My Dream Marriage

I am starting to become impatient. This room is too noisy and due to the whole day activities I feel so tired and I really want to be out of here. Everyone else is enjoying but on my part is the opposite. I look around the room to look for Jackie or Azila or Edward for that matter but I can’t see anyone.

Just as I decide to get up and leave the room to go look for them, the waiter who brought me juice comes back. “Ma’am do you need anything else?” “No thank you but I need a favour from you. Can you look for me the lady who asked you to bring me juice?” “Okay, right on it ma’am,” he says and I really feel old this time when he addresses me like that. I hope he finds her soon because I don’t want to stay any longer.

“I can see someone is bored already.” Azila is here.

“Oh thank goodness you are here. I really need to leave here, Azila. Can you look for Edward, please?”

“Of course,” she says. Just then Jackie joins us and Azila tells her of my problem. “Oh I knew it from the start you didn’t want to be here. I totally understand. Didn’t he come back? I saw him some moments ago,” Jackie says.

“I saw him too but he disappeared all of a sudden and I really want to go and rest. I am really tired,” I say.

“Alright then let’s go, we’ll be back soon,” Azila says and they disappear into the crowd.

After what feels like an eternity they come back but with frowns on their faces.

“Did he beat you guys? Why are you looking like this? What happened?” ” Oh no worries. Just that there isn’t Edward here but his driver is here to pick you up,” Jackie says. “What? Where did he go to or did something happen to him?” I ask worriedly. “Nothing happened to him though the driver is in a better place to tell you where he is gone to,” Jackie says. “Yes Neera, are you ready to leave?” Azila agrees too and I have no choice but leave. I was the one who wanted to leave so no problem.

We are out of the room and instead of going outside Azila leads towards the stairs and I am too tired to ask anything so I let them lead the way. The last staircase leads to the rooftop where there is a standby helicopter. I can see the driver standing near the helicopter and I wonder where we are going to.

“Where are you guys off to for your honeymoon?” Azila asks. “I have no idea too,” I answer. “Oh I see. It’s a surprise then,” she adds and I blush. “Do you think so?” I ask and she answers almost immediately, “of course. Are you sure you remember who you are married to?” She asks and Jackie adds,”I think she forgot after all the partying.” “You are right. I might have forgotten him since he disappeared without a trace,” I say and we laugh it off.

The driver approaches us and I ask him without waiting for him to speak. “He is attending to some business matters. He told me to take you when you need to get out of here. He will join you later. “Okay then,” I agree with him look at my two friends who are hide their disappointment when I turn to them.

“Will you be okay or do you want us to keep you company?” Azila asks. “No worries, I am and I will be fine. I just need a lot of rest right now. Thank you guys for being there for me. I deeply appreciate,” I say and hug them in a group hug and we take a moment before we disengage from the hug. “I will miss you two,” I say. “We will miss you too, call whenever you get time,” Jackie says handing me my phone and we hug again. I wipe a lone tear that escapes my left eye and watch them as they leave.

I am seated at the seat behind the pilot and the co-pilot who is Edward’s driver. We have already started our journey to God knows where and that piques my interest.

“Where are we going to?” I ask the moment I see that they are not on radio and doing those pilot things when the helicopter was taking off. “We are off to Marina Island. We will be there in about two hours,” the pilot answers me. “Okay,” I don’t ask more as I am surprised that Edward chose Marina Island as our honeymoon destination. It is the most celebrated tourist destination worldwide. It is situated in our neighbouring country and that the island is the biggest state of the states that make up the country. Now, I will be one of the people visiting the famous luxurious island.

I rest my head on the seat’s headrest looking at the lights twinkling as the night takes over completely. I can feel my body relaxing a bit and I think about the day’s event, thanking the heavens for a successful day.

“We are here ma’am,” I am shaken awake by the driver. He opens the door and I get out and I notice that we somewhere that looks like a privately owned homestead. We arrived more than two hours ago at a private airstrip. We then took a car and I that I fell asleep and on getting up we are here in front of a beautiful mansion that is painted white with green highlights on the window sills. There are coconut trees scattered everywhere in the compound. The house seems occupied since the lights are on although I can’t see anyone around except for the security guy who is seated next to the gate.

