My Dream Marriage

My hand feels numb as I try to find a comfortable position to lie my body. The beddings feels so hard and fluffy when I grab it to face the other side. I press my other hand to raise my body a little bit but the loud bursting of a balloon wakes me up fully. I get up quickly and that is when I realize that I didn’t sleep on the bed.

Everything is just as it was during the night- balloons scattered everywhere on the floor, the dining still with everything on it. My clutch is also on the table.

I get up slowly and stretch my body. I pick my shoes up and take my clutch bag from the table . I head to the only door I can see apart from the one I came in from outside. It is a big bedroom with a king-size bed. It is covered with white sheets and red petals placed on top such that they make a heart shape. I am unbothered right now. My body needs a good washing right now. I head for the closet and I find a few clothes lined up neatly with a pair of sandals and I am grateful for that. At most I need a change of clothes when I shower. I head for the bathroom and when I see the beautiful bathtub I don’t want to shower again.

I fill up the bathtub with water. I get the essential oils and add a few drops into the water. The strong organic scent of the oils fills up the bathroom and in no time I am resting my tired body in the not so hot water. After staying inside to my satisfaction I clean myself and change into a comfortable blue sundress.

What am I supposed to do in this big room? No one to talk to and I am new in this town. Edward is nowhere to be found and when I looked at my phone a while ago there was no single call from him. I called my parents and our conversation went well. I talked to Azila too and I assured her that I had the best night. Jackie was also convinced that I had a good night since I seemed so tired. Right now I wish I had asked the room service attendant who came to do away with the decorations and the untouched food how long I am supposed to stay here. He had asked if I didn’t find the food to my liking he would make up for it. I had dismissed him with no offense since I was in no mood for any explanations why I didn’t take the food. Now I am famished. I have to call for room service.

The doorbell rings and I know my breakfast is here. I get the door and yes, breakfast is here.

I devour everything that is served. I was really hungry.

After I am done I head to the reception. I can’t stay indoors the whole day. Besides if I stay here I will just be too stressed out after everything. If it were on another occasion I would have gladly stayed indoors. I don’t know any other place in this town but I have to at least clear my mind off bad thoughts. I am standing outside the building contemplating on which direction to take. Good thing is that I am staying at the ‘Shark Hotel’-that is the name of the hotel- for as long as I want.

Wonderful! Just a few minutes from the hotel, I guess two hundred or half a kilometre away there is a beach. I take a few selfies for myself. The beach is not crowded and this is good.

I walk bare feet feeling the sand prickling my soles. I find a shade and I sit under it watching as people swim in the ocean. Others surfing against the waves while others play excitedly with their families or friends am not sure.

My phone chooses this moment to ring and when I look at the caller id I am shocked a bit. After all this time it is now that he thinks is the right time to call me. I am not picking up the phone. I am human too. A woman for that matter, who was left alone on the night of her wedding day.

The ringing has become too much and I give in.

“Where are you?” That is the first thing that he asks when I answer the call. “I am at the beach,” I answer. “Which beach?”

“Not far from the hotel,” I tell him. “Can you come back now?” Now that feels like a command. “Okay,” I say picking up my sandals from the ground.

I find him together with his driver at the hotel reception. He looks sharply at me the moment I come in front of them. He looks ravishing in casual jeans and a black shirt except for the face that he is giving me. Why though? He is the one who I should be furious at.

“Why did you leave the hotel? You should have waited for me,” he says and I look at him as if he has grown horns. “I waited Edward, but you didn’t come.”

“Then what gave you the courage to leave the hotel when you are new here?” “What could I have done? You didn’t come when you already have the idea that I don’t know anyone or anywhere on this island,” I say. ” Oh so you are mad at me. Is it so hard to just stay put? I am in no mood to start looking for missing adults now. Now go to the room and pick whatever is yours and come back. We need to leave,” he says. “Just my dress from yesterday and my shoes,” I tell him. “In fact no need. Let’s just leave. That will be taken care of.”

We are already having our first couple argument on the first day of our marriage. I hope we leave this place because people are just looking at us as they pass us by.

