Chapter 5

The broken glass and our photo were still in the trash bin. He slowly knelt and retrieved the photo. Looking at the background, he remembered—this was taken eight years ago at a concert we attended together. He recalled the promise he made to me that night. Since Scarlett became his student, he hadn’t taken me to a single concert. Perhaps that was when he began gradually distancing himself.

Yet even now, he couldn’t understand why I’d left. After all, whenever he’d wronged me, he’d compensate with gifts. Like two days ago, after attending the concert with Scarlett, he’d bought me a Louis Vuitton bag.

With this thought, he went to the bedroom and opened the closet, searching for proof of his generosity. But he froze when he saw three identical Louis Vuitton bags, alongside cheap bracelets and fifteen-dollar scarves.

He recognized everything. These were all gifts from him—cheap, repetitive; even the fifteen-dollar scarves were duplicates. He’d never noticed this before.

His mind wandered to the gifts he’d given Scarlett: Van Cleef & Arpels necklaces, Hermès bags, Cartier bracelets… Each gift was far more valuable than what he’d given me, and more importantly, each was thoughtfully chosen, never duplicated.

He sank into deep contemplation.

Minutes later, he took out his phone and sent a message: “James, I want to request the Paris route.”

“What?”

“Thaddeus, did I hear that right? You want to fly to Paris? Didn’t you swear never to fly there again? Five years ago, I had to specially request it from headquarters—they gave me hell for it.”

The call came less than a minute after his text; the voice was filled with shock and disbelief. Five years ago, after an incident on his Paris flight, Thaddeus had demanded never to fly that route again, threatening to resign if headquarters didn’t agree. Every veteran at the airline knew this story. His sudden request was astounding.

“I’m serious, James. Please submit another request to headquarters. It’s urgent!” His voice was unusually determined.

Unspoken Farewell at 30,000 Feet 2.8%

Chapter [presumably 6]

“What’s happened?” the voice on the phone pressed.

“James, let me ask you something. These past three years, has everyone thought I crossed a line with Scarlett? That I’ve wronged Claire?” Thaddeus asked after a pause.

His question was met with silence—sometimes silence is the clearest answer.

“I understand,” Thaddeus said bitterly. “Since Scarlett became my student, I haven’t properly dined with Claire, haven’t celebrated any holidays with her. Even the gifts I gave her were carelessly chosen, often duplicates. I just counted—I’ve canceled our marriage registration over a dozen times in these three years.”

“But even so, I never thought we’d actually separate.”

“But today, Claire resigned and left for Paris.”

As Thaddeus finished, the other end of the line finally responded.

Changes Made:

• Punctuation: Corrected inconsistencies in hyphenation, em dashes, and comma usage. Added missing commas and periods.
• Grammar: Corrected minor grammatical errors (e.g., "ompensate" to "compensate"). Improved sentence structure for clarity and flow.
• Formatting: Improved paragraph breaks and spacing for readability. Removed unnecessary line breaks. Added a chapter number placeholder where it was missing.
• Word Choice: Made minor word choices for better flow and precision.

The revised passage is significantly clearer and more polished.