Avery really didn’t feel like getting up from the bed that morning. She pulled the duvet over her head and groaned. No matter how much she slept, she felt like she wasn’t getting enough rest at all and it was annoying her.
Being a pilot was her favorite thing. She went against her mother’s wishes and fought with her madly just because of how much she loved the profession. The training she got as a new pilot was hard and she felt like giving up so many times. But her dream was much stronger.
Avery literally gave her everything to the job and believed she would be happy in it. But right now, it is what’s bothering her and making her upset the most. After the rejection she got from Aurora Airlines, she had been feeling even more discouraged.
“It’s alright, Avery. You’ve got plenty of companies to apply. To hell with Serene and Aurora!”
She muttered to herself before she kicked the duvet and stood on her bed with her hands on her hip. She had never been that proper and classy girl. But instead, she was a free spirit who was almost like a tomboy during college.
With age, the mischievousness in her reduced, but she was still that little kid deep down in her heart. The slightest things made her happy and the slightest things made her overthink.
She took a deep breath and looked at the sunlight pouring through the window before smiling to herself. Then she got down from bed and walked to the bathroom.
After having a wash and getting dressed, she walked to the kitchen. Opening the fridge idly, she grabbed a few sandwiches she had in it and put it in the microwave.
“This should do.”
She said to herself as she took a glass from the cupboard and poured some milk into it. Waiting a few minutes, she collected the sandwiches from the microwave and munched it down.
Usually, despite her slim body, Avery is a heavy eater. But with everything happening, she had lost her appetite. She finished taking her little breakfast before cleaning up and then jumped into the shower.
When the hot water streamed down her body, she felt as if someone was massaging all her muscles. It felt soothing and relaxing. Just what she needed.
After having her time in the shower, she came out freshly dressed and feeling motivated.
“Alright. Let’s do this.”
She said to herself while she sat on her bed with the laptop. While the laptop turned on, she inhaled deeply.
But just as she was about to browse for more companies to apply, she heard a knock on the door.
“Aow. Who could be here?”
She wondered as she got up from her bed and walked to the door to see who came unannounced.
“Who is it?"
She asked as she opened the door. There, standing in front of her little apartment, was Violet and James.
Oh, hey.”
She greeted them with a smile but the two friends looked at her with somber eyes.
“What’s up?”
Avery asked, her smile vanishing from her face. She could tell something was wrong just by looking at them.
“There’s something going on... we thought you should know.”
“It’s probably gonna upset you more but that is why we came personally so we would be there with you."
Violet said and James added after her.
Avery just nodded. Nothing could be possibly bad in her life than it already is.
“First, come in. Don’t you guys have to fly today?”
She asked, gesturing her two friends to come in and Violet answered as they entered.
“No. We are on a one-day break.”
“So you decided to tire yourself from worrying about me?”
Avery asked, feeling touched. This time, Violet and James looked at her with sentimental eyes.
“Avery, you will always mean a lot to us. This doesn’t tire us out. If we aren’t here with you now, we would be such useless friends.”
James said as he took a seat on the couch with Violet and just when Violet was about to speak, Avery raised her hand in air and stopped her.
“Wait. I know shit’s about to go down. So before I get upset, let me come with some snacks and tea for you guys.”
The two colleagues nodded as they looked at Avery, who disappeared into the kitchen.
Violet and James looked at each other and sighed.
“She’s gonna be upset.”
The girl said and the boy nodded.
“Very.”
He said.
---
A few minutes later, Avery came back with snacks and hot brewed tea and placed them on the table.
“Alright. Now spill.”
She said as she sat beside the two friends. At first, they didn’t say a thing but instead looked down.
“You said you came here to tell me, right? Just say. Things are already bad as it is. This won’t hurt me.”
Violet looked at her and then at James. James nodded. Taking that as the cue, Violet took her phone out and went to the group chat of Serene Airlines and passed it to Avery.
Avery looked at her friend’s face before taking the phone to her hand.
“Read it.”
Violet said and Avery did.
The group was full of her name. They were all laughing at her for being rejected from Aurora Airlines. They were calling her incompetent and was telling she should be lucky that Serene even accommodated her for so long.
Avery thought nothing could hurt her more. Avery really thought she wouldn’t be affected. But when she saw she had become a laughingstock among all her ex-colleagues, tears filled in her eyes.
She refused to let them spill and urged them not to escape her eyes. She was upset. She was angry. More than anything... she was feeling embarrassed. About herself for thinking that she had a good bond with everyone in Serene when it was just Violet and James who really cared about her.
“Avery... I’m sorry. We didn’t want you to know about this. But then, it felt wrong to not tell you.”
Violet caressed her back as Avery kept the phone away and leaned to the back of the couch, fighting against the tears.
“We thought a lot before coming here. We didn’t mean to upset you. But did you really get rejected?”
James asked softly as if he was scared Avery would breakdown. Avery nodded as she closed her eyes.
