Chapter 17

“Meal reservation, Miss?”

I looked towards the stewardess with two weary eyes. This was the second time I was travelling on such a long-haul flight. The male passenger beside me appeared mysterious but I wasn’t inclined on knowing more, especially about a member of the opposite sex. 

On his opposite side, his female companion was engrossed in trying to get his attention. She was the perfect definition of artificial: plastic surgery, false eyelashes, and a fake attitude, which I caught easily. Fortunately, I had a seat near the window, so I could watch the view outside without a care for either of them.

I shook my head. She turned to the man. 

“Whatever.”

The stewardess checked her clipboard and returned with two trays filled with meals. I understood that travellers with allergies could pre-book meals, but right now, that wasn’t my priority. I just wanted to get home. 

Hearing the woman’s artificial voice again, I just wanted to cover my ears. I seized the inflight earphones and plugged them into my ears, turning the volume of the music player in full blast.

Until I heard the song playing on the radio. I had tuned in, automatically, to the local music station of my city, but I hadn’t expected to hear that song.

It was a song that Syl had sung to me before, the View on the Mountain. It depicted one’s undying love for his female partner after reuniting on the mountain.

That song just drove pain through my heart. I looked down at my lower body and thought of what I had experienced in the past few years. And I reflected on the words of the gynaecologist during my screening.

“Madam, due to extensive use of contraceptive drugs, I’m very sorry… it might be very difficult for you to conceive in the future. I would suggest you go for fertility treatments, if you insist, but chances are slim…”

I had walked out of the doctor’s room immediately and bawled my heart out inside the clinic’s toilet. I fathomed this was why Jacques had not wanted me to see a gynaecologist, but I had to. We were married and I wanted to at least give him a child of his own.

Whether it was Syl S or Jacques Jones, it was pointless for me to have a child with either of them.

“Miss, beef or chicken?”

The courteous voice of the stewardess earlier broke my reverie. I returned her polite gesture with a smile.

“Chicken.”

They were serving lunch now. I accepted the tray and set it on the folding tray table. The man beside me was asleep, and his female partner had her head leaned against his shoulder.

Just what I wanted to see. If only they could get a room. It was revolting, I thought, and pretended I hadn’t seen anything. It just turned me off from enjoying the meal.

At the same time, I realised I was missing Jacques’ cooking already.

I finished what I could and crumpled the remnants of my meal inside the aluminium foil disposable container it came with, stuffing it inside the open compartment in front of me. Once I got home, I told myself, I would need to slowly plan my revenge. Revenge wasn’t achievable in just one night. I had learned the hard way when I thought Chanthara had my back.

For me to break into Lenard’s den, which I assumed he had returned to, I needed a strong backing and sufficient strength. I couldn’t, in the state I was in.

But without money, it didn’t seem a feasible plan for me to go charge into their den and probably die at the filthy hands of the guards. I swallowed, remembering how they had tainted me with their grime. I had to focus on the bigger picture. 

It was an eighteen hour flight, which might take even longer considering the weather conditions. I closed my eyes and contemplated what step to take first.

Exhaustion consumed me. I hadn’t slept at all the night before, and my inner voice took the reins once I fell into a deep sleep.

I was walking in a thick forest. By now, I had got used to seeing the creepy crawlers in the canopy overhead and the darkness no longer had an impact on me. Even the eerie sounds in the distance were just background music in my head. Red vines twisted under my feet, and I just stepped over them as if they were invisible.  

I wasn’t afraid of anything right now, just that I wouldn’t be able to get revenge. 

“Piper, I know you can.”

“What can I do?”

I heard the voice slowly evolve into Milanda’s voice, and her figure became clearer as I walked nearer to her.

“I have faith in you. Tempt your way into Lenard’s den.”

“Wait, Milanda. Are you dead or alive?”

“I am…” She paused.

“I am… I am.. You.” 

……………………………………………………………

I opened my eyes. From the sounds I heard, the man and woman were occupied in some naughty business. I cleared my mind and pondered on the words the Milanda in my dreams had spoken.

She was me? So all this while, was I even talking to a person?

What about Milanda and Princess? Were they just figments of my imagination?

But Princess had healed me with her abilities, hadn’t she?

Or was there something more to it?

“Kaiser, you’re being so difficult,” I heard the girl moan.

“Get your hands off me,” the man said. I plugged in my earbuds again and picked a different radio channel.

This time, the channel was broadcasting the news at four. I decided it would be useful to know what was going on in the city after being absent for three years. I listened about the decline of various stocks containing names that did not concern nor interest me. The news presenter continued with announcing how Hash Lee Corporation, Lee Jung’s company had declined and both directors had parted amicably. 

It suggested that this might be a good time for revenge, but with nothing in my name, how could I even take the first step to get back what they owed me?

I got up and looked around me for anyone with a newspaper. In the past, I had never been fond of touching what Sherry would often call ‘a pile of recycled trash made into print’, but I knew it was more reliable than listening aimlessly to the radio for any opportunities that came close to none.

“Sir, if you’re done with the papers, do you mind lending it to me for a quick look?” I tried my luck with an elderly passenger nearby. The man, who seemed too wealthy for his own good, laden with thick gold bracelets and having a similar necklace around his neck, took one look at me and turned away, as if I had not said a word.

“Miss, you can have mine.”

I looked back to realise it was the man sitting next to me, who had spoken. His voice was utterly cold, and I saw the woman still clinging to him like a leech.

“Griselda,” he warned, and the woman let go of him.

He didn’t have any reason to help me, considering it was our first meeting.

I gave him my thanks appreciatively, and he spoke in the exact tone earlier.

“Don’t be. I have no more use for it. Think of it as a charity.”

Had I been the person I was before, I would have thought of millions of ways to look the man up to repay his favour. But the Piper today no longer had it in her to repay kindness. My heart was cold and the only thought I had on my mind was revenge.

I sat down again, and read the papers for the rest of the plane journey. There were many job openings, but none of them seemed to give me any advantage. Still, I needed the money. My eyes settled on one job advert that was short and simple, yet appeared a little different from the others.

“Single, able to commit to long working hours and challenging responsibilities. Sell your soul to the company, get handsome allowances and rewarding opportunities!” 

Sell your soul to the company? Who even uses that line to hire staff? I pondered, but then I read on.

Kaiser Klef Solutions. 

The company had shared the same name with the passenger next to me. I swallowed. This could only mean one thing.

Perhaps, all this was meant to be. 

‘Vacancy: 4 sales executives (female)’

My eyes focused on the position. I had never done sales, but after everything I went through, nothing was impossible for me anymore. I was a lot stronger than the happy go lucky, open-minded Piper I had been three years ago.

Right now, I could only wait for the plane to touch down at the transit airport. I remembered that when I travelled to Thailand, there were computers ready for passengers’ usage. I had wasted enough time. This was the opportunity for me, and I couldn’t let it slip through my fingers.

I folded the newspaper and placed it inside my hand luggage. In my head, I had already memorised the email address and company name. After years of working in a fast-paced working environment, I knew how to begin an email with the best effect. But to be on the safe side, I had to discover what I could about the company by reading online reviews.

Under my breath, I prayed hard that I would be successful in my mission for revenge, and that Lee Jung and Lenard Lee would suffer a horrendous fate worse than death.