Aunt Melissa is taking way too long in the bathroom. It's her third time tonight. There must be something up with those braised beef wraps she had before leaving for the airport. Gertrude (nicknamed Gigi) is impatient. She can't seem to think straight as there's a lot going on in her mind. First, it has been 2 years since she began living in Switzerland, she knows the way around here. However, her parents still won't trust her and would do anything to not let her come home alone. Second, her annual exam happened and she is positive that she would miserably fail it and let down her parents, mostly her father.
Malcolm Arlington, whose family has been in the business of winemaking for generation in the vineyards of Napa, always had an unspoken love for culinary arts. But familial pressure and responsibilities pushed him in the line of winemaking and he couldn't look back even though he truly wanted too. Psychologists have long suspected that some parents try to fulfill their unfulfilled achievements through their kids, and now a study confirms it too. Wish that study was based on Gertrude because this is exactly what her father did.
Only Gigi never felt any onus of having to prove her worth in cooking as her father ignited a spark for baking and cooking in her at a very tender age. Henceforth, he implanted the idea of becoming a pastry chef in Gigi's mind and the little girl couldn't say otherwise.
Fast forward to today, her last day in the Swiss Culinary Arts Academy. It was her final pastry exam today and in her head she was already a huge failure. Her father always told her if all went well, there was nothing that could stop her from landing an internship at Noma, a restaurant in Copenhagen owned by the renowned chef Rene Redzepi. But little did he know that it takes a lot of effort to make everything go well.
On top of all this, she was already infuriated at her parents for having aunt Melissa chaperone her. It didn't make sense, they had let their daughter live in a foreign country all by herself for 2 years but needed her aunt to accompany her home. The flight was 14 hours long. It was 2 in the morning. Gigi couldn't wait to sit back and fall asleep. But aunt Melissa would not stop her rant about how the vending machine almost robbed her of her hard earned money. At this point, Gigi would do anything to rid herself of aunt Melissa. Let's just say that after a series of tremendously horrendous events, the stars aligned in her favour and aunt melissa got a seat assigned away from her because and I quote the airport staff "Ma'am, since you both booked your tickets on different occasions, there is no way we can provide you side by side seats as this is already a full flight".
Gigi couldn't have been happier. This seemed like a better ending to a terrible day. She got herself fried chicken to devour in the flight and kissed Aunt Melissa goodbye for 14 hours who clearly seemed morose. Upon boarding the flight, she was making herself comfortable in the aisle seat (her favourite) and suddenly a voice from the back said 'afraid you're not sitting alone today'. It was a man ,almost 6 feet 3 inches, barely 25 with thick black hair, a connected beard and black eyes which were teeming with warmth ,something Gigi longed for.
For a second, Gigi didn't say anything but stared into his eyes. That is when he said in his soothingly deep voice 'You know you'll have to come out for me to get in 'coz I ain't that flexible'.
'I'm s-s-so sorry.' said Gigi with a stutter.
'I know you froze for a second because to be honest this isn't a very cool time to be up at' said the guy. 'I'm Ryan, by the way'
Gigi chuckles 'I'm Gertrude but call me Gigi and I have to say you seem very energetic and lively for a lot of us here, Ryan'.
'Oh, I've gotten used to it. I'm deadheading to another airport'
Gigi looks at him with a very confused look
'My apologies. I'm a pilot with Global JAirways. Deadheading means when a crew member, on duty, rides in the passenger cabin to go to an airport for commanding another flight.' Explained Ryan like a teacher.
'Do you ,by any chance, go to the Swiss Culinary Arts Academy?' said Ryan glancing at her backpack.
'By all chances, in fact I took my last exam today' said Gigi holding back her tears. The fact that Ryan pointed out her backpack brought back everything- her pastry exam and how she might soon be a huge disappointment to her dad.
'Ohhh, Godd-d-d-, I'm extremely sorry if I said something wrong. 'said Ryan awkwardly.
'it's alright.' said Gigi still seeming very emotional.
'You know the last thing I can do on this flight is sleep unlike a lot of people here and even if I were to sleep I wouldn't be able to, peacefully after making someone cry. So maybe you wanna vent out?' said Ryan with a childish but comforting smile on his face.
Gigi looked hopeful and thought to herself how no one be it her family or her overly competitive culinary school "friends" had ever been so patient to hear her story.
For a second, she completely forgot about what she had planned to do on the flight. Soon she poured out all the ghastly thoughts that had been weighing on her mind all day to a person whom she met mere minutes ago.
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