Page 30

They made a deal, although Arianna had to fight the toughest parts of her self-consciousness to remain firm. She would stay the night. She would have an early breakfast with Elle, complete with orange juice, toast, and more fruit than any normal person could eat in one hour. But then she was getting dressed and returning to her room. Elle would check out as she originally planned. She would head to LAX and board a Royal Asia commuter flight to Seattle, where she would not flirt with any of the flight attendants. This affair would not continue for the remainder of the trip. Maybe in the future. That was why they agreed to exchange numbers and WhatsApp handles. Elle would not get on one of Arianna’s flights without warning her first.

They would figure it out from there.

Arianna kept her chin up as she snuck back into her hotel room at ten the next morning. She luckily bypassed any of her coworkers who may have spotted her in the same outfit from the evening before. She even made it back to her room without thinking about Elle too much – although she did smile at herself in the elevator mirror when she remembered what it had felt like to make love in the shower, the water pouring over her face as Elle surged against her.

The smile disappeared when she stepped into the hallway and entered her room. The bed was still perfectly made, the Do Not Disturb sign hanging on the handle. Arianna changed into her loungewear and removed the lipstick and eyeliner she had hastily applied the moment she got up and rushed into the bathroom before Elle saw her at her morning dewiest.

It wasn’t until she was in front of the full-length mirror hanging in the main room that she finally took down her hair, allowing it to plop on her shoulders and fall across her chest.

Loungewear. No makeup. Hair down. This was the Arianna Song who hid in her apartment, her hotel rooms. Only her mother and sister were allowed to see her like this, and even then, it was mostly Kaylinn. Pearl was too proud of the proper lady her oldest had become after joining Singapura Airlines.

Arianna stared at the woman in the mirror. I don’t know her… A mess. An abandoned child. A tarnished gem buried deep in a chest of forgotten hopes.

A tear formed in the corner of Arianna’s eye. She allowed it to drip down her cheek.

If Elle had seen this woman, would she still want to sleep with her? Was this woman even worthy of being made love to three times in one night?

Arianna spread her fingers before her. There was the dark red nail polish that had defined her new look at Royal Asia.

A sliver of the woman she dolled herself up to be. The woman Elle had encountered a dozen times in a few months and couldn’t keep her hands off once she had her in bed.

Arianna pulled her sweatshirt over her head. She stared at her naked torso, memorizing her freckles and moles. They were the same ones Elle had seen the night before.

Finally, a smile.

“Not too bad,” she told her reflection. “Try not to think about her too much.”

It was a fool’s game, but Arianna had to play it anyway.

Part 2

Flight of Fury

Chapter 11

Shortly after returning to Singapore, Arianna received a glossy packet describing the upcoming trial of integrating Asian and American flight crews to sell the multicultural, binational efforts of one mega-corporation taking to the skies.

“Wow.” Kaylinn sat cross-legged on her sister’s bed, poring over the large booklet showcasing a photospread of the American Royal Asia crew who flew both domestically and to countries like Japan and South Korea. “Look at them. They’re not even wearing kebaya.”

“Why would they?” Arianna asked as she finished unpacking from her recent trip. She was too wired to relax like she normally did on her first day back home, and Kaylinn’s presence only made it more pertinent that she remain chipper. Don’t let her know anything is amiss. Arianna had even pulled her hair back into a ponytail, straddling the line between her personal and professional look. “They’re not Southeast Asian.”

“Do you guys get to wear these Western uniforms when the flights are integrated? Because it says here that your Singapore route will be one of the first to test it.”

Arianna snatched the booklet out of her sister’s hand. “You’re kidding.”

Sure enough, the text beneath the large, smiling picture of three women of varying skin tones in Royal Asia uniforms announced that an upcoming flight would include a return trip with American crew as well as Asian.

“Maybe you should try your dating luck with an American,” Kaylinn said with her mouth full of American chips brought back from LAX. “They’re freaky. Or so I hear.”

Arianna turned around before her sister saw the white-sheeted panic on her face.

Elle was on the phone with the Royal Asia marketing department for an hour before she was finally patched through to Ollie Chen-Richards, the man in charge of all things magazines, commercials, and billboards.

“So, tell me why I’m letting a board member interrupt my busy day,” he drolly asked while Elle waited for her nail polish to dry. She sat in the nook by her bedroom window, taking in the foggy Seattle skyline while her hair finished curling against her ears after her first post-return shower. Alone. I showered alone. Sacrilegious. “My secretary tells me that you have a grand idea for our next big campaign. As if I don’t have one.”

“I’ve got a whole slogan for you. I know how your department has been in hot water because my boss doesn’t like our current campaign.”

Ollie snorted in frustrated derision. “Great. Exactly what I need right now.”