Majestic church bells tolled in the breezy Sunday air to signal the beginning of a new day as fragrant Magnolia tree leaves rustled in their branches, their velvety blossom petals still moist from the early morning drizzle. As a wisp of cool wind blew through the open window, carrying the melodious sounds of songbirds and chirping crickets into the kitchen, a small blue jay perched on the windowsill behind the sink, watching Cherie curiously with its beady eyes as she cracked open an egg into the frying pan. Startled by the hiss and sizzle of the popping oil, the blue jay fluttered its wings in alarm before settling down again, realizing there wasn't any imminent danger.

Cherie noticed the guest and smiled as she added a pinch of salt to Hyukjae's sunny-side-up.

"Good morning little guy. Are you hungry?" she asked.

The blue jay tipped its head to the side, giving her a single warble before taking off with it's brilliant, spotted-blue wings.

"Good morning y."

Cherie turned around to see a cleanly-shaven Hyukjae leaning against the stainless steel fridge, his arms crossed on top of his meticulously dry-cleaned and ironed pilot uniform.

Cherie flashbacked to the first time she saw him at the airport in Seoul, looking confident, suave, and in-control as if he owned the whole world.

Damn was he hot, and still just as irresistible as ever now.

"What're you doing up so early?" Cherie smiled, sliding the finished egg onto a plate beside four strips of tender bacon and a slice of golden toast.

"How could I continue sleeping while you labor away in the kitchen preparing breakfast for the entire European population?" he laughed, gesturing to the abundant spread of mouth-watering buttery waffles, flakey croissants, hot cinnamon rolls, and bowls of fresh fruit already set on the kitchen counter.

"I wanted to give you some time to rest. Besides, I enjoy cooking for you all," Cherie grinned, dropping a couple of breakfast sausages into the pan.

"You're so sweet and considerate," Hyukjae said as he moved closer to her, snaking his arms around her waist from behind before propping his chin on her exposed shoulder. "Thank you."

"You're welcome. It's the least I could do before we leave."

"Baby... are you trying to seduce me again?" he whispered, his breath tickling her ear.

"Why would you say that?" Cherie asked playfully, poking the sausages with her chopsticks to see if they were cooked enough.

"You're only wearing a set of lingerie underneath my shirt from last night. You don't even have it buttoned up all the way," Hyukjae murmured against her neck.

"Well, is it working?"

"My mind is fantasizing extremely dirty thoughts about you right now, but you should change before the other guys see you," Hyukjae said hoarsely as he nuzzled her messy, carefree hair that tumbled down her back like waves.

"Look what we have here," Leeteuk announced in a horrible Indian accent as he stepped into the kitchen with Donghae, who was also dressed in his uniform.

"Spoke too soon," Hyukjae rolled his eyes and tired his best to block Cherie from his friends' view with his bigger physique.

"You just jinxed yourself, once again," Cherie patted his back as she laughed and flipped the sausages over in the pan.

"So. How does it feel like being a real man now Lee Hyukjae?" Leeteuk asked, situating himself on a stool by the kitchen island.

"Huh?" Hyukjae asked, taking a sip of orange juice from the counter as Donghae sat down beside Leeteuk with a smirk.

"The . How was the ?" Leeteuk asked bluntly.

Hyukjae choked and sent the juice spraying everywhere in front of him. Cherie cringed and shot the boys a withering glance behind Hyukjae.

"What?" he gasped, wiping the counter clean with a dish cloth.

"We know you and Cherie had some fun last night to celebrate the engagement," Leeteuk continued, totally unfazed.

"How? I'm pretty sure my walls are soundproof," Hyukjae coughed into his hand, his face turning a shade of bright magenta.

To be honest, they were pretty loud last night. Even Africa could've heard them.

"Don't worry. We didn't hear you, thank heavens," Leeteuk emphasized.

"Teuk found out when Cherie tweeted about how happy she was this morning," Donghae explained helpfully, popping a blueberry in his mouth.

"I check my Twitter as if it were the morning paper. It's a sad little factoid about moi, but it has served me quite well today," Leeteuk sighed. "Even if she didn't tweet, just one look at what she's wearing this morning and everyone knows."

Cherie pursed her lips.

"You have some very perceptive observation skills Teuk," Cherie said sarcastically as she finally rolled the sausages onto a clean plate.

"Thanks," Leeteuk beamed.

"Do I really have to lay out my life on the table for you guys? It's not like I ask you and Hae every single detail about your relationships," Hyukjae raised his eyebrows.

