shutdifuckup ChiomaEzeh8 Here y'all go 💕.

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When the day comes.

❦︎

~[JASON]~

I had reasons to believe that my mother was about to marry me off to some stranger. Because why in the world was I in a whole suit because, in her words, we'll be receiving special visitors today.

How special were they that she was willing to let me suffocate to death all in the name of wearing a tie? I started to loosen it, death by suffocation had never been how I pictured my call to glory.

"Chibuike, behave yourself." She swatted my hands away and secured the tie at its initial position. "They're really important people."

"I don't see what that has to do with me." I had to remind her. "This is not necessary."

"They will be here with their kids. So you'll be here for me too, you hear me?" Her index finger was almost in my eye at this point.

I was lucky to have caught myself before I rolled my eyes. Else, she might have just gone ahead to actually stab me in the eye.

She went back to supervising the caterers while I was trying to accept the fact that I would not be breathing properly for the rest of the night.

Through the kitchen's backdoor, I excused myself to the garden at the backyard, thinking that exposure to fresh air would help me breathe better.

Instead, I was hearing the voice of my younger self, laughing and cheering, it felt real, too real. And I saw my little feet, kicking a football with all my might, only for him to stop it too easily, laughing at me and causing me to pout.

That memory was all too real, it had a vividness that I could not handle.

So I ran inside, and it was my mother's arms I fell into once I burst through the door.

"What? Is someone chasing you?" She looked past me with wide eyes, checking for any potential danger. "Did you see a snake? Ah! It has actually been a while since we fumigated—"

"Mom, calm down. There's nothing there." There was no way that I could explain it to her that I was running away from my own mind, so I said to her, "It's just really cold outside."

"Cold enough to have you running?" She observed me with a squint.

"Yes." I nodded, still going with the absurdity of my lie. "It is very cold out there."

She sighed, throwing away the matter with a flick of her wrist. "Anyway, I was coming to get you." She busied herself adjusting the already too-tight tie. "Our guests have arrived."

"Your guests, Mom." I pointed out.

"Chibuike, drop this attitude and behave yourself." She was now staring at me with what she thought was a hard face. When, in fact, she looked adorable with her red cheeks. "You will not embarrass me tonight o."

"Well, aren't they waiting?" I was already bored, and it was already clear that it going to be a long, tiring night. Honestly, crossing into Christmas alone in my room would definitely have been better.

"Right." She squeezed my forearm and looked at me pointedly. "You better muster a smile before we walk into that dining area."

I did not muster any smile, didn't have it in me to. Those guests were going to have to see that I was the least bit interested in meeting them. But I stopped right in my tracks as soon as my eyes landed on her, standing beside her father in all her ethereal glory.

She was in a red dress, bodying a mix of dangerous and attractive demeanour. Dangerous, in the sense that she could have one wrapped around her fingers if she wanted to; and do I have to explain the latter?

Her hair was tamed into faux locs that fell daintily behind her shoulders, letting her facial features prevail, only accentuated by a soft touch of makeup.

She was looking at me too but unlike me, she was not surprised; if she was, then she did not show it. A gentle smile stretched her lips before she averted her gaze to my mother who had started speaking.

"Please, sit." I heard my mother's voice.

It was when I heard multiple chairs screeching against the floor that I realized that there were actually other people present there. Two other people aside Victoria and her father: a man and who I supposed was his son.

"I am happy you have honoured my invitation."

"Diana," It was Victoria's father that was speaking now. Frankly, it was weird hearing someone call my mother by her first name, only her father did that. "You need to relax. One would think this is our first meeting. We've gone past this, haven't we?"

Oh, so they meet frequently?

"Exactly." The other man quipped. "Free yourself, abeg."

My mother sighed, smiling warmly at both men. "I'm just excited and nervous at the same time. Plus, I'm going to be the one to announce it to our kids and I'm getting tingles."

"That's understandable." Mr. Kanayo laughed. "But still, relax."

"Alright." Mom laughed and clamped her hands over the table, grinning wider than I had seen her do in a while. "Kids? I have something to say. Please, listen."

All our eyes were pinned on her as we awaited the news.

Giddily, she clamped her fingers together and said, "We're releasing a game together!"

"Wow..." Victoria spoke in astonishment. "That's really cool, what's it like?"

"It's a fashion game." My mother was more than happy to explain. "Your father handled all the designs relating to the clothes and accessories, even down to what each texture should look like. Then Mr. Ibrahim and I worked on the coding together with our teams."

"Now, I'm dying to see it for myself." Victoria's smile was bright. "When's it launching?"

"During my segment of the Lagos Fashion Week starting in five days." It was her father that responded this time. "All the pieces I'll be exhibiting are also part of the game."

"Oh wow." She was still very impressed. "That's a beautiful concept."

"I know, right?" My mother giggled. "That's what you get when three geniuses work together." She flipped her hair dramatically and it drew laughter from everyone on the table. Everyone except the Mr. Ibrahim's kid that looked like he would rather be anywhere else.

"Let's eat, let's eat." Mom urged us as she signalled the caterers to begin serving. And that was how dinner set off.

Her face was the thief of my awareness throughout dinner. It felt like a fever dream, beholding her radiance at such close proximity; but I knew it was reality because I still did not have the balls to reach out and feel her skin.

Our eyes met at some point, and my world went still. Under the yellowish light of the chandelier, her eyes took the shade of honey, a rich, dazzling brown. She graced me with a little smile and my chest swelled with an emotion that I could not quite decipher. But I took that moment and saved it in my memory as my favourite miracle.

