3. Chapter Three – Lily
Lily
I hide a yawn behind my hand and fight to keep my eyes open as we land. Just like I predicted, I couldn’t sleep a wink. At first, I was too wired from the chaos at the airport, then I was too nervous about flying, and when I finally calmed down there was turbulence, turning me wide awake again until finally I gave up and got lost in work.
No, that’s a lie. I forced myself to work because the thought of the CEO of my most important rival company seeing me asleep was horrifying.
My mood is already bad as is, and it turns even sourer when the first thing I see when I look out of the window after landing, is heat blurring the air. God. I remember Tokyo summers to be scorching, and now I fear I might have romanticized it. I haven’t stepped a foot outside yet, but it already looks so much hotter than I remember it .
Activating my SIM card, as I wait for everyone to retriever their bags from the overhead compartments and walk out, the first thing I do once it works is check the weather for the next few days, then groan inwardly when I see temperatures well above 35 degrees in the foreseeable future.
I am not made for heat, especially not a humid one. There is nothing I hate more than the feeling of sweat on my skin, soaking into my clothes and even worse… running down my back. Just no, thank you.
Finally, most of the passengers have left the plane, and now I can stand up to collect my bag from the overhead bin.
One step out of the plane and it feels like I run into a wall of heat, fighting hard to not break into a grimace. God, why couldn’t they have planned this conference in November?
Despite the heat, I walk briskly, sighing in relief when I reach the air-conditioned hallway.
The walk to customs is long and tedious, and I keep hitting my heels with my carry-on. And for the whole way, I see a familiar black-haired man walking about 20 meters in front of me.
How the hell does Adam look so perfect after a 16-hour flight and even after sleeping? His hair is messy, but in the good, ‘I styled it exactly like this’ way, there’s not a crease on his shirt and he looks well rested. Probably because he slept for most of the flight. I saw him conked out when I sneaked up and down the aisle when I got antsy as I couldn’t sleep .
Meanwhile, my hairclip started to annoy me one hour into the flight and the bun I put my hair into instead is very much a messy one. Didn’t dare look into a mirror yet, but I am about eighty percent sure that the bags under my eyes are showing through my makeup, that by now feels like it’s melting off my face.
Well, good for him.
I strut past him at the immigration counters. Colin, my brother, sent me a link to fill out the form online, and seeing how the passengers of our plane crowd at the tables to fill out printed ones, fighting over pens, I am very thankful he did.
Within minutes, I’m done and continue on my way to baggage claim. God, I’m ready to get to the hotel and just sleep until the conference starts tomorrow. And shower.
“Did you have a good flight?” I startle when Adam suddenly appears beside me just before I reach the baggage claim area, an amused grin playing at his lips.
“It was horrible, in fact,” I let him know, hiding a yawn behind my hand as I find a spot where I’ll be able to see the suitcases falling onto the luggage belt. “But I’ll survive. How about you?”
I know his answer, but even though I might dislike him for his perfect looks and ability to sleep on planes, I should at least pretend to enjoy the small talk.
“You didn’t sleep?” he asks, ignoring my question and raising one of his eyebrows, the grin slowly slipping off his face as he crosses his arms in front of his chest and frowns .
“No,” I confirm and yawn again. Get it together, Lily. “I’m too nervous flying to even think about sleeping.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” he says, and I look up at him, surprised. I expected another teasing remark.
“Thank you, but it’s fine.” I wave him off, but that frown is remaining in place. “I managed to get some things off my to-do list and watch a movie.”
His Adam’s apple jumps as he gulps before takes a deep breath to reply, but I sidestep him as the first bags start to appear. My foot starts tapping on the spotless vinyl floor and I can feel myself growing more antsy by the minute.
God, I’m so fucking tired. I picked this flight because it would arrive in the afternoon – the perfect time to get to the hotel and just sleep off the flight, then wake up the next day free of jetlag. And that’s exactly what I’m going to do.
And not suffering from jetlag during the conference is going to feel so great, even if it makes me feel like I’ve been chewed on and thrown up right now.
Right. The conference.
I fish my phone out of my bag and message Felix. He should be getting ready for his own flight soon as well, and I want to check in with him before he boards.