"Come on man. The both of you are practically glowing with nauseating happiness. We're your best friends. We deserve to know at least a smidgen," Donghae complained childishly as he stuffed another handful of blueberries in his mouth. "Plus it makes good breakfast story-telling material."

"Just shut up and eat your food," Hyukjae ordered the two nosy kids.

"Party pooper," Donghae groaned.

"By the way, thanks for preparing all of this for us Cherie. You're awesome," Leeteuk said gratefully as he tore a cinnamon roll apart.

"All in a day's worth," Cherie replied, setting Hyukjae's customized breakfast combination of bacon, egg, toast, and sausage on the counter.

"I especially prepared this for you. Eat before it gets cold." She gave him a peck on the cheek as he settled down on a stool.

Discreetly, without anyone knowing, he pinched her bottom and gave a smug look of evil satisfaction as Cherie stifled a little sqeak. 

"Tell me Cherie. Why is it that you're so kind while Hyorin's still snoring like a pig upstairs?" Donghae inquired with his mouth full.

"Like a WHAT?" Hyorin screeched from behind him, hitting him square in the head with a cushion she stole from the couch in the living room.

~*~*~*~

"I heard a new girl is flying with us today," Hyoyeon gabbed to Hyuna as they took their seats near the front of the private lounge for the meeting Hyukjae had called before takeoff.

As much of a wonderland as Italy was, a flurry of palpable anticipation still bubbled in the air as the staff members and stewardesses were ready to finally go back home to their real lives, their family, and their friends after a month-long vacation in the heart of a European paradise.

"Great. Now I'm going to have to waste half of my time training the newbie," Hyuna pouted as she fluffed her light-brown hair.

"Actually, people say she was an experienced flight attendant from some other airline carrier but quit and joined us once she heard that Lee Hyukjae was our new head captain," Hyoyeon gossiped, straightening out her form-fitting uniform. "Not like she stands a chance anyway. How did management even agree to hire her in the first place?"

"Good morning," Hyukjae greeted everyone in the room as he walked in with Donghae. "Who's ready for the flight back to Seoul today?"

"Ready whenever you are captain," Hyuna quipped amidst the smattering of cheers and hums of agreements around the room.

"Awesome," Hyukjae winked at the two women before taking a seat on a leather couch close to the door, skimming his meticulously prepared agenda to remind himself which essential details he needed to brief the flight crew on. A batch of different and empirically more important VIP's would be traveling with them today compared to their arriving flight to Italy, and he was determined to give them the best service and experience they ever received. That was his dedication and commitment, and he either does a damn good job at it or he doesn't even bother trying.

It's a go hard or go home mentality for him when it comes to aviation.

"Holy flying unicorns he did not just wink at us," Hyoyeon murmured, astonished.

"Wow, I am so bragging about this when the other girls come. I think that's like, the first interaction he's ever had with us. He's so dreamy," Hyuna fanned herself.

"Who's so dreamy?" Donghae asked good naturedly as he overheard their conversation, taking a seat by them.

"Your best friend," Hyuna stated a matter-of-factly.

"He is isn't he?" Donghae said as the girls laughed.

"But would he still be considered y if he's getting married?"

"Nuh uh. He's engaged?!" Hyoyeon asked, wide-eyed.

Donghae nodded his head, his lips pursed. " huh?"

Hyuna looked as if she was going to cry.

"All the hot men are taken these days!" she wailed.

Just then, a woman rushed into the room, and not looking where she was going, tripped over Hyukjae's long, outstretched legs and spilled her open can of Coke all over him.

"Ahhhh! I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry!" she repeated in a prominent British accent.

"You better be. This was an expensive shirt," Hyukjae joked as he gingerly placed his outline beside him on the couch and used his fingers to pry the wet button-up shirt off of his skin.

"I'm sorry," she said, her head bowed low. "I'm the new flight attendant. Please forgive me."

"It was an accident. They happen from time to time," Hyukjae brushed off her apology as he stood up, looking around the room for a stray napkin to dab his shirt dry. A guy handed him a box of tissues and Hyukjae accepted it graciously, but it was too late. The coke had already contaminated the bleached whiteness of his shirt beyond repair.

With her lips trembling, she tentatively peeked at him. "I'd be more than willing to pay for the dry cleaning."

Hyuna raised her eyebrows. "Um, desperate much?" she whispered to Hyoyeon.

Hyoyeon snorted as she tossed a few roasted peanuts from a dish on the mini-table beside her into .

"Honestly, it's not a big deal, really," Hyukjae said as he took out his phone.

