Jeong Saerom's jaw hurt once again. She had spent the last hour in the cramped stall of a dirty airport bathroom with a small mirror in her hand. Saerom had been practicing her smile again, and even though she practiced to the point where her jaw ached with every little movement, she was still convinced that her smile was not good enough. She couldn't help it. It was part of her routine now to practice her smile to the point of it aching.

She had tried everything. From big smiles to little smiles, close mouthed ones to teeth baring ones; nothing she attempted looked good on her. 

Saerom would've stayed in her little stall for another hour, but a knock on the door and a "Sae, you need to come out now," from Victoria pulled her out. With a reluctant sigh, she pushed the door to the stall open, only to see Victoria standing there with her hands on her hips. "Either you were taking a really long pee, or you were practicing your smile again," Victoria joked, trying to cheer her frowning coworker up. "I really hope it's the latter, because if you take hour long toilet breaks, I think we need to take you to the doctor." Even with all that unusual joking from Victoria, Saerom was still not laughing. Victoria finally just gave up and dragged her friend and coworker back to work. 

"Victoria," Saerom started to say when the two were finally back into the flight attendant's headquarters, "do you think I could switch my international flight with someone?"

Victoria looked up at Saerom, a questioning look in her eyes. "Why?" she asked, shuffling some papers around while looking for the schedule. When she finally found it, she flipped to Saerom's assignments. "You're flying to New York," she stated. Saerom nodded. "Why do you want to switch? You love to do overseas flights."

Saerom just shrugged, though Victoria could see right through her little charade. Victoria gave her a warning look, mentally telling Saerom that she better not be keeping secrets from her. Saerom sighed, knowing she had no way out of this. "I'm not confident enough right now. I can't smile, for one, and the passengers going overseas are always a little bit more criticizing than the others. They'll judge me and I know it."

Victoria rolled her eyes, shaking her head no. "I disapprove of your request."

"What? But why-" Saerom was cut off with a stern look from Victoria.

Victoria shook her head, frowning at the insecure girl. "Honestly, Sae. You are gorgeous and I don't understand why you keep wanting to transfer flights because you're being insecure." Victoria gave her another look. "Why did you even become a flight attendant if you're only going to shy away from actually serving the passengers."

"It was my dream..." Saerom muttered, suddenly feeling embarrassed about the way she was acting.

Victoria gave her a pointed look, but said nothing else on the matter except for, "Your flight is in an hour. Be ready to fly to New York by then." She walked out the room, leaving Saerom by herself. 

Saerom sighed. Victoria just didn't get it. Victoria didn't get how much she doubted herself everyday. Victoria was confident in everything she did, and while Saerom may act like she was confident also, she's far from it. 

Pushing the negative thoughts from her mind, she tried to forget about it. She picked up the schedule Victoria had left on her desk and checked the flight she'd be taking and who was flying it. 

Flight EA8097 to New York at Gate 87
Pilots: Byun Baekhyun, Copilot: Zhang Yixing
Flight attendants: Jeong Saerom, Im Yoona, Hwang Tiffany, Lee Yejin, Seo Joohyun, Choi Sooyoung, Kim Hyuna, Oh Subin
Notes: Overnight flight - will be returning next morning with the return flight. Same staff. 

Great, she thought as she saw just exactly who else was serving the flight along with her, as if this flight wasn't going to be bad enough. 

Miss Im Yoona, the epitome of perfection was going to be serving alongside her. Saerom was already insecure enough, now that Yoona will be there, Saerom might as well just give up her job now. 

Saerom really did not like Yoona. 

It wasn't exactly like she hated the girl, because she didn't. No one could hate Yoona. And that was the problem. Yoona was perfect in every which way. She was kind, friendly, good with people. She was charming and persuasive, especially with stubborn and idiotic customers, and she was calming and gentle. All the qualities of a great flight attendant. 

All the qualities Saerom didn't have but wished she did. 

No, Saerom did not hate her, she didn't even dislike her. Saerom envied her. And that was that. Yoona was everything Saerom wished she was, and the fact that Yoona was so good at everything, especially her job, made Saerom doubt herself even more. 

