Last Flight Home

009: Monaco

Monaco.

Playground for the world's rich and the famous.

There was no airport in Monaco because most of the inhabitants had their own private helicopters. Either that or they travelled by speedboat and yacht. Ordinary folk had to get there by bus from Nice, the nearest city with an international airport.

Daehyun didn't own a helicopter, but at least he had enough money to pay for a speedboat rental.

"You know if it were me I'd probably only have enough money to take the bus," Alex told Daehyun as they stepped off board the charter speedboat and onto the Monaco docks. A rickety old bus had also just pulled into the bus stop not far from where they were, and a number of excited tourists alighted.

"No. You probably wouldn't even have enough money to afford the bus," Daehyun joked.

Alex rolled his eyes. "Sometimes I think that you're exactly the same as David Kim, you know?"

"Don't compare me with that asshole. At least I worked for what I have. He was born with a silver spoon shoved into his big mouth. Life is unfair."

"This is amazing!" a short distance away, Eunri stretched out her arms and declared cheerfully as she took in the sights and sounds of this city by the sea.

Monaco was well known for its share of high-end tourists, but looking around at the hundreds of white luxury yachts that were parked all around them, they were seeing for the first time what this actually meant.

Both Daehyun and Alex had been equally stunned when Eunri volunteered to come along with them to Monaco. Alex's first reaction was to leap over the moon; Daehyun's first reaction was just to be plain shell-shocked.

Alex grinned in response to Eunri's comment and picked up both their luggages, heading towards the taxi bay. "Come on," he said, "we should get going to the hotel."

Eunri's mood looked significantly better now than the first day he had seen her back in Shanghai. At least her smile was back on her face. She would never know how precious that was to him. Once he got back into his own body, he would make it a point to tell her all these things that he had so carelessly shoved aside before.

"Which hotel are we staying at?" Eunri trailed along behind him, her eyes still glued on the scenery.

"Four Seasons."

"Four Seasons."

#

After they had checked into the hotel and settled into their rooms, Alex took Eunri around for a stroll about town. He was being a tourist as well, actually, but Daehyun had been here several times before so he knew the place better.

Right now, they also had a bigger mission in mind: they had to get Eunri a new dress for tonight's party.

After turning Eunri's luggage upside down, they came to the realisation that she had brought nothing but casual clothing along for the trip, which was understandable since she was expecting to be going around as a tourist, not as a fashionista. However, all those were not going to do if they were to show up at David Kim's gathering. His invitation had clearly stated that it was to be formal wear, which meant tuxedos and gowns in Monaco terms. Daehyun hadn't packed a tux as well, so that was something he needed to get sorted too.

He took her straight to Vuitton.

When they reached the glass doors with their gilded gold handles, Eunri paused hesitantly. "Daehyun, are you sure we should be looking in here?" she asked.