-The Wedding-

As I stare at my reflection in the mirror now, I can't believe how far I've gone and how much has happened - but in everything I've come out stronger because I have been made more than a conqueror.
A smile unfolds on my lips at my thoughts and I take in a deep breath before fixing the micro ear piece unto my pinna and letting my hair fall back to cover it.
As the chief bridesmaid, along with the best man, I'm required to wear an earpiece during the wedding ceremony. This is to keep us in contact with Alicia, the wedding planner in case there's any emergency or extra information that needs to be passed across.
I run my hands along my dress admiring the white shiny fabric as it hugs my torso elegantly in a fitting hold and falls freely down to my ankles.
Since I'm the chief bridesmaid, I get to wear the same color of dress as the bride while the dress code for the other bridesmaids is turquoise green like Tomi and I agreed.
My phone buzzes on the dressing table and I pick it up to look at the screen.

Oh my God, It's Alicia.

"Hello." I hurriedely pick up my bag and clutch purse and bite my lip knowing a big scolding is on the way.

"Where are you? You're supposed to be here right now!!"

"I know, I'm sorry. I lost track of the time." I glance at the clock on the wall and groan inwardly when I see it's 8:15am.

"You lost track of the time on your own best friend's wedding?" She yells through the speaker.

"I'm sorry, okay? Please don't eat me." I fumble with the lock on the door.

"You're blessed I'm not there, if not I would have." I smirk and roll my eyes. Even though Alicia is very strict when she's doing her job, she's also really sweet and funny. "Do you have your earpiece on?"

"Yes...yes I do." I raise my hand to my ear to make sure the device is in place and return to opening the door. Finally, the lock clicks and the door swings open.
I quickly dash out and lock it behind me.
My shoes are in my bag so I don't have to worry about running down the stairs.
I try not to make a noise because I'm aware that we are not the only ones lodging at this hotel.
I look out for room 53 but I don't find it as easily as I thought I would because after a few minutes of patrolling the corridors, one of the room attendants who must have noticed my dilemma walks up to me.

"Is there a problem Miss?"

"Oh, thank you. I'm actually looking for room 53. Could you direct me to it?"

"Yes ma'am, follow me." I sigh in relief and follow her wondering why I didn't just save myself the trouble and ask for help earlier.

Thank God though for the air conditioners stationed at every nook and cranny, if not my makeup would be ruined by now and that won't be good at all because the makeup artist put a lot of work into my face.
Finally, the room attendant stops in front of the door with the number 53 casted in gold letters unto the white door.

"Here we are." She smiles and gives a curt bow.

"Thank you very much. I really appreciate it." I say, a little out of breath.

"It's my pleasure and I love your dress." She adds.

"Why thank you....thank you." I giggle totally caught off guard and she smiles before turning to leave.
I just shake my head and knock on the door. A few seconds later, Alicia's head pops out from behind it and once her eyes land on me, they narrow in slits.

"Get in here." She seeths and pulls me into the room.

Oh thank God she didn't bite me.

I enter the sitting room and walk towards the adjoining bedroom, Alicia right behind me.
The tastefully furnished sitting room of Tomi's suite was where we all gathered earlier for the dressing room photo shoot.
Last night, we all slept here on Alicia's orders.
Her reason was that she needed all of us assembled and ready for the shoot by 6:00am prompt. Since she wasn't going to risk anybody arriving late, it was best we all slept here; afterwards, we could go back to our separate rooms and change into our dresses.

"Hurry along now Maya. We don't have all day. We are supposed to be out of here in one hour. It's a good thing I made sure all of you had your makeup and hair done before leaving to get dressed." She harps and I roll my eyes wondering what on earth I was thinking getting into Alicia's bad book today.

I can hear excited chatter coming from the bedroom and so I assume the rest of the bridesmaids are already there.

As I approach the door, I bump into Danielle who is coming out of the room.
She and Stella are among the eight bridesmaids; the other six are a few close friends of Tomi's.
She's also fully dressed in the floor lengh turquoise green dress that Tomi and I picked for all the bridesmaids and her hair and makeup all done just like the rest of us.
As I must have pointed out before, Danielle is amazingly gorgeous and basically everything she wears just looks good on her.

For example, this dress.

Tomi and I picked it in the first place because it was really pretty but now Danielle has it on, I never thought it could look so good.

"You are such a goddess Danielle." I shake my head in admiration and she immediately blushes.

"Thanks." She laughs softly. "That's really sweet of you." She nudges me playfully.

"I'm serious!" I smirk and she chuckles.

