First Class Seductions Read online

  Back in LA, her family always sets up a special dinner for her even if she wasn’t there. They would all be there, eating her cake as she talks to them on the phone. The same thing happened during special occasions such as Christmas or Thanksgiving. The first year away from her family was the worst one. She even had the flu for three days and she had to nurse herself back to health. Hilda wanted to take care of her and admit her in a nearby hospital but Tréasa declined her mother’s offer. She wanted to see the world and she would do anything to achieve her dream. (Even if it means being apart from her family for long periods of time.)

  After her satisfying luncheon, Tréasa decides to just spend the rest of the day in the motel and watch TV. She hasn’t done that in quite a long time because of work, Tréasa already did as much research as she can so she has every right to watch her shows.

  “So, have you studied the folder?” Victoria asks Tréasa the next day. Tréasa is going to be on flight DL 8769 that morning.

  “Yeah,” Tréasa replies as the two walk briskly to the departure gates. “Thank you for this, Victoria. I mean it.”

  “Just do your best out there, kiddo,” Victoria says with a wink and a pat on Tréasa’s arm. “You can do it, you know.”

  Tréasa smiles at Victoria and watches her turn to a new flight attendant. She continues to walk towards the plane and keeps her small maroon luggage in her compartment. Tréasa checks every seat, every aisle to make sure that everything is in the best condition before the passengers board. She closes her eyes for a few seconds and hopes that her flight to the Philippines next week will turn out okay.

  The terminal is extra busy that day but it isn’t because of Tréasa’s birthday. The woman who turns twenty four that day walks with a determined goal to make it early to her plane. She looks ahead with her small luggage but decides to make a hasty detour to Starbucks. The path is clear when suddenly, something catches Tréasa’s attention. When she turns her head back to where she’s going, she’s surprised to bump into a man who just picked up his coffee.

  The scene pretty much transpired like it was in slow motion. The man wore a white shirt, khaki pants, and sandals. His long sleeves were rolled to his elbows. His dark brown hair pulled back with a black rubber band. When Tréasa bumped into his bent right arm, most of the hot beverage spilled on the polished tile floor. Some made a small map of coffee on the hem of Tréasa’s uniform. Miraculously, the spill missed her shoes.

  The caffeine-deprived man smiles at the surprised Tréasa.

  “Are you all right?” he asks as he sips what’s left of his coffee. He grabs some napkins from the side of the counter at Starbucks and places in on the spill. “I think I messed up your dress.”

  “Uniform,” Tréasa says as she looks at the small coffee map. “It’s no problem at all. I should apologize. I—“

  “A woman like you should never apologize,” the man says. “Oh, I gotta go. Do you know where gate A 37 is?”

  “That’s where I’m heading,” Tréasa says.

  The two walk together towards the departure gates. Tréasa says goodbye as she leaves the man to his line. Tréasa doesn’t know that the man watches her walk away and enter the departure gate.

  Flight attendant. Nice uniform, the man smiles to himself as he pulls out his boarding pass.

  In the plane, Tréasa is all excitement but she keeps it to herself. Victoria made sure that she leaves on her birthday to mark the date of the Delta Review project. Everything is already set for her. Even if she’s flight attendant on the plane, she’s going to be a reviewer for Delta when she lands.

  Victoria discussed with her all that’s she’s supposed to know about. Her travel, food, clothing, and miscellaneous expenses are all going to be paid for by Delta Airlines. Three thousand dollars has already been deposited into her payroll account by Delta. She just needs to e-mail the HR department and send the scanned receipts of everything that she would purchase and all is well. The hotel has already been paid for. It is to be a week of pure leisure. It’s up to Tréasa to choose the activities that she wants to feature in the review.

  Tréasa breathes deeply and exhales slowly. This is it! Finally she’s going to have the first of her hopefully many adventures. If this first review achieves its goals, then it’s going to be a consistent pattern for Tréasa. She would be reviewing five times every year. Technically, that would mean five weeks of all-expense paid, salary-covered vacation that she really needs. As Tréasa exhales, she shakes herself a little, trying to reset her energy despite the little coffee incident that morning. She smiles and makes herself ready for the entrance of the passengers.

