No Looking Back

Chapter 12

Faiz's POV:

"Faiz!" I hear someone call out, interrupting my sleep. I groan, half-consciously throwing my left arm over my eyes.

Where am I? Who was that? Wait, is that an engine? Am I on a plane?

"Faiz, wake up!" the voice says again, shaking me.

I slowly open my eyes to see Layla crouching next to my seat. Suddenly, everything comes back to me. Layla and I are going to Buenos Aires to officially open my first hotel and restaurant.

I sit up and stretch my arms, throwing Layla a smirk, "Good morning, Layla."

She stands up from her crouching spot next to my bed and walks around back to her seat.

"Morning. We've reached. They've said we're landing now," She says, busying herself with organizing her purse across from me. I nod and check my laptop bag, making sure my phone and laptop, along with their chargers, are inside.

I open the overhead compartment and bring down my suitcase, taking out my passport bag and placing that in my laptop bag as well, just in case.

I then swiftly place my suitcase back in the overhead compartment and go back to my seat. I raise my seat so it's back to its normal position. I then get seated, Layla doing the same.

"You look like you just came back from a fight," Layla says after a moment, pointing to my wrinkled shirt and my ruffled hair.

I let out a laugh, "Yeah? Well, I would say the exact same thing, only knowing you, you probably stared them down or something."

Her dress had wrinkles in it, too, but otherwise, she still looked beautiful.

No, not beautiful, Faiz.

"Is that what you think I do? Stare down entitled clients?" She asks, raising a brow.

"Yes... is that not what you do?" 

"No. I'll have you know, I don't stare them down. I challenge them to a swordfight. Get with the times."

"Oh, that's totally my bad, Layla. Should've known," I reply, shaking my head in mock solemn.

She cracks a grin, looking like she's forcing herself not to laugh, and turns her attention toward the window. She pulls up the blind and views the clear blue September sky and the large clouds right beneath us.

"Good morning, this is your captain speaking. We will be landing shortly. Passengers and Staff, prepare for landing," the overhead speaker announces. We descend slowly, first into the clouds, and then we get closer to Argentine ground.

"Passengers, please have your passports with the necessary documents at hand, as the Argentina Customs Officers will be boarding as soon as we land. Thank you."

We hear on the speakers again. We comply, taking out our passport bags. I place mine on the table while Layla has hers in her lap.

Once we've landed, two officers come on board, one female and one male.

"Buenas Dias, Señor. ¿Es usted el Señor Faiz Aslam?" The man asks me.

I nod my head, "Si, me nombre es Faiz Aslam, y esta es señorita Layla Abbasi, mi compañera."

The man's eyes widen a little at my fluency in Spanish before nodding his head respectfully to Layla.

She seems shocked as well, probably from my Spanish. Little does she know that's not the only language I'm fluent in.

"Sus pasaportes y visas, por favor," the man requests, nodding to the lady officer to check Layla's documents as well. I take out my passport and hand it to him. He skims through it, glancing up at me after a couple of seconds, and then looks at the visa.