3

As dinner ended, Nathan stopped me at the elevator.

"Did you really have to humiliate Lanie in front of everyone?"

I looked at him. My chest still hurt, but I wasn't in a hurry to explain myself the way I used to be.

"She pretended to be me. Why didn't you ask how humiliated I felt?"

"She just took the wrong badge."

"The room, the seat, the badge. She takes the wrong one every time, and it's always mine?"

I couldn't help a bitter laugh, even as my eyes filled.

"Nathan, do you really not see it, or can you just not bring yourself to blame her?"

He was silent for a moment, then said impatiently, "Didn't you get it all back?"

The elevator doors opened. Lana was standing inside, holding a gift box.

She offered it to me and said softly that it was a keepsake for the crew's families.

The engraving on the lid read, "To Lana, who helped our hero captain find his way out of the dark."

It felt like a punch to the face. For a long moment, I couldn't breathe.

After the accident, Nathan owed compensation. His parents were sure he'd never fly again and refused to help.

I sold the house my mother left me, worked during the day, and stayed with him through exposure therapy at night.

The first time he walked into the flight simulator, his breathing went ragged, and he squeezed my hand until it bruised.

Back then, Lana was still away at training in another city.

But now she was the one who'd helped him out of the dark.

I touched the cold engraving, and the tears finally fell.

"You're taking this from me too?"

Lana hurried to explain that the publicity department had gotten it wrong.

But Nathan frowned and took the box back.

"It's just a decoration. If you want one, I'll have them make another."

I wiped my tears and shook my head.

"Don't bother. A fake is still a fake, no matter how many you make."

The next day was the launch event for the new route.

The host asked Nathan who had given him the courage to get back in the sky.

He saw me in the partners' section, but his gaze went to Lana in the front row.

"Someone on my crew."

Then the promotional video started on the big screen.

Lana, in uniform, walked into a flight simulator and handed Nathan his captain's stripes.

The caption read, "She helped him conquer his fear and return to the skies."

As the applause started, my colleague leaned over.

"Wasn't that you? The one who got him through treatment?"

My hands went cold. It took me a few seconds to answer.

"It was me. But he won't admit it anymore."

Reporters teased them, asking if they were a couple.

Lana blushed and said Captain Ford had a wife, which only drew more knowing laughter.

Then someone asked why Mrs. Ford wasn't there.

Nathan glanced at me. "She doesn't like being in the public eye."

My embarrassment gave way to anger.

I raised my hand and cut him off, loud and clear. "I do."

The room went dead quiet.

I stood up and walked to the front as dozens of people stared.

"What I don't like is someone else taking credit for what I lived through."

Nathan's face went dark. He pulled me into a meeting room, barely holding his anger in check.

"Do you have any idea how important this launch is?"

I shook his hand off and, for the first time, pushed back without giving an inch.

"Have you seen the video?"

"Yes."

"You knew it was fake, and you still agreed to run it?"

"Corporate PR needs a complete story. Lanie represents the crew. She's a better fit for the video than a spouse."

I shook with anger. Tears welled up, but this time they didn't fall.

"So I sold my house, paid your debts, and got you through treatment, just to be a footnote in her story?"

Someone outside the door was calling for him.

Straightening his uniform, he left me with one last remark. "Married people shouldn't keep score of who gave more. It's pointless."

This time, I didn't go after him.

I looked at my red eyes in the mirror and slowly wiped off my smudged lipstick.

"You're right. It really is pointless."