Risk Taker [Englot]

Chapter 3

I felt like I had spent the last few days fighting with Apo. Nothing seemed to go through him, every single thing I could say was making him angry and every single thing he did was making me feel so upset too. It was almost time to leave home to go meet Charlotte at the airport and my house was in shambles...

My suitcase was ready the night before and I only had to put my laptop and smartphone into my backpack with my passport before kissing everyone goodbye. But... Apo was rambling about something while putting away the kids' toys that were everywhere on the ground, while Champ was crawling on the rug, vocalizing like an opera singer... I took a deep breath and took my baby boy in my arms one last time, kissing his chubby cheeks, singing with him.

"Sun! Come here!" Apo said in a harsh tone.

Our son came from his room and followed his dad's instructions, taking a few toys away himself. My phone started buzzing on my laptop. It was the taxi driver, telling me he had just pulled up in front of our building. I told him that I would be down in 5 minutes and hung up. I put my phone back on the table, hugging Sun tighter.

"I'm gonna miss you baby." I said to him, looking at his dark eyes then kissing his forehead.

"Don't put him back down, he's gonna put toys everywhere again!" Apo almost yelled as I was giving my son his freedom back.

"I can't hold him any longer, I need to get down, the taxi is here already..."

"You're not the one who's gonna have to clean everything back again!"

"Calm down, Apo..." I tried.

"Don't tell me to call down, I'm already tired of this..."

Apo started complaining again. I was getting mad looking at him putting the toys forcefully, almost throwing them in the bins. I started talking back to him because he was really going on my nerves when he screamed...

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING, SUN?! GET DOWN NOW!"

I turned around quickly, only to find my son up on a chair, his hand in the aquarium holding my phone... I looked down at the table... My work phone...

"Sun! No, no, no, no, no!!" I said, rushing towards him, taking him in my arms and putting him back down.

"WHAT DID YOU DO?" Apo kept on yelling.

"Stop." I said to him. "Go take care of Champ, I'll deal with Sun."

I saw Apo bite his lower lip, his nose flaring, before he turned away and grabbed our baby from the ground, going to the kitchen. I looked at Sun, his sleeve all wet and my phone dripping in his hand.

"What were you doing with my phone, Sunny?" I said looking at him, shaking my head.

"I want take pictures of the fishes..." he tried to explain.

"You know you're not allowed to play with Mommy and Daddy's things... My phone is probably broken now... Give it back to me, please."

He did and I took his shirt off him. I took him by the hand and guided him towards his bedroom to put a dry shirt on. We had a little discussion about electronic devices and water... As we went back to the living room Apo was back, he had put Champ on his chair.

"Do you want to put your phone in the rice container?" Apo asked, giving me a dish towel to dry the phone.

"No thanks, I don't have time to do that. The taxi driver won't be waiting for me if I don't go now." I replied.

I hugged and kissed Sun, whispering to him that everything was gonna be alright and that I loved him very much. I put my dead phone in my backpack along with my laptop, gave Apo the towel and accepted the peck he gave me, even though I wanted to scream right now.

"I'm gonna miss you boys! I'll send you pictures from New York... I love you!" I said as I went through the door.

Thankfully the taxi was still there even though I made him wait for so long. He assured me that he would get me to the airport on time and he did. I gave him a big tip and started to run through the airport to the check-in area. Since my phone was dead I couldn't text Charlotte and I was sure she was worrying like crazy, as boarding had most probably already started. I went through security and rushed towards the gate as fast as possible. Charlotte was there waiting for me, looking so stressed out.

"Charlotte! I'm sorry! I'm so late!" I tried to say, panting.

"Are you ok?" she asked, a smile lightning up her face.

I apologized while we got in line to board the plane, explaining how my phone died just before I was supposed to leave home. We found our seats and even though Charlotte tried to chat and lift the mood, I wasn't really focused on what she was saying. I was still reliving what happened at home. I was angry at Apo and sad to have left my sons so fast after the argument... Plus my phone was dead... I needed things to change... I usually was a risk taker but even though I knew I was not happy anymore I didn't seem to be able to do anything about it... I even let him kiss me... when he had probably been kissing other women for quite some time now...

The plane started moving, taking me out of my spiraling thoughts. My stomach got tight, my heart went into a weird rhythm and I grabbed the armrest, tensing up. Take off was absolutely not my thing... because of the chances of dying and all that... I was so glad my sister would help during those few days... Champ was almost one year old... I had never left so far and for so long since he was born...

"Are you sure you're ok, Engfa?" I heard Charlotte ask softly.

"I don't mind flying, but take off and landing always make me nervous." I said, playing the honesty card.

She then proceeded to take my hand in hers, so gently, making my heart pound even faster than it already was.

"What are you doing?" I whispered, completely taken aback.

