A/N: Happy 2022 and Happy Lunar New Year to all! Another year, another chapter! We're entering the Year of the Tiger in the Chinese Zodiac. The Tiger is a symbol of strength, good fortune, and even exorcising evils while The Tiger talisman has the power of balance. I hope these signs foretell good things for everyone throughout the year. Now let the chapter begin!
Darek moved towards the first empty seat he saw in the business class lounge and plopped into it, letting out a heavy and fatigued huff. His back reclined into his seat as he reached into the pockets of his hoodie to pull out the Snickers and warm pretzel given to him earlier. Darek stared blankly at the snacks for a long moment, then let out a harmless shrug as he tore open the wrapper of the Snickers bar and took a bite from it. Couldn't hurt to eat, the Asian thought with a slight nod as he took a bite from the pretzel next. Darek softly hummed in his content as the warm scent still lingered and the bread tasted fresh. He then took his bottled water and took a large swig from it.
It was mostly quiet in the lounge, save for the shuffling sounds of moving luggage, walking feet, and the murmuring of people in the background. This sense of stillness, added with the snacks, helped to relieve some of the stress and uneasiness Darek had. He sighed again and looked to his watch to see it was ten minutes past nine. "An hour an' a half to go," the man muttered as he drummed his fingers softly along the armrest of his chair.
This was the stillest, and in Darek's opinion, the most boring part of traveling: having to wait for hours before boarding. He understood the rule of thumb about arriving at the airport at least three hours before flying internationally; this was so a traveler can have enough time to arrive, have their bags checked, get through security, and make it to the gates in time. The only downside Darek found in all this is the wait time; he hated having to wait. He wanted—no, he needed something to preoccupy his mind so he didn't have to think about the upcoming family reunion too much.
Darek looked at his phone again at the given address in his text messages: 361 Kwai Long Street, Kowloon Tong, Kowloon. He knew this address to be Uncle Zuo's home. Originally, his flight was arranged for Tokyo, where Aunt Do lived and would've been hosting the get-together. The fact that Sey called to say their relatives changed the location so last-minute seemed a bit off, even if Darek wasn't in the family group chat.
"Hmm, Uncle Sey said I need to bring some kinda "family gift"," Darek muttered and scratched his chin hairs. "Only thing is I don't know 'em all enough to really know what they'd like," he said with a slight wince. The only person Darek could get the most accurate guess on would be Seymour since he was the only relative that talked and even visited Darek from time to time. The only time Darek saw his other aunts and uncles was during Chinese New Year; during the other times of the year, they hardly minded him. "I dunno, maybe a fruit basket and tea or maybe alcohol is good. Shouldn't be that deep," the young man dismissed and continued to eat his snacks. He paused to look down at his pretzel; for a second, he felt appreciative of Ice for offering him something in case he got hungry later. "Wonder what those three are up to now... ?"
Once Darek turned his back on his men for the final time, the Ice Crew wasted no time dashing out of the airport. The young men could hardly hold in their excitement once they jumped in their vehicle and sped out of the SFO parking garage and headed over to a local diner. It wasn't often that Darek went on vacation and left them to be in charge; when this did happen, the Ice Crew made sure to take advantage of the free opportunity by taking the rest of the day off. Darek never mentioned that his men had to go to work after dropping him off.
"If today ain't da perfect day to have a Boys Day Off, then I dunno when!" Ice said with a happy laugh as he stuffed a piece of his hot fudge pancake into his mouth. The Ice Crew was sitting in a booth together in a local diner chowing down on their hot breakfasts. Originally they were going to skip lunch, but their rumbling tummies said otherwise. The snack and coffee from the airport were good, but not good enough to fully satisfy the stomachs of the young men.
"You said it, bro!" Cobra agreed and bite on the corner of his French toast. His plate had two slices of French toast, sunny-side-up eggs on the side, and a glass of cola soda. "No 'ffense, but I thought he'd never leave!"
