‘Please, it doesn’t hurt to ask,’ I plead with Eun Gi, the air hostess I came running to after seeing my seat and cried in horror when I saw the neighbour next to it. ‘I’m sorry Madam, we cannot switch seats at this stage, it is almost time to take off.’ Of course she’s not wrong, I was the last passenger to board and we’re meant to depart any minute now. I look back my seating area, and see him wearing a peaceful expression, his eyes closed gently, sporting a soft smile. That’s going to change when he finds out the person who burned his flesh and knocked him out is now his seat mate. Nope, no way can I bear to face him, it is way too embarrassing. I try again, ‘Eun Gi, I know I’m being really demanding right now, but I actually really dislike flying business class. Surely you wanna give this seat to someone who would appreciate it!’ I raise my voice in hopes that someone from economy class will hear me and offer to swap. Please God, you cannot be this cruel. Send me an angel to get me out of this hell. Eun Gi asks me to sit down another time, advising me there is nothing she can do at this stage. I try to reason with her using stellar logic like ‘there must be one empty seat back there.’ ‘Can’t I take the next flight out?’ ‘Can I sit with you and the other staff instead?’ All were met with her consistent firm rejection every single time. Can she not see how desperate this face is? I go for a more boisterous approach. ‘Look, you don’t understand. I will not, I CANNOT sit in that seat. Move me anywhere else, I’ll sit on the toilet for the entire journey if I have to!’ Eun Gi bows down another time, apologising and asking me to walk toward my seat. I can hear the frustration in her voice and also the passengers around us who want us to depart on schedule. I understand their frustration but I’ve never been quitter, so I try one final time, as sincerely as possible and ask her to sit me anywhere other than my allocated seat. She begins to respond but her eyes look away from mine and focus on something behind me. I hear a deep voice telling me to stop making a scene and return to my seat. I make the decision to ignore him until I hear the next fatal sentence. ‘Your seat is next to mine.’ Oh . My heart freezes and I automatically stiffen up. It’s my blonde victim. I remind myself to slowly take deep breaths and not try to combust from the amount of anxiety and embarrassment inside me. I totally zone out on what he says next and try catch Eun Gi’s attention, hoping she will somehow magically understand my situation and tell him to return to his seat. However, she stands there, completely entranced by blonde victim, open mouthed and a slight blush creeping upon her cheeks. She’s a lost cause. I’m left with one option now. With my stomach in knots, I slowly begin to shuffle my feet and turn to face him.

His smile vanishes as soon as he recognises who I am. Did I call it or did I call it? His body visibly tenses up and he just stares at me, unsure of what to say in the unexpected turn of events. ‘Sir,’ I begin, unsure of how else to address him. ‘I know you would rather sit next to someone else given everything that has happened. I’m just trying to get that organised.’ He continues to silently stare at me, processing what I just said. There is so much tension in the air, and Eun Gi walks in between our stare-off. Finally, after what seems centuries, Blonde Victim finally breaks the silence. ‘I’d rather that we arrive on time. So if you take your seat, we can depart promptly.’ With that, he turns on his heels and walks back to our seats. Eun Gi claps her hands as if the matter is all resolved, gives me an encouraging smile and ushers me in Blonde Victim’s direction. I twiddle my fingers as I make my way over, the rest of the cabin eye’s glued to the back of my head after the scene I’ve caused. I put my duffle bag in the overhead passage as swiftly as possible and slide my way in the window seat. I can barely even think, he’s bloody right next to me! I stare outside the plane’s window, pretending to be fixated on the crew (for the millionth time today) on the runway loading other planes, in order to avoid his presence. Scratch what I said before about runaways being boring. Runaway watching is great. It lets me ignore reality and become absorbed with how peaceful everything seems. However, that being said, all my senses are hyper alert, my ears registering every centimetre a certain someone shuffles about in his seat. My eyes catch his reflection upon the window; he’s got headphones on and staring straight down at a magazine. I begin to relax - he’s clearly doing his own thing, not acknowledging my existence and I totally dig it- this plane ride is not going to be the horror fest I thought. Just as I close my eyes, I feel a hand prod my arm. I look down and see that it belongs to him. Seems like I spoke too soon.

My eyes dare not open as I brace myself for his outburst. His hand pokes my arm again, this time more forceful. My left eye opens slowly to look at him and realise he’s not even looking at me, he’s staring at something over my shoulder. He points toward where he’s looking, ‘It’s take-off time, you need to put the shutters of the window up.’ Turning around, I discover that he’s right. As I raise the shutters, he goes back to his magazine and music. I peer at him from the corner of my eye, trying to take in everything I can. I play the ‘stranger game’ and try to figure out Blonde Victim. Hmmm, his earlier actions are so curt and to the point, you can tell he’s a direct, no BS kind of guy. The way he’s fixated on the magazine right now suggest good concentration and focus, and both his feet tap along to some beat- maybe a muso? I move my gaze towards his torso. It seems he’s wearing a different shirt but his collarbones still sport a tinge of redness. To be honest, I’m so impressed that he hasn’t cracked it at me yet or even addressed what happened before. He must be a priest- preacher of patience and forgiveness.

His calmness given the situation makes me feel even more guilty and gives me the courage to want to say something to him. I roll with the sudden burst of bravery; it’s now or never. With my head down, I begin.  ‘Ahem. Hi there, I’m Ahri. Look about earlier, I’m really sorry for what happened. I was in a rush and was really inconsiderate and there’s really no excuse at all, I’m very sorry.’ That came out all botchy and I was stuttering the whole time but hopefully did the job. I look up in anticipation and see he’s still engrossed in his magazine. I look to check my hands and arms to ensure I’m not invisible. Nope, I can see my limbs and as they’re waving around in front of my face, I look stupid af. In a louder voice I repeat myself but it falls on deaf ears. Now that’s just impolite. I tap his shoulder and he finally looks up from his magazine. Okay, got his attention. I start again, this time super fluent and smooth after my previous attempts and determined for him to hear my apology. ‘- so I’m very sorry.’

‘What?’ Blonde Victim looks at me with a puzzled expression, strangely enough. Why is he so confused? Hang on. Did I mistake a stranger for the real Blonde Victim? His face is genuinely puzzled. Wait, what?! Was this whole seat drama all for nothing? I was preoccupied with other thoughts when I bumped into him at the cafe, so it is a possibility. I look at his face and  pay close attention to those eyes staring right into mine. Yeah okay it’s him, those stubborn eyes are the same pair that tried to assassinate my soul at the cafe. So if it’s really him, why the ‘what?’ ...Omg, I get it. He’s freaking faking it. It makes sense, he totally ignored me before and now that I’ve made sure to get his attention, he plays dumb. This guy just wants me to apologise endlessly. What an arse, I actually thought he was a decent person. ‘Look here man, when someone tries apologise sincerely, you don’t need to be an arrogant about it. Forget I said anything.’ With that, I face the opposite way and vow to not look in his direction for the rest of the flight. We still have another 10 hours to endure. I close my eyes and will sleep to come. You’d think it’d be easy with the game, the emotional rollercoaster that followed, packing my luggage for a six month journey all night because of my dear father; I haven’t slept a wink in two days. However, I’m so angry right now that whenever my eyes shut, all I see is Blonde Victim’s stupid expression. Ya girl loves her sleep. Ya girl don’t like people who rob her of precious sleep. Blonde Victim just became Blonde Devil.