My Dream Marriage

“Do you like steak? I made an order while I was coming to the boutique and I didn’t know what you liked and I guessed you could join me so I decided on it. Hope you’ll like it,” Edward says and I nod, “yes, I do like steak, thank you.” “I guess you have questions too about me?” He asks and I chuckle because for real who doesn’t know Edward in this city? “A penny for your laugh?” He says and I notice his mouth is raised slightly at the corners and I am happy that he finds me fun. Or maybe I look funny or sound funny. I push the thought further aside and tell him,”Edward, you are the most influential person in this city, almost everyone knows you except for your face of course.” He leans on the table, looks me in the eye and asks, “what do you know about me Neera?” “The obvious,” I tell him and he chuckles. “You mean you read about me somewhere that Iam a drug lord and a human trafficker? Don’t be coy with me Neera,” he says that in a whisper and I get that he has a dark sense of humour. “Oh no. Not that. Everybody knows that you are the CEO of your company and how your commendable hard work has taken your company to greater heights making it the biggest in this country. All in all you are the second son of the most influential family of the Lawanson.” “Are you sure you don’t have questions to ask me?” He raises an eyebrow at me and I can’t help asking the obvious question. “Why don’t you want to reveal your face to the public?” He clears his throat and says, “oh that. I do that for obvious reasons, the paparazzi getting on my nerves wherever I go and also for personal reason.” I don’t want to ask about the personal reason, maybe he doesn’t want to reveal his face because it would jeopardize his family’s peace. But on our wedding, won’t there be any pictures? “And just so you know, on our wedding there will be media but I’ve made arrangements that no one will leak any intimate photos or videos on the internet of us. Just a photographer who will be responsible for photos that are for the family’s good times that’s all.” He actually read my mind. As much as I would like getting on the news, I also don’t like being the centre of attention that much that wherever I go everyone takes pictures of me and asks me stupid questions. I would even faint from anxiety.

“Is that all?” He asks me. “Yes,” I answer. Maybe that’s all for now. We eat our food and this is the most delicious steak I have ever tasted. He pours wine into the glasses and by the time we are done eating, my glass of wine is still intact, with the wine untouched. “You don’t take wine?”he asks and I nod. “You should at least taste it. A sip doest hurt,” he says in a manner that seems like welcoming someone in a different but illegal world at the same time sounding good. I take the glass in my hand and I take a sip and a crisp sweet liquid fills my mouth. I can’t help taking another sip and another. It takes all of my taste buds together with my courage to put down the glass of wine. Very unwillingly but I really don’t want to know how I’d be if I drank much wine than I have. “It’s not bad,” I say and he adds, “take your time before you get used to it.” I agree with that.

“I think we are done here. I have something to attend to, so I should be leaving now.” He stands and I follow suit but my hand makes contact with my unfinished glass of wine and the contents empty onto the table and flows down quickly to my legs and shoes. I shift quickly but the drink was too quick for me to escape the mess. Now my shoes are soaked and my legs are wet. Edward looks at me and says, “you can go to the restroom to freshen up before we go.” He points to the door I saw earlier and I make my way into the restroom. I open the door and there is another door besides the one I came in through that leads to I don’t know where because I can see the restroom door open and I go to the sink to do the necessary. There are toiletries and I am happy that I don’t have to do home with sticky legs in wet shoes. Although I manage to wipe the liquid off the shoes the inside is still wet but it is better now. I am going home anyway so I’ll definitely be getting a change of shoes. I wash my hands and proceed to leave the restroom but the other door piques my curiosity. I twist the handle and it creaks open revealing a bedroom-like room.

There is a bed in the middle with a small wardrobe at one side. There is a small stool with a bedside lamp beside the bed. I close the door and imagine that the bedroom is for those who want to stay overnight. I come back to the room and I find Edward talking to the young man we met earlier outside the room in the hallway. I follow him outside and the guy closes the door behind us. It seems like Edward and Leo knows each other. “Thanks Leo,” Edward tells him and he bows slightly, “you are welcome sir,” he says and takes my hand as we leave heading towards the elevator. My heart makes a little summersault. It seems to approve this relationship. At the parking lot the driver is still inside the car and he gets out to open our doors when he notices us. We get in and Edward fishes out an envelope from a briefcase and hand it to me. “These are some of the wedding invitation cards, so you will have to give to your close relatives who you want to invite to the wedding. I have booked a hotel that you will spend your night in before the wedding and this is the card,”he says fishing a gold and red coloured card and gives it to me,”we will drop you off before I go attend to something.” “Okay, and thanks for the lunch.” He nods and I contemplate opening the envelope but I decide against it. I look at the card and it is written “ThE ATTIC”. There are numbers indicated and I think I will know their use when the time comes.All text © NôvelD(r)a'ma.Org.