A hush fell upon the room as people looked on, intrigued at how the new girl was planning to land an offensive against Hyukjae's notorious, heavily fortified barriers. The most curious out of them all, of course, was Donghae.

The woman had huge baby-doll eyes, milky pale skin, and straight, jet black hair. Her figure was short and petite, and she was still dressed in a floral, strapless sundress that tapered around her thighs, topped off with a pair of lime green Michael Kors flats.

'Just Hyuk's type,' Donghae thought.

"What did you say your name was?" Hyukjae asked.

"Ji Eun, but my friends call me IU."

"Pleasure to meet you Ji Eun. I'm Head Captain Lee Hyukjae," he said, reaching out his free hand to shake hers.

Hesitantly, she placed her small hands in his and looked up at him through her thick eyelashes.

"Hi captain," she said shyly.

Hyukjae gave her a brief smile before retracting his hand.

Hitting speedial on his phone, he excused himself, stepping away from her out of earshot.

"Hyuk?"

"Hey, could you grab a spare uniform shirt from my suitcase? It should be in the second pouch."

"What happened?"

"A new girl got excited when she saw me and spilled her soda all over my shirt."

"Already flirting with other girls when I'm not there?" Cherie laughed. "I should get Hae to keep an eye on you. Oh wait... nevermind, he's probably doing the same thing."

Hyukjae grinned.

"I'll be expecting the shirt at the door of the staff lounge in 5 minutes."

"What if I take 6?"

"Do you want to take the risk in being punished?"

"Ooooo, I think I'd like to take my chances," Cherie flirted.

"Naughty naughty girl," Hyukjae admonished in a low, teasing tone.

"Bite me tiger," Cherie said ily before hanging up.

"You should really let me wash your shirt for you before it stains," Ji Eun said, holding her hand out as he turned back around to face her.

"It's fine. My fiancée's bringing me an extra one," Hyukjae said before sidestepping Ji Eun and walking out the door.

"Re-jec-ted," Donghae said under his breath, feeling sorry for her as he saw her face scrunch up in a scowl as if she had just on a sour lemon.

"Ohh snap," Hyoyeon said, covering her chortle with her hand.

"Take that new girl," Hyuna added. "No one hits on captain Lee without his permission."

~*~*~*~

“I’m having a heart attack!” Hyoyeon yelled as she rushed into the cockpit, completely out of breath.

“You look pretty fine to me,” Charles, the aviation navigator, said as he swiveled around on his chair to face her at the entrance of the door.

The guys laughed.

Ignoring Charles, she looked directly at Hyukjae.

“If you don’t land now, a man is going to die,” she urged as she slammed the door behind her.

Immediately shutting up, Hyukjae made eye contact with Donghae.

“Are we really doing this?” Donghae asked.

“You heard her. We still have another four hours before we land in Seoul. Charles, check the NOTAM for the nearest airport.”

“Nizhny Novgorod’s the closest,” Charles said behind them as he flipped through the thick pages of the emergency booklet, his eyes roaming everywhere to find the most plausible location.

“No, the runway’s still ripped up from the last tornado that hit Russia,” Donghae said as he took the manual from Charles. “We have to go more into mainland China. Shanxi’s clear.”

“You realize voodoo’s an acceptable form of medical treatment there,” Charles said gravely.

“We’ll work with whatever we have,” Hyukjae said impatiently as he scanned the sheets and reached for the pager.

“Shanxi tower, clipper 203, Boeing aircraft 707 requesting an unscheduled landing for a medical emergency.”

“…………”

“Why aren’t they responding? We should be in range by now.”

“.......&*@%$^#!”

“What the hell was that, are we on the right channel?” Donghae said as he twisted the frequency knob.

“Clipper 203, do you read me?” Hyukjae repeated into the mouth piece.

“我们机场关闭了.”

“Why is he speaking Chinese?” Donghae asked, recognizing a few individual words.

Hyukjae looked at Donghae. “Didn’t you take two years of Chinese in high school? Can you understand it?”

“No, the accent’s too heavy for me to decipher.”

"We need to get Cherie in here," Hyukjae said.

"She can speak Chinese?" Donghae asked.

"Yeah, I found out last night at the party when she started speaking gibberish to a Chinese designer."

“We should be aborting this mission. It’s a breach of aviation protocol to let a passenger speak to the control tower,” Charles demanded.

“There’s no damn time. Do you speak the language?” Donghae shot back.

“It’s my duty to tell you that based on FAA rules and regulations, it is too dangerous to land. We can’t see a thing outside because of the hurricane!”

