Madrid English Version

Chapter 25

(This will be a fairly long chapter, longer than usual, and please feel free to comment - it's one of my favorite chapters, and I hope you'll enjoy it too!)

The quartet split into two groups on Monday afternoon. Lando went off on his own to his native island, while the three Hispanics returned to the Spanish capital. Carlos decided to make the most of the two engineers, inviting them to return with him on a private jet. Aria refused at first sight, not wanting to take advantage of his kindness, to which the pilot assured her that he'd rather have them on his plane than on a commercial flight. In the plane, the two engineers were facing each other, while the pilot was on the other side of the aisle, diagonally across from the brunette, leaving him free to look at her discreetly.

During the almost eight-hour flight, Aria took the opportunity to work with her friend. Aria had to check that each of the components making up the rocket engine on which NASA was working was flawless, and that it was not part of a rocket that had previously failed in some way. To ensure her concentration, the Spaniard took a small case out of her bag and opened it, without taking her eyes off the computer screen, before placing thin metal glasses on her nose and plunging back into reading the open document. The dark-haired man was watching her annotate a few sentences in her notebook, which was on the left-hand side of her computer, being left-handed, as he discovered when he saw her writing with her left hand.

Instinctively, Carlos raised the hand he didn't know how to write with and began to pretend he was writing in a vacuum, a few centimetres from the table in front of him, to see what it felt like to write with that hand. He had just noticed that everything the brunette did, she did with her left hand, she pressed elevator buttons with her left hand, held her phone, her cutlery, her purse... Whereas he, only knew how to use his left hand to drive, otherwise he only used the hand he had learned to write with.

The dark-haired man was glad that the two young women were working, so he could watch his next-door neighbor freely, without anyone knowing. He saw that the sweater the brunette was wearing was none other than the one he'd given her a few days earlier. His cheeks turned red, forcing him to turn his head towards the window, not wanting to be seen in this state. The clouds caught her attention until her cheeks returned to normal.

It was only halfway through the flight that the brunette rose from her seat, stretching and walking along the aisle, her muscles numb after four hours without moving. While the Italian had got up many times, to walk, go to the toilet, or take her mind off things, a sign of her hyperactivity, which was sometimes complicated to manage on long journeys like this. Alba stood in the middle of the aisle, where there was the most space, before doing some stretching, worthy of a yoga session, under the surprised gazes of the two Spaniards.

- I beg you, please tell me there's food on this plane, said the Italian, clasping her hands together and kneeling before the dark-haired man in supplication, pretending to cry.

- No, the crew forgot to bring food, he announced, and the blonde dropped to the ground in the most dramatic way.

- No!!! Why? Why me? Why are you picking on me? She said, raising her hands and head to the sky, pretending to speak to the heavens, which provoked laughter from Carlos and Aria.

- It was a joke, Alba, we've got food next to the cockpit, confessed the dark-haired man, not wanting to be accused of starving the two engineers, and of being killed by his best friend if the Italian girl disappeared because of him.

- Yes!!! Oh Carlos, that's the nicest thing you could have said to me.

The pilot then asked if they could be served, and ten minutes later, the Hispanics were able to start eating, much to Alba's delight. For starters, they had a tomato salad with mozzarella, for main course the pilot had ordered tortillas with peppers and chicken, and for dessert tiramisu, to celebrate the start of the vacation. When the hostess brought out the main course, Aria stared longingly at her plate before beginning to eat, not wanting to cause any waves. Alba immediately guessed the source of the problem, but said nothing.