"Nah," Ice started to protest with a shake of his head. His plate consisted of a pancake with chocolate syrup and whipped cream on top and had bacon and hash browns as his side followed by some orange juice. The man paused to take a long drink of his orange juice before he spoke. "With how D-Man was lookin', he couldn't leave fast enough."
Cobra nodded and took a bite of his fried egg. "Word. Hopefully, his fam won't wear him out too much. Remember that one year Darek left an' came back cranky as hell an' fired, like, 11 people?"
"Nah, it was 15. A couple of 'em were interns," Ice said with a shake of his head. "I 'member one dude got cussed out and fired 'cause he bought D a lukewarm expresso."
"You talkin' 'bout Aaron?"
Ice nodded. "Yeah, the skinny tall blond dude. D couldn't even blame the guy, that ol' coffee machine was actin' slow."
"Ol' dude tried explainin' that to D, and it only made 'im madder," Cobra said with a sour look as he poured some syrup over his fries. "Shit, it was hard as hell ta talk to D ourselves without 'im snappin' our heads off or gettin' an attitude."
"Tch, who you tellin'?" Ice clucked his tongue. "Whatever D-Man was dealin' with that New Yea-"
"BUUUURP!"
Ice stopped, and he and Cobra turned their heads to stare at DJ, who could only give a sheepish smile as his hand rested over his mouth. His plate had a chicken egg biscuit, some waffles, and milk. Over half his food was gone and he had just finished his glass of apple juice. The men locked eyes with each other for a long beat, then Ice burst into laughter.
"Damn DJ!" Cobra recoiled in his disgust with a face. "Cover yo' mouth!"
"DJ eatin' good over here!" Ice chuckled. On cue, a belch accidentally ripped from his own mouth. This earned him an unimpressed frown from Cobra as Ice moved to cover his mouth. "Ooh damn, my bad."
"Nasty ass," Cobra lightly scolded with a shake of his head.
"I said my bad!"
"You boys tryna scare my customers away with your burpin'?" a lady asked as she approached their table with a pitcher of orange juice in her hand. She was a redhead with bangs and short hair tied up. A pair of thick orange-trimmed glasses sat on her nose. The woman was wearing a red restaurant uniform with orange trims and an orange half apron around her waist. Her name tag on her shirt read 'Gladys'. She turned to Ice's empty glass and raised her pitcher full of orange juice. "Wanna refill, hon?"
"Yeah," Ice nodded and put out his empty glass towards her.
"Our bad," Cobra said. "We jus' enjoyin' our day off."
"I was messin' with ya. I was comin' around to check to see if you boys needed anythin'," Gladys waved off as she poured the juice in Ice's cup until it was full. "Day off, huh? You three work together?"
"Yep." - "Uh-huh."
"Whaddya do?"
"Car salesmen," Cobra said.
"Which dealership? On 13th Street, Van Ness Lane?"
"Dragon Auto on Grove Boulevard," Ice answered.
"Mmm," Gladys hummed with a nod. "You guys are the ones sellin' those sports cars like Porsches, Mercedes-Benz, BMWs and all that, right?"
"That's us," Cobra beamed.
"Talk about fancy," Gladys said with an intrigued quirked brow. "I might have ta stop by one day when I get the money to get me a nice red Mercedez-Benz."
"Don't hesitate to come by. We'll hook you up real good," Ice remarked with a smirk.
"I'll take you up on that. You boys holler when you're ready for the bill," Gladys said with a wink to Ice before walking off.
"Yes ma'am," Ice agreed with a bite of his hash brown.
Cobra was the first to finish his food and wiped the crumbs from his hands onto his plate. He waited until the waitress was out of earshot from the table before speaking. "Whatever we doin' today, we gotta 'member to time it 'round 5:30 to go to D's place to set his lights on an' stuff."
Ice pushed his sleeve back to look at the time on his watch, then looked to Cobra with a frown. "Dawg, it's 9:56 in th' mornin'. We got plenty o' daylight 'fore then. Whatchu worryin' for?" the blond waved off the concern.
