Page 14 of Flight of Fancy

She was blushing, the red in her cheeks almost matching the lipstick she wore on the plane. “You’re too kind. You wanted to ask me something?”

“I was going to ask if you’re happy working for Royal Asia.”

The blush dissipated. So did the smile, which had until that second delighted Elle to see. “It’s a good job,” Arianna said.

“Oh, but that doesn’t answer my question. See, in my department, I’m often involved with employee and customer happiness. It’s not HR, but it’s adjacent. I like to know how happy people are at their jobs, in their careers… hell.” She smiled at the waiter walking by with someone else’s food. “Do you like this hotel they make you stay in?”

While Elle didn’t have control over the hotel accommodations, she knew the person in charge. If it turned out the flight attendants and pilots couldn’t stand this particular place, Elle might be able to do something for them.

“Being a flight attendant is a lot of work, as I’m sure you’ve noticed.”

“The layovers themselves must be brutal. Do you get used to it?”

“Sure. Having a dedicated route and set schedule every week helps a lot. Back when I worked for Singapura, I was often on call. I never knew where I was going or for how long until they called me.”

“Is that one reason you decided to jump ship to Royal Asia? Did they promise you a set flight every week?”

“Jump ship?”

Right. Arianna’s English was so fluid that Elle forgot she wasn’t a native speaker. Gotta watch those idioms. It was something she often learned the hard way from dealing with lots of international businesses.

“I mean why you decided to apply to Royal Asia.”

“You know, I could ask you what you think of it from a passenger perspective. To me, it’s another flight attendant job. Just better for me at this point in my life.”

Elle spoke before her brain filtered her words. “As a passenger, I think the flight attendants are very gracious and lovely to look at.”

“My word.”

It took Elle a moment to realize she had spoken without thinking. “I mean…”

“Well!” Arianna laughed. “Glad to know I have fulfilled half of my duties as a Royal Asia flight attendant. The other half is safety training, you know.”

“Like helping your boss take care of her sprained ankle while thirty thousand feet over the Pacific?”

“You know she’s my boss?”

“Of course.” Elle cleared her throat when her food arrived. “Your uniforms are color-coded. Like in Singapura and Malaysia.”

“Much has changed with Malaysia Airlines, I may remind you.” Arianna politely looked away while Elle began eating her sandwich and soup. “You know, I am Malay.”

“No. Really?”

“Yes. Is it so strange? Most people in Singapore are from other countries. Lots of Malaysians move to Singapore for work… we’re connected like that.”

“I knew that, but…”

“You thought I was of Chinese descent, huh?” Arianna couldn’t hold back another smile. “Yes, my family is Chinese-Malay.”

“Ah. I see.”

“I’m being kind of silly. Layover does this to me.”

“I don’t pretend to know all of the intricacies of Southeast Asia and even East Asia and how all of that combines… I know Mandarin because it was good academic sense when I was in college.”

“Mandarin is a very useful language to know in Asia.”

“And English?”

---