IN THE SKY (9)

"Wait, what?" Ares sprung up from his seat as if he was electrocuted and quickly gathered his belongings to catch up with his friends. "What do you mean, Karson?! Please explain!"

Karson was nonchalantly walking down the hallway leading to the outside when the other caught up. "We gon' fwap fwap." Without looking back, he flattered his hands by his sides, resembling a chick trying to fly away.

"Huh?"

It was too abrupt. And honestly, Ares felt that his friend was joking. He knew Karson travelled as much as Eric and Omal did. But he didn't know his friend could be that carefree and casual about taking a flight, specifically a private jet, for this matter.

"Hold on! We are not done with afternoon lectures. Moreover, we have to hand the professor the assignments!"

Karson stopped walking and looked at him with a raised eyebrow. He then rolled his eyes and began walking back the way they came, turning left to a busy hallway filled with students.

Many conversation died rapidly as soon as the two were in their sight. Although it had lessened, the duo were still stared at as they passed through. Some of the students even moved away to make a way.

While Karson didn't seem to mind the stares and gestures, Ares was still not used to it and tried as much as possible to look at the floor as they passed by.

The day after the news about Ares being the heir to the Queens' Corporation, the way he was treated significantly shifted. Before the news, he was recognised more like a dog that followed his rich and famous friends. But now, he was the white lion that everyone wanted to pet and get on the good side with to get famous.

And other's who didn't have the courage to pet, ran their mouth wild, with baseless and frankly chucklesome rumours about him.

Ares agitatedly tapped his friend on the shoulder as he walked fast to keep up the pace. "The assignments..."

"I know, I know," Karson waved his hands and made a right turn. "Honestly, the assignments are not that important and won't give us a minus. They were basically given to occupy our precious time. Very unnecessary."

Ares frowned a little, "You shouldn't say that..."

"Why not? That damn professor knows it too, and you know it too. Just to make us suffer... Take away our once in a lifetime youth. That old dude..." Karson muttered complaints as he made his way towards the business management professor's office.

When there, they knocked on the door twice and didn't wait for the response as usual. The professor, Martin Peterson, was an old man who usually slept in his free time, and he told his students to not bother knocking and just enter.

"Oh, it's you people." Unexpectedly, he was awake and doing something on the computer he recently began using. "Karson and..." He inspected the two and frowned at Ares. "Adam."

The heir corrected, "It's Ares, but it's not important. Good afternoon, sir."

"Good afternoon." Martin greeted back and removed the silver glasses from his nose bridge. "What brings you here?"

Karson asked, "Sir, have you heard about the hijacking that's happening now?"

Martin froze. It took five full seconds for the man to really comprehend what the younger had asked. "Ahh. Yes. What about it?"

"Well, we just received the news that our relatives are onboard and my family is urging us for a gathering. So, unfortunately, we are not able to attend your lecture today."

"Ay yay yay." The professor placed his hand on his heart. He frowned, deepening the wrinkles on his face. "Is that so? That is heartbreaking and I'm sorry to hear that. I understand and wish you and your family the best of luck then."

Karson solemnly replied, "Thank you." He then removed his ten-page-long assignment and placed it on the desk. Ares followed soon after. "Have a great day."

"Have a great day you too, Kairos and Makam." The man sent them off with a smile.

As soon as the door in front of him was closed, Karson asked rhetorically with a frown. "Who the heck is Kairos and Makam? That man needs a hospital." Although he sounded angry, his face showed no sign of negative emotion, and nor did Ares.

They were used to being called by different names, and at least for Karson, the professor still got the first two letters correct. "Anyway... Let's become angels and fly in the clouds!"

"Are we going to die, today?" Ares asked genuinely, halting the other's movement. His friend turned to him with disappointment, and so he rashly added, "I mean, at some point we die because we are humans but..."

Karson couldn't choose between laughing or crying and settled on sighing deeply as if breathing out his heart and stretched his hands to rest them on his friend's shoulders. "Sometimes, I wonder if you are really twenty-one and not someone who is actually eighty-one but has the body of a twenty-one-year-old. Or you haven't aged from two. I know it's either one."

-----

Jaxon hesitantly asked, "Are you... flying over here... now?"

"Of course." Viorel Queen answered in a duh tone.

The manager massaged the nose bridge before asking, "When you are leaving, could you stop by the office and bring my computer?"

"... Isn't it easier if one of the people in the office brings it directly to you? Not to sound selfish but I want to arrive there as soon as I can." The man, the same age as him said. In the background, there were the closing and opening of a wooden door and some friction made from clothes.

"Okay. I'll ask someone else. Have you purchased a ticket?"

"Yep."

"You can use the company money for this, you know."

"That won't be necessary," Viorel answered. "It's not like I'm short on money. Anyway, I have to leave. Call me later."

