Episode One: “The Bride”

💮💮💮

“Life has a way of playing with you,”

A brown skinned woman with random white spots on her skin walked down a lavishly decorated hall, dressed in an extravagant white gown. Guests were seated and staring at the woman curiously. She was the bride and as they got a glimpse of her face, it was clear, she had vitiligo.

“Especially me. Life has never been fair to me. From the day I was born till now, my life has always been a bundle of misfortunes.”

The priest stood surprised to only see the bride approaching and the groom nowhere to be found. He whispered to a man next to him, who was dressed in a suit. “Where is the groom?” the priest asked.

“The groom? He is at a business meeting, he will be here soon” The man replied derisively. He didn’t look happy to be here.

The bride kept on walking accompanied by her father.

“I have tried to look on the bright side, I have tried to smile through all my troubles but it never seems to work out for me. My life has never been mine, I think it was just my bad luck that I was born into…that family.”

The bride stopped close to the altar and her father whispered in her ear. “You better not disappoint us Rachel, make sure this wedding goes through without problem.” He said coldly.

“Yes father” the bride, Rachel said, holding in her tears. She walked up the altar and stood impassively, waiting for the groom.

The guests began to whisper amongst themselves. “How could the bride come before the groom?”

“Where is the groom?”

“I heard this was a contract marriage, the groom couldn’t care less.”

“Do you even know who the groom is?”

“Is this really the bride? She is sort of ugly.”

Rachel tried to keep a straight face but the bouquet of flowers in her hands were shaking. Close by was her father and her sister and…mother. Her so called sister stared at her mockingly and she felt herself breaking.

Rachel wished she could run away but being reminded of what was at stake, she steeled herself. She took a deep breath and calmed herself, staring at the priest with her same neutral expression.

“I wish I could turn back time, back to the moment where I accepted.”

A month ago

At a beautiful mansion, Rachel cried at the feet of her so called family, her father Senator Uche Odili, his wife Bisola and their daughter Bethany. They were never her family, after all she was just an illegitimate child.

“Father please! Please, why are you doing this?!” Rachel cried, begging at his feet.

Senator Uche stared at her coldly and kicked her away. “Why shouldn’t I do it? You and your mother are utterly useless, even that crazy brother of yours.”

“No! Father don’t say that!” Rachel cried, “I don’t have anywhere to go. I know you hate us but you have always provided for us. You are not a cruel person so please don’t do this.”

“My friend shut up” Mrs. Bisola shouted, “so you expect my husband to keep on paying the hospital bill for the useless woman and that crazy boy. You are mad.”

“Please ma, you can insult me but please don’t insult my brother or mother” Rachel said, staring tearfully at her.

“Eh! So you still have mouth to talk?!” Mrs. Bisola exclaimed and began beating Rachel. Rachel cried and struggled to push her away. “So you want to fight me?! You useless girl.”

“Mommy, it’s okay” Bethany dragged her mom from Rachel. She sneered at Rachel, “you know she is just like her mother, a gold digger.”

Rachel held the insults waiting at the tip of her tongue and looked away bitterly. “Why? Why are you doing this now?” she calmly asked, “you reluctantly took care of my expenses when I was just because I was a girl and I looked like this. You completely abandoned us just because my brother, the boy you have been waiting for is a little strange, because he is a sociopath.”

“Sociopath? Why use all those English, he is crazy” Bethany said haughtily.

“He isn’t crazy!” Rachel yelled tearfully. “You never tried to support me in the university because I wanted to be a doctor and not a lawyer. I have to work hard everyday just to see my studies through.”

“You made that choice on your own” Senator Uche said not looking at her.

Rachel bit her lip, “my mother was diagnosed with cancer and you said you would pay her bills so why did you stop?! Why did you stop paying Testimony’s school and hospital fees?!”

“Are you questioning my decisions?!” Senator Uche yelled.

“Yes, yes I am” Rachel answered calmly. Senator Uche looked away, seemingly affected by the pitiful look on her face.

“What’s the point of paying for your mother’s bill? She is going to die in the end anyways” Bethany said nonchalantly.

“Don’t you dare say that about my mother!” Rachel yelled angrily.

“You are still talking back?! Know your place you wench, in the mud like you belong with your precious prostitute of a mother” Mrs. Bisola said, slapping her.

In the corner, the maids watched. They looked annoyed and disgusted at the way the family was bullying Rachel.

“That’s enough” Senator Uche said calmly. “Rachel, get up and sit.” Rachel looked at her father surprised but did as he said. Everyone took a seat.

“What is it?” she asked in a dry voice.

“This is Mr. Manuel's son, Vicky Aiyedehin. He is 28 years old and the CEO of Gold industries. He is the youngest CEO ever known.” Senator Uche said.

Rachel felt an ominous feeling in her chest. “W-Why are you telling me this?” she asked scared.

“Gold industries have proposed a marriage contract between us. It will be good for our business and political image since our business is fast declining” Senator Uche explained. “the problem is rumors are that Vicky is disabled and my princess can’t stand that. The only thing is we can’t refuse because I need the benefits.”

“it’s a contract marriage and what makes it worse is that he is disabled. Do they want a wife or a nurse?” Bethany said disgusted.

Rachel began to shake. “W-What do you want me to do?”

“If you want me to pay for your mother’s hospital bills and your brother’s fees” senator Uche said, “you must marry Vicky in Bethany’s place.”

