosonen Entertainment, widely known as KE, and possibly the future Chairman of Kosonen Group, should his father consider him fit for the seat.
Though Kaija was new, she'd already known VVIPs like him were extremely fussy.
Displease them, and they'd fill out complaint forms until there was no space left to write, and complaints from VVIPs meant massive point deductions from the attendant's monthly scorecards, which eventually reduced their bonuses. It was only natural that none of Kaija's crewmates wanted that position, and pushed it to her.
Soon, the briefing ended, and the flight crew left the room to head for the airport.
The outbound flight was just routine. The returning flight was the real game. The VVIP would be on that one.
There was just one problem, though.
According to Kaija's colleagues, Charles Kosonen had only started flying with Starlight Airlines around the same time she joined, just five months ago, and he'd kept flying multiple times since. And yet, in such a short time, he'd managed to earn a great deal of hatred from Kaija's colleagues. She'd overheard them gossip about him endlessly in the back galley.
They said he never spoke a word or made a single demand. He'd just sit there, looking calm and cool in his suit, reading the newspapers or working on his laptop. Sometimes he'd just nap.
However.
Though he never showed any hint of being pleased or annoyed, Charles Kosonen always left a complaint, no matter how perfectly the attendants delivered the service routine.
Normally, something like that was enough to make Kaija wanna flip a table and start worrying about her scorecard. But as she prepared for the return flight, her brain was still too numb from learning that Niklas was cheating on her with some girl called Marja to even panic properly.
So she did what she always did: put on that practiced smile and ran through the steps of the VVIP service routine in her head. First thing first, the easiest step: Greet the VVIP with your brightest, warmest smile.
Kaija stood waiting at the front door with the purser. Five minutes after they called for boarding, Charles Kosonen appeared before any other passenger.
He looked more handsome in person than in the photos she'd seen of him on the news, but also more... intimidating.
Chestnut hair. Bright, piercing silver eyes. Black tailored fit suit. Shiny leather shoes. Expression so cold it screamed, don't talk to me or I'll ruin your life.
When he boarded the plane, he simply passed her by without a glance. Then he went straight to his seat, sat down, pulled out his laptop and started working, his carry on bags left blocking the aisle.
Her impression of Charles dropped from ten to zero at once.
She headed down the aisle with a smiley face and graciously lifted them both into the overhead compartment without making any unnecessary noise. Before Kaija could returned to the galley to prepare the welcome drinks, Charles's voice came.
"Wait."
Kaija froze mid-step.
Slowly, she turned around and lowered herself to one knee before him, looking up with her brightest smile. "Yes, Mr. Kosonen?" she asked. "What can I do for you?"
Charles's face was a surprised look, his tone urgent. "Kaija Sepala?"
The question startled her. Usually, she'd introduce herself when she served the welcome drinks. He must have caught her name on the name tag, but she didn't think he'd care enough to even notice that.
"Yes, Mr. Kosonen," Kaija replied. "I'm Kaija. I'll be serving you on this flight today. Is there anything I could help you with?"
Charles didn't say anything for a while. He kept staring down at her with those piercing silver eyes of his.
Then, in a low, steely voice, he asked, "Kaija, do you have a boyfriend?"