NEW YORK CITY

PRESENT DAY

6:30 am

All passengers travelling to Meraki on Alpha Airways Flight #1812, please have your boarding passes and passports ready for boarding. Flight #1812 now boarding at gate 21.

"Well I guess that is my call to go then. It was nice meeting you Sam. Trust me, I had a wonderful time here. You should try coming to Meraki sometimes, so that I can show you around too", I told and wiggled my eyebrows at him.

He chuckled.

"I bet that you wouldn't be good at showing around as me though", he said with a playful wink.

I punched him on the arm and stuck my tongue at him.

"Well, why don't you try me 'Mr. I'm-so-good-at-everything", I snorted and rolled my eyes.

"Oooh someone's jealous! No worries babe. I can always teach you some of my tactics", he stuck his tongue out, swaying it from left to right while making his eye balls disappear, leaving the whites of his eyes in display.

"Wow look at you, acting all matured!", I told him with sarcasm dripping from my voice.

He placed a hand over his chest and rubbed it, feigning a pained expression.

"Ouch I'm hurt!", he wailed in an over dramatic voice.

I raised my hands in surrender and smirked.

"What I was just stating facts!"

Ladies and Gentlemen, this is the final boarding call for....

"Oops! I should get going now. I'll miss you! Bye Sam", I said, giving him a hug.

He embraced me with a bone crushing grip, making me choke and gasp for air.

"Bye Em", he whispered into my ear, not letting me go.

"You are choking me you dim-wit!", I opened my mouth to give him a piece of my mind but unfortunately an insensible sound escaped my lips instead. It was somewhere in between a growl and a slurp.

The grip around my ribs loosened immediately.

Oxygen came gushing into my lungs as I took huge gulps of air, relishing the feeling of breathing after a long time.

"Sorry", he said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment.

I shot him a playful glare and started walking away.

"Take care!", he shouted as I hurried with my bag towards the boarding aisle.

I turned back and waved at him and then disappeared from his view with a one last glance over my shoulder.

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"That way ma'am", the air hostess replied with a fake smile.

"Thank you", I nodded and shot her a genuine smile.

Today I'm travelling by plane for the first time, i.e if you don't consider my 'to' journey from Meraki. And GUESS WHAT? I was able to book a window seat online in the business class! YEPPIE!!

Who can blame me for being on cloud nine right?

The happy dance that I was mentally performing in my head came to an abrupt stop and the corners of my lips which were constantly tipping upwards came down like a deflating balloon as I took in the scene before me.

"I must have been mistaken. That definitely isn't my seat", I muttered under my breath.

I re-checked, but to my dismay I have located the correct seat. Maybe the person who's sitting on my seat is mistaken. I should go talk to him. I couldn't make out the guy's or man's features since his face was hidden behind a magazine.

I cleared my throat. No response.

I mentally groaned.

Please don't tell me that he's pretending to be deaf now!

"Excuse me Sir?", and this time I made sure that I spoke louder in a way that any sane normal human being would have heard. I saw him shifting a bit, but still no response.

I left out an exasperated sigh. I felt like pulling out my hair.

Next, I tapped on his shoulder really hard. This time there was a sigh of annoyance from the other side of the magazine. This arrogant bastard had definitely heard me before.

"What?", a husky voice laced with annoyance asked. He didn't even bother to put down that stupid magazine of his.

I was beyond pissed off.

"You are sitting on the wrong seat sir. That seat is mine", I gritted out.

"I don't care, sort it out with the staff", was his cold blunt reply.

I was at the verge of ripping that magazine and shoving it down his throat when an air hostess interrupted my thoughts.

"Ma'am, may I help you?", she asked.

"Yes, please! This man is currently occupying my seat and when I politely tell him that, he's asking me to sort it out with the staff!", I complained while letting out a frustrated sigh at the end.

The air hostess took a look at my seat number and then turned towards the man who was still hiding himself behind the magazine. Such an arrogant pigheaded monkey!

"Sir, may I take a look at your seat number?", the air hostess asked in a professional voice.

And finally, his 'oh-so-mighty magazine' comes down. I felt the air hostess stiffen. I looked at the guy and my brain froze for a second as well. The man behind the magazine was non other than one of the world's top billionaires, Mr. Cayden Martinez .

