A millionaire condemns a mother-of-three and criticizes her for traveling business class, but when the pilot announces their arrival with a special statement for the woman, all of his concerns fade away.
“Ugh! You cannot be serious! Are you seriously having her sit here?! Miss, you should do something about it!” Louis Newman groaned as he observed a mother of three approaching his neighboring seats with the help of a stewardess.
“I’m sorry, sir,” the stewardess said gently, presenting him the tickets. “These seats have already been given to Mrs. Debbie Brown and her children, and we have no control over it. I’d like to propose that you work with us.”
“You do not understand, Miss! I have an important meeting with foreign investors. Her children will keep chattering and making sounds, and I can’t afford to lose this opportunity!”
“Sir….” Debbie interrupted the stewardess as she was just starting to speak. “It’s okay. I can sit somewhere else if the other passengers are prepared to swap seats with my children and myself. That’s not an issue for me.”
“Not at all, ma’am!” the stewardess responded. “You are sitting here because you paid for it, and you have the right to be here! It doesn’t matter if someone loves it or not, and sir,” she turned to Louis, “I’d like it if you could be patient until the flight is finished.”
Millionaire businessman Louis Newman was unhappy that the stewardess had declined his request, but what irritated him even more was that he was forced to seat next to a woman who did not appear to be in business class and was dressed in the cheapest clothes on the plane.
He put on his AirPods to avoid having to engage in conversation with the mother, and turned his face away when she sat beside him, having helped her children strap themselves snugly to their seats.
The boarding process was quickly completed, with everybody settling into their assigned seats, and the flight took off. Debbie and her children had never flown business class before, so as the plane took off, the children began chirping with delight. “Mom!” exclaimed her daughter Stacey. “Look, we are finally flying! Yay!”
Some passengers on the plane turned to look at Stacey and smiled at her innocence, but Louis had a scornful expression on his face. “Listen,” he said as he faced Debbie. “Could you please ask your children to be quiet? Because I missed my previous flight, I’m joining a meeting from here. I don’t want any kind of disruption.”
“I’m sorry,” Debbie politely replied as she motioned for the children to remain quiet. Louis’s meeting lasted almost the entire flight, and as he spoke, Debbie realized he was a businessman who was mainly into the fabrics industry, as she could see he’d mentioned fabrics frequently and had a handbook with designs.
When Louis’s meeting was finished, Debbie approached him and asked, “Do you mind if I ask you a question?”
Louis didn’t want to talk to her, but since his meeting had gone well and the investors had agreed to the deal, he was quite pleased and let go of his arrogance. “Umm…Yeah, sure, go ahead.”
“I noticed you had a handbook with fabric samples and designs. Do you work in the clothing industry?”
“Uhhh…yeah, you could say that. I own a clothing company in New York. We just closed a deal. I hadn’t really hoped it would work, but it did.”
“Oh, that’s lovely. Congratulations! Actually, I run a small boutique in Texas. It’s more of a family affair. It was started by my in-laws in New York. We recently opened a unit in Texas. I was really impressed with the designs you were presenting.”
Louis gave her a sarcastic laugh. “Thanks, lady! But the designs that my company makes are not like some local or family boutique thing; we hire some of the best designers, and we just cracked a deal with the best designing company in the world! A BOUTIQUE, SERIOUSLY?!” He muttered loudly enough while smirking to mock Debbie.
“Oh, well,” Debbie felt humiliated by his comment, but she maintained her composure. “I – I understand. It must be something really huge for you.”
“Something huge?” Louis smirked, shaking his head. “A poor woman like you would never understand what it means, but it was a million-dollar deal! Let me ask you this again,” he said after pausing for a brief while. “I mean, I saw your tickets and everything. I know you’re here flying business class with us, but trust me, you don’t look like someone who deserves to be here! Maybe try economy the next time and look for people who own boutiques like you?”
Debbie’s patience was wearing thin at this point. “Listen, sir,” she said sternly. “I understand; it’s my first time flying in business class, and I had trouble figuring out the check-in process and everything, but don’t you think you’re getting ahead of yourself? My husband is on the flight with us, but…”
Before Debbie could finish her sentence, an announcement over the intercom signaled their arrival at JFK. However, rather than turning off the intercom after his announcement, the pilot, Captain Tyler Brown, had something more to say.
“Also I would like to thank every passenger on this flight, especially my wife Debbie Brown, who is flying with us today. Debbie, honey, I can’t tell you how much your support means to me.”
Louis’s heart skipped a beat and his face flushed with embarrassment when he realized Debbie’s husband was a pilot on the flight.
“This is my first time flying an A-class flight, and I was nervous. Thank you to my wife, who assured me that everything would be fine and decided to accompany me despite her fear of flying in order to put my mind at ease. Today is my first day back at work after a long period of unemployment. My wife and I have never had it easy, and we’ve seen a lot of struggles in our lives, but I’ve never heard Debbie complain about her situation. So, on this day, which also happens to be the day we first met, which I believe my wife has forgotten, I’d like to propose to her again on this flight. DEBBIE, I LOVE YOU, HONEY!”
Tyler broke the protocol and came out of the pilot’s cabin at this point, proposing to Debbie with a ring on his knees. “Would you like to spend the rest of your life with me again, Mrs. Debbie Brown?”
Everyone on the plane was now fixated on Debbie and her children, who appeared to be the most beautiful family ever. As Debbie nodded yes, teary-eyed, the passengers were all applauding, but Louis was standing there perplexed and embarrassed. But Debbie was not going to let him get away with it. She approached Louis before exiting the plane and said, “A materialistic man like you, who only thinks about money, would never understand how it feels to have a loved one around you. And yes, my husband and I live a humble life, but we are very proud of it!”
