DXB-GVA Flight
Present, In January
Everything seemed so foreign to her. Yet an exhilarating sensation swept over her as the Boeing 777 cruised at an altitude of 38,000 feet. The soothing sound of the giant engines lulled the passengers back to a daydream state after the breakfast service.
Eager for her report, Veronica fixed her lunch by giving her caviar plate a meticulous garnish. Nearby, a colleague banged a storage container shut. He'd just finished filling up an inventory of tin cans of these expensive fish eggs. There wasn't much to count. Half the crew had already taken their share.
Never in this lifetime did she think she would work in this environment. But it fit her perfectly well. This new normalcy was giving her an indescribable sensation.
When she'd overheard two young adults in a New York café talking about this fantastical city called Dubai, her heart raced like a fast train. She'd never eavesdropped on strangers, moreso intrude. Somehow that day, she couldn't help herself.
A top Middle-Eastern airline based in the famous desert city was recruiting in America for the very first time. She'd always wanted to live abroad and experience something different—a far cry from her sheltered story. And then, it clicked. The city of gold set in the Arabian Gulf was the perfect escape.
As she looked out of the viewing window of the forward plane door, she silently mouthed the word wow. The most fantastic view of the Mont-Blanc, the Swiss and French Alps all covered in snow made an exquisite segue.
This was going to be her second time visiting Switzerland. She couldn't even remember looking out of the window the first time she was above the alpine region. She didn't care about traveling back then. When she was sixteen, she remembered taking the train from Paris to Geneva with her family. They wanted to see the famous Lake Geneva. On the train, they met residents of Haute Savoie, a neighboring department in France. This French region shared the famous body of water and they didn't like how tourists have named it as such.
"It is simply called Le Léman, which means the lake in French," the lady puffed while explaining it to them. Since then, the true name of the biggest lake in Western Europe stuck to her.
Her thoughts came to a halt when a heavily built colleague named Malcolm Thompson entered the galley. He was the cabin crew senior assessing her on this flight. Currently, she was on the second month of her six-month probation.
"I've done half and will complete it on the second leg tomorrow. So far, so good. Keep it up," he said with a strong kiwi accent.
As he handed her the form, a tall, particularly attractive man with a distinct russet-colored hair entered the galley, causing both of them to stop their conversation.
"Is there anything we can help you with?" Malcolm asked.
"Pardon—sorry to disturb. But would you know what the weather is in Geneva?"
Surprised that he'd directed his query to her. He had a hybrid mix of a distinct french accent, probably Genevois.
"The last time I checked, it was around 2° Celsius in Geneva," she said while studying his striking blue-grey eyes and ridiculously strong jawline.
"Veronica, kindly assist Mr. Klein," Malcolm gave her an encouraging look, eager to observe how she was going to deal with the premium class passenger.
"Let me show you where to check the weather updates," she said, opening the curtain to lead him back to his seat.
After asking him to sit back, she tapped on the wide screen of his suite to access the information page. In an instant, the weather map appeared with the current temperature in their destination.
"The current ground temperature is 1° Celsius," she informed him.
"Thank you. It was right here all along," he gazed at her with a nervous laugh.
"And there's the main screen for general updates," she pointed at the gigantic monitor mounted in the front of the cabin.
"Now I really look like an idiot," he laughed again.
"It's normal. We overlook things sometimes," she said with a very modest smile.
"Even if it's right in front of us," he sighed. "Thank you, Veronica," he said as he read her nameplate before looking back at her again.
"It's a pleasure, Mr. Klein," she said giving him her most radiant smile.
He was obviously flirting with her. And , she didn't mind. She found him very, very attractive.
"You know my name?" he looked genuinely shocked.
"Most certainly," she said a matter-of-factly.
Of course she did. She worked her ass off at training school, preparing for this. And here she was, on a sudden burst of an infatuation. Seasoned crew had warned her of these flights—tall, well-built European men with light-colored eyes and ridiculously sexy accents. You'd never guess which part of the continent they're from.
"Please, call me Eric," he said as he was about to start a conversation.
By god was he attractive, but she wasn't sure what the rules were when it came to flirting with a passenger. There wasn't a section in the company manual for this. Thankfully, Malcolm walked into the cabin because she didn't know what to say next.
"Twenty minutes," his boss-like demeanor snapped her out of her thoughts, his index finger tapping at his watch. He walked past them, a load of paperwork in his hands. The plane was descending in twenty minutes which meant it would be a frazzled chaos before landing.
"Please excuse me," she gave him an apologetic smile, leaving the handsome passenger looking foiled by her sudden dismissal.
Before she could even run back to the aft, Stephane, the cabin manager asked her to read the announcement in French. Eager to practice her skill, she pocketed the printed greeting he'd handed to her. When the plane touched down, she unfolded the paper and picked up the interphone.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we have arrived at Geneva Airport. Mesdames et Messieurs, nous sommes arrivée à l'Aéroport de Genève," she spoke with an air of clarity on the interphone, giving her an invigorating feeling. Stephane, the cabin manager, called her back to congratulate her while her colleagues applauded on her very first public announcement on a flight.
As soon as passengers started shuffling out of the plane, Malcolm approached her, holding up a couple of tickets. "Remember Eric Klein who was seated at 8J? He gave me three tickets to a concert tonight. He's asking if we'd like to join him."
All of a sudden, a handsome, well-coiffed crew member appeared in the galley with a couple of extension seatbelts in his hands.
"The question is, is he cute?" he batted his eyelashes, not a strand of his jet-black hair moved.
Veronica loved his cute Australian accent. For the duration of the flight, Drew Pierce had been such a breath of fresh air. Even at the briefing room, he'd already decided that Veronica was going to be his best friend on the flight. She had a strong feeling he was going to be a keeper.
"He's a cool guy," Malcolm replied while shutting down his laptop.
"Where is he from?" Drew asked the most used question in Dubai.
"He's a banker from Geneva," Malcolm replied as he started shoving paperwork in his bag.
"So cliché," Drew rolled his eyes as he kicked one of the bulkhead storages shut after shoving all the seatbelts inside.
"Swiss bankers doing business in the gulf," she rambled, reaching for her cabin bag from the overhead compartment, his mesmerizing blue eyes still fresh in her mind.
"We chatted a little. He works for a private Arab bank in Geneva and visits the Middle East to meet with potential clients," Malcolm explained.
"They know where it's at," Drew laughed.
"He told me he usually hangs out at The Sports Bar in Dubai. It's our favourite spot so I invited him to join me and my friends to watch a Rugby Sevens match," Malcolm said.
"So about those concert tickets," Drew said, pretending he didn't hear anything related to sports.
"Oh, yeah. He invited us to a concert tonight in the city. Actually, he's kind of hoping Veronica could come. But of course, you don't have to. It's just an invitation," he reassured her, looking more and more like a cuddly, brown teddy bear.
"He better be cute, Malckie," Drew said as he snatched the tickets from him, dubious of the senior's poor judgement of looks.
"Frankly, I'd rather snuggle in bed and explore the city tomorrow. It'll be freezing in Geneva tonight," she evaded the awkwardness of it all.
Although she was easily attracted to Mr. Klein, she wasn't used to this sort of thing. Having had only one boyfriend in her whole twenty-two years of existence, this intimidated her.
"Don't be a killjoy, Veronica Ramos. Come on. We'll make it fun even if we end up watching the Von Trapps," Drew snickered.
She shook her head and laughed, "Get your geography straight, Andrew Pierce. We're not in Austria, we're in Switzerland!"
* End of Chapter 3 *