"Thanks and Tomi's been asking for you." She gestures to the door she just came out of and I nod thanking her before going in.

All around the room the girls are gathered, busy with one thing or the other and a few of them say 'hi' when I enter.
I spot Stella a few meters away and she waves once we make eye contact.

Tomi, on the other hand is standing before the full length mirror clad in the magnificent cream coloured wedding gown, looking so beautiful.
I remember that day at The White Gown bridal boutique when Tomi and I went bridal shopping.
For hours, we scoured the stands looking for the perfect dress. We searched the catalogs and she even tried out a few but none quite fit her taste.
Just as we were about to leave for another store, my eyes caught something glittery and I stopped abruptly.
I immediately beckoned for Tomi to come see.
Away from every other one was this dress on a mannequin.
It was strapless and had a sweetheart neckline with a slightly low back.
The torso was decorated with teardrop sequins branching out from the middle outwards along the front.
The silk-satin skirts billowed out from the waist down to the floor in graceful folds and the train extended nothing less than three meters.
I immediately knew that this was the one and Tomi seemed to think so too because she immediately tried it on and when she saw it fit perfectly, she ordered it.
I was really surprised that it was kept away from the rest because it was actually more beautiful than all of them and should have been put on major display.
Now seeing her in it again, it looks even more beautiful.

The hairdresser is busy making adjustments to her hair while the fitter is running all around her fixing the extremely long veil that is secured to her head by a beautiful thin white flower crown (a last minute addition).

Suddenly, she turns her head and her eyes land on me.
"Maya, where have you been?" She smiles, stretching out her arms and I move closer to embrace her.

"I'm sorry, I lost track of the time." I pull away and look up at her pleading with my eyes.

"Oh don't worry, you're here now." She beams, the makeup professionally designed to accentuate her eyes and lips in silver eye-shadow and nude lip gloss.

"You are looking so beautiful honey. I can hardly recognize you."

"Thank you and this tea length dress fits you so well." I move back and make a slight twirl lifting up my skirts a little and we both laugh.

"Max is not gonna know what hit him when he sees you." I smirk.

"I think that's the plan." She winks and I chuckle.

I flop on the large King sized bed and pull out my shoes from my bag. It's a cute pair of white loubies I got a week ago just for the occasion.
As you all might have noticed, I am a big fan of Christian Loubutin and when I saw these babies at the store, I didn't think twice before getting them.
It has a stiletto heel and the fabric covering my feet is made from transparent white cotton with little dots embroidered on it.

"Is it okay if I'm feeling kinda nervous?" I hear Tomi suddenly ask and I look back up at her.
She's wringing her hands together, a slightly anxious look on her face and I get up adjusting my feet to fit perfectly into the shoes.

"Oh Tomi." I walk towards her and take a hold of her hands. "It's okay to feel nervous but when you think of the fact that you're finally getting married to the love of your life and how you're both going to change the world together, you find out it all goes away." I stroke her cheek lightly and she smiles.

"You're gonna do great and remember, I'm proud of you." I squeeze her hands.

"Thank you." She smiles.

"That's what best friends are for. Now where's Uncle Tom, he's supposed to be here right now." I turn and search the room with no sign of Uncle Tom anywhere.

"Here I am." A masculine voice bellows from behind and I turn to see Uncle Tom walking into the room, a wide smile on his face.
Once his eyes land on Tomi, he stops in his tracks and his jaw falls open.
I look back at Tomi and she has a very shy smile tugging at her lips. By now, everyone has dropped whatever they were previously doing and are watching the priceless scene unfold.

"Hello daddy." Tomi says with a watery smile. Thank God she has on waterproof mascara.

"My princess." He cries and I step aside as he approaches her. "You look so beautiful."

"Thank you daddy." She smiles and they embrace each other staying like that for a few minutes before pulling apart.

"My baby is all grown up now." Uncle Tom sniffs.
Alicia, sensing the atmosphere, quickly shuffles us out of the room to wait in the sitting room and we do.
While waiting, she hands each of us our bouquets and me, Tomi's.

A few minutes later, Uncle Tom and Tomi emerge from the room hand in hand and I smile.

"Okay everyone, we'll be leaving now." Alicia pipes and I place my hand on my ear to confirm the earpiece is secured in place.

"Mr. Claire, Tomi and Maya will leave in the first vehicle while the rest of you will leave in the second alright?"

I hand Tomi her bouquet and move behind her to gather the train of her dress as we proceed to leave the room.