Victoria smiled at me.

She looked away to my mother who was still going on about the game, and I got my chance to stare at every curve of her face. Her beauty was really one to observe and appreciate. And at that moment, I could not believe that, at some point, I felt something that was a contrast to whatever was swelling in my chest as I looked at her.

She could open her mouth and tell me that she was of celestial origin, and I would believe without an iota of doubt. She was an angel in red, here in her glorious splendour.

My mother's voice barely succeeded in distracting me from the angel's face when she spoke.

"Chibuike?"

"Ma?" Looking away from her felt like a chore, but I did.

"How about you show your new friends around the house." She gave me a look that told me there was no space for argument. "We're about to discuss business and we don't want to bore you kids with it."

"Alright..." I reluctantly stood up. But I was suddenly more enthusiastic when Victoria got on her feet too.

"Oh, you would love our garden." The huge smile on my mom's face was directed towards Victoria.

"Then let's start there." She spoke to me. And it was until she said, "let's go," that I realized that I was still fixed on the same spot, staring at her.

I led the way to the garden, through the kitchen and out the backdoor. She walked beside me all the way, and all I could think of was her new scent. She had ditched her signature citrus scent; now, she smelled like lavender and cocoa butter.

New hair, new scent...

She sighted the one single bench we had in the garden and walked past me to sit on it. Of course, I sat too, closer than I usually would. And when she said nothing of it, I let myself relax.

The silence between us was placid. She seemed to be particularly fascinated by the peacock that was roaming the garden, her eyes followed it everywhere.

Usually, I chased the stupid bird away whenever it was near me. But the little giggles she let out as it flaunted its feathers was enough reason to tolerate it.

Another thing was stupid, the boy that followed us out here. When he opened his mouth to speak, it sounded like two metal bars clanging on each other.

"Well, this is less fascinating than listening to our parents talk about business."

I clenched my jaw to tame my tongue as I really did not want to be rude to a stranger.

"Do you have better ideas as to what we should be doing instead?" It was Victoria that spoke, her eyes still on the freaking peacock.

"No." Was the boy's reply. "So I'll find my way back to the dining now."

"Lovely." Victoria said blandly.

And silence came upon us again as the sound of his footsteps faded away. The mere sight of her breathing and giggling at a peacock was somehow enough entertainment for me. If it was the melody in her laughter, or her etherealness that had me glued, I did not know.

"At some point, the heat of your gaze will drill a hole in my head." She glanced at me briefly and fixed her eyes back on the bird.

"Well, it's not exactly easy to not look at you right now." I shamelessly confessed.

She laughed, a short one. "I know that."

I smiled to myself. New boldness.

"I see."

Finally, she looked at me and asked, "Did you grow up in this house?"

"Yes." I nodded slowly. "I have only ever lived here."

"Holds a lot of memories, yeah?" She tilted her head, her eyes not leaving mine.

"Yeah..." There was a wistfulness in my tone. "Good and bad."

"Of course." She sighed and her gaze was back on that damn bird again. "What's your favourite memory in it?"

"It's a long one." My focus did not still leave her face as I spoke.

"And we have time." She countered. "So tell me."

"It was our tenth birthday, my sister and I." I began. "That morning, she woke up extra early and made me get up too. She told me that we were going to be celebrating a decade on earth together so we had to make every second of it special." I laughed a little. "Turned out that her idea of special was running out of the house that early in the morning to do whatever we liked. We first went to the lake and submerged ourselves in the water at the shore. Then we hit the vast field of pennisetum just a few kilometers from the entrance of the estate. We rolled around in the plants and she even made me a grass crown, one that I rocked like a king. Then the scariest thing happened." I paused for two seconds. "My sister started coughing and wheezing, some kind of rashes had already sprouted on random places on her body and she was scratching them helplessly amidst her bouts of coughs."

"Sounds like an allergic reaction." She spoke lowly.

"It was." I nodded. "A man that was clearing some weeds not too far away heard our screams and made me show him the way to this house. My parents were already losing it by the time we got here, and before I knew it, our father had driven off to the hospital with my sister. Meanwhile, I was here, scared and frantic, until my dad returned later in the day with a calmer Jaylene. I was the first person she ran to immediately she walked in the house; not my mom, me. I remember her hugging me so tight and we both burst out crying. Then do you know what she said to me?"

Victoria shook her head and I continued.

"She made a promise that she would never do anything that would take her away like that again." I chuckled. "She did not keep that promise, Victoria. We were fourteen when she made that promise again, and I woke up the following year, on our fifteenth birthday, to find that she was not in her room. I looked everywhere desperately, calling out of her, and nothing happened. I did not find my sister. I have not found my sister."

"That's..." She breathed. "I don't know what to say."

"Neither do I." I let out a humourless chuckle. "If I should see her again, I would not know what to say."

"You'll know when the day comes." She smiled warmly, and I let that warmth seep in my chest.

"When the day comes." I whispered to myself.

So we fell into silence again; her watching the proud peacock and me watching her. The day would come that I was going to eventually understand what it was that the sight and thought of her sparked in my chest. But at that moment, I left it undefined and revelled in every sound that she made.

And we were like that, facing things we thought were beautiful. Until her father came and took the angel away with him.

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A/N

How many months has it been? I lost count. Heck, I don't even know what to type here.

I really wanted to give you guys a long chapter but this is all I could cook up right now.

When's the next update? I honestly cannot say. But the vision I have of it is in Tracy's POV. If things are good, there would be another update within the next month.

So till then.

Take care,
Love you! ♥️