Lily : Landed. Waiting for baggage right now.
Felix : Good. Hope the flight was bearable .
A grin tugs at my lips when he answers immediately. Looks like someone is bored at the airport.
Felix : If it’s any consolation, I was downgraded as well.
The grin quickly drops off my face and I grow even more irritated than I did when they announced my downgrade.
Damn. I wish I could just not keep promises at my work without consequences and just telling people to deal with it. Unreal. Before I know it, I’ve got my chat with Millie and Kayla pulled up, my fingers flying over the screen.
Lily : Guys, any chance we can get the jet for our return?
The eye-rolling gif I send along perfectly captures my annoyance and I do the same in real life, noting Adam’s amused glance. I don’t care though. This is an important matter.
Millie : When is it again?
Kayla also seems to be online, so I guess they have a break on their music video shoot. Pulling up my calendar, I confirm the date before I let them know.
Millie: That should be fine
Kayla : Are you and Felix going back on the same day?
Lily : I think Felix’s flight back is a day earlier than mine but I’ll check in with him once he’s landed.
Millie sends a gif of a dog saluting and I close the chat to slide my phone back into my pocket.
Wonderful. The prospect of being able to take the company private jet on our flight back manages to lift my spirits and I feel a bit more awake all of a sudden. My shoulders sag when I lift my head and don’t find a trace of my suitcase yet, even though the luggage belt is almost full now.
Adam doesn’t make a move to fetch one of the suitcases either, leaning his back against the wall and letting his eyes roam over the room and other passengers. I wordlessly join him and we wait, and wait, and wait, both trailing after our own thoughts as we watch people grab their suitcases off the belt and trudge off to customs.
“I’m going to get myself a drink,” I finally tell him and lift my back off the wall. “Would you like something as well?”
He turns his head and looks at me, raising his eyebrow before he replies: “Sure. I don’t have any cash for the vending machine, though. Didn’t manage to exchange anything before I came. ”
I roll my eyes and raise my eyebrow right back.
“I expect those two dollars back with interest,” I say jokingly and shake my head at him. “My treat.”
“Thank you, Lily. If they have it, coffee would be lovely.”
I nod and head to the machine, where I get myself a cold green tea to wake up and him an iced coffee. I hand it to him as I scan the suitcases on the belt again. We are down to the last 10 people standing here, and I’m slowly but surely losing hope of seeing my dark blue suitcase turn up.
“God damn it,” I curse when the last suitcase is taken off the belt and we, along with four other passengers, remain without our luggage. “Fuck,” I mutter under my breath and fight the urge to hit my forehead against the wall. Why does everything have to go wrong today?
“Do you think they lost ours?” Adam asks, and I pinch the bridge of my nose and close my eyes for a deep breath before I reply.
“Oh wait.” He perks up as one more suitcase appears and happily struts forward to take it off the belt. Of course, his would suddenly appear out of thin air.
“Excuse me.” I turn to one of the officers patrolling the area. “Are there any other suitcases coming?”
The officer looks at me surprised, and then asks me to wait as he speaks into his walkie-talkie, too fast for me to make out what. When the reply comes, it’s slower but drowned in static noise so I don’t understand it either until he translates it for me.
“I’m very sorry, but this was the last one.” My face falls and he apologizes again.
Of course. I expected that answer, but it does not annoy me any less. Just my luck because when traveling goes wrong, it goes wrong colossally.
“All right. Thank you. In this case, my suitcase is missing. Is there any form I can fill out?” The officer nods and motions for me to follow. Frustration is making me pick at my cuticles, and before I tear off my skin, I pull out my phone and type another quick message to Felix.
Lily : Now my suitcase is missing. Can you believe it?
Felix : Sorry to say, Lily, but you have shit luck when traveling.
I narrow my eyes at the laughing emoji behind his message before I reply.
Lily : For some reason it always works when we travel together. I’ll just always have to take you along from now on.
The only thing he replies with is another laughing emoji and I put my phone away as the officer hands me a form to fill out for my bag and a pen .
Good thing I like to be well prepared and packed some basics into my carry-on.
The basics being my pajamas and one emergency outfit. Well, it’s better than none but I’m going to be shit out of luck if they can’t find my suitcase.