“Do you need me to change your diapers or something? Rules are dead. People are alive. If you insist on following the rules, a man is going to be as dead as the ing rules are!"

“Hae, I’m just-“

“It’s not Hae, it’s First Officer, and sitting next to me is Captain Lee Hyukjae, and he makes all the decisions of this aircraft, without any interference from you! Am I understood?”

“... yes sir.”

~*~*~*~

“What’s wrong?” Cherie asked as she was hurriedly ushered into the cockpit by Hyoyeon.

“We can’t communicate with the Shanxi control tower. They only speak Chinese,” Donghae said.

“Shouldn’t air traffic controllers be trained to speak English for international flight carriers?” Cherie asked.

“Apprently they slacked off. Listen, I need you to tell them we’re making an emergency landing and will be starting our descent in twenty,” Hyukjae said, handing Cherie the pager.

Cherie nodded and stood behind his pilot seat.

“再过二十分钟我们就要执行一个紧急降落."

“这里的机场已经关闭了!”

“He says the airport is already closed,” Cherie repeated to Hyukjae and Donghae uncertainly.

“This is our only option. If he's there, someone else must be too. Request a visual for the runway. The clouds from the hurricane are obscuring our visibility.”

“我们需要跑道灯. 这飓风的雾太厚了.”

“…………”

“This doesn’t look good,” Donghae said, his eyes flickering back and forth out of the front windshield, of which only total darkness greeted him.

“We don’t have much of a choice right now,” Hyukjae said, gritting his teeth. “Cherie, buckle up in that spare seat beside Charles.”

Cherie complied silently.

Reaching for the intercom, Hyukjae made a quick announcement.

DING.

“Ladies and gentlemen, due to a medical emergency, we will be making an unscheduled stop in Shanxi. We only anticipate a short stop and will be on our way back to Seoul in no time. Please tightly fasten your seat belts as we are about to experience some rough turbulence. Cabin crew, please prepare for landing.”

Turning around, Hyukjae looked at Cherie. “This is going to get bumpy. Are you safely strapped in?”

“I trust you. Do what you have to do.”

Hyukjae mustered a smile before turning back to Donghae. “Let’s go ahead and get our lights on.”

Pushing a couple of buttons and switches, Hyukjae placed his hands firmly around the landing lever bar and slowly pushed it.

“Descending to 4000 feet.”

“It’s gonna be like landing in a black hole,” Charles muttered.

“Shut up Charles,” Hyukjae said menacingly. “Descending to 2000 feet.”

“Captain, you’re out of limits. We have to go around,” Charles insisted as he gripped his hands onto the handles of his seat.

“There’s at least 11 minut--”

What was originally pitch black suddenly exploded with a bright scintillation of lights as they glared and shimmered full force on the fast-approaching runway, momentarily blinding Hyukjae and Donghae's vision.

“Son of a ,” Donghae squinted through the light. “We’re going in too fast!”

Hyukjae bit the inside of his cheeks.

Hard.

“Runway in sight. Full flaps, gear down, landing checks.”

Overcome with a numbing sense of terror, Hyukjae gripped onto the landing lever with all his strength, his muscles cramping from the ferocity of his grasp.

If he lost control, a couple hundred important lives would be in danger. If he made one wrong move, they would all be dead.

“100 feet.”

Everyone in the huge airbus leaned back into their seats as the force of the giant metal tube strained against all possible forces of natural aerodynamics. The overbearing gravitational pull of the ground tugged at the dignitary passengers’ insides, twisting and turning in unpleasant contortions of fear and paralysis.

'Hyuk... please. You can do it. I believe in you.'

Squeezing her eyes close, Cherie fought to swallow down the nauseating hysteria that was bubbling inside of her, threatening to implode. Wrapping her arms around herself, she rocked back and forth in her seat, fervently hoping that a miracle would happen.

It was too early to die.

She still had her whole career ahead of her. She still had to have her wedding ceremony with Hyukjae to plan out. She still had to introduce her fiancé to her parents face to face for heaven's sake.

"Oh God," Cherie breathed, seeing her life flash before her eyes as the nose of the aircraft dived downwards, the concrete runway looming closer and closer.

She could hear Charles muttering to himself on the side, hear Donghae crying out in prayer in the front... but Hyukjae.

He was silent.

The plane lurched.

Hyukjae, Hyorin, Kyuhyun, Donghae, Leeteuk, Bea, Vince, her parents, her grandparents, even her pet turtle from elementary school.

She would never see any of them again.

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