Saerom took a deep breath. She told herself she could do it. She smiled brightly, though a little hesitantly, and walked out of the room. Her mask was on now, the one where she made herself look like she was oozing with confidence. Though it was a little inconvenient to pretend to act confident everyday, she was fine with it as long as no one realized what was under her facade.

Saerom wasn't paying attention while she was walking to the B building, where the gate of her flight was, and so she was shocked when she suddenly felt an arm slung across her shoulders. 

"Hey, Sae!" a voice said loudly into her ear. She winced and tilted her head away from the loud noise. Looking up, she saw the ever so happy Lee Sungyeol grinning wickedly at her, aware of how loud he was being. "Where are you heading?" 

"Building B," she replied, and walked away. She was not in the mood for a friendly conversation with her good friend. "I've got a flight there."

Sungyeol was known for his persistence though, and tagged along Saerom to the terminal that would take her to the B building. "Where are you flying?"

"New York," she answered. "Wish me luck," she muttered quietly. 

Sungyeol raised an eyebrow. "What for? You're an amazing flight attendant!"

Saerom just shook her head. "That's not true." She was by no means fishing for compliments. It was honestly what she thought. "There are tons of flight attendants that are better than me, like- never mind." Saerom didn't want to think about it and psych herself out again. 

Sungyeol knew exactly who Saerom was referring to, and quickly attempted to put her doubts to rest. "Personally, I find you a way better flight attendant than you-know-who," he assured her. 

"Thanks," she said, unconvinced. She bit the inside of her cheeks as she kept walking, Sungyeol persistently following behind her. She no longer wanted to talk about herself, and so she smoothly change the point of attention from herself and onto him. "Why are you following me again? Shouldn't you be lurking the A Building making sure no little kid runs away from their parents again?"

Sungyeol smiled impishly and said, "Well, I should be, but I'm not." Saerom rolled her eyes. "The A Building is so boring though! There's never anything to do there. I think I'll just follow you to the B Building." He nodded, deciding this all without consulting with Saerom.

Shrugging with a soft 'whatever you want', Saerom continued walking towards her gate. Sungyeol happily followed her, making a few comments every now and then about trivial things, like the weather, or what his plans are for the weekend. Saerom, not really paying attention to anything her friend was saying, just nodded at the right spots and uttered a few 'yeah's and 'mhhm's at the correct times.

The pair finally reached Gate 87, and Saerom noticed a big crowd surrounding it. "What's going on?" she asked Sungyeol. She tried to stretch her neck in an attempt to see what was going on inside the exclusive circle, but there were just too many people.

Sungyeol was lucky though. He was taller than most and could see exactly what was going on. "I think it's a fight," he muttered, straining himself while trying to see clearly. "I think it's between Jonghyun and a customer..." he said worriedly, though not worried enough since he just stood there.

"Shouldn't you go help them? You are a ground attendant after all!" Saerom exclaimed, not sure why Sungyeol was just standing there watching them instead of running over there immediately to help mediate the situation.

Sungyeol waved a nonchalant hand at her, shaking his head. "There's already two security guards there, they can handle it. Besides," he looked down at his watch and smiled widely when he saw the time, "it's my lunch break! Bye!" He waved goodbye and left, not letting Saerom say another word.

Shaking her head at him, Saerom noticed that the crowd of people was finally dispersing. She decided that it was then a good time to board the plane she was supposed to be serving. Walking over and handing her pass and ID over to the ground attendant working the desk (Fei, she thinks her name was), Saerom waited as the girl typed in her information and passes. After the ground attendant was done, Saerom thanked her and then walked through the gates and down the tunnel leading her directly to the plane.

As she walked through the door of the plane, a person running out bumped into her. She was pushed back and the force of the run in made her fall down. 

"Oh, sorry!" Yixing yelled, helping her stand back up straight. He looked a little unfocused though.  "I was going to look for Baekhyun, have you seen him?" Saerom shook her head no, still a little unstable from the run in.  Yixing looked at her face and saw her watering eyes. "Oh my gosh, are you crying? Are you badly hurt? Are you okay?"

