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The Pilot’s Forgotten Girlfriend Was the Real Hero
Novelix
Completed
My pilot boyfriend became a hero after an emergency landing, while no one knew I was the mechanic who kept his plane from falling apart. Then he gave the credit to another flight attendant, called me unstable, and stood by while the airline destroyed my reputation. So I quit. Only after his plane failed again did he finally realize the truth: the woman he ignored had been the one keeping him safe all along.
Chapters (3)
第1章
When a flight made an emergency landing at NorthStar Air's Seattle base, my boyfriend, Captain Ethan Cole, became the hero of the entire company.
Only I knew the truth.
The person who had almost failed that night wasn't Ethan.
It was the plane.
The left hydraulic system had thrown a warning. The landing gear indication was abnormal. Hydraulic fluid was leaking from the belly.
As an aircraft maintenance technician, I stayed on the ramp from one in the morning until sunrise, working the problem with my hands black from grease and hydraulic fluid.
When Ethan finally came down the stairs, he looked at me once.
"Thanks. Go get some sleep."
I thought he was just exhausted.
Then came the company safety awards ceremony.
Ethan stood onstage with a microphone in his hand.
His eyes passed right over me and landed on flight attendant Riley Bennett.
"If Riley hadn't been there that night, I never would've been able to focus on the emergency."
The room erupted in applause.
No one mentioned me.
No one mentioned the hours I had spent under the aircraft with my knuckles split open and my hands soaked in oil.
After the ceremony, Riley walked over and held her phone in front of me.
Two messages from Ethan were still on the screen.
【Thank God you were there.】
【When you're with me, I feel safe.】
The next morning, I submitted an internal transfer request to NorthStar's new maintenance base in Oregon.
Ethan stopped me in the hallway.
"What are you doing?"
I looked at him calmly.
"Captain Cole, from now on, if you need to feel safe, ask Riley."
I walked past him.
From that moment on, I was done being the support he never bothered to see.
...
"Sienna, your transfer request has been put on hold."
My maintenance manager looked uncomfortable.
I stared at him.
"Why?"
Maintenance and Flight Operations were separate departments.
Since when did Flight Ops get to decide where I worked?
He sighed.
"Flight Operations raised a safety concern about your current fitness for the new assignment."
My chest went cold.
He lowered his voice.
"Ethan spoke to management personally. He said you've been emotionally unstable lately and shouldn't be taking on critical maintenance responsibility at a new base."
I almost laughed.
He used to call me the technician he trusted most.
Now, just to keep me here where he could control the situation, he had stamped me with the words emotionally unstable.
One comment from him, and suddenly my professional judgment was a mental-health problem.
I turned around and headed straight for the crew operations room.
The door was cracked open.
Riley's voice floated through the gap.
"Ethan, is Sienna mad at me?"
She sounded concerned.
"Honestly, the award probably should've gone to her. But maintenance people are always behind the scenes. They don't understand the pressure we deal with in front of passengers. Sometimes they get a little rigid."
Ethan answered evenly.
"She usually doesn't make scenes. If she's acting like this, she must really feel hurt."
I shoved the door open.
It slammed into the wall.
Ethan turned toward me, his brows pulling together.
"You don't knock anymore?"
Riley had been sitting beside him.
The second she saw me, she stood and pushed the award toward me.
"Sienna, don't be mad."
"You can have it if you want."
"It's not like I fly for trophies."
I looked down.
RILEY BENNETT was engraved across the base.
It looked less like an award and more like something placed there for me to stare at.
I pushed it back.
"No thanks."
"You risked your life for it. I couldn't possibly take it."
Ethan's face darkened.
"Sienna. We're at work. Don't embarrass yourself."
I lifted my eyes and looked straight at him.
"When that plane landed, who was the first person under the fuselage checking the leak?"
"Who went into the landing gear bay during a thunderstorm to inspect the system?"
He was silent for two seconds.
"I know what you did that night."
Then he added, "But the pressure cabin crew deals with in the air isn't the same as what you do on the ground."
My job meant crawling under a damaged aircraft in a storm.
Apparently, that was simply expected.
Riley doing her job deserved applause from the whole company.
Something heavy lodged in my chest.
To Ethan, my skill and my safety were just part of the job description.
Riley pulled out a wet wipe and held it toward me.
"Sienna, your hands are really dirty."
"Don't touch Ethan's uniform. Hydraulic fluid is hard to get out."
I looked at the dark grease still trapped under my fingernails.
She was clean.
I wasn't.
I turned back to Ethan.