  One by one, the passengers made their way to their seats. Tréasa checks the seat numbers of those a bit confused with their designation. When Tréasa turns to look at the incoming passengers, she sees a familiar figure making his way towards her. He hands her his boarding pass.

  “All right, Mr. Ferguson,” Tréasa says as she tries to keep herself calm. “Right this way please.”

  “Rave suits me better than Mr. Ferguson,” Rave says with a naughty smile. Tréasa tries her best to ignore her nervousness and stops at Rave’s assigned seat.

  “Here’s your seat, Rave,” Tréasa says. “Is there anything else I could help you with?”

  “Maybe later, uh—“ Rave pauses a while and looks at Tréasa’s nameplate and then smiles. “Tréasa.”

  Tréasa smiles back and leaves Rave in the company of his seatmate, Mrs. Tyler—a frequent first class flyer.

  “She’s a very nice girl,” Mrs. Tyler says. “She always brings me green tea with lemon and honey when I get dizzy.”

  “How long has she been assigned to first class?” Rave asks curiously.

  “Just about a month or so,” Mrs. Tyler replies. “So, you’re going to the Philippines, too? Special girl?”

  “Special business, ma’am,” Rave answers. The two smile at each other just before their chat is interrupted by the safety demonstrations led by Tréasa and her partner.

  A few more minutes and the plane is already approaching full throttle. Everyone holds on and waits for the smooth start of the flight to Manila, Philippines. Rave takes the chance to sleep while Mrs. Tyler enjoys a marathon of romantic movies. Behind the curtains, Tréasa and her partner, Kelly, prepare the first class meals and the trolleys.

  “He’s cute,” Kelly says as she lines up the beverages in the trolleys.

  “Who?” Tréasa asks while heating up the first batch of appetizers.

  “The one in the white shirt,” Kelly replies. “You guided him to his seat?”

  “Oh, him,” Tréasa retorts as she sets the food on her trolley. “He’s all right. We gotta get going, girl.”

  “Hey,” Kelly interrupts with a smile. “Happy Birthday, Tréasa.”

  “Thanks, Kelly,” Tréasa whispers as she rolls out with her tray of warm appetizers and beverages.

  As Tréasa rolls back behind the curtain, Kelly hands her the intercom.

  “Yes, captain, this is flight attendant Whelan,” Tréasa answers.

  “First of all, I have just been informed that it’s your birthday,” the captain starts. “Happy Birthday, Miss Whelan. The next reason why I asked for you is because marketing just informed me that by the time we land in Tokyo, you will be out of uniform as a flight attendant and headed to the Philippines as a first class passenger. That will be the start of your review. They have already been briefed about you.”

  “Thank you, captain,” Tréasa says.

  “Enjoy your birthday and enjoy your flight, Miss Whelan,” the captain says before he hangs up. Tréasa smiles and almost pinches herself in disbelief. This IS really happening on her birthday. In just a few hours, she will be landing in the Philippines as something close to an undercover agent.

  This starts everything, Tréasa, Tréasa tells herself as she emerges from one of Narita Airport’s comfort rooms, wearing her light blue, sleeveless, chiffon blouse, brown, above-the-knee shorts, and tan sandals.
She also brought her bigger luggage in addition to her small maroon luggage that she always tows behind her at work.

  She makes her way to the lounge area for some refreshments. She brings out her notebook and checks her itinerary when she gets to Manila as she eats her cherry choco cheesecake, fajitas, and cookie strawberry smoothie. A few tables across, Tréasa doesn’t notice Rave struggling to figure out if the woman in the light blue blouse is Tréasa or a twin. He’s just about to stand up and approach Tréasa when Mrs. Tyler arrives with two cups of tiramisu.

  ”Hello there,” Mrs. Tyler greets. “Can you have tiramisu with this old lady?”

