☦︎︎ 𝙉𝘾𝙏 𝙊𝙉𝙀𝙎𝙃𝙊𝙏𝙎 ☦︎︎

CHENJI - A LONG FLIGHT

"Now boarding Flight 327, please make your way to the terminal."

Jisung opens his eyes and removes his sleep mask before walking casually to the terminal. He drags his small and squeaky bag along the ground, leaving black trails in its way and causing people to stare in annoyance. When he gets to the queue, he yawns loudly and stretches his arms, before noticing he still has his neck pillow on.

He follows the line of people until he gets to the plane, boarding it slowly. Upon finding his seat, he shoves his hand-me-down luggage into the overhead compartment and sits down with a flop. The plane was small and the seats were in pairs - Jisung was travelling solo. He hoped to have no one sit next to him so he could stretch out and sleep without disturbance.

As Jisung rests his head against his neck pillow and begins to close his eyes, he hears a particularly interesting conversation from some passengers at the front of the plane.

"Mr Zhong, sir, you don't have to do this. We have already reserved your seat in first class," says one gentleman, with a servile and pleading manner.

"But I want to do this on my own," responds a second. His demeanour made him appear confident but also brattish. He sounded too whiny as well, even though he seemed like an adult.

"But you-"

"I don't want to hear it anymore, I'm going to my seat."

"Okay, let me take your bag-"

"Just leave me be!"

Jisung continued to listen to the conversation as the two gentlemen broke apart, one walking gently to the front of the plane and another making their way backwards with loud and stomping footsteps. The footsteps of the second gentleman grow louder, and Jisung quickly shuts his eyes again.

"Excuse me, you're in my seat."

Jisung parts his eyes and turns his head to the source of the voice, who he recognised as the arrogant gentleman from the front of the plane.

"Are you Seat 36?" Jisung says with a tired voice before pointing to the seat next to him, "It's this one."

"Yeah, but I always get the window seat."

Jisung screws up his face in confusion and pulls his eye mask over his eyes. "Don't care."

The gentleman huffs before sitting down next to Jisung.

"Do you know how long this flight is?" Asks the gentleman Jisung has decided he doesn't like.

"Yeah, 8 hours," Jisung answers coldly, turning away from him and attempting to sleep once more.

"Are you going to sleep for the whole flight?" Asks the gentleman again.

"Dude, can you leave me alone already?" Jisung repositions himself, hoping the gentleman gets the idea that he wants nothing more but to sleep.

"Well, what am I meant to do?"

"How is that my business?!" Jisung removes the eye mask and sleepily turns to the gentleman, "Do whatever you want, but do it quietly. And quit bothering me already." He shoves the eye mask back on and turns away from the stranger once more.

"Welcome to Flight 327, everyone please remain seated with your seatbelts fastened until further notice. We are now taking flight."

After a few moments of silence from the stranger next to him, Jisung lifts his eye mask and peers through the corner. There he sees the stranger acting in complete contrast to what Jisung expected of him. He sees him with a panicked expression and wide eyes that dart around the plane frantically. Jisung looks towards the gentleman's hands which grip the armrests tightly and shake gently.

Jisung moves the eye mask to his forehead and continues looking at the man subtly, who doesn't notice Jisung's stare. Although he already decided the gentleman was a rude person who he doesn't want to associate with, he can see now it was a facade. He felt like karma had come to get this arrogant man, repaying him for all his rudeness, and he felt like justice had been served kindly. Jisung smiled smugly to himself for a moment but was cut short. As the plane begins to take off, the stranger whips his head down and buries himself in his legs, shoving his hands quickly over his ears.

Jisung no longer felt good; although the man was arrogant and rude, Jisung wasn't, and he couldn't just let this stranger panic next to him while he laughed.

"Hey," Jisung gently taps the stranger on the back, "you okay?"

The stranger keeps his head down but shakes it back and forth, signalling 'no' to Jisung.

"Are you scared of flying?"

The stranger nods.

"Well, you'd be better off sitting up, you might hurt yourself down there."

The stranger slowly sits up until his back is obnoxiously straight against the seat and he shoves his arms back on the armrests, gripping them tightly. "I-is this better?" he stammers, his eyes once again darting around the plane.

Jisung observes the stranger again, watching his breathing become heavier as his anxiety intensifies. Without warning, Jisung grabs the stranger's hand from the armrest and holds it.

"Wh-what do yo-you think you're doing?!" The stranger stutters, his shaking hand trying to pull away from Jisung's firm grip but to no avail.

"Shhhh," Jisung says softly, "you have to breathe slowly."

The stranger tries to breathe slowly but struggles; he quickly looks around the plane, noticing none of the other passengers seems to be panicking.

"Hey," Jisung leans over and forces the stranger's gaze to fall upon him by holding his face in his other hand, "stop looking around, that's making you feel worse. Look at me and copy what I do."

Jisung continues holding the frantic gentleman as he breathes in and out and in and out, deep and slow. Slowly but surely, the stranger begins to calm down. After ten minutes of breathing exercises, Jisung feels the tremble in the gentleman's hands subsiding and he gently lets them go. As he begins to turn away, he feels the stranger grab his hands again.

"Wait," the stranger begins, "please, can you hold them for a little while longer?"

This is the first time Jisung really notices the gentleman and sees him for who he truly is. Soft and scared on the inside but attempting a harsh exterior. As he gazes into his eyes, his former perception of the gentleman disappears and he feels a sense of compassion towards him. Jisung smiles gently and nods his head, interlinking their fingers together and resting their hands on the armrest between them.

"I never asked," starts the stranger, "what's your name?"

"I'm Jisung, and you?"

The stranger squeezes his hand, "My name's Zhong Chenle."