36 She Took I

She was not Miya Jimmy Hunter!

She was Miya, damn it, Miya!

The girl was sitting in a corner seat of the plane now, hugging her knees tightly. She looked every bit of the rustic she was, and had, for the moment forgotten everything about the plane and its flying. Thankfully, Jim had kept his promise and the curtains were drawn on her side, so she couldn't actually realize that they had taken off.

Not that she would have anyway, for she was much too annoyed.

That man!

He had dared to call her Miya Jimmy Hunter!

The aura around her seemed to turn black, as she became further depressed. Now that she thought about it, she was going to the Hunters' house. What if everybody there called her what that man just had? Or worse…

They referred to her as Mrs. Hunter?

All colour drained from Miya's face. She embraced her knees more tightly, and the frown on her face deepened. Jimmy Hunter would not be forgiven.

And then, out of the blue, she paid some attention to another rather important issue.

She was going to the Hunter manor.

The Hunters' house!

Her face turned paler. That was like the most important family in the country. And here was she, just a measly pauper-turned-wife who'd go barge in everybody's life. Not to mention, she was pretty sure what they'd think of her. She was only afraid that they would try to harm her, or Ben in some way.

Rich people were like that, she assumed. Reputation mattered to them. And assuming they wouldn't be too happy about her marrying the heir of the Hunter Corporation, and taking into account the fact that they wouldn't know of their one-year deal, there was a pretty good chance that she would be in danger.

She had Jimmy Hunter backing her up, of course, but she couldn't rely on an outside source for survival. And that too for a year!

As Miya thought about the issue more deeply, she was amazed that she hadn't given it a thought before. It was such an important aspect of marrying Mr. Hunter. How come it had never crossed her mind?

She must be turning stupid.

Sulking, and wondering how long she'd have to stay at the main Hunter house, she prayed she'd return to her city soon. As long as she was here, she could at least survive.

Jimmy watched as his girl, no! Miya, sat in a corner, brooding. She was hugging her knees tightly, and was seated in the column opposite to them, while he, Ben and Mr. Park played a game of snake and ladders. She was wilfully ignoring the entire world, and was obviously mad at Jimmy.

Only, he thought that it was because he had forced her to board a plane.

As he glanced at her while sipping a glass of wine, something twitched in his chest. He was reminded of something distant, something familiar that tugged at his heart. She looked amazingly familiar in that moment, as she sat in her corner, embracing her knees, depressed.

He felt a sense of déjà vu, almost as if it had happened before. He had seen something similar before. Almost as if… he had forgotten something important.

Mr. Park watched Jim too.

He was surprised at the depth with which Jim was looking at the girl. His eyes were flickering with an emotion Park didn't know how to identify. Right then, he swore to hurry up with the investigation, and prayed for an unsoiled result.

Ben, who was seated beside Park, looked at the two men, one by one.

Jimmy was staring at mommy, and the old uncle was staring at Jimmy.

He quickly leaned across his seat and poked at Jim's thigh.

It took Jimmy a moment to register the touch, and when he did, he reluctantly withdrew his gaze and looked at the kid.

"Your turn," Ben said, handing over the dice to him.

Jim sighed. Ben thought for a while, and concluded that Jimmy was worried about mommy. He called out to the young man again.

"Don't worry about mum," he told him rather reassuringly, "When she's thinking, she sits in a corner and doesn't talk to anyone. She'll be okay."

Jimmy raised an eyebrow.

Was the brat worried about him?

How cute.

When Jimmy's expression didn't change, Ben frowned, but continued.

"But I have seen that she finishes thinking faster after eating apples," he hinted.

Jim's heart leaped at that. He quickly asked for the hostess to get him a few apples. Albeit it was a strange request, for the hostess knew Jimmy hated apples, the woman still smiled and obliged. When she handed him over a plate though, Jimmy was so repulsed, he asked her to serve it to Miya herself.

Miya was lost in her own thoughts, that grew darker by the minute, so when someone poked her on the shoulder, she was immediately annoyed. But when she saw a rather stunning face smile at her and hand over a place of nicely sliced apples, Miya beamed.

"Thank you," she said gratefully, feeling that this beautiful lady was the best thing that had happened to her in that day.

The hostess gave her another smile and walked away.

Miya began to eat thoughtlessly. She concluded that she was afraid of the Hunter family not only because they were powerful, but also because she didn't know anything about them. Knowledge is power, she recited to herself and swore to research them as thoroughly as she could before she stepped into their house.

Just as she was munching away at her fifth plate of fruit, the plane landed, and thanks to the seat belt, Miya was prevented from falling to her face. It was then that she realized that they had been flying.

She had flown!

Terror seized her entire being instantly, and she froze.

Ben and Mr. Park swiftly walked out, but Jimmy stayed back. He had been stealing glances at Miya throughout the journey, and so he knew that she was afraid again. He felt bad, which didn't settle well with him, and he decided he'd listen to her the next time she voluntarily tried to tell him why she was afraid of planes. Even if the reason was damned stupid.

Resolved, he kept a firm, yet gentle hand on her shoulder.

Miya looked up at him, fear evident in her eyes.

Jimmy looked at her for hours, it seemed, her eyes that looked so beautiful. When he was out of his reverie, he had the urge to ruffle her hair. He stopped himself in time though, and slowly untied her seat belt instead. Once he was done, he smiled at her softly, and wordlessly offered her his hand.

He was half expecting her to ignore him, but his heart was overjoyed.

She took it.

It was in that moment that realization struck Jimmy like a thunderbolt.

He had definitely met this girl somewhere before.