  “Uh, sure, Mrs. Tyler,” Rave replies. He is now glued to his seat. Tréasa finishes up her snack and starts to tidy up. She looks at her watch and decides to enter the plane an hour earlier. She brings all of her things towards the departure gate. Rave just couldn’t turn down his seatmate’s tiramisu so he stays and just considers the woman a “lost cause” or “the one who got away” at that moment. He turns to Mrs. Tyler’s stories and tries to tell himself that it would only be a few hours more of them until he gets to Manila. Before boarding, he enters a memo into his phone:

  Take the window seat on the left side of the plane, no matter what.

  This is to make sure that his future seats will not be beside the friendly, frequent first class flyer, Mrs. Tyler.

  “Good luck,” the first class attendant whispers to Tréasa’s ear as she exits the plane in Manila, Philippines. The NAIA (Ninoy Aquino International Airport) is much different than Narita but it has a warm trait to it and it’s not because of the tropical weather. Everyone is smiling at her. Well, everybody DOES smile at Tréasa all the time but somehow, the Filipino smile is much more welcoming. Tréasa just can’t help but smile back.

  From the airport, Tréasa hails a cab and tells the driver to take her to Partas bus terminal to Laoag, Ilocos Norte. The woman at the ticket window tells her that travel time will be 10 to 12 hours. Tréasa feels relief that she arrives at the terminal an hour and a half before the bus leaves. She still has time to buy some food and the all-important coffee for the trip. She goes to a nearby coffee shop and purchases a tall red eye and a cheesecake. She then stops by a fast food restaurant and gets some fries and a long chicken sandwich. Tréasa also buys some soda and water. Before she gets on the bus, she buys three small bags of cassava chips, which were an order even if there were no available dips.

  The bus going to Laoag, Ilocos Norte leaves at exactly 8 PM. Tréasa manages to get a super deluxe ticket for the bus that has a comfort room on board. That would be great considering she has so much caffeine and water with her. Tréasa picks the window seat on the left side of the bus. The recliners were very comfortable, with reading lights above. Surprisingly, she has no one beside her so she asks the bus conductor if it’s okay to place her luggage beside her. The young man tells her it’s fine and smiles at her.

  All night, the bus rides carrying less than thirty people. There are lots of vacant seats. But like her, the other passengers also placed their things beside them. Tréasa’s excitement (plus her second tumbler of espresso smoothie) doesn’t let her fall asleep. She decides to just document the trip by taking pictures from the back, hoping not to wake anyone up or upset anyone. After watching some movies that the bus conductor chose earlier, as dawn breaks, Tréasa is awed by the beauty of Ilocos. It really is true that the Philippines IS very special.

  The morning sun illuminates the sea with some shadows cast by the cliffs. The waves form and crash against the huge, solid pillars that seem to call upon them, only to see them like crumbling ice. Tréasa takes pictures of the ocean. She just can’t wait to put what she sees in writing. Just then, the bus stops. It seems someone needs an emergency ride. When the surprise passenger appears and makes his way to a seat a few rows in front of Tréasa, her eyes widen behind her smoked sunglasses. It’s Rave Ferguson. He talks to the bus conductor and tells him that his rented car broke down. He says that he should be in Pagudpud before lunch. The young man says that he will be at his destination much earlier than he expects.

  A few minutes later, the bus enters the terminal.

  “All right, everyone!” the bus conductor says, stirring up passengers who are still asleep. “Welcome to Laoag, Ilocos Norte! Enjoy your stay!”

  Tréasa just can’t believe that she’s actually in Ilocos after an entire night’s travel. She is still very stimulated by all that caffeine but she knows she needs to get some sleep. Tréasa hails a cab and tells him to take her to Maira-ira Cove in Pagudpud. The cab driver is a woman.

  “Okay, ma’am,” the woman says. “I’ll take you there safely and for the right price. No overpricing in my book.”

  “Thank you so much,” Tréasa says with a smile as she watches the woman place her luggage in the cab. “What’s your name?”