"I'm jus' sayin'," Cobra insisted with his arms crossed. "The way D-Man orderin' us 'round, you'd think we're his sons an' not 'is trusted right-hand."
"Whatchu think, DJ?" Ice turned to his quiet friend to ask.
DJ had taken the final bite of his last waffle and gave a side-to-side head bob and waved his hand back and forth in a so-so manner. He had been listening to the disagreement as he was eating and agreed with both sides of the argument. "I mean... " DJ started softly, awkwardly clearing his throat. "... we shouldn't screw 'round too much, but I don't see no harm in taking th' day off."
"See?" Ice said to Cobra. "We'll handle our duties when we get to it. But fo' now, let's kick back and enjoy th' free time we have."
Cobra stared at his friend with a long stern look, then finally shrugged and threw up his hands. "A'ight, you win."
"Naw, we win," Ice corrected with a proud sneer. "Now where we goin' afta this? Movies, Dolores Park, hookah, arcade, the Gate Bridge?"
Cobra looked off in thought and cupped his chin. DJ rubbed the back of his head and looked down at the table as the many ideas came and passed through his mind. After some time of pondering silence, a smile drew itself on Cobra's face as he snapped his fingers and enthusiastically pointed to his mates. "Mooseworld."
DJ looked to Cobra for a moment before nodding with a grin. Ice followed with a nod of delight. "Mooseworld it is."
Cobra raised his finger in the air. "Yo check please!"
10:23 AM
The plane heading for the Narita International Airport in Japan had opened up nearly half an hour ago, and the passengers were slowly checking themselves through security and entering the aircraft by class: first, business, then economy. Most (if not all) of the passengers from the first-class had found their seats and put away their carry-on items, allowing room for the passengers of the business class to find their places next.
"B12, B12, B12... " Darek muttered to memorize as he slowly passed each row with his carry-on luggage rolling behind him. He looked up ahead of him to see the row of the seat he just passed. B8. Four more rows, the man thought and cranked his head to his right and squinted his eyes to see the row he'd be sitting in. Darek groaned in his head. Damn, this line is so slow, he rolled his eyes. He could feel himself becoming more impatient to get to his seat and settle down. It didn't make Darek feel any better when he looked around the other passengers in front and behind him getting to their seats before he did.
The line started to pick up its pace, and Darek instinctively cranked his head up and out again looking out for his seat. Not too far ahead of him, he could see a flight attendant helping a woman in black put her belongings in the row above where his seat was. As he got closer, he raised his eyebrow and looked down at his boarding pass again. Isn't this B12? Darek wondered and looked up at the seat number set up above him to make sure he was reading correctly; sure enough, he was. The Asian looked down with a glare at his seat, unhappy to find a young woman there laughing and chatting with her friend in the seat next to her.
"Two days ago, Alicia asked me if I wanted to team up with her on a project to present to our boss, and I told her I'd rather jump off the Golden Gate Bridge than ever work with her," the woman in Darek's seat threw back her head to chuckle. She had ivory skin with green eyes and dark brown hair to her mid-back and was wearing an all-black tracksuit.
"You didn't!" her friend snickered back and playfully swatted her friend's arm. She had tan skin with shoulder-length blonde hair. She had on a blue sweatshirt with a matching pair of sweatpants.
"You shou-"
"That's my seat," Darek curtly interrupted.
Both women seemed a bit startled by the voice that they stopped their conversation to look up at Darek with blank stares. "Excuse me?" the brunette asked in an innocent tone.
"You're in my seat," Darek icily repeated and pointed to the seat the woman was in.
Both women traded baffled looks with each other, then the brunette turned to Darek again and shook her head. "Yeah no, I'm sitting here," she simply replied.
Darek held out his boarding pass in front of her and waved it around mockingly. "Yeah no, I paid for this spot. Move it."
"Whatever jackass, just find another seat," the brunette waved off.
"Says the bitch who can't pay for her own business class spot."
Both women gasped and turned to Darek with slacked jaws. The brunette's face quickly morphed into one of anger as she shot up from her chair. "Who're you calling a bitch?!" she screamed and drew her hand out to slap him.