At home I find my parents seated watching TV and my mom is the first one to ask me about the meeting with Edward. “Mom, he is so handsome. He even took me for lunch and he gave me a lift here. He is so nice,” I say and my dad says, “that is what he is supposed to be doing as your fiance Neera.” My mom looks at him and they exchange a knowing look and I know exactly what they are implying. I take out the envelope and open it to reveal five red and golden wedding cards. On the first page if the card there is a photo of a cartoon couple- a lady in a weeding dress and a man in black suit. There are our names below the picture. There is a blank space that needs the name of the invite. On another page is detailed directions of the venue where the wedding will take place and down below are appreciations from Edward’s parents and my parents’ names.

“It’s a beautiful card,” my mom says. “And do you know mom? I will be staying in a hotel on the eve of the wedding,” I say, showing them the hotel card.

Later, I am in my room searching for Azila’s number. I need to call her. I know she must be itching to hear from me. Before I could press the call button I see her name flashing on the upper part of my screen. Oh she can be impatient sometimes. How did she know that I am already back? “Hi,” I greet her and she can’t wait to respond,”hi, Neera I was waiting for your call for ages,” I chuckle. “It’s just now that I got home,” I tell her. “It seems the date was awesome, did he tell you that he fell in love at first sight?” I chuckle at her sense of humour, “Azila that can’t happen. He just took me for lunch in a private restaurant.” “Oh, a private restaurant what do you mean?” She asks curiosity getting the better of her. “He said he was taking me to a restaurant for lunch but we had the lunch in a private luxurious room just the two of us,” I tell her. “Oh Neera, your man seems so focused.” “Thank you. And do you know he held my hand the entire time. I couldn’t think straight when I was with him,” I know I am blushing right now. “Neera, you got it bad, you are even blushing right now. Wait, did you fall in love at first time?” “Oh no. I didn’t. I was just carried away by what he did. Besides, he is my future husband so there shouldn’t be any offence in that, right?” “Neera listen, I am your friend. It’s not good for you to fall in love with him at first sight but in my opinion, don’t show him that you are in love with him. Wait for him to fall in love with you too before you tell him you do too. That’s my opinion.” “Why though, if I may ask?” I don’t get why I wouldn’t fall in love with my husband first. “I don’t really know but that’s what I can tell you,” she tells me leaving me more confused. “Okay Neera, I need to go but I hope we will meet before the wedding,” she says. “Yes we will. And another thing, he gave me the wedding card so I may need to send it to you or maybe you come for it. And we shall be spending the night in a hotel before we get to the wedding.”

“Where?” She asks.

“The Attic,” I say and she gasps her mouth hanging wide open. “The Attic?” She repeats, “that grand hotel? We shall be spending the night in that seven-star hotel? I have been pressuring my dad for so long to take me there but he always says it’s expensive. It was my dream to stay there some day,” she says and I get why Azila’s father couldn’t take her there. Although her family is well-off, maybe her dad doesn’t want to spend that much money on her. She is working now and she has been to the luxurious hotels in the city, she has even travelled for vacations in other countries. “Maybe he wants you to spend your own money,” I tell her. “You said it Neera. Maybe I should be grateful I won’t be paying for my stay at the Attic. Anyway as for the wedding card, I will be busy this whole weekend so I will pick it at your workplace maybe at lunchtime so we can even do some catching up over lunch. I have missed Jackie too. She called me and told me that her boyfriend proposed to her, although since she went on her leave we haven’t seen each other. See you then,” she concludes. “Alright see you on Monday,” I hang up. I will have to tell Jackie about the progress on Monday.

***

“Sara, why did you get yourself into a fight? Do you want to get all over the internet again? The last time I had to pay a ransom to get the story from going viral. Why do you like creating problems wherever you go?” “Aniston, she was the one at fault. And why are you taking her side? Do you know her?” Sara retorts. “I am not taking sides Sara. You are my only sister and I did that to protect you. You know you are the only family I got. Don’t do things that would get you on the bad side if the media. They would tarnish your name.”. “Okay Aniston but that was the only design in the country. How do I get another?” Sara asks. “You are still talking about that? You could order for another design or you could contact the one who designed it for you to do the same, I will pay for it,” Aniston says leaving the sitting room and heads upstairs. He enters his room with a big smile on his lips.

“I got to meet her again. And I helped her in a tough situation. This will get me in her good book. But what was she doing there on a working day. There is only another shop where they seemed to be headed to. Or she was escorting her friend,” Aniston can’t help thinking about her. He gets into the shower with satisfaction written allover his face.