Chapter 346 - Big Trouble

[This book is dedicated to Tina_Atitsogbui. Thank you for all the love and support. Cheers!] 

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She couldn't sleep. She had been staring at the pages of the book she brought with her to accompany her on a long flight, not understanding a word from what she was reading. When her eyes got tired, she would look outside the plane window. It has nothing to offer but darkness and some flashes of lightning in the distance. The flight has been unremarkable, except for the antsy feelings that she got since she left LAX. 

She called Ellise and told her the plan to fly to Berlin not because she became her guardian but because of the fact that she doesn't want to take her security for granted. She knew that whoever was after her didn't really want to get her but Noah. That was clear to her since the incident in Mumbai. Noah didn't say anything, probably to keep her from worrying but she wasn't that stupid to put two and two together. And the incident at the park solidified her suspicion. Whoever was behind that attempted kidnapping got what they wanted for Noah flew to LA, leaving his work behind.

Now that Noah was busy in the company, people who were after him were trying to rattle him by using her.  She smirked, thinking how they couldn't be him thus they wanted to ruin him by hurting people around him. 

"Excuse me," she called the flight attendant that passed by. "Can I have a glass of wine, please?" 

The flight attendant smiled. "For a moment," she said before leaving, only to come back with a silver trolley, carrying three kinds of wine that all happened to be her preferences. She wondered how in-depth the research the airline company does to their frequent fliers and VIP members. 

She picked a 1979 Merlot and watched the flight attendant skillfully pour her a glass. She smiled with satisfaction as the red liquid trickled in her wine glass. She closed her book since she wasn't going to enjoy it anyway. She'd rather enjoy a glass of wine than force herself to read when all the words that she was reading just swam in front of her eyes. She's too nervous to face Lucille to enjoy a book. She laughed inwardly. Never in her life did she ever think that an opinion of a kid would matter to her this much. 

The flight felt like an eternity and the only salvation was red wine, thus, she drank and drank until she fell asleep and had to be woken up by the flight attendant for she was the only one left in the business class. She flushed in embarrassment and gathered her things and hurried to get out, mumbling a reply to the cabin attendant that wished her a good stay before she stepped out of the plane and groggily searched for the Immigration for the swarm of her fellow passengers had already thinned out. She had no crowd to follow.

When she saw the signage for the immigration she felt her bladder about to burst and she took a detour to a comfort room she passed by. 

She put down her purse on the bathroom counter, clumsily fixed herself, waiting for a vacant cubicle. She grabbed her purse and coat to enter a stall where an old lady came out when a teenager cut in the line. 

In her brain muddled with too much wine, she recognized that the girl mumbled an apology in Mandarin, saying that she was having a stomach problem if it's okay for her to use the bathroom first. Jess really needed to pee but the kid looked like she was going to embarrass herself if she didn't use the toilet right at that moment for her fat sweat was hanging on the side of her face and she was looking pale, clearly in pain. She reluctantly nodded, allowing the kid with flaming red hair to use the toilet while she stepped back, gritting her teeth, shaking her knees trying to psych herself that she's not going to pee yet when her arms were peppered with goosebump for she badly needed to pee. 

She sighs with relief when the next stall occupant came out and she hurried inside before it was her who embarrassed herself. She sat down on the cold toilet bowl and exhaled a deep breath as she let herself go. 

Once she fixed her clothes, she was carrying her coat on her arms when she came out of the bathroom stall. The girl with flaming red hair was washing her hands in the sink and she smiled at her with gratefulness when their eyes met in the mirror as she put her hands under the faucet next to her. 

"Thank you," the girl said awkwardly. 

"You're welcome." She smiled warily. There was something in the girl's eyes that made her cocked her head to the side. Her brows slowly creased when the girl just stared at her as if she was going to say something. "Are you okay now?"

The girl suddenly grabbed her arm and in a shaking voice, whispered. "I need help." 

"W-what?" She looked around and realized that the full bathroom was now empty except for the two of them. How did a bathroom brimming with people suddenly empty out, she had no idea. 

"Please, you have to help me." 

The girl tugged her elbow and pushed herself next to her, not waiting for her reply and as if perfectly timed in, two burly men stormed inside and she felt a sharp pain, jabbing her side. She looked down at the girl who was holding her arm, she was already standing away from her. Her whole body was rigid and indifferent as if she didn't know her at all. "W-what?...Who are…" Her tongue swelled and she couldn't finish her sentence. Her eyes followed the girl who was walking out of the bathroom while the two men grabbed her armpit, shoving a red wig on her head and putting her in the most hideous coat she had ever seen before they dragged her out of the toilet. The girl with flaming red hair was standing outside, playing with her phone.. She mumbled a soft sorry as she passed by and Jess knew she was in big trouble.