Road Trip

Chapter 4

Truth be told, this wasn’t her first time being in Paris.

In fact, Jihan had been in the city multiple times already, but the last time she visited for leisure was when she was still very young, barely able to understand the significance of the place. The other times after that had all been business trips—meeting clients and potential investors that didn’t last for more than a day.

So when her plane started to descend, she couldn’t help but marvel at how the city glowed like a billion fireflies in a clearing, looking more enchanting than it already was.

The melodic chime of the intercom sounded in her ears, catching her attention from the window.

‘Ladies and gentlemen, zis is your capzain speaking,’ the captain’s crisp and heavily accented English followed soon after, making Jihan giggle. ‘It is now nine in ze evening, local time, wiz outside zemperature of seventeen degrees celcius.’

A map of France with a small moving plane clipart lighted up all the screens, displaying the current time along with the weather.

‘We are now cruising az an altitude of eleven zhousand feet and we’ll be landing in a few moments.’

She closed her eyes and uttered a silent thanksgiving prayer for the smooth travel, finally hearing the landing gears being lowered and the wing flaps being adjusted.

‘Zhank you for flying wiz us and may you have a wonzerful stay in ze City of Lights…’

Jihan opened her eyes and held in a gasp as she turned back to the window, almost pressing her face on the glass as she gawked at the perfect night view of Paris.

She could swear that the city wasn’t as beautiful as this the last time she visited, or maybe, probably, because she didn’t really care before.

A huge knowing grin tugged at her lips as she drank in the beautiful sight, and it was only then that she finally agreed, that getting on this plane was one of the best decisions she had ever made in her entire life.

‘Everyone,’ the captain spoke again. ‘Bienvenue à Paris.’

 

—–

 

The first thing she did when she got off the plane was call the hotel her father’s company partly owned, the place she usually resided in whenever she visited the city. She booked her usual suite, which was fortunately vacant, and asked to be fetched at the airport.

That hotel was the fruit of her own labour, flying back and forth just to meet up with a French business partner until they’ve agreed on a mutual proposal. Her father had been so proud of her when she had closed it, and she was proud of herself as well, finally feeling useful in the company.

She was still young back then, a bit inexperienced and still easily intimidated, but her father had trusted her with the huge project without any doubts. That’s why the moment she and the French representative had capped their pens after signing the documents, she all but squealed happily on the phone with her dad, ignoring how loud she might have been.

Jihan loved the place, too, not only because of the success it brought to her career but also because it had a beautiful view of the Eiffel Tower, and it was near the shopping district, along with some of the nicest restaurants around.

And speaking of restaurants…

“Uhm, François?”

The kind chauffeur looked at her from the rear view mirror, giving her a questioning yet friendly gaze.