CHAPTER 2 – Welcome to Northern Province

The first half of the flight went smoothly allowing the four people to sleep.

The flight attendants passing by could not help but admire the love family seated in the second row.

A strong and handsome father while the mother is beautiful and gentle.  The young boy is very smart when awake but looks like his mother when asleep. The little baby is an angel when sleeping but also displaying a mischievous smile when awake.

In the fourth hour of the flight, the baby started moving and then suddenly cried.

“Mom, mom” Jack woke up as soon as he heard the baby crying.

“I think Penny is hungry” Jack observed while trying to soothe the baby girl.

“Sweetheart, please try to wake her daddy up and ask for milk” she said while adjusting Penny’s position.

Jack tried to shake the man’s arm but he is in deep sleep.

“Just grab the baby bag under the seat, maybe there’s a milk in there” she decided the baby could no longer wait for her daddy to wake up.

Amanda quickly prepared the milk and the baby immediately stopped crying. After feeding, she stood up to let the baby burp but the annoying man in the front row caught sight of them.

“So irritating. Can you keep your baby from crying? You’re disturbing the other passengers” the annoying man took the opportunity to scold her.

Amanda has been trying to compose herself but this rude passenger was really pissing her off.

“You also annoy me with your ugly face, do you hear me complaining?” she rolled her eyes to the man while grabbing a change of clothes and diaper set for Penny.

The man was left speechless after being called ugly. He didn’t expect that the innocent looking girl would have a sharp tongue.

While Amanda and Penny were in the toilet, she wasn’t aware that a commotion was happening as soon as she left.

The seemingly sleeping man in the window-seat heard the discussion between the man and Amanda and he could not accept anyone calling his little princess ‘irritating’.

He waited for Amanda to go inside the toilet before he squeezed the man’s left shoulder.

“You have 5 seconds to leave your seat. Otherwise, I will make sure you cannot ride a plane again” his cold and deep voice sent chills to the man’s head.

“Who do you-“ the guy still tried to argue but he felt that his shoulder will be broken if the young man will continue to squeeze it.

“3…2…”

“Ok, ok. I will leave now” the man had no choice but to comply.

He doesn’t know who the guy is but he knows that he could not offend him. He sounded like someone who will make do with his threat. He immediately gathered his things and requested for a change of seat.

Jack was astounded when he witnessed how strong Penny’s father is. His father died soon after he was born and he never had the chance to have a father.

Growing up he could only imagine what a good father should be.

“Are you alright kid?” Mark thought the child got scared of his actions so he asked in concern.

“Uncle, you’re amazing” with admiration Jack blurted. He could not contain his excitement.

“The guy is not really good. He’s been harassing my mom even before we boarded” he thought the man beside him is powerful so he confided his grievances.

“What’s your name, kid?”

“My name is Jackson North, but I prefer Jack. I’m four years old. My mother’s name is Amanda North. How about you uncle?” Jack answered him with proud eyes. It was evident that the kid is smart and confident to converse with other people despite his young age.

Mark knows that such upbringing could not come from an ordinary family. But he could not remember any prominent family with surname North.

“Hello uncle, I asked for your name” Jack waved his hand to catch Mark’s attention.

“Oh, I’m sorry kid, my name is Mark Hunter. But you can call me Uncle Mark if you consider me as your friend.” His curiosity was piqued by the smart kid.

When Amanda came back, she was surprised to see how her son was actively conversing with the guy. Her son was very aloof and cold towards other people so she was intrigued by the guy.

Penny is now sleeping comfortably again after having her milk and a change of nappies. It’s time to take care of her own son now.

“Sweetheart, are you hungry?” she knows that Jack doesn’t like eating food from the airplane but she still asks anyway.

“No” Jack.

“Yes” Mark.

Amanda “…”

“I was talking to my son” she threw a straight face to the guy.

“I know, but I’m really hungry, darling” Mark chuckled as he finds her reaction very cute.

He’s really itching to just tease her. He knows he might not encounter her again in the future so he wants to take advantage of the opportunity.

It’s very rare to have a woman not trying to seduce him and he finds it refreshing.

“Will you stop calling me that?” Amanda could not help but glare to show her irritation.

“Other people might misunderstand.”

“Why should I care?” he gave her a smirk while pressing the call button to the flight attendant.

After a while, the attendant brought them snacks and drinks. Mark unwrapped a sandwich and gave the half to Jack. Both of them started eating and the simple heart-warming scene tugged Amanda’s heart.

She knows that Jack is longing for a father’s love but she could not provide him a complete home.

She was still immersed in her own thoughts when she noticed the sandwich that Mark is handing to her.

“Have something light first, we can have a full breakfast when we land” Mark knows that she hasn’t had a rest since she’s been carrying Penny for the whole duration of the flight.

“Thank you” Amanda was really hungry before but she doesn’t know how to put Penny down.

She suddenly remembered when Jack was the same age as Penny.

Suddenly she felt pity for the guy. He really looked like he hasn’t slept and she can see the stubble growing under his chin.

After a while, the captain announced their landing. When the plane landed, she tried to return Penny to her father but the little girl started crying.

“Give her to me later once she’s fully awake” Mark was feeling no shame at all.

“Then you carry all the bags” she also doesn’t want to wake the poor baby up.

Anyway, he’s a big guy a few baggage is nothing to him.

She made her way while carrying Penny in the baby carrier and holding Jack in her other hand. Mark was carrying all the bags behind them.

“Welcome to Northern Province, we hope your family will enjoy your stay” the attendant was giving her standard speech to all the deplaning passengers.

She wanted to correct the attendant when she suddenly felt a big hand landed on her shoulder urging her to move forward.

“Thank you, we will” Mark knew that she’s been itching to correct the attendant since the beginning of the flight so he immediately cut her off.

She tried to shake off her shoulder but the man was strong and did not let her go until they were in the open.

“Why didn’t you correct her?” she said indignantly.

She has maintained her reputation clean and she felt allowing any misunderstanding would mean tarnishing her reputation.

“What’s the point, just leave them with something to talk about” Mark was very chill about it.

“…”

“No need to be so serious about it. You can easily clarify it if someone asks. No need to overthink. Come let’s have breakfast, I’ll treat you for taking care of Penny” he gave her another wink after finishing his words.

Amanda is completely flushed. She couldn’t imagine someone being so shameless at openly flirting with a stranger.

She was about to reject when she heard Jack’s excited voice “Uncle Mark, can we have pancakes, bacon and hot chocolate?”

“Yes, we will have everything you want to eat” Mark is beaming. He knew Amanda could not say no to her son.

“Uncle Mark is the best” Jack’s eager smile could melt anyone’s heart especially Amanda’s.

After settling in a breakfast café, the company of four is eating happily.

The lovely scene was catching the attention of other customers when someone suddenly took their photo secretly and hurriedly send it to “Master”.