Married on a plane by Ada Chisaram Nwosu

 

Married on a plane by Ada Chisaram Nwosu

Part 2

#############Back to Present########################

 

“I like to act tough but I won’t lie, that one got to me!” I said and laughed

“It is obvious!” Wendy said and sipped her orange juice

“Is that a Birkin bag?!!” Mina said suddenly looking in the direction of a lady walking out of the restaurant.

“No o! her overall fit is counterfeit clothing items. Can you imagine that the jacket is supposed to be Chanel?! What nonsense!” I said shaking my head

“People are really out here lying these days” Wendy said

“Seriously, Mina, you mean to tell us that you can not smell a fake from a mile away?” Wendy asked

“Smell?! Girl, she is recovering from financial cold. Her imposter perfumes will get in the way!!” I said and we all laughed.

WE were friends like that, mocking and teasing each other but always being there when real trouble arose.

“That’s alright already! Please continue and tell us how you now ended up marrying this evil man!” Chika said

“He was so rude to you though!” Wendy said shaking her head softly

“Was he wearing designer suit on that day? Tom Ford?” Mina asked and I shook my head “Maybe Gucci shoes?” Mina probed further and I shook my head again “Any sign of wealth?”  Mina asked sounding disappointed

“I mean, he looked like money” I said to satisfy her curiosity

“Ooooooh God! Let her continue” Chika half screamed exasperatedly

“Why are you shouting?” Wendy said looking up at her

“Always so serious!” Mina said angrily

“You all know that I later found out he was a manager in a sister company which is actually a million dollar company. So, yea, he is rich.” I said in a matter-of-fact manner

“Yea! I now understand!” Mina started to say

“Yes, go on” Chika said to ensure we did not divert the discussion

“I travelled to Abuja over the weekend for a business workshop. Company sponsored and all of that.” I said now getting into the real story “Guess who I met at the airport when I was returning to Lagos?”

“Olamide!” Wendy said

“You can’t be more correct than that.” I said and we laughed

 

 ############### Flashback ###################################

As I walked in after passing the search point, it is funny how we can spot hostility in a crowd; familiar hostility. I looked in his direction and he looked at me and smiled. I was shocked and looked behind in case it was to someone behind me but I was the one. He started walking towards me and my heart started beating fast.

“hello, he greeted smiling. He was wearing black sweat pants and a white jersey.

“Hello, good evening” I greeted still shocked that he was smiling at me and even striking up a conversation

“What is a beautiful lady like you doing alone in this crowd?” he asked playfully “Can I sit down with you?” he asked politely

“With me?” I asked still shocked. “Heyyyy! God! What is happening? Is this one looking for who to use for ritual? Why is he being so nice? Where is his big boy attitude? Why is he even acting like he doesn’t know me?” I asked myself while staring at him blankly

“Yea sit down” I finally replied and he sat and muttered “Thank you”

“I don’t understand!” I said softly “You have been ignoring me in the office even acting like I disgust you so why are you all of a sudden being nice?” I asked suddenly

“What?!” he said and leaned back placing a palm on his chest to express shock. “I do not do that! Each time you see me, you throw daggers with your eyes at me. Even when I want to approach you, you often hiss and walk away. You ignore me when I talk and act like I do not exist when I am in the same room with you.”

“Dear Lord!” I gasped and acted shocked “I do not do all these”

“Now, hold on! I agree that I can be rude sometimes but you are the queen of rude. I tremble anytime I walk into the company building and see you.” He said

“Really?! Then if I am the problem, why are you approaching me now? In public?” I asked scornfully “If you are going to be scared of me at the office, be scared of me everywhere.” I said as a joke though seriously

He got the joke and laughed heartily, swaying form side-to-side.

“You look approachable today and this is outside of office setting, even out of Lagos” he paused suddenly “Can we bury our beef today? I am exhausted! I don’t know why we are fighting but I give up, you win.” He said calmly

“Hmmm! Ok Sir!” I said suddenly growing suspicious of his niceness

“Don’t call me Sir, I am Olamide. What is your name?” he asked nicely

“I am Ada”

“Nice to meet you” He said calmly

I decided to flow in the moment and have fun. He was a good conversationist. He told me a whole lot about him. His parents lived separately though still married, he had a Master degree in Economics from a University in London. He hated Lagos so went to Abuja as often as he could. He liked to travel but hated flights.

