Aiko wakes up by her alarm at 8am, her flight to country M leaves at 11am. She snoozes her alarm and tries to fall asleep again. Suddenly her curtains are pulled apart and the sun rays hit her closed eyelids.

“Good morning honey, time to wake up!”

“Mooooom, close the curtains just give me five more minutes”

“There’s no time for that, I’ll see you at the kitchen in 10 minutes. We have to leave for the airport soon”

“Fine I’ll get up soon”

Aiko sighs and gets dressed to go downstairs.

“Here’s your breakfast honey!”

“Thanx mom. When are we leaving for the airport?”

“We’ll have to leave in 30 minutes so eat up, brush your teeth and put your bags in the hallway”

“Ok mom, I will”

Aiko eats her breakfast, oatmeal with some berries on top, then she brushes her teeth.

*20 minutes later*

“Mooom I’m ready let’s go now”

“Okay honey, put your bags in the car while I get ready”

“Okay mom”

*On the way to the airport*

“Did you pack your passport honey?”

“Yes mom, I’m not that stupid I would forget my own passport!”

“Hahaha okay honey”

*At the airport, 9am*

“Okay Honey, are you sure you have everything you need now?”

“Yes mom, don’t worry. This isn’t the first time I travel alone”

“I know honey, just call me when you get there okay?”

“Yes ofc mom!”

Aiko hugs her mom goodbye and they part ways. Ever since Aiko was 15 she has had a goal to visit every country there is, to learn about their cultures and what it’s like to live there. Aiko’s flight leaves in 2 hours so to kill some time, she goes to buy candy and look at stuff in the stores.

*Attention passengers, plane 359 leaves in 30 minutes and is now open for boarding so please head to gate c.*

Aiko takes a deep breath and heads to gate c. There’s a long line of people already there and waiting to board. She takes out her passport and plane ticket from her backpack and stands at the back of the line.

Aiko finally got to board the flight, she sits down at her window seat and tries her best to keep herself calm. The flight is supposed to take off in 10 minutes and the last people are now boarding.

Aiko notices a boy who seems to be her age, and he’s very attractive too. No one has sat down beside her yet, for a short period of time she’s convinced he’s going to sit beside her. But unfortunately he walks right past her without even noticing her.

He stops at the seats right behind her, she listens to see what’s happening. He’s talking to the people already sitting there.

“Hi, I think you guys are sitting in my seat?”

“Uhhh no I don’t think so, this is seat 35b right?

“Oh uh, yeah.”

“What seat are you in?”

“I’m sitting in 34b”

“That’s the seat right in front of us!”

“Oh, thank you! Sorry for troubling you”

“No problem, don’t worry about it”

The attractive guy comes back and sits down right beside Aiko. He looks at her and smiles. Aiko blushes and says hi while smiling back at him.

“Hi, how are you?”

“I’m a bit nervous, I’m quite scared of flying actually”

“Oh, don’t worry it’s gonna be fine. Just hold on to me if you’re scared”

*he winks at Aiko*

“Hahah thank you, I might just take you up on that offer”

“Hey what’s your name by the way?”

“I’m Aiko!”

“Nice to meet you Aiko, I’m Haruko!”

“Nice to meet you too Haruko”

After Aiko and Haruko have gotten to introduce themselves to each other and the flight is finally ready to take off.

*Attention passengers on flight 359, we might experience some turbulence during the flight due to a storm. There’s no need to worry about this.”

Haruko looks at Aiko. Aiko looks like she’s about to cry.

“Hey, Aiko don’t worry everything’s gonna be fine”

“You don’t know that, what if we crash Haruko?”

*Haruko lets out a small laugh and quickly covers his mouth with his hand*

“Hey don’t laugh at me”

*Aiko puts and crosses her arms*

“Sorry Aiko I just couldn’t help it haha. Trust me we’re not going to die”

“But how do you know? Haruko I can’t die at 20 years old, what would my mom do?”

“I know Aiko, because my dad owns a private jet. I’ve experienced turbulence many times before and it’s nothing dangerous”

*Haruko gives Aiko a hug*

“Okay, thanx Haruko”

*Aiko blushes and gets butterflies in her stomach*

The flight takes off and they’re now up in the air. The journey from country A to Country M is 9 hours long. The flight will be landing at 8pm.