I found his striking blue eyes piercing in to my emerald green ones. His lips then twitched into a cold smug smirk, splashing my brain with cold water, forcing it to unfreeze itself.

I crossed my arms across my chest and shot him a nasty glare. If it was anyone else in his place, they would have already peed on their pants. Unfortunately for me, it was him we are talking about. The billionaire who was especially famous for his cold and expressionless façade apart from his looks and wealth.

An irritated sigh involuntarily escaped my lips. I don't care whether he is a celebrity or not, I will fight for what is mine.

What?? Don't blame me, I put a lot of effort for this seat.

"Your staff have committed an error in reserving the same seat for two people at the same time", he replied in a husky but cold voice.

"W-w-e are ex-extremely sorry for the inconve-ve-nience Sir", the air hostess stuttered.

He grunted in response.

"Ma'am would you please follow me?", she asked me with pleading eyes.

I looked at the air hostess's pale face and then at the arrogant bastard of a man. A pang of pity for the woman welled inside me. For some reason she seems to fear him.

My gaze involuntarily fell on her fear stricken trembling figure making my heart melt out for her.

"Fine", I grumbled, my voice tinged with slight hesitance.

I heard a sigh of relief and I didn't need to look to know that it belonged to the air hostess.

"This way ma'am", the air hostess smiled genuinely at me and headed further into the flight.

I turned around to see that the man was staring at me, his eyes shining in amusement as his lips played a smug smirk.

Rage built inside me making me clench my fists unconsciously.

The rage wasn't the type of anger you feel when you want to take revenge on someone. Instead it was much towards the type of anger you feel when someone arrogant bruises your ego.

And oh boy unfortunately for him, I do have a humungous ego.

His gaze fell onto my clenched fists and his lips twitched even wider making them look smugger than ever before.

I bit back a retort that came rolling off my tongue and clenched my jaw in frustration. If I only could strangle him to death, I would be the happiest person on earth right now.

Unfortunately killing was a crime in Elysia.

I clenched my jaw and shot him a full hard glare as he continued staring at me with that unwavering smug look of his.

Anyone who takes a look at my killer expression would have already realized that it was hate at first sight. Unfortunately, the swollen headed chimpanzee seems to be too dense to decipher it.

I shot him a one last filthy venomous look and followed the hostess who was waiting for me with a worried expression.

"Ma'am, I would like to apologize sincerely in behalf of the whole team. The fault is actually ours. Unfortunately there has been a technical error for which we promise that there wouldn't be such similar errors in future. That man is the owner of our airway and I could have lost my job if I had told him to get up from that seat. Actually we all could have lost our jobs. Fortunately there's a spare window seat here which we can provide you with. Ma'am, I beg you to accept our offer. All our jobs depend on your decision", the air hostess was visibly shaking throughout her rant.

If I don't agree, I fear that she might have a panic attack.

"Fine", I replied with a frustrated sigh.

The air hostess visibly relaxed when she heard me. She beamed at me, her face showing sincere gratitude. She then escorted me to my seat after thanking me numerous times.

I was tired and I didn't have the strength to argue anymore. I just wanted to rest my legs.

It was a five hour journey from NY to Meraki. I came to NY to get a live footage on the fire that erupted yesterday for my article. My name is Emma Parker and I'm a journalist working for the Meraki News Agency. And that is how I met Sam. He is a journalist working in NY who became a close friend of mine during my visit here.

The flight started moving slowly, signalling that we were about to begin our journey.

I rested my head on the back of my seat and closed my eyes temporarily.

"It's going to be a long and tiring day, Emma", I muttered to myself with a deep frustrated sigh as sleep over took my tired and droopy eyes.

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Hey guys,

So there goes the first chapter! How was it? Please do tell me in your comments. And I promise that the story will get better.

I know that the first two updates were a bit long. But don't worry, there will be much shorter chapters too.

And just in case you are confused- Elysia is a fictional country imagined by me, while Meraki is it's capital. Meraki is the city where Emma lives.

And the image is a resemblance of Emma Parker. The image was uploaded with pure intentions, i.e only to give you an idea of her appearance.

So all said and done, please don't forget to vote if you like it 😊

Love,

Ranna