She couldn’t speak. If she speaks, she was sure she was going to sob. All of this was just too much for her.
“But weren’t you accepted when I called you that day?”
Avery didn’t speak. Instead, she kept collecting herself. She kept trying to get back together the pieces that was shattering in her life.
Long minutes of silence. Violet and James kept caressing her back and arm. At first, Avery felt like she wanted to chase them away but soon, she found them comforting. She was in an emotional mess.
“I got accepted. But suddenly they sent me an email saying they’re withdrawing the offer.”
She finally said after calming down. Her friends didn’t say anything but instead leaned on her shoulders, making her feel strengthened.
“Avery.”
Suddenly, James sat straight.
“Did you tell anyone about it?”
“About me being rejected?”
“Yeah.”
Avery thought of Andy but her friends didn’t know him and he had no connection whatsoever so she shook her head.
“I told one of my close friends, but other than that, no. Why did you...”
Her voice faded away as the realization hit her.
“How the hell Serene got to know about it?”
She asked as everything dawned to her.
“Let me see who texted about this first.”
Violet said quickly as she scrolled up on the thousands of texts in the group and she cursed loudly as she shoved the phone in front of the other two.
“That asshole Freena.”
Freena is a relative of Leonardo, the assistant CEO of Serene, and had always been supporting his evil work. It didn’t help that Freena hated Avery’s guts and straightforwardness.
Avery felt like her body boiled in anger. So Serene really is pulling her leg, aren’t they? They bullied her and looked down on her when she worked there even though she was giving her best and now that she is trying to get away from them, they can’t stand it?
Avery was now sure Leonardo had something to do with Aurora’s proposal being withdrawn. She was about to scream in frustration when her phone rang suddenly.
She looked at the screen and seeing it was Andy, she picked it up quickly.
“Andy?”
She spoke and Andy spoke from the other line.
“Hi Avery. I contacted one of my colleagues from Aurora. He gave me the email address of the management. Type an email explaining what happened, okay?”
Andy asked, concern filled in his voice, and Avery sighed.
“I don’t know... Andy.”
She said, feeling tired and though Andy was silent for a few seconds, the next time he spoke, his voice was gentle and kind.
“Avery. I know you’re going through a lot and I know it is hard. But I want you to do this. If you can’t do it for yourself, do it for me. We’ll see what we can do.”
Avery didn’t know why she found those words assuring. Though she still believed sending an email won’t change anything, she decided she will do that.
“Alright. I will.”
“Okay then, I will text you the email now.”
Andy said rather cheerfully and Avery chuckled as she said.
“Thank you, Andy.”
She said before they hung up. The next moment, Andy texted her the email.
“What is it?”
Violet asked from Avery and Avery explained everything to them.
“I think it’s a good idea. Because even I saw they are giving priority to hire female pilots. They proclaimed it two days ago. Maybe the higher management doesn’t know about the rejection and Serene pulled the leg of the HR.”
James said thoughtfully and hearing that only awakened Avery to fight more for herself.
“Let me type out an email and send it to them right away, then.”
She said as she opened her mail. It took about half an hour for Avery to type out the mail with Violet and Andy giving her tips to make it sound better and once they were done, Avery sent it right away.
“What I can do is over now.”
She said, looking at her friends after she pressed the send button and then added.
“We’ll see how this end."
Andy clenched his fists as he read Avery’s email the following day in his office room. Avery had clearly mentioned how she applied, then got accepted and then rejected out of the blue.She had also expressed her disappointment about Aurora Airlines for being negligible about female pilots when they have proclaimed to lift them up. And hadn’t stopped from there. She had also attached the email that was sent to her by the Human Resources Department of Aurora Airlines.Andy couldn’t believe how unprofessional the department head had been and it was obvious Serene had pulled some strings on him.“Well... if that’s the case, about time he got fired.”Andy muttered to himself as he read the email once again, his keen eyes going through every little detail. The more he read it, the more anger seeped through him.He only got to know about this because Avery met him randomly and told him about it. This is something that happened to Avery, someone he knew. He wondered how many times this type o
Avery had to admit she was dumbfounded when she received a reply email from Aurora the day after she sent hers. She was shocked that it was from the assistant CEO himself but she guessed Andy really went all lengths to help her out.Of course, the first thing she did was to call Andy and thank him. Andy had laughed and said it was nothing. He had even urged her to contact him if anything came up because apparently, even if she was divorced from Caden, it was still his job as Caden’s best friend.Avery got up that morning, feeling refreshed as ever. She was back in her habitat as a pilot and she couldn’t wait to experience the new journey. Serene was an amazing company, but nothing could beat Aurora.When Avery reached the building with large block letters that read “AURORA AIRLINES”, she felt her heart bloom. It was really happening.She walked in with a big smile, greeting almost all the co-workers who she was yet to know. She walked toward the reception and leaned to the counter.“I