"Got it. Bye."

"Bye."

The man on the other side had hung up before Jaxon could press the end button, making the manager sigh out of tiredness.

There were so many things he wanted to do but unfortunately, he only had one body. He wanted to rescue everyone on the plane, find out the identity of the man in black, rest, find out who was orchestrating the hijack, and check other people in Team Onyx... His brain was going to explode from overuse.

Jaxon was just massaging the temples with strained closed eyes when he got another call to the burrowed phone from an unknown number. He picked it up without thinking too much. "Hello?"

"So this is truly you, Jax." Said the woman with an amused tone.

The manager tensed his muscles as he answered. "Yes, it is, Sophie... How did you even find this out?"

The woman Jaxon was talking was named Sophie Widow. She was one of the first to be recruited into Team Onyx who now had successful modelling and movie directing career.

"Ay. You underestimate me, my friend."

"...Viorel?"

When the woman clicked her tongue playfully, Jaxon knew he was right.

"Aww, men." The model wined like a teenager when, in reality, she was a year younger than Eirene, twenty-seven years old. That was partially the reason why she was like an older sister figure to many in the team when Ginger took the opposite role. "I heard Viorel is going, so I decided to go as well. Aren't you excited?"

Currently, Sophie was supposed to be directing her first drama series which was the live-action of a famous novel. "Stop that. As much as you are worried about Eirene, coming to me won't be any help. The plane is going somewhere down Africa. We don't know where they are taking them. And you have work. What happened to the series you were directing?"

"That can wait," She said. "So yeah. I'm coming. Be prepared. See you soon." She spoke one-sidedly and left Jaxon with more things to deal with. But right after, she called again, seemingly not done talking. "I won't be alone. I'd be coming with my friends. Look forward to it."

And again before he could ask back what she meant by that, she once again hung up the phone.

Jaxon removed the phone from his ear and stared at it until a sigh escaped from those pale lips. He knew even if he called back and tell her to not bring anyone rather than herself, there was no way she'd listen to him.

She was like the definition of a free spirit and did whatever she pleased but with a clear sense of morality. Although much of her was still a mystery, she was a trusted figure.

One of the navies that surrounded Jaxon and the others asked awkwardly, speaking a language that was not familiar to him. "Are you alright?" In his two hands were cups of coffee and he handed one to Jaxon.

"Thank you." The manager moved to the side to let the other guy sit. "I want to believe I'm doing alright." He answered honestly.

After all, he felt that it was his fault for making the decision to leave early and getting themselves into the mess. On the other hand, he couldn't throw away the possibility that it was orchestrated by someone to personally hurt Eirene judging from how the pilot had acted in the beginning. He couldn't decide which possibility was right, keeping him on the edge.

The navy nodded in understanding, but Jaxon wasn't sure if he really understood what he said.

"You..." The navy stopped midway and hunted for words. "Strong. Hard-working. God is watching."

Jaxon smiled upon hearing those words. It wasn't much but surely did touch his heart. "Thank you."

"You are welcome." The navy replied with a more brilliant smile.

-----

"So what's your relationship with Eirene? Lovers? That would be spicy!" Sophie Widow's question made Ares choke on the water he was drinking.

They were on their way to the airport via a rented minibus where Ares, Karson, Omal, Eric, Orion and Estella were on board together.

When Karson realised he couldn't just blindly fly to wherever the news was reporting, he directly called the number Jaxon gave him, which directed him to the office. It was right after Sophie was done talking with Viorel, and when she heard the situation, she offered them a ride together to the destination. Of course, Eric, who heard about the plan, ditched his classes, and so did the others and followed the two.

The model seemed to be enjoying herself teasing the young ones and laughed charmingly. "Jokes aside, I think you'd make an eye-catching and joyous couple."

Just as she told the boy next to her, the car slowed down and the driver informed the group that they had arrived. When the door was opened, a majestic silver jet was bathing in the sunlight not too far from them.

"Ooh, nice." The model muttered in approval before she walked away to talk with the pilot.

Within twenty minutes, the group was already high in the sky.

While the others were looking out the window or doing their studies, Ares tried to calm himself. Worrying wasn't going to help in any way. But trying to stop didn't mean that it was working. He was barely keeping himself together, like hanging on to the earth with a pinky toe at a cliff.

Next to him, the model was dozing off but the sudden ringing of her phone forced her to pick up. Her tired expressions immediately vanished as she listened to what the other line said, gathering the rest's attention.

As soon as the call was done, she silently but hurriedly walked into the cockpit, spoke a few words and came back with a dark face.

"What's wrong?" Eric asked.

Sophie looked at her hands as she told them, "The hijacked plane is showing erratic movements And they are landing in South Africa. We are directly going there."