Page 15 of From Helsinki with Love
“Damn, you seem so sure of yourself.”
“Sometimes.” I shrug. “But I’m mostly trying to make you blush. You’re even cuter when that happens.”
Her smile fades slightly. “Um, thanks?”
“Did I say something wrong?”
“I don’t know if being called cute was nice,” Vivian admits, pursing her lips together.
My brows furrow as I absorb her words. “Enlighten me.”
“Puppies and kittens are cute. Little children are cute. Old grandmas crossing the roads with their walkers are cute. But not women. They are pretty or beautiful, or maybe even stunning. Calling me cute sounds like I’m a child—”
“Well, you definitely aren’t,” I interrupt her, looking down at her chest to make my point as obvious as possible. She’s anything but childish in her appearance. “So, let me correct my previous statement; you’re even more beautiful when that happens. Happy?”
The pink hue is back on her cheeks as a shy smile spreads across her lips. “Way better.”
“Anything else I should know about?”
“I don’t know yet,” she murmurs. “But I’ll most likely share it with you once I do.”
“What if you sit next to me for the rest of the flight so we can talk more?” I say, motioning to the empty seat next to me.
Without uttering a word, Vivian grabs her water bottle and phone from her seat and moves into the one beside mine. All I can do is try to get my mind to focus on anything but how amazing she looks.
It doesn’t help that she’s also the most intriguing woman I have met in a long time. She’s beautiful, smart,andsassy, which is a lethal combination.
* * *
“Tell me something about Finland that most Americans don’t know,” Vivian asks as we wait for dinner. I’m one of those weirdos who like airplane food, so I’m excited to see what they’re serving tonight.
”In 2018, Finland was listed as the happiest country in the world in the World Happiness Report by the United Nations. And we have been that since. We have the top spot every year.”
“How do you even measure happiness?”
“It’s a great question, but for the purpose of the report, they use different key factors such as social support, health, freedom, and absence of corruption,” I list, using my fingers to count the points.
“Intriguing. Anything else?”
“Some Americans I have met have been shocked to find out thatAngry Birdsis from Finland or that the name Nokia was derived from a town with the same name.”
“There’s a town called Nokia in Finland?” she asks, not believing it.
“Yeah, there is. My mom actually lived near there before she met my dad.”
Vivian’s eyes light up with excitement. “No way! What else comes from the land of 3310 phones?”
“That’s a good one.” I laugh before listing my knowledge of Finnish inventions, “Heart rate monitors, Molotov cocktails, reflectors, saunas, ice skates—”
“And here I thought ice hockey started in Canada.”
“That’s another story. But, according to this study I once read, Finns were the first to create ice skates from animal bones to save energy while hunting during winter. Finland has almost two hundred thousand lakes, so they could just slide over frozen water with those.”
She stares at me in disbelief. “That’s amazing. And all those other things as well. It’s funny because I couldn’t even put Finland on the map a few months ago, and now I know all these random facts.”
“I honestly learned them before college because I knew people would ask me about Finland, and I wanted to have something to share. Not every Finn knows these things, but some do.”
“I’m so glad I sat next to you, then.” Vivian smiles my way.
