The Day My Colour Cost ₦50,000

It's a rainy TGIF, so let me gist my beloved status viewers about a fine bobo I met on a connecting flight. 😂

I noticed him because... well... I saw my colour, as they'd say in Alaba market. So let's kuku call him My Colour. My Colour was a dashing man with eyes the hue of the deep blue sea. Clean locs. Calm confidence. The kind of aura that quietly screams, "VIP."

I noticed My Colour noticed me too.

Firstly, there's how your body starts behaving somehow when you know somebody is watching your every move. Secondly, I caught him staring more than twice. Immediately, I made it my life's mission to avoid eye contact. I buried my face in my phone as though something serious was happening there.

There wasn't.

There wasn't even network. 😂

Eventually, we boarded.

I was secretly grateful My Colour was nowhere in sight... although, if I'm being completely honest, one small part of me wished his seat would miraculously be beside mine.

The flight was longgggg.

I slept.
Woke up.
Slept again.
Woke up again.

Each time expecting we'd have landed, only to realize we were still flying over endless desert.

By the way... how exactly did people japa through this same desert? 🤔

Question for another day.

We finally landed in Lagos, passed immigration, picked up luggage...

My Colour had vanished.

I told myself, "Well, Grace, maybe the man was a ghost." 😂

I headed towards the airport exit, mentally calculating whether to order an Uber or allow one of those determined airport taxi drivers convince me.

Then...

There he was.

Leaning against a wall, aggressively tapping away on his phone.

Our eyes met.

His face literally lit up.

He immediately walked towards me with the brightest smile.

"I thought I wouldn't meet you again," he said.

I laughed.

"Like you've met me before?"

He chuckled. "I'm sure you noticed me staring at you at the layover airport."

For the life of me... "Really? I didn't."

Lies.

I did.

I absolutely did. 😂

Conversation flowed effortlessly.

His friend was coming to pick him up, so he asked if they could drop me off.

His reason?

"I just wanted us to have more time to talk."

Well...

I wasn't in a hurry.

And secondly...

Uber fare would remain in my account. 🤣

His friend arrived.

Introductions were made.

Then he casually announced, "She's our friend now."

I found that funny.

Everything was going perfectly...

...until the driver innocently negotiated into what turned out to be a one-way road.

Ladies and gentlemen...

LASTMA appeared.

What followed was a negotiation Olympics.

From ₦200,000...

...to ₦50,000.

Which...

He actually paid.

Fifty thousand naira.

Just like that.

Kai.

My heart broke.

Not because of me exactly...

But because this man had just met me.

An Uber would probably have cost less than ₦15,000 and the driver would most likely have known the route.

Instead, this poor man paid ₦50,000 simply because he was trying to be nice.

The rest of the journey, I couldn't stop apologizing.

He kept smiling and saying it wasn't a big deal.

I wasn't convinced.

Barely had they driven off after dropping me at my destination when my phone rang. It was My Colour.

"When can I see you again?" he asked.

Then he added...

"There's something about your smile that brightens a gloomy day."

😂😂😂

Man gat lines.

But I can't lie...

He delivered them well.