Chapter 07

Avery really didn’t feel like getting up from the bed that morning. She pulled the duvet over her head and groaned. No matter how much she slept, she felt like she wasn’t getting enough rest at all and it was annoying her.

Being a pilot was her favorite thing. She went against her mother’s wishes and fought with her madly just because of how much she loved the profession. The training she got as a new pilot was hard and she felt like giving up so many times. But her dream was much stronger.

Avery literally gave her everything to the job and believed she would be happy in it. But right now, it is what’s bothering her and making her upset the most. After the rejection she got from Aurora Airlines, she had been feeling even more discouraged.

“It’s alright, Avery. You’ve got plenty of companies to apply. To hell with Serene and Aurora!”

She muttered to herself before she kicked the duvet and stood on her bed with her hands on her hip. She had never been that proper and classy girl. But instead, she was a free spirit who was almost like a tomboy during college.

With age, the mischievousness in her reduced, but she was still that little kid deep down in her heart. The slightest things made her happy and the slightest things made her overthink.

She took a deep breath and looked at the sunlight pouring through the window before smiling to herself. Then she got down from bed and walked to the bathroom.

After having a wash and getting dressed, she walked to the kitchen. Opening the fridge idly, she grabbed a few sandwiches she had in it and put it in the microwave.

“This should do.”

She said to herself as she took a glass from the cupboard and poured some milk into it. Waiting a few minutes, she collected the sandwiches from the microwave and munched it down.

Usually, despite her slim body, Avery is a heavy eater. But with everything happening, she had lost her appetite. She finished taking her little breakfast before cleaning up and then jumped into the shower.

When the hot water streamed down her body, she felt as if someone was massaging all her muscles. It felt soothing and relaxing. Just what she needed.

After having her time in the shower, she came out freshly dressed and feeling motivated.

“Alright. Let’s do this.”

She said to herself while she sat on her bed with the laptop. While the laptop turned on, she inhaled deeply.

But just as she was about to browse for more companies to apply, she heard a knock on the door.

“Aow. Who could be here?”

She wondered as she got up from her bed and walked to the door to see who came unannounced.

“Who is it?"

She asked as she opened the door. There, standing in front of her little apartment, was Violet and James.

Oh, hey.”

She greeted them with a smile but the two friends looked at her with somber eyes.

“What’s up?”

Avery asked, her smile vanishing from her face. She could tell something was wrong just by looking at them.

“There’s something going on... we thought you should know.”

“It’s probably gonna upset you more but that is why we came personally so we would be there with you."

Violet said and James added after her.

Avery just nodded. Nothing could be possibly bad in her life than it already is.

“First, come in. Don’t you guys have to fly today?”

She asked, gesturing her two friends to come in and Violet answered as they entered.

“No. We are on a one-day break.”

“So you decided to tire yourself from worrying about me?”

Avery asked, feeling touched. This time, Violet and James looked at her with sentimental eyes.

“Avery, you will always mean a lot to us. This doesn’t tire us out. If we aren’t here with you now, we would be such useless friends.”

James said as he took a seat on the couch with Violet and just when Violet was about to speak, Avery raised her hand in air and stopped her.

“Wait. I know shit’s about to go down. So before I get upset, let me come with some snacks and tea for you guys.”

The two colleagues nodded as they looked at Avery, who disappeared into the kitchen.

Violet and James looked at each other and sighed.

“She’s gonna be upset.”

The girl said and the boy nodded.

“Very.”

He said.

---

A few minutes later, Avery came back with snacks and hot brewed tea and placed them on the table.

“Alright. Now spill.”

She said as she sat beside the two friends. At first, they didn’t say a thing but instead looked down.

“You said you came here to tell me, right? Just say. Things are already bad as it is. This won’t hurt me.”

Violet looked at her and then at James. James nodded. Taking that as the cue, Violet took her phone out and went to the group chat of Serene Airlines and passed it to Avery.

Avery looked at her friend’s face before taking the phone to her hand.

“Read it.”

Violet said and Avery did.

The group was full of her name. They were all laughing at her for being rejected from Aurora Airlines. They were calling her incompetent and was telling she should be lucky that Serene even accommodated her for so long.