The rain is pouring down outside the window, Haruko has already fallen asleep. Aiko takes advantage of this time to check Haruko out properly. He’s quite tall, maybe 6’2 she guesses. His hair is dark brown, the same color as his eyes she remembers. He’s fit and seems to be working out a lot.

There’s 7 hours left of the flight. Aiko closes her eyes trying to fall asleep. Suddenly the plane starts shaking. Aiko flinches hard and accidentally grabs Haruko’s hand while trying to grab the armrests. Aiko is so scared she doesn’t even notice. Haruko jolts awake, he looks at Aiko and let out a small laugh again.

Aiko notices she accidentally grabbed his hand, she quickly lets go.

“Sorry, there was some turbulence and I got scared”

“No worries, just relax everything’s fine”

*Aiko nods and gives Haruko a small smile*

Aiko looks out the window, the clouds below them are dark and heavy. Soon it’s going to rain heavily. Haruko is still up from being scared awake from Aiko suddenly grabbing his hand.

Last night Aiko was so afraid and anxious about the flight, she had troubles falling asleep. She only got about 3 full hours of sleep. She’s still scared but almost falling asleep from how tired she is.

“Hey Haruko, I forgot to ask you before. How old are you?”

“Oh yeah, I’m 21!”

“Oh so you’re only one year older then me. I thought we looked to be the same age!”

“Yeah I thought so too”

*Attention passengers on flight 359, snacks and drinks will now be available to buy from our flight attendant. No peanuts are available due to allergies.*

Aiko is about to fall asleep, she’s trying her best to stay awake but soon she’s going to doze off whether she wants to or not. Haruko is listening to music while playing the only offline game ha had downloaded on his phone.

He looks over at Aiko and notices she’s finally fallen asleep. She’s snoring heavily, it kind of sounds like chicken choking on something. He laughs and continues to play his game.

There’s still 2 hours left on the plane ride, Aiko is still asleep. The plane started to shake again. Haruko looks over at Aiko who seems to be sleeping peacefully. The plane is shaking quite heavily, Aiko’s head got bounced over to Haruko’s shoulder. He put one of his hands on her head to stabilize it.

After 30 minutes the turbulence has stopped the weather is still terrible. The clouds are only looking bigger and darker the further they get. Aiko wakes up and notices she had been sleeping on Haruko’s shoulder. She blushes and apologizes to him.

“Oh god, I’m sorry I didn’t know I was sleeping on your shoulder!”

“Haha don’t worry about it, you’re cute when you sleep anyways”

*Haruko gives Aiko a smirk and she blushes even more*

“By the way, Aiko. Did you know you sound like a dying pig when you sleep?”

“HEY! My mom told me I barely snore at all”

*she frowns at him jokingly and crosses her arms*

“Hahaha yeah sure she did”

“Ugh whatever Haruko, you definitely snore more then I do”

“I can promise you I don’t, there’s only one way for you to find out for sure tho”

*Haruko winks at Aiko*

*Aiko gasps and bursts out laughing*

“I know I know, I’m actually quite funny”

*Aiko rolls her eyes jokingly*

“Anyways, how long is it left until we land?”

“It’s only about 20 minutes now”

“Ugh finally, I just want to get to my hotel room and sleep now”

“Yeah me too, but the weather here is so bad. I bet it’s going to be loads of traffic when we get there”

“Haruko just let me live in my happy bubble a bit longer now please”

*Attention passengers on plane 359, due to the bad weather Hotel B has gotten some problems with flooded rooms. Since this is where most of you will be staying, please go to the information desk when we land to get a new hotel booked”

“What!! Are you kidding me that’s my hotel!”

“Well you can stay with me if you want Aiko. I know the rest of the hotels nearby will be full now because of this. It’s not going to be easy finding a new room to stay at.”

“Where do you even live?”

“About 30 minutes from the airport. I have my own apartment here.”

“Oh, well I guess I don’t have any other choice. Thank you so much Haruko!”

“No worries Aiko”

“How long are you going to vacation here Aiko?”

“About 2 months. After that I have to get back home to my mom.”

“Well if you want I can show you some fun things available to do locally!”

“Yes that would be amazing Haruko!”

The flight lands and all passengers get off the plane. Haruko helps Aiko get her bag down and they walk out together.