The car slows to a stop and I assume we've arrived at the venue.
Since the wedding is vintage themed, Tomi and Max decided to rent a vineyard for the occasion instead of traditionally in a church building; the pastor of Tomi and Max's church therefore had to come over in order to join them.
This, for them was a big risk as they weren't sure the pastor would agree to come but he did and so he's here today.

One of the employed security guards dressed smartly in the customized navy blue uniform walks up to the door on my side and opens it.
I get out first and help Tomi out while uncle Tom gets off from the other side.
Once we're out, I let Tomi walk forward a little way with Uncle Tom by her side before picking up her train, my bouquet skillfully wedged inbetween my fore and index finger like Alicia thought me.

There is a red carpet extending from where we stand further down and it's decorated with white rose petals all the way as it leads to the aisle.
Tomi looks back at me briefly and I smile and nod, urging her to go on.
Her shoulders rise slightly as she breathes in deeply and drop back before she places her left hand gently in the already extended crook of Uncle Tom's arm.
I look back and see the rest of the bridesmaids already assembled in one line behind me each holding their bouquets in front of them.
Stella, who is leading the procession winks at me and I simper slightly before turning back to watch for when Tomi begins to move.
There's a large grape vine that separates the wedding grounds from where we are standing and the red carpet runs all the way from here through the aisle and to the altar.
I feel a gentle tug on the train and I sense it as my cue to begin moving.
As we approach, we move past the vine and the wedding band situated at the right end of the aisle spots us.

Immediately, they begin playing the wedding march as Tomi steps on the aisle.

From where I'm standing, I can see Max at the makeshift altar with his back towards us and I smile inwardly wondering what his expression would be like once he sees Tomi.
There's a glass pulpit on the altar just beside Max and the pastor is standing behind it. It's decorated with red, white and pink roses all around the base.

On both sides of the aisle, the guests are seated in rows of pretty white garden chairs and I can spot Aunt Talia seated at the very front of the row on the right, Sam right beside her.

The groomsmen are standing further down on the right side of the aisle and we the bridesmaids are expected to take our places beside them once Tomi and Uncle Tom arrive at the altar.
As soon as they reach the altar, Max turns towards them.
The happiest smile I've ever seen breaks out on his face when his eyes meet Tomi's and Uncle Tom places her hand in his before going to sit with Aunt Talia.

"You can let go of the train now and join the others."
Alicia's voice seeps through the earpiece and I almost jump.
I didn't even remember the earpiece was there and that she would be connected throughout the ceremony.
I obediently drop the end of the train gently and turn to stand beside Max's best man with the rest of the bridesmaids.

Once the wedding march stops, we take our seats on the first three rows on the left.

I look sideways and spot Brian a few seats away as he's one of the groomsmen and he quickly winks at me when our eyes meet.

"This is indeed the day that the lord has made and we will rejoice and be glad in it." The pastor begins and I smile.
"These two have gathered here before us today to be joined in holy matrimony and we all are present to witness this glorious occasion. It is not just a joining of two people but a merging of two destinies. It's a coming together of two individuals who we have known to love God and are passionate about his word.
Today we celebrate their love and decision to start a new phase of their lives together. A phase they have decided to seal with the Holy Spirit and yes nothing can be better than that.
Marriage was designed by God because the Bible says that he who finds a wife finds a good thing and receives favor from the Lord.
Marriage is holy and so it can't be run without the Holy Spirit at the center of the marriage and the hearts of the couple.
I want to believe the both of you are born again?" The pastor motions to the both of them.

"Yes sir."
"Yes sir." They both chorus in unison.

"Good, then we can proceed. Mr. Maxwell and Miss Tomi, you must understand that in a marriage you must work together as you no longer live for yourselves.
You must never take each other for granted but always derive joy in genuinely making each other happy.
Set aside times to spend together in prayer and minister to the Lord as that is the most important thing.
Minister to the Lord first and everything would come after. Let that take preeminence in your life together." The pastor nods to the ring bearer and he approaches the altar while Tomi and Max face each other.

"Maxwell, you are to love and cherish her just as Christ has loved the church and protect her as you are one before God."

"I will." Max replied, his eyes never leaving Tomi's.

"Tomily, you are to honor and submit to your husband and fulfill your wifely duties."

"I will." She replies and the ring bearer moves closer. The pastor takes Tomi's ring and hands over to Max.

"Now.." He says, turning to Max. "... do you Maxwell Holland take Tomily Claire to be your lawfully wedded wife, to love and to cherish in health and wealth, for better and for greater, forever?"

"Yes, I do." Max says and slips the ring unto Tomi's finger, earning a cheer from the guests.