Avery thought nothing could hurt her more. Avery really thought she wouldn’t be affected. But when she saw she had become a laughingstock among all her ex-colleagues, tears filled in her eyes.

She refused to let them spill and urged them not to escape her eyes. She was upset. She was angry. More than anything... she was feeling embarrassed. About herself for thinking that she had a good bond with everyone in Serene when it was just Violet and James who really cared about her.

“Avery... I’m sorry. We didn’t want you to know about this. But then, it felt wrong to not tell you.”

Violet caressed her back as Avery kept the phone away and leaned to the back of the couch, fighting against the tears.

“We thought a lot before coming here. We didn’t mean to upset you. But did you really get rejected?”

James asked softly as if he was scared Avery would breakdown. Avery nodded as she closed her eyes.

She couldn’t speak. If she speaks, she was sure she was going to sob. All of this was just too much for her.

“But weren’t you accepted when I called you that day?”

Avery didn’t speak. Instead, she kept collecting herself. She kept trying to get back together the pieces that was shattering in her life.

Long minutes of silence. Violet and James kept caressing her back and arm. At first, Avery felt like she wanted to chase them away but soon, she found them comforting. She was in an emotional mess.

“I got accepted. But suddenly they sent me an email saying they’re withdrawing the offer.”

She finally said after calming down. Her friends didn’t say anything but instead leaned on her shoulders, making her feel strengthened.

“Avery.”

Suddenly, James sat straight.

“Did you tell anyone about it?”

“About me being rejected?”

“Yeah.”

Avery thought of Andy but her friends didn’t know him and he had no connection whatsoever so she shook her head.

“I told one of my close friends, but other than that, no. Why did you...”

Her voice faded away as the realization hit her.

“How the hell Serene got to know about it?”

She asked as everything dawned to her.

“Let me see who texted about this first.”

Violet said quickly as she scrolled up on the thousands of texts in the group and she cursed loudly as she shoved the phone in front of the other two.

“That asshole Freena.”

Freena is a relative of Leonardo, the assistant CEO of Serene, and had always been supporting his evil work. It didn’t help that Freena hated Avery’s guts and straightforwardness.

Avery felt like her body boiled in anger. So Serene really is pulling her leg, aren’t they? They bullied her and looked down on her when she worked there even though she was giving her best and now that she is trying to get away from them, they can’t stand it?

Avery was now sure Leonardo had something to do with Aurora’s proposal being withdrawn. She was about to scream in frustration when her phone rang suddenly.

She looked at the screen and seeing it was Andy, she picked it up quickly.

“Andy?”

She spoke and Andy spoke from the other line.

“Hi Avery. I contacted one of my colleagues from Aurora. He gave me the email address of the management. Type an email explaining what happened, okay?”

Andy asked, concern filled in his voice, and Avery sighed.

“I don’t know... Andy.”

She said, feeling tired and though Andy was silent for a few seconds, the next time he spoke, his voice was gentle and kind.

“Avery. I know you’re going through a lot and I know it is hard. But I want you to do this. If you can’t do it for yourself, do it for me. We’ll see what we can do.”

Avery didn’t know why she found those words assuring. Though she still believed sending an email won’t change anything, she decided she will do that.

“Alright. I will.”

“Okay then, I will text you the email now.”

Andy said rather cheerfully and Avery chuckled as she said.

“Thank you, Andy.”

She said before they hung up. The next moment, Andy texted her the email.

“What is it?”

Violet asked from Avery and Avery explained everything to them.

“I think it’s a good idea. Because even I saw they are giving priority to hire female pilots. They proclaimed it two days ago. Maybe the higher management doesn’t know about the rejection and Serene pulled the leg of the HR.”

James said thoughtfully and hearing that only awakened Avery to fight more for herself.

“Let me type out an email and send it to them right away, then.”

She said as she opened her mail. It took about half an hour for Avery to type out the mail with Violet and Andy giving her tips to make it sound better and once they were done, Avery sent it right away.

“What I can do is over now.”

She said, looking at her friends after she pressed the send button and then added.

“We’ll see how this end."