New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

Chapter 1048  Trying To Leave Silently

As the plane taxied its way toward a hangar it had been assigned, everyone took a moment of silence to thank the heavens they had landed safely. It was the first time in all their travels with the Major that their landing was bumpy.

And bumpy was an understatement in how it had felt to them.

Even the smuggler, who was used to riding unregistered flights with acute needs for expediency over comfort, felt like this landing was on the rougher side.

But he wouldn't complain, even though he wanted to. It wasn't worth the headache of the ensuing argument that was bound to come.

Reaching the hangar, the aircraft suddenly entered a quiet zone as the rain stopped harrying the metal exterior, leaving the unwelcoming storm to enter the damp hangar.

Reaching a complete stop, Major Schrute started flipping off the engines, doing her final after-flight instrumental check, and letting the plane fall dormant.

She walked out of the piloting cabin, giving a shit-eating grin to Alex on the way to the cargo hold. She wasn't interested in their business in Finland and only cared about how the lightning had scarred her baby.

Even if the planes were made to endure a barrage of lightning without failing, that didn't mean that getting struck by a jolt of electricity burning hotter than the sun was suitable for the paint job.

As she entered the cargo hold, she noticed the hanging netting and grinned. Passing by the anchor point, she unclipped it with an expert hand and watched as whatever, or whomever, in this case, crashed to the ground.

"What the!" David yelped, waking up abruptly as gravity reasserted itself over him.

He crashed to the ground after falling over a pile of steel crates and groaned in pain.

He immediately noticed the walking-by pilot, who was whistling to herself proudly and growled.

"What the fuck is your problem?!"

Major Schrute flashed him the bird without looking at him and kept whistling her merry way off the aircraft through the dropping stairs.

"Fucking cunt," David growled to himself, picking his aching body off the floor and dusting his clothes.

Meanwhile, the others were taking this time to get up and stretch, even though most were bound to stay in the plane, or at least within the hangar they were parked in until it took off again.

Aapo walked to the back of the plane, grabbed his luggage back on the way there, which he had barely used, and headed out of the aircraft.

His silent demeanour barely changed as he did, looking almost like he couldn't wait to be rid of them. But it was quite the contrary.

Aapo knew he was terrible at dealing with farewells, and he didn't want to embarrass himself in front of a group of people he had just gotten to know better. People he could call friends without shame or the remorse of lies.

Alex and Kary weren't willing to let him go silently, however.

Leaving the plane behind Aapo, Alex grabbed his shoulder, stopping his march away.

"Did you think you would leave without saying goodbye?" he asked teasingly.

"I was hoping to, yes," Aapo admitted, his voice almost squeaking out.

Kary giggled at his words, grabbing his hand to give it a good shake.

"Thank you for accepting to come with us on this hunt, Aapo. We couldn't have done it without you," she thanked him, smiling sincerely.

Aapo turned his gaze away as blood rushed to his face.

"I'm sure you would have found someone else who could have done better than I," he mumbled, downplaying his part.

He tried pulling his hand back, but Kary held it firmly.

"But we didn't find someone else. You answered the call with no hesitation. And you pulled us through. Have some pride in your accomplishments. Not many can boast of having faced a dragon. Even less on this side of the veil," she said, winking at him.

Aapo could feel his face burning as Kary let go of his hand, to which Alexander chuckled lightly.

"Regardless of how she brings it, Kary is right. You answered the call. And when the most important and dangerous battle came, you didn't flake. Not many can claim to have such courage and back it up. You can. Hold your head high, my friend," Alex said, extending his hand.

Aapo looked at his extended hand, his mind taking a second to process. He wasn't used to getting praised.

He came from a family where praise was rarely voiced and seldom earned. Hearing someone praise his courage was a new sensation to him, and he wasn't sure how to deal with it.

Taking Alex's hand shakily, he gave it a little shake before retracting his hand nervously.

Alex had to hold his laughter back at the shyness because he didn't want to put Aapo under even more pressure. But he couldn't hold back a light chortle.

This made Aapo's already rosy face become red.

Aapo turned to rush out of the hangar, shouting 'Bye!' over his shoulder before the wall of rain outside hit him, and his mind slammed back into place.

His heated face instantly cooled down as he jumped backward, pulling himself out of the icy rain, and realized it was no weather to walk toward the airport.

He stood there, looking forward. He was too embarrassed to look back at Alexander and Kary, realizing he had been so hasty as to leave, he completely forgot it was raining cats and dogs.

Kary walked over to him, holding back her laughter, stopped short of being beside him, and whispered, "Do you want us to call you a ride?"

She heard mumbling, but the words were inaudible, so she leaned in.

"Hm? What was that?" she asked, a grin on her lips.

"Yes, please. Thank you," Aapo mumbled again, this time audibly.

Kary giggled and lightly tapped his shoulder.

"You got it. Don't run back out; it's raining pretty heavily," she teased.

Aapo nodded wordlessly, his face hotter than an oven on broil.

'Fuck me… I'll never hear the end of this, right?' he thought, imagining the laughing faces of his friends.

And he was right.