That night, Avery tossed on the bed from one side to the other. She couldn’t sleep. There was so much going on inside her mind and that was driving her crazy. Her mind constantly ran back to everything that had happened on the first day of Aurora Airlines. There she expected a peaceful and new start but in return, all she got was chaos and confusion. She had more problems when she came back home than when she went there in the morning. All of this was just frustrating her. From being in the headlines of the Airline Magazine to the co-workers hating her for kicking out one of their employees to finding out Andy was the assistant CEO and to wondering who the hell Janet was, Avery’s mind was a fucking mess. Why didn’t Andy say who he was that night? Did he send Janet? What was the true self of Janet? The cheerful, bubbly girl she knew or the ferocious, prim lady she met? Avery groaned in frustration. She knew there was something more than it reached the eye and she was determined to f
“Janet?”Both Caden and Andy looked at her at once. They were sure that they hadn't seen the girl disheveled as much as now. Janet looked at Avery for a brief second before facing the two men.“It’s Lara. She suddenly fainted on the third floor. One of the bodyguards discovered her. She is currently in our infirmary. But the nurse wants you to be there soon.”Caden groaned in mid-frustration before she took a glance at Avery.“I promise I will make up for this, Avery.”He said before he ran after Janet and a second later, Andy followed them too. At first, Avery was taken aback by everything because things had been happening too fast in her life in the past hour, but the next moment, she also ran after them.Avery didn’t even know where they were running to but her gut feeling said that Lara is someone important to all the three of them. Just when the elevator was about to close, Avery pushed herself in.“I’m coming with you.”She panted after all the running in high heels and the thre
Avery couldn’t believe her eyes when they landed on the island. The little island was one of the most beautiful places Avery has ever been to. The palms bent towards the sea on the coast and there were little beach bars everywhere.People were singing and dancing to the calypsos while they drank toddy from coconut shells. They wore Hawaiian clothes while those clothes and their hair fluttered to the sea wind as they danced.The little yellow lights that were hung from trees and strings of lights that hung on the beach bars perfectly complemented the scenario in front of her eyes. Avery felt like she stepped into a paradise.“Beautiful, isn’t it?”A girl with a red ribbon tied to her hand approached her with a smile. Avery looked at her own hand on which the blue ribbon from the cupcake was tied. She almost forgot about it.“It really is. I can’t believe I’m in a place like this. I mean, I’ve seen these kinds of places in movies but this is the first time experiencing it first-hand.”“
Avery and Caden walked along the beach side by side, their hands brushing against each other softly. They barely talked at first, but their faces had a faint smile that showed how much they loved each moment.“So, how have you been doing?”Avery spoke first, her voice no louder than the wind, and Caden turned to look down at her. His eyes stared into her eyes as if he was seeing the whole universe in them.“I’ve been doing fine. Though I’m sure you can’t say the same. From what I heard from Andy, you’ve been going through a lot.”“For the past few weeks, yes. Almost too much that I thought I wouldn’t be able to handle. But Andy helped me a lot.”“How did you even get in touch with Andy to begin with?”Curiosity was evident in his voice.“I'm a kind of hurt you went to him instead of me.”Avery’s face turned into a bloom before she chuckled and stepped in front of Caden to stop him from walking. Then she squinted her eyes at him and asked;“Is Caden Wright jealous?”“No!”He insisted i
Avery and Caden stood shocked as the young boy fell on the sand dreadfully. His eyes were rolled to his head and for a second, they assumed he was dead. Avery held Caden’s hand tightly and Caden looked down at her and patted her hand.Just then, Andy and Janet came running.“Are you guys okay?”They paused when they saw the boy on the sand with his eyes wide open and foam dripping from his mouth.“We are fine.”Caden said with a little gulp and then walked towards the boy on the sand. Andy followed a second later. Janet looked at the entwined hands of Avery and Caden which never let go of each other, even when Caden walked towards the boy and then spoke.“We saw the boy coming in this direction with a knife and he looked a little unsettled. So we thought you might be in danger.”“For a second, I even thought he was going to stab us. But then he suddenly threw the knife into the sea before he ended up like this.”Caden said, checking the boy’s pulses.“He’s alive. We should take him to
The next morning, Avery got up, feeling more tired than usual. She wasn’t able to sleep properly because the sick boy’s image kept coming to her in her sleep. The way he walked up to them with the knife, his bloodshot eyes, and the dead stare before he threw the knife to the sea kept replaying in her mind.“Dammit."She cursed to herself as she kicked the sheets and woke up. It was still too early in the morning, probably around six or something. That may be why the sunshine had a very warm glow. It poured into her room. The sight somehow made Avery smile to herself. At least the morning was pleasant.She walked to the window and pushed it open, letting the sea breeze hug her. She took a deep breath and let it evoke her.She looked at herself, who was still wearing the same clothes from last night, when she headed out to meet Caden and the gang. She had been too tired to wash herself after all those incidents, so she had immediately hit the bed.Despite the sleep playing hard to get,