"Do you, Tomily Claire, take Maxwell Holland to be your lawfully wedded husband, to love and to cherish, in health and in wealth, for better and for greater, forever?"

"Yes, I do." Tomi smiles and slips the ring unto Max's finger and the guests erupt into a loud cheer.

"I therefore pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride."

At that, Max leans down towards Tomi and claims her lips in a passionate kiss, causing the guests to erupt into shouts and hoots as most of us jump up clapping.

The band strikes up a festive beat and a few automated containers stationed around the altar pop open spraying confetti everywhere.

"I present to you, Mr and Mrs. Holland!" The pastor announces from the altar and Tomi and Max turn to face the excited guests. Hand in hand, they walk back down the aisle and I immediately take my place behind her to gather her train.

On cue, the rest of the bridesmaids file in behind us, this time each with a bridegroom by their side and the guests are all cheering, the lights from their phones flashing repeatedly as they scramble to take pictures of the newly weds.

                          ※※

The disco lights still to a slow rhythmic tempo as the song changes and everyone clears from the dance floor in order to allow the newly weds the first waltz.

Stella, Danielle and the rest now approach our table (where I'm currently seated) giggling and totally hyped from the dance they just concluded.
When we arrived at the reception about an hour ago, we all danced together along with Uncle Tom, Aunt Talia, and Sam; even Alicia (the way she danced today absolutely blew my mind. I never for once thought she could dance like that!)
Afterwards, I returned exhausted to our table since I'm not much of a dancer but I made sure to cheer them on while they continued; this time, a few of the guests joined in.
I used some of the time to greet Cecilia and her husband, Abigail, Veronica and a few other of my friends and Tomi's friends that were also invited.

"You're totally missing out on the fun Maya!" Amber laughs (one of the bridesmaids) once they're seated and I roll my eyes.

"I was having as much fun right here." I grin and they all laugh.

Tomi and Max are now alone on the dance floor, their sparkling eyes glued to each other as they waltz to the most beautiful love song I've ever heard and I smile inwardly totally happy seeing my best friend having the time of her life.
I remember the first day we met and how we've been together ever since. Now she's married and that makes me happy because she's happy.

The moment is just so perfect.

Something is missing though; I can't find Brian anywhere. Since the general dance where of course I danced with him, it's like he just disappeared into thin air.

I wonder where he is.

"Hey Danielle." I lean towards her and whisper. "Have you seen Brian anywhere?"
I think I see her smirk slightly but maybe not because it's vanished just as quickly as I think I saw it.

It must have been my imagination.

"No, I haven't. I'm sure he'll be around somewhere." She shrugs and I nod, fighting hard not to overthink it.
Suddenly, an idea drops and I wonder why I didn't think of it before. I pull out my phone and dial his number.
Unfortunately, it rings out and I frown wondering why he wouldn't be with his phone since that's the only logical explanation I can come up with.

Unsettled, I crane my neck and scan each of the tables which are occupied by guests in search of his familiar mass of curly brown hair but to no avail.
As I sit back and prepare to dial his number again, a pair of hands clasp over my eyes and I jump slightly but then relax when I smell the familiar scent of his favorite cologne.
I grip his hands and pull them away from my eyes turning to face him.

"Where have you been, I've been looking all over for you?" I say as he takes the empty seat on my other side.

"Oh well, sorting out a few things here and there." He smirks and I poke his chest.

"That is not an answer."

"Have I mentioned how beautiful you look?" His charming smile spreads out on his lips and I chuckle.

"Where did you learn to change subjects like that?"

"I have a lot of important skills." He replies and I laugh shaking my head.

"I must admit that you do." I turn my attention to Tomi and Max.

"You haven't danced very much today."

"I don't want to embarrass myself cause I'm a horrible dancer." I look back at him and laugh.

"I would like this dance my lady." He stretches out his hand for me to take.

"I just said I'm a horrible dancer. What are you driving at?" I whisper while looking around for anyone who might be listening in on our conversation but to my relief, they're all engrossed with Tomi and Max.

"We can do it outside, then you wouldn't have to worry about anyone laughing at you."

At first I hesitate, but after thinking again, I nod.

"Okay then." I take his hand and get up to leave with him but first I make sure to inform Danielle that I'll be back in a short while.

He leads me to a pretty spot from where we can see the moonlight touching the sculpted statues causing them to emit a certain glow.
From where we are, the song to which Tomi and Max are dancing filters in and Brian takes my hand in his while slipping his other hand through my waist.
I smile and place my free hand on his shoulder as we begin to sway to the music.

