“The plane is literally leaving in five minutes, you can hold it in.”

                “I really caaaan’t!” You friend Jae whined, pressing her legs together. “It’s your fault for making me finish my bottle of juice before we passed security.

                “It would have been wasted otherwise.” You justify yourself, arms crossed. “Listen, you can go to the toilet in the plane. We really don’t have time for this.”

                “If I wet myself in front of the entire airport, I swear to God, I’ll never forgive you.”

                “Don’t blame me for your weak bladder.” You flicked her ear and ducked as she swiped at you. “The lines moving, keep up!”

                After another couple of minutes of waiting and walking slowly, it was your turn to show your boarding passes and  enter the corridor leading to the plane. Jae practically sprinted, getting dirty looks from just about everyone. You sighed, following her as quickly as you could, without disturbing anyone. The cabin crew welcomed you, after checking your pass a second time, and you got in, walking down the aisle, looking for your seat. Located by one of the emergency exits, you double check before opening the storage compartment and shoving your bag in there. You had chosen a window seat on purpose, to be able to look down, though it sometimes made you anxious to go through clouds, you found it stunning. There was something majestic about the insubstantial giants, but also something impressive and sometimes frightening. The seat next to yours was still empty so you settled in comfortably and tied your seat belt. The only part of flying you hated was take-off and landing. Your ears were sensitive and it hurt every single time.

                A few moments later, someone tapped your shoulder and you Jae was hovering there with a small smile. “Yo, my seats over there.” She said, pointing at the back of the plane. “I’ll see you on the other side, ey?”

                “Okay!” You responded. “If you need anything, I have an extra blanket, some lip balm, tissues, and all the essentials.”

                “Implying that I don’t.”

                “Implying that you’d even think about packing any of those.” You teased with a broad smile. She flicked the back of your head as revenge.

                “Listen here you lil…”

                “I’m sorry sir, but there’s really no other way. There must have been an error in the registration of your ticket and you were put in economy instead of business, but the flight is booked and we can’t change anything.” Both of you look up to see an air hostess looking apologetic towards a tall young man with somewhat large ears and a snapback. He looked quite gutted to be there.

                “Can’t you ask someone else to move?”

                “I’m afraid not, sir, since everyone already has their place and we can’t ask a passenger to give up their seat because of an error, I hope you understand.” The young man’s face fell even more and he kicked the air.

                “Aish, fine. I understand.” Looking grumpy as ever, he walked towards you.

                “Yikes.” Jae muttered. “I think this is his seat. I’ll be getting back to mine!” And with that, she hurried away. Your eyes followed her as she clambered over a passenger to get to her seat. Your view was blocked as the man opened the overhead storage to put his bag in.”

                “I’ll sit there.” Said another voice. You peered around the tall guy to spot another young man. “You go take the seat next to Baekhyun. I don’t want to be stuck there for  14 hours.”

                “You sure?”

                “Yeah, go ahead.” He said in a calm voice, his face rather emotionless.

                “Ah! Thank you~! I was afraid I’d be bored here.” The young man pulled his bag down again and skipped to half hug the other man before disappearing without another word. The newcomer adjusted his jacket and you looked away, pretending you hadn’t been staring or listening, though pretty much the entire economy class had overheard. He came and closed the storage compartment and took a seat by you. Instinctively, you moved away from him, sitting as close to the window as possible.

                “I’m sorry for the disturbance.” He said simply, as his seatbelt clicked and he adjusted himself in his seat.

                “Oh! Don’t worry about it.” You gave him your brightest smile, and his lips lifted a bit in response. “Don’t you mind being downgraded to economy?” You asked, hoping he wouldn’t ignore your attempts at conversation.

                “Oh, not particularly. My friends in business class tend to make a lot of noise and never let me sleep during flights.” He snorted. “It’s a pain.”

                “Instead of your friends, you’ll just have an uncomfortable keeping you from sleeping.” You joked. He raised an eyebrow and shrugged.

                “I’ve had worse.”

