I hate weddings, I swear I hate weddings. The entire ceremony of celebrating a woman's selling into a lifetime of society's prison and worse into marriage, a bourgeoise institution that was constantly failing around the world, seemed like a masculinist agenda to me. But I had to be at this one. Mother literarily dragged me out of bed to attend on behalf of herself and my dad. My father was not around as usual. Mother says she's too tired from work the week that just ended, I know it's a lie though. She just doesn't like my cousin who was getting married or her parents, nobody did actually. Mother claims its because my aunt, her sister-in-law was a pompous bitch figurehead and she has a clique of ruthlessly evil friends that could crush anyone beneath their feet, of course that and the rumour that this dangerous clique of high-society women trafficked young girls to Italy and across Europe into sex slavery. Her husband, an Air Force Marshall is rumoured to own oil blocks in the Niger-Delta, a pay-off from a dictatorial Nigerian Leader in the 70's not to ally with the Igbo(s) of the Biafran army. Personally, I just think people are intimidated by their wealth.
A few hours later I found a parking spot at the venue, came out of the car, donned on dark shades and started walking toward the exquisite hall rented for the event. It was a hot Saturday and I was here alone, I should've invited someone I thought as I approached the security point at the entrance. Groaning under my breath as the security guard inquired for my invitation card. I hated these high-society events, they had security like the president would be in attendance and for some reason i couldn't find my I.V. I turned around to go back to the car and check for it, that's when I saw him.
Tall, light skinned, his chest was so broad, I'd probably need extra hands to explore all of it. He had dreamy brown eyes, slick thin lips and well trimmed coal black hair. He had an aura of confidence around him, a beautiful man with a rugged edge, the thought made my thighs moist. A smile pulled itself at the corner of his lips in perfection and I didn't realise he had closed in on me nor that I had been staring for at least 10seconds until he bumped into me. I tripped backwards throwing my purse and everything I held in my hands in the air. As I reached backwards trying to grab onto something. The rough hands of a security officer suddenly grabbed me, held me up and saved me from creating a scene in front of the entrance as people swarmed in. By the time I regained composure, I looked around and the living fantasy of a person was gone. He hadn't even stopped to apologise for bumping into me. I dusted the creases off my dress and walked back to my car to find the I.V.
I sat inside the air conditioned hall after checking into the event centre paying very little attention to the ceremony procession, I could hear the MC's voice and the chattering of the boring people on my table distant at the back of my mind. I continued to scan around trying to find the eye candy of a man that literarily swept off my feet at the entrance through the hall. One hour later just when I had resented to faith and the conclusion I might have been imagining things, the MC announced the arrival of the representatives of the Commander General of the Nigerian Army. Coincidentally he was there again. He walked across the hall, holding the hands of a strikingly beautiful woman. The woman was a head turner, she looked just as unreal as he was. They arrived at a table already surrounded by soldiers then It dawned on me, he must be the representative. This was an Air Marshall's daughter's wedding anyway, military people should be in attendance.
I sunk into my chair depressed definitely convinced couldn't ever get close enough to him with the security he was surrounded by, or even compete with the woman he sat by. I wondered how it was possible these kind of people existed in the real world, they were both so perfect. He sat across me, with the woman beside him constantly nuzzling at him and burying her head on his shoulder. My heart dropped into a hollow grove . I continued staring shamelessly for a while then the unexpected happened. He was side-tracked by an announcement the M.C made and as he returned his gaze back to his table our eyes came in contact. He stayed there for a while with an amused look on his face. He must have remembered me from the fiasco at the entrance. A smile pulled at the corner of his lips still maintaining the eye contact. I blushed uncontrollably and looked away, looking down at the food on my table. I raised my gaze slowly and found him looking elsewhere. He was casually stealing glances now, and would go into a full blown stare the moment the woman beside him wasn't looking. He knew I was looking but he just kept at it, he was enjoying the flirtatious fun. I pulled the hair on my face to the back of my ears and looked into the glass of red wine on my table. I raised my face again and the woman was gone. He sat there alone. This time he was sipping from a glass and staring at me over the top of the glass. The absence of the fantasy woman gave me great joy as I made up mind and got bolder, this man wanted me goddammit. I sat up right looked him in the eye and bit my bottom lip. The sudden bold move from the girl who had been blushing like a child a few minutes ago seemed to have shocked him. He looked away and called one of the ushers at the event. After scribbling down something, he gave the usher a piece of paper and something else. The usher left his side immediately. The woman returned not long after and he completely stopped looking at my table, me or anything in my radius.
To Be Continued.
READ PART TWO HERE
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