Previous Engagement (Nigerian)#2

Chapter Nine

       I didn't bother going back to the office again. My driver had been waiting for me outside the court house. We drove in silence till we got home. I had invited Ibukun to come and meet me at my house so she could attend the announcement party.
       I strolled into our mansion. I walked as if I was lifeless.
That was how I felt.
    I strolled into the foyer and I saw my sister giving one of the helps instructions. She rocked her baby, Jeremiah in her arm as she directed the help with the other. They were some traveling bags in the foyer as well.
"Deborah" I said as I walked towards her. She looked at me and smiled as she quickly stretched her baby towards me. I carried him and I tickled his tummy as he let out a soft gasp before giggling. "Who's my baby"
     "You should go and get changed we will be heading over to the house soon. Grandfather is expecting us" she said

"Where is mom?" I asked her as I hoist Jeremiah on my hips.
   "She's getting ready as well, we were waiting for you" Deborah said. Deborah's babysitter came and took the baby from me before we headed up to my room.
      She laid out a box on my bed as she took out dresses from my closet, asking if I was okay with which ever one she picked before folding it into the box.
     I filled the bath tub with water and added a few drops of my bath shampoo as well as essential oils. I turned on a diffuser before stepping into the hot tub.
     I felt so relaxed and I wished I could stay in this moment.
     I felt myself slowly doze off. "Ola, you are going to be fine. You know that" Deborah said as she stood by the door.

       "I know" I said with my eyes closed "you know I had to face Elias today in court"
     "Wow" she said as she walked over and started to play with my hair.  "How was it"
     "I almost lost it in the courtroom. I almost broke down with every word I said. I wanted to cry and scream at him and ask why but I couldn't." I said opening my eyes to look at the ceiling. "And then there's this client"
"What about him" she asked
"I don't know. I just find myself always thinking about him" I said to her as I sat up in the tub.

"We've been sisters my whole life and this is the most personal conversation we've had concerning you" she said as she stopped playing with my hair to sit in front of me "trust me when I say you are the toughest woman I know"
     "But look at me being married off like it's not the 21st century. I don't know how to feel, I don't even know who I am getting married to" I said before the door of my room creaked open.
    "Ola!" I heard Ibukun call out.
"Come inside the bathroom" I yelled back as I stepped out of the tub and into the shower before she came in.
        Deborah stretched out a towel to me after I was done in the shower and I stepped out. I wrapped another towel around my head as Ibukun walked into the bathroom.
     "This is Luxury" Ibukun exclaimed as she sat on the mini sofa on one side of the bathroom. She kept looking around her.I smiled as I walked over to the mirror "never as a house left me speechless"

"Wait till you see where we are going to" Deborah said
     "You look beautiful" I said to her as our eyes met in the mirror.
    "Oh, please. Finish up so that I can raid your closet I came with a duffle bag" she said "it's on your queen sized bed in the large hall you call a room"
     We all laughed but she really did come with a duffle bag.
       The three of us talked and laughed. For the first time in my life I realized that I had been holding back. This is what sleepovers must feel like. This is what having friends must feel like.
         I wore a white kneel length dress that Deborah had picked out.
"Is white really necessary" I said "it's not the main wedding is it"
"But you look stunning tho" Ibukun said as she peeked out of my bag compartment with her mouth full of muffin. She was now in her lingerie. Her baby bump was hard to miss.
  I took off the gown and added it to the content of the box I was taking with me and settled for a kneel length red dress that hugged my body tightly.