"You think I'm dirty too?"
His eyes flicked toward Riley's hand.
His brow tightened.
"I didn't say that."
Then he looked away.
My throat closed.
I couldn't say another word.
Cold air from the hallway vents blew down the back of my collar.
I returned to my manager's office and pulled out another form.
This one wasn't a transfer request.
It was my resignation.
My manager looked alarmed.
"Sienna, think about this. NorthStar doesn't train many A&P mechanics your age who can independently sign off return-to-service work."
"Don't throw your career away over one bad week."
I signed my name and set down the pen.
Then I looked through the window.
Out on the ramp, Ethan and Riley were walking side by side toward a crew shuttle.
The heroic captain looked perfect in his pressed uniform.
The woman who had spent the night under his aircraft was still covered in grease.
That was where Riley and I stood in this story.
Front stage and backstage.
Applause and oil.
I had worked at this base for five years.
For the first time, it felt more suffocating than a thunderstorm.
Someone passed the open office door and muttered under his breath,
"Sienna took the hit for both of them. They got all the glory."
No one answered.
No one disagreed either.
My phone vibrated.
A message from Ethan.
【Can you come out tonight? I need to talk to you.】
I turned my phone facedown on the desk.
I didn't reply.
第2章
I didn't go to dinner that night.
A transit aircraft in the hangar had reported an oxygen-system fault, so I stayed to troubleshoot it.
The space beside the cabin door was tight.
I crouched on the floor with a flashlight between my teeth, tracing wiring behind a panel.
A sharp metal edge sliced across the back of my hand.
Pain flashed through my knuckles.
Blood welled instantly.
I kept turning the screw.
The hangar door opened.
Footsteps came up behind me.
Ethan crouched down and took the tool from my hand.
His expression tightened.
"You're bleeding. You didn't notice?"
I didn't look at him.
I reached for the tool.
He moved it out of reach, opened my toolbox, and reached into the bottom compartment.
He pulled out antiseptic wipes and gauze.
Only he knew I kept them there.
My first year at NorthStar, an older mechanic had made my life hell.
One night, after a sixteen-hour shift, I'd sat on the ramp beside my toolbox, too angry and exhausted to move.
Ethan had run over from the flight building and crouched in front of me.
He wrapped my cut hand himself.
Back then, he had said,
"You keep the airplanes safe. I'll make sure you feel safe."
When I studied for my A&P certification, he stayed up with me until after midnight.
He drew engine-system diagrams across an entire whiteboard wall.
The first time I signed off a major maintenance job on my own, he was more nervous than I was.
He waited outside the hangar with hot coffee and breakfast and told me my name would show up on more and more maintenance records.
Those memories weren't fake.
Ethan wrapped fresh gauze around my hand.
His movements were gentle.
"The awards ceremony was Corporate Communications' call. I didn't control that."
I studied his face.
"If you couldn't control the award, how did you control my transfer?"
His hands stopped.
"You're the mechanic I trust most. You shouldn't gamble your career because you're upset."
Before I could answer, the hangar door opened again.
Riley walked in carrying a takeout bag and two coffees.
The tiny bit of warmth that had returned to me disappeared.
"Ethan, I brought you dinner. You said your stomach was acting up again..."
She stopped when she saw him holding my hand.
Her expression turned apologetic immediately.
"Sienna, sorry. Am I interrupting something?"
Ethan's hand stayed around mine for half a second too long before he let go.
He stood.
His gaze lingered on my bandaged hand.
Then he took the bag from Riley.
She handed him another garment bag.
"Oh, and your jacket's back from the dry cleaner. You left it in my car last night."
I stared at the captain's jacket inside the clear plastic.
Last night Ethan had told me he was too tired after his flight and slept in the crew room.
No matter how late he landed, he had always come home before.
Until now.
Ethan noticed where I was looking.
His eyes shifted.
"She drove me back from the terminal. I spilled coffee on my jacket. She just dropped it at the cleaner for me."
Riley smiled faintly.
"Don't misunderstand. Ethan was worried you'd see the stain and overthink it. He knows you care about little details."
I almost laughed.
He was using my so-called sensitivity to explain away their lack of boundaries.
I looked down at the gauze he had wrapped around my hand.
Then I tore it off and wrapped my hand again myself.
I stood.
"Forget the transfer."
Ethan frowned.
"What?"
"I'm resigning."
His face went cold.
"Sienna."
He paused, lowering his voice.
"If you leave, who's going to sign off half the maintenance work around here?"
He described the cage he had built around me like it was shelter.