Saerom nodded, brushing away his concerns. "My eyes are just naturally like that. I'm not crying."

"Oh," Yixing said, a little embarrassed now. He scratched the back of his neck and looked at her, apologizing sheepishly again. "I'm really sorry, I'm just in a big rush and wasn't watching where I was going."

Saerom shook her head as if it wasn't that big of a deal. She frowned, noticing the dust on her uniform and she brushed it off. Yixing caught her frowning and tilted his head at her, as if studying her facial features. Not knowing what he was doing, Saerom froze, feeling a bit awkward as he continued to stare at her.

Finally, he broke the silence as he said, "You know, you shouldn't frown like that." Startled and not expecting a comment like that, Saerom snapped her head up and looked like a deer caught in headlights. He grinned at her, surprising her even more. "You should smile. Your smile is really pretty!"

Saerom nervously thanked him, not exactly knowing what she was supposed to say. Yixing just nodded and ran away with a wave of his hand and a quick 'see you later'. Saerom watched as he ran down the tunnel in search of his pilot.

As soon as Yixing was out of sight, Saerom turned around, catching her reflection in the window of the plane door. She smiled hesitantly, and for once, thought that it actually looked okay. Keeping the small smile on her face, she stepped onto the plane and got ready to greet passengers with a genuine smile.

Rain. 

That was all Song Meili saw as she looked outside the window of her and her godfather's shared condo. That, and a bunch of bright colored umbrellas. It was too early in the morning, but already there was a good number of people walking outside on their way to work. After all, that was where Meili was headed. Planes don't stop flying just because she wasn't at her desk.

Pulling on her navy blue rain boots and grabbing her red umbrella, she walked out of her condo and down onto the street and stepped out into the rain. Hearing the rain droplets hit against her umbrella, she allowed herself to smile a little. But then she realized why she and rain had a love hate relationship and that smile was wiped away almost as quickly as it appeared.

She loved rain; it was peaceful and calming. And on her days off, nothing is better than a nice rainy day. However, unfortunately for Meili, she worked in a field where being able to see everything clearly was necessary. And although she loved to hear the pitter patter of water droplets hitting the street, the rain made it incredibly hard for her to do her job.

Meili only realized that her feet automatically took her to the bubble tea shop across the street when she heard the familiar ring of the bell above the door. She took in a deep breath, taking in the scent of place she visited every morning. Meili waved hello and walked towards the woman behind the cash register.

"Good morning," Meili said softly, leaning against the edge of the table top as she greeted the kind woman.

Mrs. Lee smiled at her favorite customer. She pointed towards the window, tilting her head towards the dreary day. "What's so good about a day as depressing as this?"

Meili just smiled. Mrs. Lee was like a mother to her. When she first discovered the quaint little shop after she first moved here when she was 15, after her parents died in a terrible car accident, she found that although no one could ever replace her mom, Mrs. Lee was a nice lady that kept her mind off the fact that her mom was gone.

"Will it be the usual today?" the older woman asked, turning around to get started on the Thai iced tea she already knew Meili would order.

"Yes, please," Meili said. She saw the jar full of dimes next to the strips of paper stars paper and dropped a dime in there, taking a piece of folding paper as she did so. "How many of these have you sold?"

Turning around, Mrs. Lee lit up at the sight of Meili folding the little strip of paper into an origami star. "Quite a few," she replied, adding ice into a cup as she made the tea. "Even though the day is still young, I'm surprised at how many people find the little stars endearing and want to buy one."

Meili pinched the edges of the paper, completing the mini star. She smiled at it and pocketed it. "They're fun to make," Meili said simply. "We all know how much I love to fold them."

Mrs. Lee just grinned as she handed Meili her Thai iced tea. "Well in that case, I'll make sure to always keep these little slips of paper in stock." She grabbed a straw from a container nearby and also gave that to Meili. "Have a good day at work, Meili."

Meili sipped on her tea happily as she waved goodbye. "You too! See you tomorrow."

"You're late."