 

The lengthy safety protocol speech began and you rolled your eyes. You’d heard it over a dozen times at this point. It went on and on. Finally the plane started rolling and you relaxed in your seat as much as you could. However, the moment the wheels lifted off the ground, your ears started hurting and you placed your hands over them, teeth clenched. You started to massage them, hoping it’d relieve the pressure that was building up. Someone patted your shoulder and you looked up. The man sitting next to you handed you a piece of gum.

                “Chew, it usually helps with that.”

                “Oh.” You said and took it from him. “Thank you.” You started chewing and pulled on your earlobes. Your ears popped a little, relieving you. Though it wasn’t all gone, it felt a bit better. After a while, the plane stabilised and your ears popped a final time. You turned to thank him again, only to see he was also chewing gum and rubbing his ears. “Is it not passing?” He shook his head. “Try yawning.” You instructed. “Or, fake yawning.” He opened his mouth for a while, consciously covering it with one of his hands. It triggered something and you yawned as well, which cleared your ears fully. Suddenly, you could hear much better, though you hadn’t realised you couldn’t hear well until now.

                “Better.” He said, dropping his hand and wiping a yawn induced tear away.

                “Thanks for the gum, really helped. I guess I’m not the only one with that problem.”

                “My doctor said a lollipop would be better, but my friends ate them all before boarding.” He shot a glare in the direction of the business class. “Gum works too though.”

                “I’ll remember that, thank you.” You stretched your arms and cracked your back.

 

Night was falling. You’d left around about 6pm, so most of the flight would be spent during the night. You unwrapped your blanket and pillow, and pushed your seat back a little, checking to see it didn’t disturb the person behind you. They were already asleep and didn’t budge. You got yourself comfortable and turned a movie on. There wasn’t much to do during such a long flight. You were headed to Korea to visit some of your relatives. Jae had tagged along since she was part Korean and wanted to get in touch with her roots. AKA, go see some boy bands live and learn enough of the language to be able to communicate with her future husband.

                “Meat or vegetarian?” The air hostess pushing the food trolley asked. You paused your movie and smiled.

                “Meat is fine.” You said.

                “For me too.” Said your neighbour. Before you could, he grabbed both of the trays she pulled out, and placed one on your table silently.

                “Thank you.” You replied, smiling. He was such a nice person, it was rare to meet people who didn’t either ignore you, or act like complete s while ignoring you.

                “Bon Appetite.” You both opened the foods individually. There was some fish in a red sauce, rice and beef curry. On the side, there was a yoghurt, bread roll, fruit salad and some salt and pepper. You made a little face before starting to eat. Airplane food wasn’t… your favourite. Once you’d finished eating, you laid back, turning your movie on again. It didn’t take long for the food to hit your stomach and you covered your mouth as you yawned. You’d gotten up early to finish your bags, and now you were knackered. You plumped your cushion a bit and loosened your seat belt. Turning your screen off, you closed your eyes and fell asleep.

 

Gentle vibrations against your cheek awoke you. You were warm. Not really wanting to move, you stayed there. After a while, through the haze of sleep, those vibrations became a melody, as if someone was humming, or singing. Slowly coming to your senses, you opened your eyes. The first thing you saw were the seats in front of you, which served as a reminder as to where you were. Then, you felt the armrest, digging into your ribs as you leaned against it. The humming was right next to your ear. You were leaning against someone’s shoulder, probably having moved as you slept. You froze. You were too embarrassed to move. Maybe you could pretend you were still asleep and shift away from him, so you could avoid any awkwardness. But you didn’t know how you could do it while seeming natural. You shut your eyes again and stretched, meaning to mimic someone turning around in their bed, but instead, your hand his the side of his face. The humming stopped.

                “Oh my God, I’m so sorry.” You said.

                “Shhh.” Someone nearby hissed.

               “I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” Your face was burning hot, it almost stung. The young man looked at you, somewhat startled.

                “It-It’s fine.” He said, rubbing his cheek.

                “I’m sorry for falling asleep on you. I didn’t mean to.” You whispered quickly, bowing your head.