The last piece of hope I had left died.
I closed my toolbox hard.
The latches snapped into place.
"I don't need you protecting me."
I picked up the case.
"I need you to stop standing in my way."
I walked past both of them and left the hangar.
That night, back in my apartment, I contacted the recruiter for a newly opened maintenance base in Oregon.
I sent over my A&P certificate, my return-to-service records, and every major troubleshooting report I had written.
第3章
The next day, NorthStar held its annual Community Aviation Day.
I had been assigned to demonstrate routine aircraft maintenance for local media.
It was the first time I had ever been given a camera and a microphone to talk about the work I actually knew.
I arrived early and opened my toolbox.
I reached for my calibrated torque wrench.
It wasn't there.
Ethan had given me that wrench the day I earned my certification.
A small plate on the handle had been engraved with one line.
SIENNA — SAFETY IS NEVER SMALL.
The latch on my toolbox looked scratched.
Someone had forced it.
I searched every compartment.
Nothing.
My palms started sweating.
My heartbeat grew heavier.
Riley walked toward me with several reporters behind her.
She smiled into the cameras.
"Sienna, ready?"
I looked at her.
"Where's my wrench?"
She blinked.
"What wrench? I don't know."
"This morning I noticed your toolbox looked dirty, so I wiped the outside. I didn't want it looking bad on camera."
I stepped closer.
"You don't have authorization to touch my toolbox. Give it back."
Her face changed instantly.
She looked shocked, as if I had slapped her in public.
"Sienna, how can you accuse me of something like that with no proof?"
The whole event was being livestreamed.
A camera swung toward my face.
Comments began flying across the stream.
【Who is this woman? She's so aggressive.】
【Is that how the maintenance crew talks to flight attendants?】
I pulled out my phone and opened the hangar access log.
Then I held the screen toward the camera.
"Six-oh-two this morning. Your badge opened the maintenance area."
"Cabin crew aren't authorized to handle maintenance tools. Why were you inside?"
The air around us changed.
People who had been watching casually started looking at Riley.
A few employees exchanged glances.
Riley's eyes reddened.
Her hands curled into fists.
"I really was just trying to help."
"There was oil on your equipment. I cleaned it."
"I didn't think you'd humiliate me like this."
Ethan pushed through the crowd.
He grabbed my arm.
"Sienna. Shut down the livestream."
I ripped my arm out of his hand.
"I want her bag and personal belongings checked now."
His voice dropped.
There were cameras everywhere.
"Sienna, there are reporters here. Step away. I'll handle this."
He was willing to protect her innocence.
He wasn't willing to trust my accusation.
In his eyes, I didn't even deserve the chance to defend myself.
My chest tightened until it hurt.
My maintenance manager rushed over, sweating.
He looked from me to the cameras.
Then he made his decision.
"Sienna, take a break. Riley will do the cabin-safety presentation."
I was removed from my own demonstration.
I stood behind the stage and watched Riley take the microphone under the lights.
"Safety depends on every department working together," she told the cameras.
"Flight attendants are the last line of defense inside the cabin."
My professional showcase had become hers.
I checked the livestream on my phone.
The comments were tearing me apart.
【No wonder she didn't get an award. Imagine someone this unstable working on an airplane.】
【She almost ruined the whole company's event.】
I looked toward Ethan.
His jaw was tight.
He saw my face.
He saw my fists.
Then he looked away.
His silence gave everyone permission to blame me.
After the event ended, I found my torque wrench beside a trash-collection cart outside the maintenance area.
It was bent.
The metal was covered in deep scratches.
Someone had taken sandpaper to the engraved plate.
Only one word was still barely visible.
SAFETY.
My throat tightened.
My eyes burned.
Riley appeared behind me.
"Tools can be replaced."
"Don't make this into something bigger and put Ethan in a difficult position."
She offered me a paper cup of water.
I took it.
Then I threw the water straight into her face.
"Get away from me."
Riley gasped.
Ethan came toward us fast.
He stepped between us and grabbed the wrist holding the broken wrench.
"Sienna!"
I raised the wrench between us.
"This is what you gave me."
His face went pale when he saw the ruined engraving.
An engine roared somewhere across the ramp.
"...I know."
I stared at him.
The thing I had treasured most had become, in his eyes, just another tool that could be replaced.
He had never understood what that wrench meant to me.
I pulled my wrist free.
Back in the office, I sealed the damaged wrench in an evidence bag.
Then I opened my laptop.
I started organizing my resignation paperwork.
My handover files.
And copies of every original record that could prove the work I had done.
