Een.

Chapter One.

I sit and wait for the rest of the travelers to settle down, anxiety filling up my system.

And no, it is not because I'm scared of aeroplanes or flying, or of heights.

As they all try to find their seats, and arrange their children to sit facing the proper direction— I'm referring to the woman who's child thought it was proper to lie upside down on an economy seat on an aeroplane— I think of my own mother and how it would be to be back with her, and my sister, Davina.

I miss mom, very much actually, but I am still hurt by the fact that she barely called to ask how I was doing during my years of travel, only calling on my birthdays and during the holidays. And even when I had called her to tell her that I would be returning to South Africa soon, she never called to ask if I would go through with it.

She only sent a text two days earlier wishing me a safe journey.

No, I'm not kidding. It literally was: "wishing you a safe journey".

I'm sure that Davina must have heard from our mother that I was to return home, but still, not a peep from her either. I knew that she did not care very much— or at all, but it would not hurt to send a text now, would it?

I looked around again, waiting for the air hostess's voice to give instructions. The journey had not started yet and I was already annoyed by the loud mouthed boy who kept asking his mother for a pickle.

"Mommy can I have a pickle?" Over and over again, and yes, it was the same boy who had decided to sit— lie upside down.

Already bored of the forms of life around me, I got out one of the Archie comics that I had bought, specifically for this flight, and started to go through them.

I was already lost in Archie world and I was rooting for Betty Cooper, as usual, when I felt a tap on my shoulder. Narrowing my eyes to my left side, I hoped that it was not some lady who would ask me to trade my window seat for her son or daughter.

It was not a mother or her son. Instead, I was looking at the face of a dude who seemed to be about my age. Giving him a frown with my eyes— I hoped that I was doing that correctly— I turned my eyes back to my comic book, to move back into the world of bliss I was in.

I felt two taps on my shoulder again.

Why did I have to be placed near someone who did not understand the silent 'I don't want to talk to you' language that I had used on him.

"Hi. I am Tolu." A rich, deep voice spoke. He raised his hand to tap again and I growled, shutting my comic book in annoyance.

I turned to him, giving him a sickly sweet smile. "Nice to meet you, Tolu. Now, please, I am trying to read-" I shoved the comic book in his face, shaking it.

"-this book. Excuse me." I turned.

"Please, don't be offended, uh, it's just that we are going to take off soon." The boy who had introduced himself as Tolu said.

Yeah, no shit Sherlock. It's not like we are going to start swimming soon.

I tried to keep my annoyance at bay. "Yes, we are going to, aren't we?"

The boy must have noticed that my smiling expression did not necessarily mean that I thought that he was making sense. Then he laughed.

"I'm sorry. I am sure that you think that I am a very stupid person, huh?"

"Not necessarily. But what you had said earlier was just stating the obvious. It was not a very wise thing to do." I shrugged.

Look at you deciding who is wise and who isn't, Mia. My conscience mocked me.

"Well, I am afraid of taking off and landing, so..." He trailed off and looked at me, wanting to know what my facial expression would hold.

"Okay, but is there a reason?" I asked. "And, do not take this the wrong way, as I definitely do you mean to sound rude, but, why are you telling me? I cannot do anything about it, can I?"

He blinked, long lashes moving up and down. I felt a pang of jealousy as I watched them flutter. I didn't catch a word he said.

Blinking my self into real time, I shook my head. "I'm sorry, but what was it that you were saying?"

He laughed. "I was saying that I don't know why, I've always been this way. And yes, you can help me. Just distract me or something, please."

"Distract you? How would I do that?" I looked at him. "I am not a piece of art or something."

He face palmed himself. "Like, just talk to me, or sing or slap me, I don't know. Just do something!" His voice was raised a bit at the last part.

"Please." He said in a much smaller voice.

"Uh, apparently, the sun's rays are white, not yellow or orange." I said, pursuing my lips.

"And apparently, not red either." He says, scratching his head full of hair.

"What? That should be Venus or Mars." I giggled.

"Speaking of planets. There are rumours that space scientists have discovered more life in outer space. Aliens might be actually real!"

"You go to a being's home planet and then you call them the alien?" I laugh and hit him on the arm.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please fasten your belts and if you are not sitting yet, please take a seat and fasten your belts for your safety and the safety of other passengers. Thank you, and please, do have a wonderful flight." The air hostess voice blares out of the speakers.