Meili rolled her eyes as she took off her coat and put her umbrella in her assigned locker. "Am not, you're just way too early." She took a seat at her station and grabbed her microphone and headset from the hook on the wall. She suddenly remembered her star and took it out of her pocket. Pulling her glass jar full of stars closer to her, she dropped the little 3D star in with the others.

Seeing her silly little ritual, Henry laughed. "How many of those do you have?"

Meili just shrugged, unsure of the exact number herself. "Not sure," she said, turning the small jar around in her hands. "A lot, I guess."

Henry rolled his eyes as he pulled his own headset over his head. "Get to work, Meili. We have a long day ahead of us." He gestured out the windows. Meili noticed that the rain seemed to be pouring down even harder than before and she mentally groaned. Henry was right, today was going to be an extremely long day.

Meili immediately turned serious. Working in an occupation that made her responsible for hundreds and thousands of lives, there was no room to be joking around.

"EA8097, turn left heading 270. Runway 36 Left, cleared for takeoff," Meili said, waiting for the pilot to reply to her. After a few moments of silence, she heard a voice come on.

"This is  EA8097." Meili recognized the voice as Baekhyun. "Roger, heading for takeoff."

Meili switched onto another line quickly, knowing Baekhyun could take it from there. "EA3821, clear to Incheon Airport. Runway 34 Left, cleared to land."

"This is EA3821, can I ask who I'm speaking to?" Meili crinkled her eyebrows. She recognized the familiar voice, but couldn't pinpoint a name to it. Still, why would any of the pilots need to know who they were talking to?

"EA3821, this is Song Meili speaking."

"Oh, it's just you. I think we can cut all the fancy talk and just get straight to the point."

"Say again?" she asked, bewildered and confused. How could any of the pilots be so informal with her, especially while they both were doing their jobs.

"Meili, it's Luhan. I've been flying back and forth from here to California and I just want to go home and sleep. Can you please just tell me what to do and say it in normal terms?" Meili's eyes widened. She was sure she hadn't just heard Luhan say that. She looked at Henry with shocked eyes and he just shrugged.

"Just go with it," he advised, before turning back around to talk with another pilot. Meili didn't know what to do. She was always taught to stay formal and professional when it came to speaking with the pilots. And she was never one to break a rule. What was she supposed to do now?

"Meili." The voice in her ears scared her, and it made her jump a little. She had almost forgotten Luhan was still on the frequency waiting for her instructions. "I need to land."

"Right," she muttered. She decided to take Henry's advice and just go with it. "Descend and maintain two thousand. Then turn left heading 180. Runway 34 Left  is cleared and ready for you to land." Those words felt so uncomfortable coming out of . It went against everything she was taught when she was training to be an air traffic controller.

"Thanks," she heard the pilot say, "but loosen up. You sound so uncomfortable."

Meili didn't say anything except for, "Have a nice landing," before she switched to a different frequency.

"EA7652, turn right heading 320. Runway 24 Left, cleared for takeoff."

There. That felt much better.

Here is the third chapter with the next two applicants! Please congratulate chamomilla for her character of Song Meili and also congratulate narcosis for her character of Jeong Saerom! Both of your characters were absolutely wonderful and I'm so glad both of you all decided to apply.

I hope I wrote your characters appropriately. If not, please do tell me if I need to change something. I want to be able to write everyone's characters perfectly, so please do point out any mistakes I make along the way.

To chamomilla: Congrats for being our first Air Traffic Controller! I really liked your character. You made her very unique and gave me a lot fo details to work with. Please excuse the ATC communications, because I realized I had no idea how to write it properly. But I did some reasearch so I hope I did okay. Also, I switched your ulzzang from Baek Su Min to your backup, because I felt like Xinyuan was better fitted for Meili, so I hope that's okay. I hope I wrote your character correctly!

To narcosis: Saerom was such a perfect character to work with also. I hope I did her justice. I'm still really sorry about having to switch your love interest, but I hope I made Yixing likeable enough. But thanks for making such a great character and congrats for being the second Flight Attendant!

I seriously hope this chapter was okay. It took me a while to figure out how to incorporate and pull all the scenes together to make them coherent, but I think I did okay? Anyway, please do tell me what you think. And once again, congrats to chamomilla nad narcosis!