As it turned out, once the people of the Joy solar panel plant got over the whole…he's the CEO, attack! Thing that they were on. They were actually quite lovely people. Derek certainly liked them a whole lot better than the people he was forced to interact with on a daily basis at work.
Their smiles, when they shook his hand and expressed their thanks were real. When they told him how grateful they were, he could not detect any dishonesty from them. And when they finally went outside, and he and Emily posed for a group photo with them so that the reporters could see that everything had been resolved, Derek felt zero ill will, not even the kind that was hidden by too much enthusiasm coming from them.
He was so glad to have met them in person. He was also very happy that despite burning tyres and the like, they had not burned down their place of work, nor had they burned either him or Emily.
Good times indeed.
But even though he was having a blast after not getting beaten up and set alight, Derek had still come there on a mission. End the strike before it spreads and becomes uncontrollable, costing Haven Group truck loads of money. He had done that, and now it was time to head back to the city. He had Emily cancel their bookings to the town's two star hotel-nothing in such a rural area could ever go over three stars in his humble opinion.
"Cheer up, Emily, this way you get to see your bed for a few hours before heading back to work," He told his PA as they got back into the car. She looked ready to drop, and Derek was certain he looked much the same ( pity for him he would at most be getting thirty minutes of sleep).
The ride to the airport was silent, the exhaustion of the past hours now weighing down on them as they had nothing to do. When they got to the airport, he got out first, heading inside while Emily got the bags out- she was remarkably strong for someone who was so tiny. Maybe some day he would ask about her workout routine. There had to be one given all the weight that she was carrying. Derek did not like to travel light, but she was pulling his bags like they weighed nothing. She was even looking at him with fire in her eyes, amazing.
Humming a happy tune under his breath, Derek went to inquire on the next flight to the city. The response from the bored looking young man had his good mood plummeting.
"What do you mean all flights for tonight have been cancelled?" He was a bit loud in his questioning, but to be fair it was a situation that required loudness.
"I mean exactly that sir, all flights have been grounded due to a technical issue found in one of them. To be safe all of them are being checked in case they have a similar defect. Flights will only resume tomorrow,"
Unacceptable.
It was unacceptable and Derek let the man know. Getting even angrier when the man continued to look unbothered.
How dare he!
"Listen here…" He squinted down at the man's name tag.
"Listen here, Charles. If I wanted, I could level this whole place and replace it with a playground. So unless you want to be pulling glitter and play dough out of your hair for the rest of your life, I suggest you tell me something I want to hear," Charles' response was to blink very slowly. If he were chewing some gum, Derek was certain that the man would be blowing it. It probably would have been one of those horrid, bright pink cherry flavoured one too.
Supressing the urge to jump across the counter and book his own flight, Derek gave the young man one last glare before turning and walking away. But his retreat was not because he was giving up. He was simply doing something that he should have done right at the very beginning.
He had flown in on public transport, shown that he could be amongst the regular people. Now it was time to go back to the lifestyle that he was used…he was calling for his jet.
He had barely finished pressing the dial button before his call was picked up.
"Mr Haven," Came his pilot's voice and Derek smiled, finally, he was out of here.
"Good evening, Aria, get the jet ready, I need you to come pick me up at-" Before he could finish, he was cut off, and the smile slipped off his face. Aria never cut him off, whatever she had to say, he had a feeling that he would not like it one bit. And sure enough, he did not.
"I am sorry, sir, but I will not be able to come pick you up," She said, and his earlier good mood vanished, the smile slipping off his face.
"And why is that? I know you have a perfectly good plane to pilot, so a lack of transport cannot be the issue," He told her.
"The jet is fine sir, but if I take off in this weather it might not be. A hailstorm with strong winds has broken out, and it is expected to last until tomorrow,"
She was messing with him. Pulling his leg, a bit of a joke at the boss' expense, that was all it was. But even as his hysterical mind thought that, Derek knew it was not true. Aria took her job too seriously for such.
"Very well, Aria, have a good night," He could have wasted time being angry at her, but at the end of the day, it was not her fault. She had no say in what the weather decided to do at any particular time, none of them did.
"You too, sir," He disconnected the call and squeezed the bridge of his nose, his eyes closed. When he reopened them, he found Emily, who had been standing silently next to him, looking at him.
In that moment, Derek found himself desperately wishing he still had her coat to scream into, but he'd left it at the office.
"It seems we are stuck here," He told her, suddenly feeling extremely tired. His eyes hurting from a lack of sleep that he still would not get even if he somehow had a way to get home.