"It's gonna be ok, I'm here with you." she answered, caressing the skin at the back of my hand. "Breathe in. Breathe out. I'm here."

My mind was going crazy now. I didn't know how to react so I surrendered and closed my eyes, doing as she just said, trying to hide the whirlwind of emotions I was in. When the plane was really about to take off, I couldn't help but squeeze her hand in reflex, being genuinely scared. Fuck... I was already being so unprofessional... And my thoughts were starting to get crazy about being more unprofessional with Charlotte, as a way to keep me off the plane possibly crashing in a few seconds...

To my surprise, like a dozen times before... we didn't crash. So I got quickly back on track and we finished working on our presentation. We started chatting about everything and nothing when Charlotte revealed suddenly that she got into a fight with her husband before leaving. I was surprised to hear that and started to share my private life with her without even thinking about it. I realized that I did when I saw Charlotte's shocked face. She was so easy to talk to, she made me feel safe and like I could be honest about what was going on in my life. I didn't know how she could make me open like that... Did she voodooed me? I was talking about Apo like I would have talk with Nudee or Dolly when she asked :

"Have you ever thought about seeing someone?"

She could be so blunt sometimes. Behind this cute and reserved facade... she could switch up and surprise you just like that. My mind went blank as she looked at me with her big eyes, I turned away from her to try and answer.

"I... I do have a crush on somebody... but they're not available and I don't know if I'm willing to risk it all, even though I know Apo and I will probably go through divorce sooner or later..." I replied, rubbing my temples, trying to hide the fact that I was talking about her...

"I... what I meant was, are you seeing someone as like... a therapist. You seemed to have a lot of guilt even though you're not the only one to blame here..."

How dumb could I be? I started to feel the blush creeping on my cheeks...

"Oh... I'm sorry, I thought..."

"Don't apologize. It's ok to think about those things when life gets hard." she replied, trying to help me save face.

I didn't know what to say anymore but thankfully the speaker blasted that we were going to land soon, saving me from having to keep up with the conversation and forcing us to tidy up our things. I hesitated a bit before I dared to ask Charlotte to hold my hand again. I knew this was probably not what a manager was supposed to ask a team member but I was really scared of landing too... She took my hand so fast and with such a sweet smile that I couldn't help but feel instantly better.

"I've got you." she whispered.

We were seated in the second plane after a short stepover, when Charlotte offered me her hand before take off so naturally. It was so late already that I started drifting to sleep a few minutes after the plane had stopped shaking. My dreams were weird, I was fleeing from shadows while trying to follow something that smelled like oranges and I woke up with my neck kind of sore. As I opened my eyes, I realized that I had my head on Charlotte's... and hers was on my shoulder. The smell of her perfume got in my nose... Oranges... I started to panic a little but got calmer as I looked at her peaceful face. I checked the time on the little screen in front of me, we were almost in New York. Thank god, cause I really needed to stretch my body. I decided to let Charlotte sleep as much as possible as jet lag would probably hit us later.

"Mmmmm..."

I turned my head slowly towards her, as it seemed that Charlotte was starting to wake up. But she wasn't... She was... mumbling in her sleep? No, I must have been imagining things...

"Mmmm... feels good..." she sort of moaned softly.

Oh? Was she...? No... Stop that, Engfa!

"Mmmmmm... mo... more..." she was definitely moaning.

I tried to compose myself... Charlotte seemed to be having a good dream right now. I was a bit jealous... I didn't move at all, not knowing what to do. Should I wake her up? I listened closely to hear what she would mumble next to decide how to act.

"... so good... Engfa!"

My eyes went as wide as they could get as I felt an electric shock go through my body. Did she just moan my name??? Was she having a sexy dream about me?? Did this mean that she fancied me too? Was I delusional? There was no denying that I was attracted to her but... Should I... No... Engfa, no! She was a coworker... But what if...

The announcement of the plane going to land in a few minutes got me out of my thoughts again. I decided to wake Charlotte up, calling her gently but she didn't react. I nudged her gently with my shoulder, calling her name again. She groaned gently as she opened her eyes and looked up at me with such a sweet smile. My heart trembled a bit.

"We're going to land in New York, Charlotte. You should fasten your seatbelt." I said, looking back at her, unable to move.

She jerked suddenly and sat back, fastening her seatbelt. She was definitely blushing, I was sure of it. I didn't know if it was a good move or not, but I reached for her hand. I was gonna freak out anyway. Halfway through the plane descent, I felt her squeeze my hand, not looking at me. I squeezed back without a word. I was overwhelmed with feelings right now. Surviving from a plane crash was the first but thoughts of Charlotte moaning... Charlotte in between my arms... Could there be a chance of this happening? Was this New York trip the push I needed to change my life? Could Charlotte be a part of it?

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Hello readers! Hope this chapter will find you all well and bring you a bit of happiness today!
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