Money Trees

2 ✮ city of delayed flights

Unfortunately, by the time Mai got on the plane, she realised she wasn't seated beside Apollo. He smiled at her as she fumbled through the narrow aisle to get to her seat, located four rows behind him. Her neck ached from having to twist it awkwardly to catch a glimpse of him every now and then through the cracks between the seats. Mai's seat was wedged between one man with blaring headphones and another who, to be fair, was lovely but breathed extremely loudly. 'Loud Headphones Man' was becoming more and more irritated by Mai as she kept entering his personal bubble to look at Apollo. She couldn't help it however. Her curiosity was getting the best of her.

She felt a strange need to get to know Apollo.

  At one point, Mai spotted him take out a camera and aim it out the window. She wished she was one of those people who saw beauty in everything. She acknowledged that the bird's eye view of Europe was interesting but she felt like she couldn't fully appreciate its beauty like other people. In saying that, she could certainly appreciate Apollo's beauty. Like his namesake, he looked strong and dazzling. His raven hair was casually pushed back with a strand falling on his face. And like the Greek god, he seemed like a figurative source of life and joy.

Mai cringed to herself. She barely knew him. Why was her brain creating such a detailed description of a guy she only met once?

She leaned over to see if he did anything else that would give her an idea of the type of person he was.

  "Can you stop getting so close to me?!" 'Loud Headphones Man' hissed when she entered his bubble for the umpteenth time.

  "Sorry!"

Maybe her sudden interest was a sign that she was incredibly bored with her life. Even in London, all the partying got old eventually and she grew more and more insatiable.

Had she outgrown late nights and drunk dancing?

She laughed to herself for even thinking that. What a silly thought.

  She was at the prime of her life! Still, she had hoped to achieve more from her experiences in London. Even her job wasn't as fulfilling as she hoped it would be. 'Fashion Editorial Intern' turned out to just be a glorified title for 'Personal Assistant' . She spent most of her time fetching coffee for the big names in fashion without so much as a thank you from them. And when she tried to speak up, Carole would quickly shut her down ("Now is not the time!"). She craved something more challenging, something more exciting. Maybe she would find the answer to her problems home in New York. Maybe.

It was snowing heavily by the time the plane arrived in Paris and Mai felt cold just by looking at the thick blanket of snow at the airport. The city of lights was dimmed by frost and snowflake floaters in her vision. The flight took an extra hour to land in order to overcome the snow and when they finally left the aircraft, Mai let herself stretch with her satisfaction sewn into a long sigh. It was a rough journey. The seats of economy class wrecked havoc on her back and they didn't even get proper snacks during the flight! All they got was a smushed croissant packed into a puffed plastic wrapper (it wasn't even warmed!) and a bottle of water.

  Trudging out of the plane, she found Apollo standing near the entrance into the airport, rapidly tapping his phone. A smile found its way to her lips and butterflies found their way to her stomach.

  Would she play it cool and walk past without saying anything? Or would she casually nod at him? Or maybe she could say something smart and witty? Or-

  "Hey," He said, lifting his eyes from his phone.

Damn it. That was so cool.

"Did you hear the news?"