The Cutting Edge

028

Although Hyunwon knew that this was Hyejin's first time going anywhere further than Jeju, what he hadn't anticipated was for this to also be the first time that she had ever taken an airplane—Jeju had only been by ferry. When the initial excitement of being in an airplane died down and the engines rumbled to life, that was when things took a hundred and eighty degree turn towards disaster.

"Why is the plane shaking so much?" Hyejin cried out as the plane made its way down the tarmac towards the runway. Looking out of the window, she could see the visible tremors of the plane's right wing and that only made her even more antsy. "Is it going to disintegrate? Is something wrong with it?" She remembered her father's rickety old van making the same sort of rumbling noise just before it broke down and she didn't want to imagine what it would be like for an airplane to break down in mid-air.

Hyunwon had his earphones plugged into his ears, so he couldn't hear a single word she was saying. It was supposed to be his way of making this three hour flight as painless as possible. He kept his eyes strictly focused on his iPad screen, trying to continue reading that article about global warming that he had been halfway through before Hyejin's earlier interruption. When Hyejin suddenly grabbed onto his hand (she had been aiming for the armrest), he yelped and dropped his iPad onto his lap.

"What the hell are you doing!" he snapped, turning towards her. "Look what you made me—" His voice trailed off when he realised just how pale she looked, her eyes glassy and glued out of the window, hands gripping so tightly onto the armrests (or the pseudo-armrest that was his hand) that the whites of her knuckles were showing.

Frowning, he removed his earphones with his free hand, asking, "Are you alright?"

Hyejin shook her head frantically. "Is there something wrong with the plane? Why is it shaking and making all that noise?" she asked, her voice trembling slightly in fear. She was still clutching tightly onto Hyunwon's hand, but she didn't even realise what she was doing.

Hyunwon tried to extricate himself from her grip because it was starting to hurt, but she was refusing to let go. Sighing, he said, "Nothing's wrong with the plane. Is this your first time? Just calm down. It's normal for the plane to be noisy during take-off because the tarmac isn't smooth so the wheels generate the noise as the plane taxis."

"Are you sure? Are you absolutely sure?"

At that moment, the plane came to a stop and the noise died down. Hyejin heaved a sigh of relief, thinking that the worst was over, but before she could even get her heart rate back to normal, the engines started rumbling even more loudly than it had before. The plane started hurtling forwards on the runway, the momentum causing Hyejin to jerk backwards in her seat. Glued to her seat in horror, she didn't even know how to react beyond squeezing Hyunwon's hand even more tightly. Outside the window, she could see the trees on the far side of the runway zipping by, and frankly that was the most terrifying thing she had ever seen.

When the plane started going on an incline, she freaked out even more.

"I'm going to die. I am so going to die," she burst out hysterically.

Her antics were starting to get the attention of other passengers on the plane, so Hyunwon had no choice but to clamp his hand over her mouth just so she didn't create any widespread panic for no good reason.

"Just get a grip! You're not going to die!" he hissed into her ear. "Now breathe."

When no massive explosion happened minutes later and the plane began to stabilise at its cruising height, Hyejin began to calm down, realising that maybe Hyunwon was right after all. It was only when her shallow breaths started going back to normal did Hyunwon finally let go, sinking back into his chair. They were only five minutes into flight time and he was already exhausted.