14 hours | lee felix

2

14 hours before

"Welcome aboard, you're seated in Aisle B seat 4." the stewardess guides me onto the left side of the plane after scanning my ticket.

"Thank you." I slightly bow and head over to the economy seats.

I may have only half of my savings account now, but if i'm gonna be stuck in a plane for 10+ hours I'm gonna do it comfortably.

I walk through the aisles scanning the way to my seat.

"Geez this would be a bad time to forget the alphabet." I murmur to myself. I was suddenly grateful that my parents forced me and my brother to take English lessons for 8 years.

I eventually find my seat and, after struggling to fit my carry-on in the overhead compartment and almost dropping it on my head, i'm finally seated.

I place my other bag under my seat after taking out my phone, earbuds, and journal.

Around the same time i'm rummaging through my tote bag, a boy who looks extremely suspicious takes a seat right next to me.

Most times suspicious people on an airplane would make other people uncomfortable, but it looked like I was making him uncomfortable.

He had a black medical mask on, and was  avoiding my eyes like the plague. Almost half of his body was turned into the aisle and he kept nervously playing with his fingers.

'Am I the weird one?' I think to myself. I gaze down at my outfit, baggy sweatpants and a cropped top, that doesn't seem too weird. Maybe my hair is too messy?

I pick up my phone to take a look at myself, but the second I turn on my camera I see him slightly flinch.

Okay, so no camera usage for the next few hours I guess.

I put my phone down and I see him start to relax a bit more.

"Hi i'm Aera." I introduce myself using the softest voice I can. I'm afraid if I speak too loud he'll start to cry or something.

"Uh, Yongbok." he introduces himself briefly before turning back again.

"Good conversation, good conversation." I murmur to myself in English. Okay this guy is just for sure a weirdo.

God this flight is gonna be complete torture isn't it? I try to brush off the negative thoughts and plug my earphones into my phone.

Thank goodness I downloaded every NCT and SuperM song there is. Hopefully that'll get me through the flight.

After 3 replays of 'Tiger Inside' and a snippet of 'My First and Last' the pilot starts speaking.

Mostly just the junk that every plane ride routine has: in case of emergency blah blah, put your mask on before assisting blah blah blah, and of course thank you for choosing blah blah airline.

I've been on dozens of planes before, so i've had the before flight announcements memorized since I was 16.

Even though i'm used to planes, the tiniest bump or jostle makes me lose my braincells.

No matter what, I always freak out.

The plane begins to bump its way along the strip, and I wrap an iron grip around the arm rests. My eyes are closed so tight I think my contacts will either pop out, or become a permanent fixture to my eye.

With every small bump I feel myself begin to shake from anxiousness. Once we're fully in the air, and somewhat stable i'll be fine, but right now it always sucks.

"Is this your first flight?"

I open one eye, something I would never in a million years consider, but because the boy next to me speaks up I do.

He's actually looking at me, this time not with a look of standoffishness, but with sympathy and a look I can't quite read.

I shake my head, the words not being able to form.

"I'm just not good with the whole lift off, turbulence, or landing part." I admit, the nervousness very apparent by the shakiness of my voice. "It's just," I pause a bit embarrassed to admit. "It's really scary."

He chuckles.

Have I just been too occupied in being intimidated by him that I never noticed how nice his voice is. Even his laugh is like a full on symphony.

"I get it." he nods his head. "Don't worry, I promise it won't be to bad." he tries to assure me.

That's really sweet, but his words automatically turn into nothing as the plane goes through the bumpiest lift off i've ever experienced.

My eyes shut tightly once again, and I grip hard onto the armrests.

"Okay, that's my bad." he admits as he also grips onto the armrests. "I thought that would calm you down, but I think I made the universe angry."

We both brace for something worse, but instead we're happily greeted by a smooth ascension into the air.

"Oh my god, I'm never leaving Korea ever again." I declare out loud. "Maybe by boat." I add quietly.

As the words escape my mouth I turn and see him staring at me with a half smirk from my last comment.

Without missing a beat we both burst into laughter, ignoring the odd looks we're getting from the other passengers.

Our eyes meet, and he gives me another odd look. Do I actually have something on my face?

"You said your names Aera right?" his tone sounded more friendly now.

"Yeah, my mom's name was Aerin and my dad's name is Kyung-ah." I explain. "So like me, my name's mixed." I joke.

He laughs along and takes off his mask revealing his full smile.

Not gonna lie, his visuals blew me away.

"Well Aera, seems like it's gonna be an interesting 14 hours."

-:-:-:-

Woohoo new chapter:)

Thank you so much for all the support, i'm blown away that people are actually reading this storyʕ⁎̯͡⁎ʔ༄

Hope you guys have a good day, sorry this is a really lowkey chapter but something fun is coming in the next chapter!

<3