INNOCENT ADVENTURE

CHAPTER FOUR

"Adrien Hansen. Nice to meet you." He said holding out his hands for a shake

"Emerald Wilson" Nice to meet you too. Thanks for the save." I replied shyly while shaking his outstretched hand.

"Don't mention. Nice name Emerald; I'm guessing it was inspired by the colours of your eyes?" Adrien asked

"Partly. Great guess though" I replied truthfully.

At that very moment, we heard a loud snore from beside him and we both turned and looked at the woman beside him in very deep sleep. We both turned to look at each other and burst out laughing.

"She slept off almost as soon as she sat down. She must have been very tired." Said Adrien calming down

"Wait, you mean she slept through all that?" I asked surprised.

"She sure did. That was some good laugh" he replied

We both settled down and I looked for something to watch on the screen in front of me while Adrien did something on his laptop that he had brought out. A beautiful air hostess came by and asked the both of us if we wanted anything; good, drinks or snacks. I took off my headphones that I was using to watch a movie so I don't disturb anyone and politely declined and went back to watching the movie while Adrien spoke to the air hostess.

A little time had passed when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I took the headphones off and turned to him. He was holding a glass with liquid just at the bottom of the glass to me. I looked at the and then back up his face.

"It's alcohol, it will help settle your upset stomach." He answered my unasked question.

"No thanks, but I don't drink alcohol. I've never drunk alcohol." I tried to politely decline

"It's ok. This much will not get you drunk."

"And how would you know that? You don't know me. Also, I didn't say my stomach was upset."

"Well, second of all you looked like you would puke the moment we took off; you know your green face when you grabbed me? And first of all, I just generally know that a little bit of alcohol will settle your stomach but not get you drunk. I just know. So will you?" He said with a teasing smile plastered on his face. Funny how he replied though.

"Ok" I whispered and stretched my hand toward the glass, took it, brought it to my face, took a whiff (shouldn't have done that. It was really strong), then I held my nose and threw all the glass' content into my mouth and swallowed immediately it burnt my throat. I frowned and made faces showing the displeasure from the hot and weird tasting thing I just drank. I heard laughter beside me turned to see Adrien trying real hard to stifle the laughter, I was not pleased.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. It's just the faces you make are quite hilarious. And I thought you were only going to take a sip not a shot. For a first timer, I'd say you handled it well. The hostess should return soon to take our orders."

"Ok. Thanks"

"Don't mention. By the way, what takes you to the big city?"

" I'm visiting my sister"

"Oh nice. From where?"

"A few little towns away from the city towards the South. What about you?"

"I actually live and work in the big city. I came to the city on business."

At that moment, the hostess returned and truly I actually felt like eating something. She took our orders, looked at the sleeping woman beside us and then left. There was silence as we both returned to what we were doing before. Not too long after, the the hostess brought our orders and promptly left. I looked over at Adrien and said shyly

"Thank you"

"What for?" He asked surprised.

"I wasn't able to eat anything all day because I was nervous, anxious and excited at the same time about this journey. And the experience from earlier only made things worse. But now, I'm really feeling the hunger so thank you." I replied and immediately turning to my food.

"You hadn't eaten the entire day? What about water? I shouldn't have given you alcohol on an empty stomach. I'm sorry" he said looking at me as though making sure I was ok before he also went to his food.

"It's ok. You were only helping"

We continued eating silently and rung for our empty plates to be taken. After the empty plates were taken, I decided to go and clean up a little and change as well as I felt like using the restroom at that moment. I raised my head and stretched my neck towards the restroom to see if it was occupied. It was quite the distance from where I was and I immediately regretted the spare clothing in my backpack. I picked it up, excused myself and headed to the restroom. I felt like eyes were following but quickly tried to dismiss the thought. I hurried inside and locked the door. Without wasting much time, I used the restroom, undressed, cleaned up with my face towel I had made wet; I wrapped it up in a plastic bag and returned it into my bag and wore my spare dress. I packed my dirty brown hair in a low pony tail and headed back to my seat. I was breathing heavily when I sat down; I had rushed to my seat to avoid drawing too much attention to myself. Dad was right, I feel a while lot refreshed. I felt a stare coming from beside me, I turned and found Adrien looking right at me.