“That’s very interesting” I said as he told each story. We traded stories, bought kilishi multiple times, joked about marriage and how beautiful our kids will look. As our flights were announced, we looked at each other and began to move to show our boarding pass and identity cards.

“Don’t worry, I’ll see what I can do so we sit together during the flight.” He said as he scrambled off to board the place as he was to sit in the first-class part of the plane. I waited patiently for my turn and wondered if this was all in my head and I was back in Lagos dreaming.

As I sat down on my seat, I saw him walking towards me.  He smiled at me briefly and began to negotiate to exchange his first-class seat with the seat beside me. I wanted to say ‘no’ but sometimes, a girl has greed and can indulge in it. Suddenly the gentle man, a middle aged man with a bishop collar smiled at him. The plane was closed and while the Pilot was waiting to take off, seats were exchanged.

We whispered to each other and exchanged numbers as the plane took off and the soared in the sky. Suddenly, I saw the Reverend gentleman walking towards us.

“If you two really want to, I have a marriage certificate signed and stamped by the appropriate authorities but with no names on it. I can give it to you as the people it was meant for have called off the wedding. Who knows? Maybe God wants it this way.” The man concluded. The people close to us in the plane turned straining their ears and eyes, watching and listening to this once in a lifetime real life movie.

“Ada, please, let’s do it, I know I love you and I want to marry you. What are the odds that this can happen? This is definitely a plan of God.” Olamide said

“Are you mad? How do I tell the world, my family, your family, my friends, colleagues and village people that I got married to someone I just started to know properly 2 hours ago?” I asked not believing my ears

“I know, but we are in this together. Us against the world. Let’s do it!” he said imploring me

“I can’t believe this is happening to me. Stop it! People will think I used charm!” I almost screamed

“Let them think whatever, we both know the truth!” he said

“God of mercy! Help me! How can you let this be happening to me!” I said then went quiet as the revered smiled and walked back to his seat

“Wait! What?! Is this even real or a prank? Where is the camera? Did you plan this? I’m not doing it! Don’t beg further, I won’t change my mind.” I said and looked around as the people immediately looked away.

“But why lose out on life when you can make one great decision to jump into great things from here on?!” he said pleading almost on his knees. I looked at him and I don’t still know how it came out of my mouth but I replied him suddenly.

“Ok! I’ll marry you! Let’s do this!” I said, the passengers around me gasped and the information spread round the plane like wide fire. I sat on my seat mortified and wondering what I had just done.

He immediately jumped up to call the Reverend who came smiling widely with a Bible, pen and the marriage certificate. We both gave two passengers our phones and they videoed the ceremony.

As the plane landed, we looked at each other and our marriage certificate. My name boldly written on it and his name too. I sat quietly and he too sat calmly.

His father walked with long strides towards us as we entered the airport car park, we looked at each other and knew that we were thinking the same thing in the moment. I snatched the certificate and put itinto my bag, we looked at each other swiftly and walked in opposite directions while he promised to call so we can meet up and know how to go on.

 

############Back to the Present############################

“Unbelievable!” Chika exclaimed

“Really?!” Wendy half asked half exclaimed

“Have you bought the rings? Cartier rings are one of the best” Mina said

“Rings?! For what?! The thing now is that we are still thinking of how we will explain to our families that this has happened

“I mean, there is nothing to explain. This is a sham marriage! Is this even legal?” Wendy asked

“You both are adults. What has happened has happened. Tell your families and let them accept it now. The earlier, the better. What can they do anyway? You can just even act like nothing happened then start the process of introduction to traditional marriage and then let them know what happened when they ask for a white wedding.” Chika said gently “You can count on my support through it all. This is interesting, who has this type of marriage story?” She said almost laughing

“I came back from a workshop married and I got married on a plane in the strangest way!” I said to my friends

“You should write this down. This must go down in history. Great love story, I guess!” Wendy said

We all laughed and began to reach for our bags to pay and leave. My phone rang, it was Olamide, I picked the phone and showed my friends the name on the screen and we started laughing again.

 

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