Riya finally made it to the Ushaka International Airport. She finished going through putting her big luggage that needed to go into the plane. She also finished going through the security check. Now she was walking towards Department ten which was further down. Her plane was at Department ten. There were not many people in the airport. It was 1st March 2024. Most of the schools would be in revision mode because the examination was on the way. First-term holiday would only start at the end of the month. Riya was looking at the planes while walking to her department. Then she saw a short line by Department ten. Holly's golden blonde hair could be seen from where Riya was walking. Riya decided to walk at a speed.
Holly was looking at a plane waiting to take off. The plane was now moving faster on the runway. Holly loved watching the plane take off. While she was watching, she noticed someone coming toward the queue. It was Riya. Holly was watching her walking at the speed. Holly placed her hands on her hips and shook her head. Riya stopped in front of Holly. She placed her hands on her knees and was catching her breath. Holly was disappointed with Riya.
"Girl, you are always early for weddings, birthdays, and classes. How come you are not early for something this important?", she asked Riya.
Riya was feeling better. She stood up and looked at Holly. "I spent the last five days with my father's relative. They are so irritating and annoying. Some of them kept on telling me that I should get married before I leave. They told me that I need a man in my life to protect me. I can protect myself, thank you very much.", she explained the situation.
"You telling. My father's sister literally bought a man for me. She wanted me to marry him so he could come with me to Shanghai and he is twice my age. Like Riya, I was being straightforward with her. I told her that I need to live my own life. I don't need someone that is going take my freedom away.", Aliya explained.
"Why are certain people still like this?", Riya asked herself and her friends.
"They still got that mindset where they believe that women can't do anything on their own. They think that women can't accept challenges.", Lucas answered.
"Of course, we can. We experience challenges all the time and we overcome them. But we women had enough of these nonsenses. We need this stop.", Holly said in some anger.
"It's not simple but we must carry on fighting until a big change happens.", Riya said.
The doors opened in front of them. More people were coming into the queue. Two air hostesses came to assist. Lucas took the ladies' tickets and gave them to a hostess. The hostess took a look for a minute. She gave the tickets back to them and allowed them in. Lucas thanked the hostess. All four of them were walking in the tunnel. They could hear the engine sound from the plane. Lucas saw two hostesses looking at him. They were waiting for the passengers to come to the plane. Lucas, Aliya, Riya, and Holly were by the door.
"Good morning and welcome to Airlink.", one hostess spoke.
"Good morning, here's our tickets.", Lucas gave the four tickets to the hostess.
The hostess took it and looked at it. "Thank you, sir, your seats are right at the front.", she showed Lucas where the seats were.
Lucas saw the four empty seats then he looked back at the hostess. "Thank you.", he took the tickets from her.
"Enjoy your flight."
Riya, Holly, and Aliya followed Lucas. Lucas was directing them to their seats. Their seats were the first four, two on both sides. Aliya and Riya decided to sit together while Holly and Lucas were sitting together. Riya hoped that Lucas and Holly were not going to cause the plane to crash while the plane was in the air. Those two fought a lot but in a good way.
Aliya was looking at the two seats. Then she looked at Riya with those puppy eyes. Riya looked at her for a minute. She understood what Aliya wanted. "You can take the seat next to the window.", she said.
"Yes.", Aliya was super excited.
Riya put her small bags in the cabin. She took her seat next to Aliya. Riya put her seat belt on and started looking at her phone. Holly was posting on social media that she was moving to Shanghai. Lucas was bidding farewell to his friends. China did not have WhatsApp so it would be hard to communicate with his friends. Aliya was just messaging her parents that she was on the plane and putting her phone on airplane mode. Riya was busy reading the book on the plane's structure. Riya also needed to keep herself busy because it was going to be two days journey. Riya, Aliya, Lucas, and Holly were traveling by Emirates once they landed in Johannesburg. Then they were going to wait for six hours in Dubai. Then they were going to travel on Air China to Shanghai.