"I...I like that g..guy you know?" I pause suddenly and then resume mixing her tea without saying a word before placing the spoon back on the tray and carrying it to her where she is propped up on the large bed.

"Which guy mom?" I question even though I vaguely suspect it to be Brian she's talking about. Anyway, it could be someone else, you never know. I gently sit beside her on the bed and place the tray on her lap. She clasps her hands together and says a short prayer before returning her attention to me.

"T..that y..young man that c...came here the other day. I think B...Brian?" She smiles at me, taking a sip from the mug and returning it to the tray.

"Oh!" I know for a fact that my exclamation is just for dramatic effect because I knew who she was talking about from the beginning, but you know, it's good to be dramatic sometimes. "Yeah Brian that's his name." I smile back at her and remember how he helped me make mom's recipe. I sincerely thought all guys were horrible cooks but obviously, Brian has proved me wrong.
He might even be as good as mom and I chuckle softly at the thought.

"Y..you like him d..don't you?" I blink, as my thoughts race back to the somewhat conversation we were having before I zoned out.

"What?" I innocently ask because I truly didn't hear what she said since I was too busy thinking about Brian.

"I s..said you like him d..don't you?" I don't actually know what to answer to that but I assume she's asking platonically even though she doesn't seem to but I just answer.

"Well.... Um yeah you could say that. I mean he's a nice guy and a good friend." I shrug hoping she'd leave it at that but something is telling me I'll be disappointed.

"N..no, I m..mean you really like him." She says it more like a statement than a question and wiggles her brows at me and it looks really funny considering she just had a stroke about a month ago and half of her face is a bit out of place.
I surpress the urge to laugh, so instead I just roll my eyes and look at her with a dry smirk.

"Really mom?" I scoff.

"I am s..serious honey. I s..see the way y..you look at him y..you know. " My face flushes and I'm beginning to get really uncomfortable having this conversation with my mom.

"That is so not true. I do not look at him in any way in particular." I defend throwing up my hands. 

"Okay, okay, w..whatever m..makes you s..sleep at night." I give her an incredulous look and shake my head in disbelief. I know I should feel bad for making her talk this much but I seem to even be the exhausted one here.

"How is it that you always manage to be so sarcastic; 'whatever makes me sleep at night?' " I mimic her words from earlier with a naughty face (my eyes turned up, my mouth turned down as I shake my head from side to side kind of naughty). Instead of replying, she just throws her head back and lets out a throaty laugh. Even the way her laugh sounds is slurred now but laughter is not in the sound - it's in the atmosphere that causes it to happen and also the atmosphere it creates when it happens.

"But I'm really serious baby." She peers at me from the rim of the mug as she sips the content slowly.

"I appreciate your concern mom but I don't think I'll be dating anytime soon let alone getting married because I'm sure that's what you have in mind." I smile softly and my heart might have just shattered into a million pieces when I let those words slip because as much as I don't like to admit it, I really would love to have someone that'll go through life with me, someone who would love me for me and who would cherish every bit of me even in a romantic way.
I know I look and act strong all the time but I'm not at all. Most times, I would just cry myself to sleep and hope that when I wake up it'll all be okay but it never is.

Life got harder to handle each day and I would feel bitter that people like Tomi,  mom, Max and a few others always tend to be happy all the time while people like me it's like were rotting away in silence.

I know it's all some sort of pretence because, I mean, how can someone always be happy? It just isn't so.
I do love them a lot but there is so much one can take.

Then, along comes Brian and for once I think that I am beginning to taste real happiness, even if it's just occasionall and transient but it's happiness nonetheless.
I've stopped taking pills, my nightmares have gotten less terrifying, I smile more often and everything just seems to be getting better and here I am saying that it might not continue like this.

"You're t..too young to m..make that k..ind of a decision baby."

