Call us spontaneous (or deliberately underprepared), lucky (-bastards, or just accidental), and experienced (or laid-back) travelers. We escaped the grim fate twice before reaching our final destination. Looking back on this day, ominous signs were warning us everywhere. Yet, we insisted to challenge our luck, until I had to suffer the consequences of my ill choices.
I woke up this morning as usual, enjoying the final piece of double chocolate cake with a thick layer of almond butter while mentally making a packing checklist for tomorrow’s 4pm flight. I was certain I’d finish packing tonight, do the laundry, and vacuum tomorrow morning before saying goodbye to the apartment for two weeks.
“There is plenty of time,” I smiled to myself.
Out of nowhere—though not unusual—d embraced me from behind with the strength of a broad daylight abduction, his hands lightly covering my mouth as if I were about to yawn. He whispered, “I found out before bed that we’re actually flying tonight at 1am.”
I cocked my head 90 degrees, my eyes darting to his, apprehensive that he actually meant it. This man rarely joked around if you knew what I meant.
“Yes, tonight. And don’t ask me why I didn’t tell you earlier. It’s a fact now, so let’s deal with it.”
My mind was racing with mania, my limbs wanting to scramble. It was nearly 9am and I still had loose ends to tie up at work, in case this turned into a terminal departure. Above all, I wasn’t going to let the newbie drown under a boatload of work I assigned in a whim. I would much rather inconvenience myself than leave a bad impression.
The events of the day were a blur, but I was grateful for the team’s understanding that I’d be taking an extra day off for the sudden flight change ¹. By 5:45pm, I had cleared my desk and given the newbie my personal contact info.
“Please send me updates on assignments and office dynamics. I disdain work surprises.”
My standards aren’t low by any means, but walking into the apartment to a clear floor and the smell of clean laundry ², I knew this was my man. Once we left for the airport, the rest would be smooth sailing…or so I thought.
Sidenote
There was another mini-catastrophe. I miscalculated the amount of noodles left for the fridge clean-out, so had to improvised with enoki mushroom, which d later commented that it took him more time to chew.
Footnotes
- Days later, d confessed that he'd received an email of the flight change months ago. He'd either have to accept it or rebook with credit. No wonder my colleagues eyed me with suspicion rather than sympathy. They'd likely believed I misremembered the trip dates.
- Laundry's hung indoors, cuz sadly, we don't have a full balcony and are too lazy to dry them in the common area, going against all advice.