Just then his phone rings and he draws it from his pocket and answers, “sir,” he listens for sometime and answers, “alright sir, got it.” He looks in my direction and gives me an apologetic look. “I’m sorry ma’am. There seems to be a problem and we need to leave now,” he says. “But why? We just got here,” I say wondering why and where the problem comes from. I was really looking forward to seeing the inside of this magnificent looking house. Moreover I really need to rest now.

“Sir Edward called and told me that we have to leave right now because of some problem. We have to go because he sounded like it is an urgent matter,” he says. “So where are we going to?” “To a hotel,” he says.

“Alright.” I am in no mood to ask questions about anything but fact is that I am a bit pissed right now. I get back in the car and we leave the homestead. Maybe Edward is at the hotel too, I think so.

I am not sure of the time we took to arrive here. My mind was elsewhere. We are at the parking lot of a grand hotel that is built such that it looks like a medieval building. It is not so a very tall building maybe seven or ten floors up. We get to the reception and in no time the receptionist gives the details of the supposed accommodation after he tells her that it is booked under Edward Lawanson’s name.

He gives me the key card to the room number and he bids me goodbye. I head to the elevator and press number 10 on the number tags inside the elevator.

The elevator dings open and I get out to the tenth floor. There isn’t another door I can see on the floor but a corridor that points to the penthouse. I follow it and climb the few stairs that lead towards the door of the penthouse.

As I get near the door my heart starts racing. All of a sudden I don’t know what to do. I know that Edward is in there and that we got married today but this is a new thing to me. I don’t know what I am supposed to do when I get in. After staring at the door for sometime, I ring the doorbell and wait. I hear no movements inside and decide to ring again. No answer. I decide to use the key card after waiting for so long without any response from inside, although the lights are on.

I open the door and something light falls on my head followed by another and another. I look up and I have to close my eyes because I see hundreds of red petals all coming for my head. I let them fall on me until I can’t feel them falling no more and I move forward after I feel the door close by itself behind me.Upstodatee from Novel(D)ra/m/a.O(r)g

I am startled when I knock a balloon and it burst. There are balloons everywhere in the room. Red in colour. Petals scattered in a continuous line leading to a table at one side of the room which is already set with food. I start wondering where Edward could be. Is he hiding somewhere in the room? Should I check the other rooms and see if he could be there? The decorations on the dining table are so attractive that I decide against looking for Edward in the other rooms and move towards the table. The roses placed at the centre of the table are red and so fresh that you could think they are still on the farm. I touch them and that is when I notice a note written by free hand beside the flowers. ‘ I have left for a few moments and I will be joining you in no time, Edward’ , the note says.

I move away from the table and sit on the nearby couch and decide to wait for him to come before we could eat together. This should be our first meal as a married couple. I wait and wait. Minutes? Maybe hours? I have no idea. I didn’t want to do anything else aside from sitting on this comfortable couch lest he finds me in an awkward position.

The waiting has become too much to bear. I look again at the note that Iam still holding onto and I become impatient. What? What does this mean? So Edward was here and he left? What is it with this business of his that he can’t rest even on his wedding day? Suddenly I am overwhelmed and I kick off my shoes off my feet and I sit down on the floor. I look at the balloons scattered on the floor and all I can do is pick and throw them at each other. I pinch some and they burst off sounding so loud in my ears but I don’t care now. I throw my clutch at the table. The white fluffy carpet feels so soft and the red balloons with the rose petals complements each other. I stretch to grab a fluffy pillow from the small couch not far from me and I place it on the carpet. I move my body until my head and neck rests on the pillow and the entire body stretching on the carpet. It feels comfortable this way and my appetite suddenly vanished and I didn’t bother to look at the kind of food that has been neatly covered on the table. I look at the beautiful design of the ceiling and a bright silver chandelier at the center of it.

This is not supposed to be happening. I am supposed to be having the most romantic dinner with my new husband but here I am, not having a single idea where he is gone to. Should I call my parents? Maybe not. I don’t want to bother them now since they could be asleep by now. Moreover, this is not such a trivial matter that needs serious attention. Maybe I am just bothering myself for no big reason. Edward said he would be back in no time. So I have to wait for a few moments and he would be back. I hold a balloon to my chest and listen to the sounds that could come from outside the penthouse. I close my eyes slowly as the floor becomes so comfortable as I feel more relaxed.