Darek snatched the woman's wrist just before it reached his cheek and shoved her hand back. "Watch your damn hands!" he yelled back.
"Excuse me! Excuse me!" a flight attendant hollered out from a farther side of the plane. A female brown-skinned flight attendant with a name tag reading 'Denise' dressed in a black and blue uniform sidestepped and hastily moved out of the way of other passengers to make her way to where the heart of the commotion was and put herself between the feuding parties as a human barrier. "Miss, I'm afraid I will have to ask you to leave. There will be no sorts of physical violence on this plane!" Denise pointed to the brunette and nodded to the exit.
"Miss, this man just called my friend a bitch and tried to assault her! He should be arrested!" the blonde friend shouted accusingly.
"I'm pressing all charges!" the brunette yelled to Darek.
"This chick's sitting in my seat and she won't move," Darek said and handed Denise his boarding pass. "Then she tried to slap me."
Denise took the paper from Darek and quietly read it three times over, then nodded in her understanding. "Says here that B12 is this gentlemen's assigned seat," the attendant stated with an unamused quirked brow at the women. "Not to mention I watched you with my two eyes try to slap him, and he acted in self-defense."
"Bu-But-But!" the brunette angrily sputtered. She felt the heat rise to her face when she saw Darek's eyes gleam in victory and the corners of his lips turn up into a smug grin. "But that's not fair! I'm a paying customer!" the woman blurted out.
"Okay, well where are your boarding passes?" Denise asked.
The female passengers exchanged slightly nervous glances before shooting glares at the attendant. "I have a better question. Who's your supervisor?" the blonde asked.
Denise tapped the bottom of her name tag that read 'Flight Service Manager'. "You're speaking to her."
"That's tough," Darek snickered.
"And for all "paying customers" of this airline, we have a zero-tolerance policy for all types of assault to fellow passengers and/or crew while aboard a flight. Any person who breaks such policies is to be removed from their plane without a refund and must pay a fine. These are the rules," Denise firmly stated. Just then, two tall men coming out from the crowd moved to stand behind Denise, both wearing a black cap, a dark blue jacket, a black shirt, and khaki-colored work pants. The men had badges, handcuffs, tasers, and guns sitting heftily around their waists.
"Are you serious?" the blonde groaned.
"We understand you've been asked to leave the flight several times now. If you'd please take your things and come with us," one of the men said calmly.
"Dammit," the brunette grumbled.
As the women reluctantly moved to grab their belongings from the overhead bin, Denise handed Darek's boarding pass back to him with a warm smile. "I greatly apologize for all this trouble, sir. Once they move out of the way, you can sit down. And please don't hesitate to let me or any other attendant know if you need anything else."
"Thanks," Darek said.
The troublesome women, defeated and embarrassed, reluctantly took their things from the overhead bin and from their seats. Once they started to go in the aisle towards the plane exit, the marshals and Denise stood behind them walking to make sure they would fully exit. Darek moved out of the way into an empty aisle so the group could easily move through. As the woman finally passed him, they shot the most resentful and nasty glare they could muster towards him. "You better hope and pray I don't catch you anywhere in my city!" the brunette hissed.
"Or what?" Darek scoffed and flipped her off.
"Keep walking, ma'am," one marshal sternly ordered.
Now B12 was officially cleared, and Darek wasted no time picking up his carry-on bag to shove it in the overhead bin. There was a large white pillow in the base of the chair that Darek picked up to put under his head after he sat down. He pressed a black button on the right armrest, tilting the back of the chair in a half-reclining position. "Finally," Darek breathed out a relaxed sigh as his body almost instantly melt into the seat's soft cushioning.
A/N: This chapter turned out to be much wilder than I thought, and I'm impressed that I was able to write it all within 3 months from the previous update. It's been years since I moved quick like that ;p
The good thing is the plot is finally moving in the direction I want. I don't want to spoil too much but I can say that the next few chapters will begin to get juicy! Stay tuned c: