“...every time I board a plane I’m reminded that my sister is a cheapskate millionaire.”

“You big baby. You’re flying first class!”

“When I could be in my private jet.”

“Do you know how expensive that private jet is to fly for just two people?! Money spent on that jet can be better spent somewhere else.”

“But it’s so much quieter and less crowded…”

“We could have had a quiet trip! I offered that!”

“You wanted to drive all the way there!”

“Yes, a fun cross-country road trip. It would have been great and relaxing, but noooo someone said it was a waste of time.”

“It is a waste of time.” He immediately complained, “All you want to do is see those stupid tourist traps anyway.”

“The World’s Biggest Ball of Yarn is not a tourist trap, it’s tourism at its finest!”

Darius promptly turned his head away. He was afraid if they continued talking like this, he might catch her stupidity.

Their new headquarters was almost finished. Darius had a house built near the property of the new headquarters. Most of his things, including some keepsakes from his dad’s mansion, had been moved over there already. For the last two weeks he’d been living out of a suitcase, organizing the headquarters move.

After the plane took off and the seatbelt light dimmed, they began talking again. This was mostly for Felicia’s sake, as she found flying a little bit nerve wracking no matter how many times she did it.

“I still don’t understand why you didn’t build a house like I did. I even set aside some land from the headquarters purchase just for that.”

“Why should I build a house? There’s a perfectly good town nearby with nice houses for sale.”

“But they’re used houses. Why would you buy used when you can build one perfectly tailored to your lifestyle?”

“Not everyone is like you, wanting to be isolated from the world,” She rolled her eyes. “I like having neighbors!”

He shook his head slightly. In the apartment complex, he lived on the top floor on a corner, to reduce the amount of noise he was exposed to by his neighbors. Felicia, on the other hand, had an apartment to her right and left and lived in the middle of the building. She even held “Floor BBQ parties” to get to know the neighbors.

Her socializing skills were so good Darius was one part impressed and one part terrified. Naturally he never went near any of those BBQ parties, no matter how she nagged him about going.

“Anyway, it works out. I made a decision recently.”

“Hm?”

“I’m going to start dating. Casually, mind you.”

His eyebrows rose in surprise, “Really?”

“That’s right, if he’s hot and interesting, I’m going to date him at least once.” Felicia had been continually hit on since puberty. Other than the quality of men hitting on her, not much had changed since she’d become an adult.

“How does this relate to where you’re living?”

She squinted at him, “It’s be awkward if people found out we lived too close together. There were always those disturbing rumors back home…”

“I stopped those.”

“No, you s-u-press-ed them, and that was only in the media.” She snorted. “You think you’re the gestapo and can just shut everyone’s mouth as you like? People still talked, just not in places where you could sue them for it.”

He noticeably frowned.

“You should have told me…”

“What’s the point of telling you?” She patted his cheek affectionately. “It didn’t matter before anyway, I wasn’t interested in a relationship and people talk as they like. But since we’re moving, being farther apart will reduce some of that nonsense.”

“...I suppose…”

“Anyway, I can finally compete with that traitor.”

“Traitor?”

“Alisa!”

“...how did she betray you?”

“She’s getting married!” She fake sobbed in outrage. “That boyfriend—fiance—was always so lovey-dovey! Now they’re worse, they practically stink of eternal love. You just look at them and know they’ll have 2.5 children, a dog, and grow old and die together. Ugh.”

“How can they possibly have 2.5 children…?”

“That’s not the point!” She smacked her hand on her armrest. “The point is I’m so jealous I’m going to turn green any minute!”

“And that’s why you’re going to start dating?”

“Casually.”

“Right.” He paused. “I’m a little confused though…”

“About what?”

“How is casually dating going to compare to your friend getting engaged?”

Felicia rubbed her hands together evilly. “Let me tell you Dee, so what if they’re a garden of love in full bloom? That guy is a dweeb! If I can’t show off with love, I’ll just show off with eye candy.”

Darius looked at his sister, feeling helpless. How did any of that make sense?

Felicia waved her hand dismissively, “Anyway, I’m definitely going to do it.”

“Uh huh.”

“You doubt me?”

“Fee you work long hours and do all the company social networking during the evenings and weekends. Realistically, when would you have the time?”

“That’s why I said I’ll be casual about it!” She spread her hands wide, “Any guy who’s handsome and not a total nitwit, I’ll date at least once. I go to a lot of social events, I need a good looking flower to pin to my chest!”

Darius thought for a moment. What she was saying was in stark contrast to her prior opinion on dating. Over and over again she said she wouldn’t date anyone who didn’t meet all her standards. Had jealousy gotten her so desperate she’d throw her long-held “standards” to the wayside? Really?

It felt off to him, but he didn’t think it was his business to question her. They’d gotten into a serious argument over this topic once before. If he meddled now, he’d be a hypocrite. Plus, since it was casual dating, there was no real harm in it. Rather than her feelings getting hurt, it was likely the guys she dated were going to get their hearts stomped on.

Coming to that conclusion, he replied with a neutral “Whatever makes you happy Fee.”

Truthly, Felicia was doing a last ditch dating spree because she recently realized she was almost 40 when combining her original life with this one. She had no idea what the next mission would be like, DARS refused to say, and she hadn’t dated in her orginal life or this one.

In her previous life, she just never found anyone worth dating. She wasn’t a timid person when it came to romance but apparently she was picky. Even she didn’t understand why she was that way but the most she could say about the guys around her was whether she thought they were good looking or not. Sometimes she was a little fond of them. But it was never so strong a feeling that she had to be with them.

There was also the fact that the guys she had some interest in never returned that interest and the ones she had 0 interest in aggressively pursued her. She often found it safer to make it clear she was friends with everyone than allow for potential creepers to take an interest in her.

This lifetime she was too busy watching over Darius. She needed to be able to drop whatever she was doing at any time and find Darius in case Janice or Jenny appeared. If she tried to date anyone, they would interfere with her mission… and she might really hurt them too when they realized they’d always come second to her brother. By not dating at all, she avoided both problems.

But now… Janice was gone. They were moving to the other side of the country. Jenny had no intention of moving and her children were still young so cross country travel was unlikely. Darius was living on private, heavily gated property and their new headquarters required passes to enter. The chances of Jenny and Darius running into each other had substantially reduced.

Felicia could finally breathe.

Though she was too close to when she planned on leaving to get close to anyone, casual dating should be fine. For at least a year, she’d date all kinds of guys, just for the fun of it. After all, what if she was a kid in the next timeline? That would be at least another 10 years of being single! If she ended up being 50 without dating a single person she felt like she’d cry…

So she might as well take advantage of the time while she had it!

A few hours later, the plane made its descent. Just as the plane was about to touch the runway a familiar chime sound was heard from the ever-invisible necklace hanging off her neck. Her lips flattened and her already tight grip on the armchairs got tighter.

‘DARS—!’

[She should not be here.] For once, he sounded genuinely surprised.

‘Well, she IS here and I need to know where, RIGHT NOW.’

[I will check.]

DARS hastily flew through the side of the plane and disappeared towards the approaching airport.

Luckily this all happened while they were landing, otherwise Darius might have noticed something was strange about her. Since she was already tense from landing, the additional shock caused by the [JJ Alarm] going off blended together nicely.

After the initial panic, she visibly calmed down. If she showed she was bothered, that would only add to her problems. She’d learned with Janice: keep calm and act natural.

The closer they got to the airport, the more frequent the chime became, indicating Jenny was inside and nearby. She was just beginning to worry when DARS returned.

[She is in Terminal A3.]

‘Do you know which terminal this plane will park at?’

[A5.]

She gave a mental scream of panic that went something like this:

“AAAAAEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHH!!!”

After she was done, DARS told her, [...I will go ahead and hover over where she’s located. The airport is fairly crowded. Keep Darius attention on you or at least away from Terminal A3 and there shouldn’t be any problems.]

‘What’s she even doing here? I thought she didn’t have family out this way!’

[I do not know. She is by herself though.]

‘Ugh, frick… my luck is so bad…. I should have taken the private jet like Darius suggested! I regret being a cheapskate! I regret iiiiiiiit!!!!’

DARS didn’t reply but simply zoomed away, presumably to hover over Jenny’s head.

As first class passengers, they left the plane first. When they got out, she immediately looked around. Fortunately this airport didn’t have an open floor plan and the terminals were separated by walls. Unfortunately, the A terminals were attached to the same hallway and there was no way to go around, she’d have to walk past it.

The airport was designed similar to a tree branch. The main branch led to the tax free stores and parking lot, while the offshoots were for loading and unloading passengers. In the center of hallway A was a series of food stalls and kiosks. Very naturally, she kept to the side of the hallway that was farthest away from Terminal A3 that would have the most stalls and kiosks between them.

Despite Darius being taller than her and having a faster walking pace, years of walking through school hallways had trained him to follow her lead. Even after all this time, if they were walking in the same direction, he’d instinctively stay a step behind and to her left.

This old habit kicked in once they were in the crowded hallway of the airport. He actually stuck a little closer to her than he usually would, probably because he disliked being pressed in by the strangers walking around him.

She walked at a fast clip without any regard for the people in the front of her. People glared at her and muttered some rude words as she pushed her way through. Darius noted this but, wanting to get out of the crowds as fast as possible, didn’t say anything.

Felicia stealthily kept an eye on the far left. Soon they reached A3 and she saw Darius hovering silently above Jenny. The terminal she was in was packed, which made Felicia think it must be boarding soon. She felt relieved. If Jenny was boarding, then that means this was likely a layover flight and not her final destination.

In the middle of feeling relieved, DARS began to move towards the hallway. Felicia's eyes almost bugged out in surprise.

‘DARS can you hear me? What’s she doing?!’

Faintly, she heard DARS reply, [She is going to the bathroom.]

‘Frick.’

They’d definitely cross paths at this rate. She looked around and saw a kiosk directly in front of them. Grabbed Darius by the arm she pulled him towards it without any warning.

Getting grabbed so suddenly, he almost tripped over his own feet. He was already irritated because of the crowd.

“What are you doing?!” He spit out, his expression ugly.

“I want this.” Distracted because Jenny was getting closer, she pointed at something random.

“You want a fashion magazine?”

“Yes.” She said, her eyes following DARS like a hawk.

She saw a petite woman walking hurriedly underneath him, directly towards the bathroom. Her expression didn’t look good. Were cows rampaging in her intestines? Having that happen right before a flight, tsk tsk. What bad luck!

“...for 17 year olds?”

“What?!” She turned around and finally paid attention to what she’d pointed at.

There was a magazine that clearly said “Seventeen” and had a pretty teenager on the cover. Felicia blanched. Her finger went to move to the left, only to find a magazine called “Teen” there. Her finger moved to the right, but there was a magazine called “16”. It seemed she’d pointed at the young adult section of the magazine rack.

Quietly she cried on the inside and thought, ‘Since I’ve got no choice, let’s go all in.’

Taking a step forward, she grabbed every magazine on the rack.

“I want them all.” She said with utmost seriousness, her hands filled with magazines meant for people ten years her junior.

Darius’ mouth fell open, momentarily struck speechless. Whatever annoyance he’d felt before was replaced with astonishment.

Felicia stepped forward and then placed them in his hands.

Her face solemn, she told him, “Buy these for me.”

“Me?!”

“You.”

He pushed them back, shaking his head. She in turn pushed them back. There was a momentary struggle between the two over who was going to make the purchase.

“I don’t care who pays, but you better buy them now that you’ve wrinkled the covers like that.” The kiosk worker spoke up angrily, seeing his merchandise get ruined.

They both stiffened, looking embarrassed. In the end, Felicia was forced to buy them, Darius eyeballing her the entire time as if she’d lost her mind.

After she bought all her magazines, Felicia took a glance around and hot-footed it out of there. They passed by the bathroom without seeing even a hair on Jenny’s head.

It was only after they were to the main hallway that led to luggage pickup did she finally slow down. There was a light sheen of sweat on her forehead from speed walking almost the entire length of the airport.

With unwanted magazines in hand, she bent over slightly to catch her breath.

“I really need to start working out…” She muttered to herself.

This part of the airport wasn’t as crowded, allowing Darius to relax a little bit. Unlike his sister, he hadn’t broken out in a sweat. He was staring at the magazines she was holding, a clear question on his face.

Knowing she couldn’t escape it, she sighed deeply. It would be great if the next mission didn’t require her keeping targets away from each other. This kind of life was way too stressful.

“I want to start advertising to teenagers.”

He nodded slowly.

“I thought… I should… do some research.”

They stared at each other, each knowing this was a weak excuse.

Darius gave a small exhale and said with some exasperation, “You don’t have to make excuses. Honestly, I don’t know if I want to know at this point. Just don’t try to force me to participate in any of your weird urges next time, alright?”

She gave a tired smile and nodded instead of replying.

It wasn’t until they were in their car and driving away from the airport that Felicia finally relaxed. The chiming had stopped. Since she now had a pile of magazines and nothing better to do, she opened them and began to read.

Darius was driving and only had a chance to glance at her, eyebrows raised. Her commitment to this reminded him of when she lied about her car being broken and had it towed. She might really start researching just to prove she wasn’t lying.

[User.]

‘Mmmm.’

[User, I really did not know she would be there.]

DARS had returned and despite only having three dots on his face, managed to look contrite.

‘Did you ever find out why she was there?’

[It seems she has a friend who had a medical emergency. She volunteered to help take care of her. The quickest way to get there was by plane. She booked her tickets last minute, there were many layovers, including to this airport.]

Felicia turned a page in her magazine, face peaceful. ‘Jenny is such a nice person. It’s unbelievable her and Janice were related.’

[I checked yesterday. She must have booked the tickets very early this morning.]

She lowered her magazine and looked out the car window, pretending to watch the scenery.

‘I’m not mad at you.’ She gave an internal sigh. ‘It’s my fault for lowering my guard. Next time… I won’t let myself get lazy.’

[I will also work harder for the user.] Came DARS earnest reply.