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.