"Can I hold your hand?" Tolu asks, turning to look at me. I was grateful for my brown skin, as he could not see me blush.

What? It was not my fault that I had little experience in holding hands with the other gender.

"Please?" He asked me again.

"Um, I am sorry. I was away for a while, lost in my thoughts. S-sure. You can hold my hand if you are so afraid." I grinned.

"Not so afraid. Not as you think. I am just a bit nervous, you're making me to sound like a little boy."

"Okay then. Maybe I should just–" I pretended to let go of of his hand and then he clutched mine tightly.

"Please!" He said loudly. Then he closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"Please." He sighed.

I looked at his laidback posture and studied him. He was dark skinned, and I had no idea of what the colour of his eyes were. Most likely brown. It's the dominant eye colour in black people.

His thick, long hair was messily styled, like he had run his fingers through them and did a few plaits running from the front to the middle of his head, and packed the rest of all the hair with a piece of thread, or an elastic band, maybe.

He did not have a flat or a button type nose, and his nose came down in a slant line, and his top lip was black, while the lower one was pink. No piercing on his right ear.

The young man was a dashing person, but he definitely was not my mate. Leaving home for four years was definitely a refreshing experience for me, even with the stress of school hanging. I had originally gone to find my mate, my one true love, but then, after the first year passed, I decided to put my heart and soul into my education, books being my true love in the absence of my other half.

If he even existed, or was still alive.

The pressure on my feet felt different and I tapped Tolu's shoulder. "Tolu, I think we are stable now. It's okay."

He slowly opens his eyes and turns to look at me skeptically. Just then, as if to confirm my words, the air hostess's voice can't in.

"We are stable now. You can unfasten your belts and enjoy your flight. Please ensure that you or your kids do no t go near the cubicles marked with green. This is Flyorrdie Airlines, and we wish you a most enjoyable trip."

I turned to smirk at him. "I'm sorry, did you want to say something just before she did?"

I removed my hand from his and leaned into my seat, taking out my comic which had been starved of attention. A black hand snatches the book out of my grasp and I let out a small cry.

"You are so dramatic." He said, folding my page and putting my book away into his back pack. "Let's talk instead."

I scrunched my face up at him. "There is nothing to talk about though. Unless you can come up with something."

"Okay, let's start from your name. You know my name, but I don't know yours."

"Mia." I shrugged.

Then the thought hit me. "You are going to South Africa like the rest of us, right?"

He nodded, staring at me like I was strange.

"Um, are you a South African too?" I asked. He nodded again, affirming.

"Your name— it is from which tribe?" I asked, hesitating. "I'm sorry if the questions are getting too much."

He threw his head back and laughed. "My mother is a Nigerian woman from the Yoruba tribe. She gave me this name. It's short for Toluwalase."

Oh, I see. I nodded slowly.

"Can I have your ChatApp number, please?" He asked, but then I remembered that I had said that I didn't want friends anymore. Besides, I didn't even know the dude.

"No." I said curtly, regretting my brashness afterwards. "I can give you my Picstagram though." I said, stretching out to collect his phone and then I inputed my username into it.

"I will text you, he said."

Not that I would mind much if he did not. His hair was the most attractive thing about him to me. And I did not think he was a supernatural, and mixing with a non supernatural could upset the balance of the earth in so many ways. Even mixing with the supernaturals of other kinds could result in a great shift.

I only sighed and nodded.

"You know I'm trying to be friends, right? I am not trying to hit on you or anything if that is what you think." He said and I suddenly felt bad for him due to my cold behaviour.

"I'm sorry, I'm just really anxious. I'm going home to meet my mother and sister, and I have not seen them in a long time." I explain and he nods, seeming to understand.

"Oh, I understand. I want to meet my brother and sister too. I miss them."

Either he did not have parents, or he had a fallout with his. But I had been in situations like this for so long that I knew not to ask, especially as he turned his head to face the other side.

I took his hand in mind abs squeezed it, before going back to read my comic book.

A few ten minutes after, Tolu had fallen asleep, and his head had started to drift sideways.

I groaned, praying to the goddess that his head does not end up on my thighs or shoulders.

His head eventually dropped onto my shoulders, and I groaned due to the sudden impact. He was still asleep, and his mouth was opened a little bit, and soft snores emanated from his mouth.

This would have been cute if it was a little child, not a grown man who looked as old as I did.