“Aiko, do you have a bag you need to get from the baggage claim?”

“No, do you?”

“No I don’t have one either. Let’s get a taxi then!”

“Okay!”

They continue walking to the taxi’s, Haruko puts Aiko’s bag in the car for her when they finally get there. He sits down in the backseat with her and tells the driver where to take them.

“Go to street X please”

“Ok”

***in Aiko’s head***

“Isn’t that where all the rich people live??? I never even asked him what he does for work, who his parents are or anything like that. What if he wants to kidnap me? What if he’s actually some weirdo who does this to girls for a living?”

“No i can’t think like this, he’s been so nice to me. I can’t let the past affect me. I’m going to trust that he’s a good person”

***Back to reality***

“Hey Aiko, we’re here now!”

“Oh wow, already?”

“Yeah you spaced out the whole ride here”

“Yeah I’m just so tired now”

“Let me grab the bags then we can go up”

“Okay Haruko!”

Haruko grabs both of their bags and they head up to his apartment. They take the elevator up to floor 50.

“Oh wow, even the corridors here are nice. How rich are you?”

“Hahah my parents are businesspeople, I got a job at one of their firms”

“You’re so lucky, my mom had to work so hard to even become a barista when she was your age…”

“Yeah I know, I’m very grateful for my parents”

*Aiko smiles at Haruko*

They walk up to the door and Haruko grabs the key.

“ARE YOU INSANE? You really just leave your key under the doormat?”

“Hahaha Aiko calm down, I’ve lived here for 3 years already and never has there been one break in. Not even in any of the other apartments in my building!”

“Ugh fine, but you’re actually crazy leaving the key like that”

Haruko unlocks the door and they both walk in.

“WOW, you’re apartment is so pretty. I imagined it would be all messy and unorganized!”

“Nono, I love to clean and always leave my place tidy and nice.”

“Oh by the way Haruko, you don’t have a girlfriend right?

“No, you’re a very straight up girl i see”

“WHAT NONO NOT LIKE THAT, I really just meant that if I’m going to be staying here then I don’t want to make any enemies”

“Yeahhhh sure that’s what you meant”

*Haruko winks at Aiko and she blushes hard”

Aiko walks around the apartment a bit. The toilet looks super fancy and clean. The only thing she notices is… there’s only one bed to sleep on.

“Haruko… where am I supposed to sleep?”

“Oh, you can sleep in my bed if you want”

“But what about you?”

“I’m also gonna sleep in my bed, silly”

*Aiko blushes and her eyes widen”

“I’m kidding Aiko, I’m not one of those guys hahah. You take the bed and I’ll sleep on the floor”

“Are you crazy you can’t sleep on the floor!”

“Ofc I can”

“No Haruko I can’t let you sleep on the floor in your own apartment! Just sleep in the bed you too, it’s not a big deal I don’t mind it”

“Are you sure Aiko?”

“Yes don’t worry about it, really”

“Okay, but just tell me if it makes you uncomfortable and I’ll sleep on the floor!”

“Yesyes okay Haruko. I’m going to brush my teeth now. It’s late and I’m tired”

“Okay, go ahead”

...****************...

*in the bathroom, Aiko*

“Oh shit I didn’t pack any proper sleepwear. Ugh what am I supposed to do now? I didn’t expect things to go this way.”

Aiko brushes her teeth and changes into a pair of shorts and a short tank top.

“Why didn’t I pack anything less revealing to sleep in this is so embarrassing. How can I possibly go out there looking like this?”

...****************...

After being in the bathroom for 15 minutes Aiko finally unlocks the door and walks out.

“You ready to go to bed now Aiko?”

“Yeah, sorry I didn’t think I’d be sleeping with someone so I didn’t bring anything less revealing to wear…”

“Oh haha don’t worry I don’t mind”

“Okay, are you also going to sleep now?”

“Yeah I’m exhausted from the flight”

Haruko goes to the bathroom to brush his teeth and change clothes too. Aiko lays down under the covers and texts her mom she got to Country M safely.

After 10 minutes Haruko gets out of the bathroom and joins Aiko in bed. Luckily his bed is queen sized so they don’t have to fight for space.

“Good night Haruko, thank your for letting me stay with you”

“No problem, good night Aiko”