Page 7 of Summer Haze & Tokyo Craze

I wonder what's going through her head. She looks a bit less nervous now, maybe due to the fact there is no more turbulence.

If you’re not a great flyer, being on a 16-hour flight must be hell. How is she doing it? I’m afraid of spiders and there is no way in hell I could face that fear.

Suddenly, she lifts her head and look around until her eyes meet mine. I fight the urge to quickly look away. She's caught me anyway.

Instead, I raise my eyebrow at her and try to shoot her a smile. She raises her eyebrow right back at me, then rolls her eyes at me and averts her gaze again.

I grin and sit up straighter, trying to find a comfortable position without jostling the woman sitting next to me. I’vedone my share of small talk with her and that’s enough for the rest of the flight.

It’s impossible to find a truly comfortable position. This goddamn seat is not doing my back any favors.

But at some point, I find a somewhat comfortable way to sleep, and after finding some calming music in my playlist, I drift off.

Lily

I hide a yawn behind my hand and fight to keep my eyes open as we land. Just like I predicted, I couldn’t sleep a wink. At first, I was too wired from the chaos at the airport, then I was too nervous about flying, and when I finally calmed down there was turbulence, turning me wide awake again until finally I gave up and got lost in work.

No, that’s a lie. I forced myself to work because the thought of the CEO of my most important rival company seeing me asleep was horrifying.

My mood is already bad as is, and it turns even sourer when the first thing I see when I look out of the window after landing, is heat blurring the air. God. I remember Tokyo summers to be scorching, and now I fear I might have romanticized it. I haven’t stepped a foot outside yet, but it already looks so much hotter than I remember it.

Activating my SIM card, as I wait for everyone to retriever their bags from the overhead compartments and walk out, the first thing I do once it works is check the weather for the next few days, then groan inwardly when I see temperatures well above 35 degrees in the foreseeable future.

I am not made for heat, especially not a humid one. There is nothing I hate more than the feeling of sweat on my skin, soaking into my clothes and even worse… running down my back. Just no, thank you.

Finally, most of the passengers have left the plane, and now I can stand up to collect my bag from the overhead bin.

One step out of the plane and it feels like I run into a wall of heat, fighting hard to not break into a grimace. God, why couldn’t they have planned this conference in November?

Despite the heat, I walk briskly, sighing in relief when I reach the air-conditioned hallway.

The walk to customs is long and tedious, and I keep hitting my heels with my carry-on. And for the whole way, I see a familiar black-haired man walking about 20 meters in front of me.

How the hell does Adam look so perfect after a 16-hour flight and even after sleeping? His hair is messy, but in the good, ‘I styled it exactly like this’ way, there’s not a crease on his shirt and he looks well rested. Probably because he slept for most of the flight. I saw him conked out when I sneaked up and down the aisle when I got antsy as I couldn’t sleep.

Meanwhile, my hairclip started to annoy me one hour into the flight and the bun I put my hair into instead is very much a messy one. Didn’t dare look into a mirror yet, but I am about eighty percent sure that the bags under my eyes are showing through my makeup, that by now feels like it’s melting off my face.

Well, good for him.

I strut past him at the immigration counters. Colin, my brother, sent me a link to fill out the form online, and seeing how the passengers of our plane crowd at the tables to fill out printed ones, fighting over pens, I am very thankful he did.

Within minutes, I’m done and continue on my way to baggage claim. God, I’m ready to get to the hotel and just sleep until the conference starts tomorrow. And shower.

“Did you have a good flight?” I startle when Adam suddenly appears beside me just before I reach the baggage claim area, an amused grin playing at his lips.

“It was horrible, in fact,” I let him know, hiding a yawn behind my hand as I find a spot where I’ll be able to see the suitcases falling onto the luggage belt. “But I’ll survive. How about you?”

I know his answer, but even though I might dislike him for his perfect looks and ability to sleep on planes, I should at least pretend to enjoy the small talk.

“You didn’t sleep?” he asks, ignoring my question and raising one of his eyebrows, the grin slowly slipping off his face as he crosses his arms in front of his chest and frowns.

“No,” I confirm and yawn again. Get it together, Lily. “I’m too nervous flying to even think about sleeping.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” he says, and I look up at him, surprised. I expected another teasing remark.

“Thank you, but it’s fine.” I wave him off, but that frown is remaining in place. “I managed to get some things off my to-do list and watch a movie.”

His Adam’s apple jumps as he gulps before takes a deep breath to reply, but I sidestep him as the first bags start to appear. My foot starts tapping on the spotless vinyl floor and I can feel myself growing more antsy by the minute.

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