                “It’s fine.” He said quickly. His tone was calm and didn’t betray much emotion so you looked away, turning to face the window. Your barely visible reflection showed deep red cheeks and you hid your face in your arm. After a while, you decided to go to the bathroom and ask a hostess for some water. You looked over at him, and he was sitting in a reclined position, eyes closed. You got up and took a massive step over his legs. Unfortunately, your legs were quite short and you ended up losing your balance, almost falling over into the aisle. He grabbed your arm. “Be careful.” He said quietly. Embarrassment washed over you yet again and you nodded, before hurrying over to the bathroom.

 

Since no one was in line, you stayed there until you face had lost some of its colour. After splashing some water over it, you opened the door to find Jae waiting. “Oh, Y/N!” She exclaimed quietly. “Everything going well?”

                “Yeah.” You said sheepishly. “You? Have you slept at all?”

                “Not yet, I was watching a really neat movie. I’ll sleep once I’ve brushed my teeth. If you don’t hog up the bathroom for another hour, that is. What were you doing in there?”

                “Freshening up.” You said, wiping a droplet of water from your neck. “I’ll get back to my seat before my neighbour falls asleep again and I have to wake him. Sleep well, Jae!”

                “You too, Y/N!”

                Before regaining your seat, you ask one of the hostesses for some water and she hands you a tiny bottle. “There you are, dear.”

                “Thank you very much.” You bow your head and walk back down the aisle to your seat. This time, you don’t attempt anything stupid and wait for him to move his knees so that you can pass. “Thanks.” You whisper as you fasten your seat belt again. After practically shoving yourself as much as you possibly can next to the window, you cover yourself and yawn. The night was only half done. You still had time to sleep.

 

You were awoken by someone taping your shoulder. You opened your eyes to see the breakfast tray in front of you. “We’re landing in less than an hour. Thought you might want to have breakfast.” Your neighbour said, not looking at you as he stirred his tea.

                “Oh, thank you. Did you end up sleeping?” You asked, reaching for your water and finishing the bottle.

                “I did.” He said. Neither of you uttered another word during breakfast and when the woman came to take your trash, you both handed yours over silently. You packed away everything you’d taken out into your bag and went to freshen up, this time taking a toothbrush, spare underwear and socks and some makeup with you. As soon as you came back, the young man went to presumably do the same.

                “By the way,” you started, as he came back. “I didn’t catch your name.”

                “Oh, I never told you.” He hesitated, fidgeting for a couple of seconds. “My name is Do Kyungsoo.”

                “Oh, you’re Korean, right?”

                “Yeah. What’s your name?”

                “I’m Y/N.” You smiled, still feeling bad about having slept on him, perhaps even drooled on him last night. “I’m from America, but I’m visiting relatives. Oh, and I’m really sorry about last night.” He raised an eyebrow.

                “Don’t sweat it. It’s fine.” His lips lifted again, as a half-smile.

                “Well still. I may not be your friend but I still kept you from sleeping for a good half of the night.” You bowed your head, apologetic and self-conscious.

                “Don’t worry, you weren’t half as noisy… Even if you snored.”

                “I snored?” You exclaimed, face reddening again.

                “I’m joking. I had earphones on, so I wouldn’t know.” He gave you another small smile and turned his screen on, looking through the music selection. His finger paused over one of the artists. ‘EXO’, it read. You’d heard the name from Jae before.

                “K-pop?”

                “I listen on occasion.” He changed the page and put something else on.

                The rest of the flight was short. You landed on time. The weather outside was splendid. Arriving early at your destination was the best way to not suffer from the time difference, since you’d slept in the plane. After the plane had fully stopped, you patiently waited for an opening to be made. Do Kyungsoo opened the storage compartment and handed you your bag before taking out his own. “Thanks.” You said, feeling a little bit sad this would probably be the last you’d see of him. Once people started walking, you left, one by one. Separated by a few others, you shuffled down the aisle towards the exit.

                “Thank you for flying with us, have a great day.” The hostesses bowed and smiled as you stepped out of the plane. It took Jae a few seconds to join you as you started going towards the busses. Your eyes briefly searched for Do Kyungsoo, only to see him join a group of young men, waiting in front of some cars. Just before stepping into one of them, he turned around and your eyes briefly met. You both bowed your head, and parted ways.