“No.”
“You seemed to recognize each other.”
Arthur smiled faintly.
“People sometimes remind us of someone we've known.”
Emily accepted the explanation, although she remained curious.
A few minutes later, the flight attendant returned with a new proposal.
“Miss Parker, we have managed to locate another seat in the forward cabin. It's a window seat, and it offers nearly the same level of comfort.”
Emily frowned.
“Is it the same class?”
“Yes.”
“Can I see the seat number?”
The attendant checked her tablet.
“It's 2C.”
Emily looked toward Arthur.
“And what about him?”
“He may remain in 3A.”
Emily considered the offer.
She wanted to refuse simply because she believed she had been treated unfairly. But the thought of delaying the flight and missing her interview made her reconsider.
“Fine,” she said. “I'll take 2C.”
The flight attendant smiled.
“Thank you for your understanding.”
Emily reached for her handbag.
But before she could move, Arthur spoke.
“Miss Parker.”
She turned.
“Yes?”
“May I ask you something?”
“Of course.”
“If you discovered tomorrow that the company interviewing you had made a mistake with your application, would you want them to judge you based on the mistake or on the person you are?”
Emily blinked.
“I suppose I'd want them to look at the facts.”
“Exactly.”
He glanced at her boarding pass.
“Then perhaps you should insist that they look at the facts here, too.”
Emily looked confused.
“What do you mean?”
Arthur smiled.
“Nothing. Just an old man's advice.”
She gave him a polite nod and moved toward seat 2C.
But as she settled into the new seat, she noticed something unusual.
Daniel Reed was standing near the cockpit, speaking urgently into his phone.
His expression had changed completely.
He no longer looked irritated.
He looked frightened.
And every few seconds, he glanced toward Arthur Bennett.
Emily could not hear the conversation, but she caught a few words.
“...the name is definitely on the list.”
A pause.
“No, I didn't know he was coming.”
Another pause.
“Because nobody told me!”
Daniel ended the call and slipped the phone into his pocket.
Then he walked toward the elderly man.
“Mr. Bennett,” he said, his voice suddenly much more respectful. “May I speak with you privately?”
Arthur looked up from his newspaper.
“Certainly.”
Emily leaned back in her seat, pretending not to listen.
But she heard Arthur's next sentence clearly.
“Before we discuss anything, Daniel, I think you should explain why a young woman was issued the same seat as me.”
Daniel swallowed.
“It's a complicated situation.”
Arthur closed the newspaper.
“Then perhaps it's time someone made it simple.”
For the first time since boarding, the old man no longer looked like a confused passenger who had accidentally occupied someone else's seat.
He looked like a man who knew exactly what was happening.
And Daniel Reed looked like someone who had just realized that the wrong person had been underestimated.
Arthur Bennett remained seated while Daniel Reed stood beside him, waiting for an answer that did not seem to come.
The elderly man slowly removed his reading glasses and placed them inside the breast pocket of his jacket.
“Tell me something, Daniel. How long have you been working for this company?”
Daniel shifted his weight.
“Almost eleven years.”
“Eleven years,” Arthur repeated. “That's a long time.”
“Yes, sir.”
“And during those eleven years, have you ever personally reviewed the passenger arrangements for this aircraft?”
Daniel hesitated.
“Not personally. That's handled by the operations department.”
Arthur nodded.
“Then perhaps you should ask them why my name was placed beside a reservation that was never supposed to exist.”
Daniel's face tightened.
“What do you mean?”
Arthur reached into the inside pocket of his jacket and removed a folded piece of paper. It was old, creased at the edges, and had clearly been carried around for some time.
He unfolded it carefully.
“This is a letter I received three weeks ago. It came from your company's executive office.”
Daniel looked at the paper.
Arthur continued.
“It invited me to attend a private meeting in New York. The meeting was supposed to take place today, at two o'clock. I was instructed to board this aircraft and present myself at the executive terminal.”
Daniel's expression changed.
“Who sent you that letter?”
Arthur turned the paper around.
“Your chairman.”
Daniel stared at the signature.
For several seconds, he said nothing.
Then he looked toward the cockpit.
“Sir, I think there's been a serious misunderstanding.”
Arthur folded the letter again.
“That's what everyone keeps telling me.”
Meanwhile, Emily Parker was beginning to regret accepting the alternative seat.
She had intended to spend the flight reviewing her interview notes, but the conversation between the two men had become increasingly difficult to ignore.
She opened her laptop and pretended to read through her presentation.
Her mind, however, kept returning to the name on the old man's letter.
Arthur Bennett.
She knew that name.
Not personally, but from the financial world.
Several years earlier, she had encountered it while researching the history of a large American investment company called Bennett Holdings. The company had once been one of the most influential privately owned financial institutions in the country.
Its founder, Arthur Bennett, had disappeared from public life more than a decade ago.
According to several articles Emily had read, the company had been sold after a disastrous financial restructuring.