Unfortunately, the song ends and another one begins.
I sense that now Tomi and Max would be leaving to get changed while the guests are being served.

"What's the name of that song?" I ask as he twirls me around slowly in rhythm with the new song.

"Well, I think that was 'I'm So In Love With You' by Jeanine-Zoe." He pulls me back to him and I return to the previous steps.

"Wow, who's that?"

"She's a gospel minister from Switzerland."

"Who is the the guy that featured in the song cause I know I heard a guy."

"Oh, that would be Frank Edwards. He's a Nigerian singer." He says and I rest my head on his chest enjoying the dance very much even though I don't know half of what I'm doing.

"That's a beautiful song. How do you know all these singers from Nigeria?"

"I follow up on them a lot because there are a lot of gospel ministers that come from there." His baritone echoes in my ears since my head is on his chest.

"That's really nice, I love the song."

"Yeah, me too."

We continue to dance together till the new song ends.
We then break away and walk further to lean on the railings of the verandah admiring the view.

"I hope Lily isn't missing me too much in that pet shop." I laugh.

"You bet." He laughs back and I shake my head. I've made up my mind, I'm stealing that dog.

"You remember the first day we met?" He suddenly asks.

"Yeah." I laugh remembering vividly. "What about it?"

"That was one of the happiest days of my life." I look up at him and his green eyes twinkle as he smiles.

"It was for me too." I say and lean into him.
"I love you."

"I love you too and that's why I want to ask you this." He lets go of me and goes down on one knee pulling out a velvet box from behind him.
My eyes widen and I gasp as he opens it to reveal the most beautiful ring I have ever seen.
It's a thin gold band with a blossoming lily made from gold etched on the front.
Inside it lies a beautiful diamond reflecting the moonlight as it connects with it's
surface.

I blink, willing the moisture in my eyes to stay put.

"Will you marry me Maya?" Instead of replying, I just stand there and when I notice his face fall, it occurs to me I haven't said anything yet.

"Oh my Brian, yes I will marry you." He smiles and gets up moving closer to me as he slips the ring through my finger.
He grips my shoulders softly and plants a kiss on my forehead as I wrap my arms around his waist. "So this is what you were planning all the while you disappeared." I mumble, hugging him even tighter.

"That's right." He chuckles and I pull away.

"How did you get it so perfect-I mean everything." I throw my hands up.

"I guess I know you too well then." He shrugs and I shake my head wondering how on earth guys like this come to be.

"I love you." He whispers softly into my ear and I smile.

-The End-

Hurray, hurray, hurray 💃, we have officially come to the end of The Illuminant!

In the meantime, I want to wish you all a very happy Valentine's day. What a coincidence that I'm posting the last chapter on Valentine's day and it's a chapter of love ❤ 😂
I didn't know I was going to be posting today but I did and here we have a Valentine's day chapter, 😄

This book has brought me so much joy and I'll really miss writing 😞
But it's okay, I still love you all and thank you for sticking with me through out this journey; and for my dedicated voters, I love you all too.
I'm really sorry for not updating sooner; I had a challenge with my keyboard and it slowed down my writing a lot.
Thanks to the Holy Spirit though, it's fixed now (he told me to change my keyboard 😌)

So, about the pictures, ( I had a hard time picking them as there were so many beautiful dresses to choose from), the first is Tomi's grand wedding gown (in all it's glory 😊).
If you remember, I described how Tomi found the dress but in actual sense, I was narrating my own experience while browsing for the perfect dress 😂, so there you have it.

The second picture is of Maya's tea length dress. I also had a hard time picking that one too 😂.
The shoes with Maya's dress, I got from Instagram and the earrings were made by me 💃
I happen to be a beaded jeweller. I make beaded jewelry, charm bracelet, pearl bracelets, white wedding pieces, traditional wedding pieces, you name it.
Above, in the picture is my latest work on earrings 😁

You can go to my business page on Instagram @beadsbychinwe to find out more!
Make sure to mention you're from wattpad because there's a discount for those who do!

My personal page is @owanta_chinwe for those who want to know more about the Brian behind all this 😌😂

Don't just visit though, follow, and for my business page, become a potential customer 😄😙
I'll be glad to get to know you.

I know most of you didn't know Tomi's full name is Tomily 😂, trust me I didn't know too but the definition of the name on the internet coincidentally matches her character. I love it 😁

So it'll be bye for now 😏. Take care all of you, i'll never be too far away 😁

Watch out for bonus chapter coming up!!

Chinwe_epistle ❤