"Maybe you're right and maybe you're wrong." I say in a singsong voice before leaning forward and giving her a hug. "But I think you're wrong." I whisper into her ear and pull away, slightly sad smile reflecting my heart.
She opens her mouth to say something more but there is a honk coming from outside and I take that as my cue to leave.
"I think that should be Tomi so I gotta go. Ring Stella if you need anything, she's in the kitchen and Aunt Talia says she'll be coming over soon so you should be expecting her." I sling my bag over my shoulder and pull out my phone to check the text that just came in from Tomi.
After reading it, I stuff it back into my bag and lean down to peck mom on the forehead.
"Bye and don't forget to call if you need anything extra."

"B..bye." With that, I skip out of the room and through the sitting room, past the lounge to open the door.
Stella though is already at the door about to open it so I reach there just in time to save her the trouble.

The wedding is just one month away so Tomi and I are going shopping for the fabric to be used for the bridesmaids' dresses. She and Max already employed a wedding planner and they all agreed on giving the wedding a vintage theme so Tomi and I are going to get fabric that complements the theme.
I had to cancel work today even though it's Saturday to be with her since I'm her best friend and chief bridesmaid and so have to be here.

"Yeah so which store are we checking out first?" I ask her as she switches the radio to one of those Christian stations and they're currently playing 'What a beautiful name' by Hillsong group. I know that because that's about Tomi's best song but not totally because I've heard her say her best singer is Nigerian and her best song was sung by that singer.
I try to remember the name of the song and singer though but I don't and I'm not going to ask Tomi about it so I just let it lie.

"The white gown."

"Oh, the one in Manhattan?" I question and pull the lever that relaxes the chair making myself comfortable.

"Yeah, it's that one." She replies and swerves out of the residency into the main road. "So don't relax too much, it's quite a short ride."

"Yeah, I know, I just feel like relaxing." I glance over at her for a brief moment and then back to my phone.
I enter the WhatsApp app and scroll to Brian's thread and open it.
I smile when I see one unread message and I open it.

Brian-How's it going with your mom?

Me- It's great actually. Thanks again, it would have been horrible if you didn't show up really.  I reply him and a few minutes go by without him texting back and so I switch over to my Instagram. Almost immediately I do that, there is a pop up notification that appears at the top of my screen showing that he's replied to my text.
I then click on the notification and it sends me directly back to Brian's thread.

Brian - It was my pleasure. So you haven't burned down the house yet, I mean with preparing food or do you just order?

At that, I giggle softly and actually think about it that if I made any attempt at cooking again without supervision, we may have to call the firefighters.

Me - okay, that is not true. I'm not that bad at cooking. I try to defend myself even though I just agreed with him in my mind a few seconds ago.

Brian - really? He puts some funny emoji at the end that seems to suggest that he doesn't believe me and I laugh again.

Me - you're quite mischievous you know that?

Brian - so I'm told 😁

Me - lol you are. I actually had to get someone to do the cooking for her though since I'm too busy for that.

Brian - oh, that's great so you won't be needing my services anymore.

Me - well yeah but you're welcome over anytime. My mom seems to like you.

Brian - that's sweet. I like her too

"Someone's happy." I swiftly turn to see Tomi glancing at me before she turns back to watching the road. Instead of answering her question directly, I choose to stall.

"Is that strange?" I ask, flipping a lock of my black hair over my shoulder and eyeing her curiously.

"Well, pretty much actually and to the best of my knowledge, you don't giggle while texting anyone but me, your mom, previously Clave, and recently Max sometimes." She truthfully points out and shrugs, her eyes still glued to the road. 

"Oh wow, so I'm that predictable." I mutter and shake my head and laugh turning to her. In response, she just smirks and gives me a knowing look.

"So who is it?" She queries.

"Brian - a guy I met at the park."

"You go to the park?" Even though she's not looking at me, I can still see her face enough to know that she's surprised.
Well she should be, I'm not much of a sociable person and going to the park would be out of the ordinary. I only go out either with her or on work related events.

"No, not really actually. I just needed to clear my head that evening after I came back from work and so I figured the park would be a good place to. That's why I was there."

"So, you met this Brian there?"

