The Wedding

1

It was a dark and stormy night... who was I kidding?, it was a beautiful day out. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, smells of different kinds of meals filled the air making me salivate in my small apartment. I hadn't stepped out in 6 weeks and I wasn't planning to. No one knew I was home and frankly I doubted anyone cared. I sat facing my laptop, too lazy to have my bath and even lazier to make a meal. It wasn't that I didn't have what to eat or I couldn't cook, I didn't have the motivation to do anything. The man I had been dating for five years was getting married in two days. The man that had promised me forever, the man that told me nothing would keep us apart. The man that had told me to be patient because he hadn't reached the financial stability he needed to get married because I was too pretty to suffer. The man that I had given my entire life to was getting married to the woman he met five months ago. Five years, five months, it didn't matter how long right? At least to him it didn't. What surprised me the most was that he was still calling and texting me, talking about 'i miss you, I'm worried about you, where have you been, your parents are worried'. He didn't know I knew about the wedding. I picked up my phone and put it on and immediately, I started to see message notifications and voice-mails from everybody. I didn't even know people could send voice mails in Nigeria. My brother thought I had run away with another man, my parents thought the same thing but their messages had a lot more disappointment in them. My mother's text annoyed me the most, she was heartbroken that I had abandoned a man that loved me and that he -the man in question- has been worried sick about me. ha. If only they knew what was going on. The only person that knew what was going and where I was was my sister, and even she didn't bother to disturb me for fear of loosing contact with me. I shot her a quick 'I'm still alive' text, put down my phone and turned my attention to the picture on my laptop screen. I could remember the day the picture was taken. He had come to my place all dressed up and told me

he had a surprise for me. I had thought I was finally getting a marriage proposal but boy was I wrong. He had organized a dinner party for me and had invited my mentor because I had been feeling down about my work. Granted I was disappointed that I wasn't getting a ring but I was surprised nonetheless. The next picture was taken three months ago on our vacation at the Tudor Hall in Athens, Greece. He couldn't afford a marriage with me but he could afford flying me out to Greece. Bizarre isn't it?. The picture after that was of me, just before I met the backstabbing bastard. I had on a designer dress and matching shoes, holding a glass of champagne, saying cheers with my friends at a party. I looked at the picture, then looked at myself wearing a two weeks old sweat pants and a shirt that had chocolate stains from my chocolate spree two days ago. If I told you that was me on the screen once upon a time, you would swear on your mother's life that I was lying. I had a life, I had friends, I had a period of time that my life didn't revolve around a man. What had I turned into?

I got up from my bed and walked to the kitchen. I was heartbroken didn't mean I was going to starve myself. I was eating a bowl of cereal but at least it counted as something. I went back to the bed and continued scrolling through the memories. I was still hurt but I had stopped crying a week ago. Maybe I was adjusting to the heartbreak, maybe I was just dehydrated and my body couldn't produce anymore tears. Whichever was the case, I didn't care. Halfway through my mid lunch cereal, I heard my door bell ring and as usual, I ignored it. Whoever was there would get tired and assume I had traveled. I switched from looking at pictures to watching the same sad movie I had been watching for the past two weeks. The door bell rang the second time, and then the third,then the fourth and then it stopped. I figured whoever was there had given up but to my surprise, I heard a loud consistent banging on my door. It was then I figured out who it was. My sister. I thought about letting her bang until she was tired but I figured she wasn't going to leave until she saw me. I looked

through the window just as my neighbors were telling her that the house had been empty for a while. I used the opportunity to open the door just then and the look of shock on the faces of my neighbors was so funny I burst out laughing. I dragged my sister inside, waved a hello to them and locked my door. I ignored my sister looking at me and went back to my bed. She followed me inside and as usual, she started to complain