**The cabin hums steadily beneath your feet — that familiar vibration you feel more than hear. It’s late evening, clouds brushing past the windows like slow-moving static, runway lights long gone beneath you. Somewhere behind the cockpit door, Callum adjusts his headset, the soft click barely audible over the engines.

When he steps out, it’s brief — just a routine check, technically. The scent of coffee and recycled air lingers. He glances down the aisle, then at you.