I am astonished at the destination we arrive at. If I remember correctly this is the villa we were at yesterday night. Why are we here again?

I look at him and from his look I know he knows the reason why I am looking at him. He doesn’t feed my curiosity as the only thing he says is “come.” Okay.

There is a middle aged lady who welcomes us and leads us to the dining table. There is a ready set breakfast on the table and Edward directs me to sit. “I was told that you didn’t have your dinner. So eat,” he says and I feel like standing up and leaving the table. He should know by now that he was the one at fault right now. Is sorry so hard for him to admit. I just force a smile and say, ” but they didn’t tell you that I had breakfast.” “Oh? It’s okay. Just take whatever is to your liking then,” he says.

We eat in silence and when I decide to leave he calls Grace, the middle aged woman, to show me around the house. I don’t know why but I don’t feel like sitting near him. He looks moody and he doesn’t want to apologize for what he did or rather didn’t do.

The villa has four bedrooms on the upper floor, and it is only one storey house. “Ma’am, why didn’t you stay here yesterday with Edward?” Grace asks and I am taken aback by that. What does she mean? Edward stayed here yesterday? “I stayed at a hotel,” I tell her and she is shocked. She clears her throat and asks me, “why? He was here with a lady he said was his business associate. Moreover this house is so big it could accommodate the entire population of this island,” she says and we laugh it off. I like her already. But wait, why would Edward stay here. I won’t ask Grace about it but the right person to provide me with the answers that I need. “You should have seen the hotel room. It was decorated top notch. Besides he is a CEO, he can’t afford to lose important clients,” I say and she shrugs, “you know, my honeymoon with my then husband, we didn’t even leave the country. We just stayed at the house we had bought together with him. I didn’t complain whatsoever because I knew he couldn’t afford a long stay at a hotel, but the little that we had saved we used it on household matters and the night was a memorable one. We could have used our savings on a one or two night’s stay at a hotel in another city away from home but staying at home was a better option given our standard of living. So as for you just enjoy my girl,” she says. Then? “So where is he?” I ask since sounded like they aren’t together then. “He is late,” she says. “I am so sorry,” I tell her since it’s the only thing I can afford to tell her. I don’t know the man. “Don’t be, you didn’t do anything. Besides we have a lot of good memories together. I miss him though,” she says as we enter back to the house after walking around the backyard while she tells me of her love story.Published by Nôv'elD/rama.Org.

This was quite a story with just a few words. She is only middle aged. They are separated so early. “Do you have children?” “Yes, I have a daughter who lives with me. I only come here during the day but when the Lawanson family member is here I stay 24 hours until they leave.” “This is their house?” I am astonished. “Oh I didn’t let you know earlier. Yes it is,” she says. I think I have to take a notebook and write down one by one all the properties owned by the Lawanson family.

I am seated across Edward who doesn’t seem like he will be putting his phone down anytime soon. I am staring at the TV not even interested at what the people are talking about. With Edward seated across from me I swear I cannot concentrate. He is handsome but intimidating at the same time. He makes my thoughts vanish and right now I know I am not mad at him anymore.

“Are you satisfied? If you are then I am going somewhere. If you want you can come with me,” he says. So he saw me stealing glances at him. This is so embarrassing. I want to stay back with Grace in this magnificent house but I am new to this place and I really want to explore. The latter wins.

Edward is driving and I wonder where his driver is or why he decided to drive himself. He tells me the names of some places and buildings. We drive around the the town for sometime and I guess he is showing me around.

This is good. I am so excited and my fears vanished away long ago. I really am enjoying his company.

He drives into a building. “Now this is our destination. We are going to meet some of my business associates here. After yesterday we had to meet again today since we still have a lot of things we have to discuss and reach an agreement. So be my guest and don’t say anything. You can listen to our conversation but it will be fine if you just be a good girl and stay put. Or better still you can walk around but don’t go far away. I don’t want what happened in the morning to repeat itself,” he says. “I was just taking a stroll to be familiar with the place,” I say. “Let’s not fight again about it. Behave okay?” He says and I nod as we get to a door and I can hear voices from inside.