I shut my eyes, wanting to escape the unbearable awkwardness hanging in the air.
He left not long after.
He arranged for a private caregiver, and since I was in a luxury single-patient suite, the stay was pretty comfortable.
I might as well take full advantage of my paid medical leave and rest a few extra days.
During my hospital stay, Kian never visited.
A new phone was delivered to me by the caregiver.
I logged back into the company’s internal messaging system.
Scrolling through old messages, I came across a conversation where everyone had once talked about Ava Air Flight 117—the one that nearly crashed due to a mechanical failure.
They also discussed the celebrity pilot, the man who had pulled off the impossible, keeping his cool in the face of disaster.
But in the latest messages…
The topic shifted.
Now, everyone in the company’s private chat was talking about how Kian brought his girlfriend to tour the office.
My eyes widened instantly.
My grip on the phone tightened as I stared at the screen, reading every word carefully.
Then, I saw the photo.
A candid shot taken by one of my coworkers.
Kian stood in a deep blue suit, slightly turned to the side, speaking to a beautiful, elegant woman.
Even from this angle, I could see the gentle look on his face—an expression I had never once seen before.
My chest constricted.
My breathing turned shallow.
Then, pain.
A splitting pain.
It felt like my skull was being torn apart.
I clutched my head, twisting in agony on the bed.
The caregiver rushed in, took one look at me, and immediately turned to call for a doctor.
And just like that, I was back on the plane.
The deafening cries of passengers surrounded me.
Luggage rained down from the overhead compartments.
A blood-red haze filled my vision.
I touched my forehead, and my fingers came away warm and sticky with blood.
Panic overtook me.
I was still on the plane.
The plane never landed safely.
Everything from the hospital, Kian running toward me, to our awkward conversation had all been nothing more than a hallucination in my dying moments.
Terror rattled through my bones.
My whole body trembled violently as I clutched my head, screaming, “I don’t want this! I don’t want to die! I don’t—!”
If I had never known warmth, I wouldn’t have feared death so much.