"Yeah, it was actually kind of coincidental because his dog, a cute white female collie just suddenly straddled me from nowhere and began licking me all over. He, then came to rescue me and kept apologizing for his dog's behavior. I just brushed it off and invited him to come eat with me because as usual, mom packed too much."

"You mean this was before the stroke?"

"Yeah, it was about a week before the stroke." I supply and catch her brief gaze before she returns it to the road again.

"That was pretty long ago Maya. How come I'm just hearing this?" The look on her face is far from annoyance, it's rather more of fascination.

"At first, I didn't want to…"

"Why?"

"Because you'd immediately start your endless teasing." I roll my eyes at her matter-of-factly and she laughs knowingly.

"But not anymore though. It more like just never came up." I shrug nonchalantly.

"Okay. I haven't met him, have I?" She smirks and I really doubt it but still try to remember if by any chance they might have  crossed paths. Like I thought, I don't seem to find any instances until a faint bulb lights up in my head and my eyes widen.

"Yeah, actually I think you have."

"Really? When?"

"Do you remember the day you had your art exhibit and I couldn't come because I wanted to visit dad?" There's a sharp pang of sadness at the mention of him but I just quickly wave it off and try to focus.

"Yeah, yeah and I took you to Burger King afterwards?"

"Yeah." I nod, glad she's catching up.

"Do you remember the guy I bumped into while entering through the doors?" She furrows her brows in confusion obviously trying to recall the scene before her face lights up and she smiles, her mouth forming an 'o'

"Oooh, that guy, I remember him. Because of that, I was about to start teasing you." She chuckles and I roll my eyes remembering vividly how I quickly changed the topic that day.

"Yeah, he's the one."

"Wow, what a coincidence you met the same guy."

"I know, right?" I accede.

"That's great. I was beginning to get concerned that you didn't have any friends apart from me… and Veronica so I'm glad you met this… Brian; at least he makes you happy. Not that you must have a lot of friends because the less, the better but yeah you know it's good to have a few people around." She points out.

"Thanks though." I smile and she strokes my lap in response briefly before returning it to the steering wheel and swerving into a nice street.

"But make sure he's a good guy." She adds, giving me a pointed look and I hit my head on the head rest in feigned frustration.

"Okay…mom." I groan.

"I'm just trying to look out for you you know. You are my best friend." She assures me like I never knew so before.

"I know but you don't always have to, I'm not a child anymore, I can look out for myself." She just shakes her head and laughs softly.

"Well, he is a Christian if that would help you sleep at night." I roll my eyes adopting mom's sarcastic phrase from earlier on, and wait for her reaction.

"Oh my God are you serious?" Her eyes widen.

"Yeah, I think so." I say dryly.

"Wow, that's really great Maya!!"

"Yeah, yeah." I slide lower into my seat, trying to make myself comfortable as I yawn.
I can see her eyeing me from my peripheral vision and that just earns a satisfied smile from me.
Just as I'm about to block out her voice, there is a hard poke in my ribs and being the overly ticklish person that I am, I jerk violently and sit up hurriedly with a scowl on my face.

"What was that for!!"

"Firstly, don't ever block me out when I'm talking to you and secondly, we're here." She chirps while pulling into the driveway of The White Gown bridal store.

"Now I didn't get enough sleep, thanks to you." I hiss in mock annoyance.

"Serves you right and you wouldn't have gotten any sleep anyway, it was only a twenty minute drive." She chuckles.

"Whatever, I don't like you." I roll my eyes and open my door once she parks properly and wait for her outside. She eventually comes out too and walks round the back of the car, linking her hands in mine once she gets to me.

"I love you too Maya. Now let's go bridal shopping."

Hey guys, I'll try not to ramble too much on this one but yeah, I'm really exited. Over two thousand five hundred words, yay. I think I've done more than that but yeah, I'm still exited hehe.
So, thoughts on Maya and Brian, Tomi and Max, Maya's mom, and any of your favorite characters? Let's talk about them in the comments below.
Okay, that will be all for now. If you want to say hi on social media, feel free to check me out. I'm only on Instagram though but still.
@owanta_chinwe. So bye.

Chinwe_epistle ❤