Rachel fell to the floor in shock. “Father please” she pleaded tearfully, “I can’t marry him. W-won’t they discover the truth? They won’t like it if we deceive them like that. They will know the difference immediately.”

“No one will know if you don’t tell them” Mrs. Bisola said, “they have not seen Bethany before so they won’t find out. They can’t refuse the proposal, they have something to lose as well.”

Rachel kept crying helplessly. “Stop crying, just agree otherwise your mother will die” Bethany coldly said, “you should be happy, we are doing you a favor. No one will like to get married to an ugly girl like you anyways, I’m hoping the groom doesn’t even reject you on the spot.”

Rachel sat on the floor weeping. “You have a choice, you can choose to marry Vicky or not to but don’t forget what you have to lose.” Senator Uche added.

Later that day, Rachel came to a popular food joint to see her friend, Prieye. She sat on the chair in thought, unable to mourn her bad luck.

Her friend, Prieye’s mother owned the joint and she was always here to help so Rachel decided to see her. A dark skinned beauty with long dark hair with beautiful eyes and plump red lips sat in front of her immediately. It was Rachel’s friend, Prieye.

“Ah! What happened to you?!” Prieye shouted in alarm upon seeing Rachel’s swollen eyes. She held Rachel’s jaw.

“Leave me alone Prieye “ Rachel mumbled dully, slapping her hands away.

“Tell me what happened? Did you talk to your father? Why did he stop paying the fees?” Prieye asked worried.

“I hate my life Prieye, why am I so helpless? Why am I the only one suffering though I did nothing wrong?” Rachel asked forlornly.

“Don’t say that, you know how worried it makes me to hear you say that” Prieye said concerned. “What did that damn Senator tell you?”

“That I have to make a choice, a choice that could save my mother’s life” Rachel said vaguely and Prieye stared at her confused and concerned.

At night, Rachel came to the hospital to see her mom. She sat next to her mom’s hospital bed. “How are you mom?” she asked hoarsely.

“I’m sorry Rachel, for making you go through this. Please forgive me” Her mother, Angela said sorrowfully.

“Sleep well, the doctor will keep on checking on you. You will be fine.” Rachel said blankly and got up like a zombie. She walked to another section of the hospital and saw her twelve year old brother playing with a colour cube.

She forced a smile. “Hey Testimony, how was today’s lesson?” she asked.

“It was boring, I hate it” Testimony answered without skipping a beat. He looked at her, “you cried? Why did you cry?”

“It’s nothing, let’s go.” Rachel brushed it off.

“Mom isn’t coming with us again?” Testimony asked.

“No, she needs to rest in the hospital. She will be well taken care of here” Rachel said.

“You and mom are the only ones I like. It’s not cool Mom can’t be close to us for now “ Testimony said upset.

“She will be back soon, just as soon as she gets better” Rachel said, trying to sound hopeful and left the hospital with her brother.

The next day, Rachel sat in front of her father, his wife and their daughter. “I…agree. I will marry Mr. Aiyedehin in place of Bethany” Rachel said monotonously.

Bethany and her mother, Mrs. Bisola looked delighted to hear that and held hands excitedly. Rachel continued, “on the condition that you will continue to take care of my mother and brother.”

“You made a wise choice” Senator Uche ominously said and Rachel held back her betrayed tears.

At the present time.

The groom had finally arrived and Rachel turned to look at him. He was in a wheelchair and was rolled in by a man in suit. The groom, Vicky, was brown skinned, had a pointed nose and large but beautiful eyes but he had a cold stare on.

He was groomed nicely despite the wheelchair–a designer black suit, a pair of matching shoes and a silver watch. He looked up at the bride and Rachel nervously looked ahead.

He was finally rolled to the altar with Rachel next to him. Rachel did not dare look at Vicky anymore as she feared she would run away if she did.

The wedding began and the time for the vow came. Rachel turned to face a stoic looking Vicky and she grew nervous.

“I, Victory Aiyedehin, take you, Rachel Odili to be my wife, and I do promise and covenant, before God and these witnesses, to be your loving and faithful husband in plenty and in want, in joy and in sorrow, in sickness and in health, as long as we both shall live.” He said indifferently.

Rachel glanced at her father and saw him urging her while Bethany and Mrs. Bisola watched with a wicked and satisfied gaze.

“I, Rachel On–“ Rachel shakily said, “Odili take you, Victory Aiyedehin to be my husband, and I do promise and covenant, before God and these witnesses, to be your loving and faithful wife in plenty and in want, in joy and in sorrow, in sickness and in health, as long as we both shall live.”

Rachel and Vicky exchanged the rings. “You make kiss the bride” The priest said and Rachel froze. Vicky didn’t look like he could or would do it and she didn’t want to embarrass her family so she steadily bent down.

The man holding Vicky’s wheel chair looked a bit curious yet fearful to see what would happen next. Rachel steeled herself and bent down to kiss Vicky and she did.

When she stepped back, Vicky looked at her as if analyzing her but she quickly looked away. Everyone clapped and Rachel stepped down with Vicky.

“it’s done…I did this for you my family. Only for you.”

======

The story of R and V has been scrapped for this. The names are still the same but the story is very different.

This is my first contract marriage story so I hope you enjoy it.

✨ VOTE, COMMENT, SHARE ✨