undercover. | lee minho

fifteen.

i sat slumped in the airport gate seat waiting for my flight to start boarding. i looked at my watch and groaned when it was twenty minutes past the estimated leave time.

i had been here about two hours now; arriving at 6pm to get myself through security and whatnot, then get some dinner at one of the fast food places here, then wait for my flight at the gate. the flight was supposed to leave at 8:20pm but as said before, it hasn't left yet.

safa would be watching over my cats for the next few days. i hope lino doesn't tear her to shreds when he realizes i've ben gone for more than three days. he hates when i have to leave for long periods of time.

"attention to those flying on the turkish airlines flight to ulaanbaatar: the flight will be delayed until 9:12pm. we're sorry for the inconvenience."

i looked up at the tv screen in front of me to see my flight with the word 'delayed' in yellow. "fuck this!" i mouthed.

i decided to get up and go get a drink from the coffee shop here if i'm going to be here another 20 minutes. why are we still here? no one has said why. gosh i hate flying sometimes!

i got into the short lineup and waited to be served. i decided i was going to get an iced americano so i could stay up while on the flight. i don't know why, i just don't like sleeping on planes. what if the flight attendant comes by and i'm sleeping? i want my complimentary pretzels or peanuts while i'm there!

i got served soon enough as it didn't take long for my iced americano to be made. i thanked the server and went back to my seat, which thankfully wasn't taken.

as i took a sip of my iced americano, feeling the cold sensation on my lips, i felt a person's presence behind me and their hot breath panting on my shoulder. i slowly turned around to meet eyes with a coworker i did not want to see before my flight.

"enjoying that coffee, aisha?" he asked, licking his lips.

i scrunched my nose in disgust. emil.

"mhm." i slowly nodded, fear laced in my hum.

emil is a strange one; especially with the girls at my office. he's always trying to pry his way into their love life and they always subtly decline, but he never stops. he's tried multiple times with me and when i had told him i had a boyfriend he looked perplexed and disheartened. one time he even followed an old coworker home.

"you know, i could've paid for that for you." he said.

i opened my mouth a little in surprise, taken aback by the sudden compliment. he pushed his thick framed glasses up his nose, smirking at what he just said.

i needed to find a way out of here. "uh, i'll be right back." i quickly got up from my seat to go to the washroom, which was conveniently across from the gate.

i quickly ran into the washroom with my carry on, putting it on top of the sink. i needed a moment to process what just happened. i prayed to the gods above that i didn't have to sit next to or near that guy. i would jump out of the aircraft if i had to.

at least the two other archaeologists were girls, so if he did start getting creepier with me i could just go up to one of them. i know them decently well too so we could easily just strike up a conversation if anything did happen.

once i decided it was safe to leave, i got my bag and made my way back to the gate, sitting close by my female coworker, astrid. she's one of the older archaeologists at my job, having worked there for over a decade.

"attention to those flying to ulaanbaatar: we will begin boarding those who require wheelchair assistance. please make your way to gate x to begin boarding, thank you."

i sighed in relief when we were finally able to board. and two minutes before the estimated time!

i stood up from my seat and waited over by the window to be called to board. i watched as planes taxied off of the runway and into the sky and some flying into the airport.

ten minutes later, the intercom called for all passengers to board. i lined up, got my passport checked, then got onto the plane. my seat was closer to the back, away from emil, and in a window seat. the person in the aisle seat was a young woman who looked around the same age as me, so i didn't need to worry about other creepy men. i texted my mom that i was on the plane and i'd tell her when i landed in istanbul for my layover.

~~~

i arrived in ulaanbaatar at around 8am, jet lagged like crazy. i tried sleeping a little at the airport in istanbul as i had a 7 hour layover but decided airport seats weren't comfortable. plus, i had never been to the istanbul airport so i had lots of time to explore it.

i immediately texted my mom that i had arrived in ulaanbaatar safely. we now had to take a bus all the way to kharkhorin—formerly called karakorum—famously known as the former capital city of the mongol empire. tomorrow we will go to the dig site and do research on the items found. i'm pretty excited; this is one of my favourite parts of my job. erdene zuu monastery is also nearby, which is apparently one of the oldest buddhist monasteries in mongolia.

we were guided to our bus which was parked outside of the airport. i sat closer to the front so i could get off the bus and into the hotel quicker. i pulled out my phone so i could tell lee my adventures.

aisha
HI LEE

IM IN MONGOLIA OMW TO KHARKHORIN

lee
yay!

where is that located?

aisha
northwestern mongolia

look on google maps idk

lee
too lazy

how far behind in time are you?

aisha
only an hour

i can basically talk to you whenever now

lee
yayyy!

no more staying up for you!

aisha
aww you stay up for me? so cute!

lee
only for your cats

aisha
uh huh

lee
how are you getting to kharkhorin?

aisha
bus

i'm so exhausted i could pass out here

but buses are uncomfortable

lee
they don't have to be if you've been on many of them

aisha
yeah well not all of us travel with kpop groups

i only travel like once a year for my job

lee
is safa on the trip with you?

aisha
no unfortunately

okay well imma head off and look out the window
even tho there's probably not much other than
dust

lee
have fun! bye!

aisha
byeee

—author's note—
hellooo!!

i start school on tuesday... i'm gonna kms i barely have classes with my friends ☹️ and updates may be a little slower now depending on if i get homework from teachers or not

and ty for 500 reads!! ❤️

have a nice day!