"What?"

"It's everything alright?"

"Oh, yes. Everything is fine. Thanks for asking"

"Ok. No problem. But it seems your forgot you were on a moving plane for a moment. Impressive."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, for someone who is flying for the first time and seemed to be worried about it, you were able to walk back and forth with such ease and speed."

"I just wanted to quickly go and just as quickly return to avoid getting stared at."

"I still think it's very impressive."

"Well, thanks."

"What do you say? Let's meet sometime while you're in the big city."

"But I don't know you"

"Oh, I thought we had become friends. How about we get to know each other a little more? Give me your phone. We can chat from time to time and get to know each other that way." Adrien said feigning hurt at the beginning

I deliberated upon what he said a little bit and thought it couldn't be harmful at all to take his number so I turned on my phone and gave it to him. He inputted something on the phone and shortly after there was a vibration. He brought his phone out and ended the call and returned mine to me and said

"I have already saved my number with my name so you can either give me a call or text me anytime. I also have your number now. I hope it's ok to call or text you"

"Yes, it's fine."

We again went back to the things we were doing before. After a while an announcement was made stating that we will be landing soon so we should turn off electronic devices, put our seatbelts back on. I already had my seatbelt on when I returned from the restroom earlier but I still checked to be sure, switched off my phone again and placed it back into my backpack. Adrien bent down to do something as I also turned in his direction only to lock eyes with the third person in our row who had been asleep the entire flight. She smiled and nodded and I repeated her action and turned away.

'We'll be landing soon. At long last, I'll be seeing Gwen. After all these years. What does she look like? What is she like now that she's older?' I was so lost in my own thoughts when I felt a hand squeeze mine bringing me back to reality. I looked from the hand up to the owner's face which had a smile plastered on it. What's with all these beautifully charming smiles?

"We're about to land."

And that was when I felt it. I was grateful for the hand. I held on to it tightly with my eyes tightly closed but I didn't feel like throwing up this time. I took in and let out deep breaths. Soon, it was over. 'I am now officially in the big city and I survived my first flight.'

"Congratulations, you made it." The owner of the hand said while letting mine go after a brief squeeze.

I looked up at him trying to mirror his calm smile and replied

"Thanks again." Before he could ask, I continued

"For the arm, the and the alcohol the company in general and everything else. Thank you Adrien."

He let out a laugh and replied

"You're welcome. I'm glad I could be of help. You were a great company too.

Would you need help to your sister? I could help with your luggage or something."

"Oh no. I'm ok. I don't have much of a luggage but thanks for offering."

"Well, you have my number so you can give me a call anytime. Would love to hear from you. Enjoy your stay."

"Sure will."

"Great. Bye then" he said while heading to out towards the entrance.

"Bye" I said so dreamily mostly to myself. I shared my first ever plane ride with a perfectly handsome man.

I checked to make sure I had everything before heading out. I walked past smiling hosts and hostesses wishing passengers a good stay. I went for my luggage and headed straight for the exit. At this moment, a bunch of feelings were going through me; 'I'm finally meeting my sister after not seeing her in a while. Is she excited or nervous to see me? Or is both for her like it is for me? Sigh'

I walked out and scanned the people waiting at the exit for the new arrivals to pick up their arriving passengers. I looked around amongst the people especially the women but I didn't find the recognition I was looking for. I thought maybe she was running late so I decided to find a bench to sit on to wait for her. But just as I was about to turn around and find a vacant bench, something caught my eye. I stopped and faced the person to be sure and the person also seems to be looking right at me. My heart sank.