Chapter 12 On the Plane

Myra placed her head down on Hart’s shoulder as the plane took off.
Goodbye, Bali, she told herself reluctantly. Knowing Jake was in City V along with that girl he was hugging in the party, she didn’t feel keen to go home. While she missed her overbearing daddy, she wasn’t sure how to face him after she had just left without a word, without his golden permission. But no news was good news. Surely he would have taken Sierra’s words.
From now on, it would be her and Hart. She hadn’t expected so much from him when she had taken his car in the first place, and now he was going to her country with her, to be her dutiful boyfriend. It sounded so fairytale-like.
In the aisle behind her, Sierra behaved intimately with the man she had met in Bali. Teos, the person who had stepped up at the food hawkers to save her. And the same man she had sneaked back into the hotel last night when she was making love with Hart.
A smile spread across her face. They were definitely sisters, all right.
She diverted her attention to Hart. Contemplating their relationship after they got back to her city, what would life be like for them in the future? She was a university student after all, while he was a much-older working class. To top it off, she was born with a silver spoon in her mouth while he was an illegitimate child. The differences between them were like heaven and earth.
Yet, with him, she felt a strong sense of security.
It was raining when she woke up. Goodness knows how many hours later. Hart looked restless. Obviously, he had never flown such a long distance flight. The flight was almost seventeen hours, after all. How he had got the visa done in just a few hours for both himself and Teos was a mystery to her. Maybe he had it all planned earlier. She didn’t know.
Hart stared intensely at the inflight magazine in front of him. It was the first time she had observed him reading in that manner, and she decided he was a speed reader. Not a word transpired from her mouth as she watched him. Then she did her own reading as well. She realised what was wrong when she flipped open the exact magazine he was reading.
The magazine featured an article on a man of about forty. From how Hart appeared displeased with the article’s contents, the man had to be connected to him. Myra inspected the man’s facial features. Both he and Hart bore a strong resemblance. Could the man be his father?
Hart inhaled deeply, mumbling something inaudible under his breath, and eventually, he turned to the next page, which featured a brand of seasoning and a recipe. Hart digested that as well. Myra assumed he was fond of cooking. Then he continued to flip pages after reading them like a maniac, while his legs tapped endlessly on the floor of the aircraft.
Right, she had forgotten he was over six feet tall, after all. Flying economy class must have made him super uncomfortable because of the lack of leg space. She hadn’t asked him what he would do in the future, where he would stay and how he would cope in the fast-developing city. If he had ever travelled to cities like Kuala Lumpur or Singapore, he probably would have a gist of how it was like in V City.
“Myra?” He sounded patient as he looked towards her.
“Uh, yeah?”
“Do you want anything from the flight attendant?”
She shook her head firmly. “I’m good. I’m still exhausted and have a remedy lecture to attend tomorrow.”
“That fast? You just got home and you’re going to your university tomorrow?” He aired his concern.
“Don’t worry. I’m still on my semester break, but I have some things to do in uni.”
His warm hand settled on hers. “Take it easy, Myra. You’ve already been through a lot here. I’ll make it up to you.”
She was gazing into his eyes so addictively that she didn’t realise when he leaned into her and took her cheeks in his big palms, kissing her passionately. Returning his kisses with fervour, she closed her eyes and emptied her mind, thinking solely of him.
Hart was her keeper. Myra would and, as she was determined to forget Jake, she would trash everything he had left in her, starting from the pain he granted her during the entire trip. She lost Jake and gained Hart. She would give herself to Hart wholly.
“Actually, Myra, I have an uncle who lives in your city,” Hart explained as Myra was engrossed in watching the clouds disperse outside her window. The sky was a deep blue, one of her favourite colours after pink. “When we get off the plane, he will pick me up from the airport.”
“Ah, so quick?” She faced him with a distraught look. She was looking forward to escorting him around the city and introducing him to her favourite hangouts. Patience, Myra, there’s a lot of time for that later, she reminded herself.
“Myra, to tell you the truth, I have been planning this in the first few days that you got entangled with me. I decided that before Angelo or my father or his wife strikes first, I will leave. Coincidentally, you were from V City as well, so I could complete my decision to leave with you.”
“Uh, yeah.” She shrugged. “You didn’t tell me anything, I didn’t know how I was to ask you.”
Hart squeezed her hand. “You know you can ask me anything, dear. In the future, no secrets, no bottling up questions.”
“Okay, pinky promise.”
She hooked her finger to his. “And what about Teos?”
“You know he’s my partner and my good friend. He’s here to accompany me, and also because he won’t be safe after how he helped us. Don’t worry, he’s definitely someone who I can trust. Now, why are you looking at me like that? I’m sure you have more questions.”
“I do. I don’t know what you’re going to do in the city. Where you will live, what you’re going to do and how you’ll survive out there!” She refrained from bawling out aloud. “Since we got together, you have been full of secrets and mysteries. I just need to know…”
She stopped herself before she could say more. Hart lifted a hand to her eyes, rubbing them delicately to clear them of her tears. “I just hope you can trust me. I’m true to you, Myra. Stop worrying. No matter what, I am yours. You will always have me.”
Myra calmed as she heard his sentence. Her chest throbbed, making her follow the feeling in her heart.
“Okay, I trust you, as I’ve said before. But what about my questions? Are you going to answer them?”
“My uncle has everything planned out for me. But until I perform them, I won’t be able to give you a straightforward answer. So, my dear, please be patient. I’ll definitely give you the answer you need to know.”
He was so calm while her emotions were like a train wreck. But she knew how crucial it was to give him her trust. Trust was the most important element in a relationship. Without trust, how could their relationship work?
It will be fine, Myra. He will get a job and things will work out, she reassured herself. She didn’t know why, as the rich heiress she was, she was being so insecure with this man who was her first ever boyfriend. Neither did she fathom exactly how far he was to handle businesses or his industry, apart from that he sold cultural and heritage items. She had no knowledge in this department, and even she had limited understanding of the business behind her father’s hotels.
Her back was a little achy from last night’s endeavour. Fortunately, the cushioned seat in the plane was comfortable enough to provide some solution to her slight backache.
“Uh, Myra?”
“Yes?”
“They will serve lunch soon. What do you want to eat?”
She blushed as she considered her weird taste in airplane meals, but she told him anyway. Some people found airplane meals disgusting, but she savoured them to an extent that it was ridiculous. With her rich girl status, she didn’t even get to have those unhealthy fast foods like KFC or Mac Dee. A part of her wanted to enjoy foods like she had at the street market with Hart.
“That seems a unique request. Two packets of butter, bread, and pasta with double the sauce and double the cheese? Someone seems to love airplane food.”
She had such an enormous appetite, yet Hart found it amusing.
Later, when they disembarked from the plane together hand-in-hand, she was ready to embrace what was waiting for them.