  “Lita,” she replies with a heave of effort in getting the bigger luggage on board. “Nice to meet you, ma’am. They didn’t have cab services here before. Back then, you have to commute by bus, jeepney, and tricycle or by boat to Maira-ira.”

  “Good thing you guys are in business now. That sounds very tiring. Just call me Tréasa, Lita,” Tréasa says as she shakes Lita’s hand. “We have to get moving. I need to rest.”

  “Yes, I agree,” Lita says as she opens the cab door for Tréasa. “Hop in!”

  Tréasa sees some stalls along the side of the terminal and asks Lita what those tiny pellets in different flavors are.

  “They’re called chichacorn, Tréasa,” Lita answers. “They’re good. I like the original, sweet corn, and the cheese.”

  “Really?” Tréasa retorts. “Can we stop by and get some? I ran out of cassava chips.”

  “I will take you to my store,” Lita offers. “I have all kinds of chichacorn and cassava chips there.”

  “So you’re a business woman, too,” Tréasa says, impressed by Lita’s gusto for earning money.

  “This is my cab,” Lita starts. “I have my sister man the store when I am out.”

  “You must be very popular around here,” Tréasa says as she enjoys more of the scenery.

  “A little,” Lita says modestly. “Here we go.”

  Tréasa steps out of the cab and checks out the store’s goods.

  “Nilda,” Lita calls out. A middle-aged woman steps out of the store. “This is Ma’am Tréasa. She wants to buy chichacorn and cassava chips. Give her 50% discount.”

  “Okay, Ate,” Nilda says as she smiles at Tréasa.

  “Tréasa, this is my younger sister, Nilda,” Lita continues.

  “Nice to meet you, Ma’am Tréasa.” Nilda says as she shakes Tréasa’s hand.

  “Same here, Nilda,” Tréasa retorts. “I just want a small bag each of Lita’s favorite chichacorn flavors and a large bag of cassava chips.”

  “Coming up!” Nilda says as she goes inside and gets everything that Tréasa said.

  Tréasa appreciated the 50% discount and the extra jar of special ube halaya. Lita says that it’s like a thick pudding made up of sweet, purple yam. How could she turn down a healthy snack?

  Almost two hours later, Lita and Tréasa arrive at Maira-ira Cove. Delta deliberately kept Tréasa’s connection with them a secret when they had the HR department arrange her accommodations. She’s just there as a tourist and nothing more. Delta doesn’t want the beauty to be presented as artificial or “the best foot forward” thing. It has to be what it really is to Tréasa’s eyes.

  “Here’s my number, Tréasa,” Lita says as she hands Tréasa her card. “Just text me if you need a ride somewhere. Don’t just get any cab around here, okay?”

  “Thank you, Lita,” Tréasa replies as she takes the card and places it inside her purse. “I will definitely call or text you. I want to see more of Ilocos Norte.”

  As Lita drives away, Tréasa sees Rave Ferguson enter the nipa hut next to hers. Tréasa smiles to herself and wonders what the ravishing man is doing in the same location. Tréasa suddenly fe
els a little wickedness crawl up her spine.

  I think this is where the fun part starts. Tréasa tells herself. The attendant checks her identity and makes sure that she’s the one who made the special reservation. It isn’t common for the owner of the nipa huts to have a spacious one reserved and covered for privacy. Delta really wanted Tréasa to feel safe and well taken care of. The owner thinks that Tréasa is on her honeymoon and that her husband just wants to surprise her.

  “Enjoy your stay with us, Miss Tréasa,” the attendant says as she takes the tip.

  “Oh, I will,” Tréasa tells the attendant. She turns to the window that lets her see Rave without him noticing.

  I will. She whispers to herself as she watches Rave remove his white shirt.

  Chapter Four: Crazy-ccino

  Tréasa unpacks and brings out her notebook. She activates her WiFi stick to get an Internet service. Thankfully, it works. She then sends an email to the Delta HR. With the aid of her hand held scanner, she sends the receipts that she has so far. She is still figuring out how she is able to stay in a secluded beach in far off Asian country on her twenty fourth birthday.