With another deep sigh, I fill out the goddamn form, and the officer assures me that me that my suitcase will be couriered to my hotel if they find it. Emphasis on ‘if.’
“Thank you so much.” I force a smile on my face before I turn around and find myself face to chest with Adam. Confused, I slowly look up.
“You’re still here?” I ask him, confused, rubbing my eye as though I’m imagining him. “Why didn’t you go on ahead?”
“I’m assuming we’re going to the same hotel anyway, so I figured it would be easier to share a taxi,” he says, and I gulp, my eyes falling close in a slow blink.
Exhaustion washes over me like a three-meter-high wave, and I’m so fucking crashing. Not even the caffeine from the green tea is helping anymore.
Fuck. What am I going to do if they can’t find my suitcase?
When I lived here 10 years ago, it was already challenging to find any clothes – not for lack of trying. And not because I don’t like them, because I adore Japanese fashion.
But I’m almost six feet and got some weight on me. Granted, I love my curves, but I’ve had to make peace with the fact that the cute outfits here are mostly designed for more petite, smaller women than me, and from a business standpoint, of course I get it.
If worse comes to worse, I’ll switch between the two outfits that I have with me, but it’s going to suck and I’ll have to spend a lot of time at laundromats.
I can imagine better things than wearing my business outfits even in my free time though. I haven’t planned a ton of activities in my free time, but the ones I have on my itinerary would definitely be more fun in casual clothes.
“Come on.” Adam’s hand touches the small of my back, and he gently pushes me forward, leading me through customs. I wait, as he has to open his suitcase briefly for them to check the contents, before we continue on to the arrival area.
“All right,” he says under his breath and abruptly comes to a stop, taking out his phone. “Let’s go.”
“Go where exactly?” I can’t help but muse as his eyes dart around the entrance hall, trying to find the right exit.
“Right over there,” he answers confidently and promptly walks in the wrong direction. I bite down a chuckle and grab his sleeve to make him stop.
“I’ve been to this airport before. Let me take it from here.” He shoots me a sheepish glance but doesn’t protest when I lead him where we actually need to go for a taxi.
Originally, I had planned to take the train to the hotel. It’s quick and air-conditioned and seemed like a good idea. But I’ve vastly underestimated how tired and annoyed I would be after a sixteen-hour flight without any sleep .
So we take an escalator down to the street and Adam walks ahead to find a taxi for us, waving me down when he finds one. He even opens the door for me. Such a gentleman.
While I pull up the address of our hotel on my phone, the two of them are already chatting, although he looks a bit panicked at the rapid English Adam is speaking to him.
His eyes light up in relief when I chime in and tell the taxi driver where we need to go in Japanese, holding up my phone in addition so he can read the address. It’s been a few years and I’m sure my accent is horrid now, but he nods and turns around to start driving.
“How do you know Japanese?” Adam asks, surprised, once the driver starts the car and pulls out into traffic.
“I lived in Tokyo for a year after high school,” I tell him and put away my phone, hiding a yawn behind my hand as I try to get more comfortable in my seat. “It’s been a few years, but I’ve come here every few years, and luckily, some basics of the language have stuck.”
“That sounded like way more than just the basics,” Adam says with a raised eyebrow, but I shrug and shake my head.
“Trust me, it probably sounded better to you than it was,” I tell him amusedly, remembering how in our very first Japanese lesson, Yamamoto-san, our teacher, taught us how to ask for the way to the next station and how to get a taxi so we wouldn’t get lost. “I don’t get to speak it often, so I lost a lot of it, but I can still get my point across somehow.”
As I see the flickering lights of Tokyo skyline in the distance, despite the annoyance, despite all the chaos of this journey, warmth settles in my gut. The good kind that even manages to put a happy smile on my face.
It’s so good to be back.
I hide another yawn behind my hand. It feels so surreal, like I’m just dreaming about being here. Hell, maybe I fell asleep on the plane after all and the whole suitcase chaos is just a literal nightmare.
Or maybe it will start to feel more real tomorrow.
But goddamn, I’ve been looking forward to this forever. I’m not going to let a stupid airline ruin this for me.