My Dream Marriage

I am now staring at the woman in the dressing mirror and I can’t imagine that one day I could be wearing something like this. It is a princess white gown with silver embroidery on the top of the gown. Small diamonds are scattered all over it which glitters making it seem like it would light a dark room. He places a veil on top of my head of which the front part of it reaches my neck while the back is too long that it doesn’t fit the room we are in. “How long is the train,” Azila asks. “It is seven meters long,” he says.

Wow, just like I perceived it. It is like a dream come true. He moves around me touching some areas making sure it fits perfectly. He marks some part on the dress, takes some measurements and says, “I need to adjust here. And Neera is it okay to your liking? If you may need anything to be done on the gown, tell me.” “No it it perfect the way it is. I love it. Just the waist, it’s a little bit wide that’s all,” I tell him and he nods, “yeah I noticed that too. Thank you Neera. I am honored to be your designer. And you my other beautiful friend, what can I offer you,” he gestures to Azila. “I am her maid of honor so I might need a dress too,” Azila says. “Come, I might have just the right one for you, but we have to help her out of that dress first before I show you my masterpieces,” he says. After they have helped me take off the dress and placed it back on the mannequin, we leave for another room on the other side of the boutique. That’s when I realize that there haven’t been any other customer in the boutique apart from us. This is a big boutique, so there is no possibility that there aren’t any clients here at this time. “Azila, have you noticed that there aren’t any customers apart from us?” “Yes I did. I assume the two famous guys don’t want anyone else to come at this time. Think about this; a world renowned designer Simon Cooper is here and shortly Edward Lawanson will be here. Do you think they will want anyone to know they are here. You wouldn’t want to encounter a crowd of paparazzi here,” “Oh I don’t want that, I know how roudy they can get. I am even grateful. Let’s go.”

We get into a room full of beautiful dresses of all colours. Azila looks from side to side and one beige dress captures her attention. It is placed at a corner on a mannequin although it is halfway done. The top is v-neck with lace material as the outer cloth with short sleeves. The waist has little white beads that that stretches to the back of it. The skirt is designed into mermaid-like shape although it hasn’t been stitched together. “This is it,” she says and Simon claps his hands, ” You have a good eye. Now Neera’s wedding gown will be ready by tomorrow while yours will be ready by Tuesday. Azila right?” Azila nods and he continues, “do you want it to be delivered to your place after it’s done or during the wedding day?” “Oh no, let it be delivered on the wedding day, I may be forced to wear it before the D-Day,” she says and Simon chuckles, “very well miss, I guess we are done here…” “Oh, hi Simon,” someone cuts him before he could finish his sentence. “Edward? What a pleasant surprise. I guess you are here for your fiancee. Bad thing she already removed her dress. You should have seen her. She looked like an angel in white,” Simon says. “Oh really?” Edward says. Azila pinches me and pushes me forward and I find myself reaching out for support and my hand lands directly on his hard chest and I stand directly facing Edward. Although I am a tall lady I can only reach past his neck. I breath in his intoxicating cologne. He is wearing a navy blue suit with a white shirt which he hasn’t buttoned the top two buttons. I look up and I meet the most mesmerizing black eyes I have ever seen looking down at me. His dark hair is trimmed on the sides leaving the middle and upper part which has long strands that are gathered into a small ponytail. “Hello Neera, I am Edward,” he says and I am forced to look at his full lips which are smiling at me. I nearly get a mini heart attack as my heart skips a beat. He stretches his veiny arm and that’s when I remember that my hand is still on his chest. I withdraw quickly and shake his hand which holds mine firmly. I withdraw quickly again and smile. I think I look like a tomato right now. “Great, you look perfect together,” Simon says and Azila agrees with him. “By the way this is my friend Azila, who happens to be my maid of honor,” I manage to say.

She stretches her hand and shakes his, “nice to meet you Edward,” he nods. “I am done here, I’ve had a busy day and I need to go and rest and will be working tomorrow. I don’t work on weekends but now these two pretty ladies have decided to make me work. But don’t worry Neera, it’s my pleasure making that gown, and that dress too,” he really is witty.

“I also have to go too, I guess we are done too, Neera see you.” “Thanks for coming Azila, see you soon,” I hug her and they leave together with Simon. We are now just the two of us in the room. I don’t know what to say. I barely know the man , this is the first time I have met him. “I am famished. I haven’t had my lunch. Can we go to a restaurant?” He asks me and I nod.

He takes my hand and we go to the reception. Judy smiles up at us. “We are done here. We’ll be leaving now,” he tells her and she gives us a little bow. He takes out his phone and dials a number. “Ready?” He talks into the phone and I can’t hear what the other person says on the other end. He hangs up, places it back in his pants pockets and still holding my hand he leads the way back into the waiting room we were in earlier. He opens a door which I thought was leading to a restroom but leads to a little corridor. There is an elevator at the far end- a private one. We get in which was was just stand by as if waiting for us. It stops but not on the ground floor like the one we used earlier. We are at the underground parking lot. There is a black car packed just a few steps from the elevator and a man steps out from the driver’s side and opens the door and Edward leaves my hand so I can get in. The driver closes the door and Edward gets in too. The car leaves the parking lot and joins the traffic.

I have no idea where we are headed to. Everyone in the car is seated quietly. The driver focusing on his work showcasing his skills on the steering wheel, Edward is also keen on his phone I guess he is working and I am just staring at my own fingers as I don’t have anything to do. I glance occasionally out of the window but the man beside me makes me nervous. I can’t believe I am sitting with this kind of person.

The trip to the restaurant is short as we are in yet another underground parking lot. Like the other one, there is another elevator that we get in and after going up five floors it comes to a halt and the doors open. We get out and the environment looks kind of hotel rooms. Why would we come to a hotel? Did he book a hotel room and would we be spending the night here? From the looks of it it is a grand hotel maybe a five star or more but I have no idea how hotels are rated. We walk straight towards the end of the hallway where we meet a young man who bows when he sees us or rather when he sees Edward. “All ready sir,” he says and looks at me knowingly as if I look familiar to him. I am confused as to why he looks at me that way, I mean I have never met him, maybe he could have seen me somewhere but that I am not sure. I push that aside when Edward pushes the already open door and the young man says,”enjoy sir,” he adds and I feel awkward at the moment. He leaves and Edward closes the door. I turn to take a look at the room we are in and it is nothing like what I was expecting. There are two small round dining tables with two seats each. They are positioned on the opposite sides of the room leaving a space in the middle that leads towards the floor to ceiling windows that occupies the whole side of the wall with an adjacent balcony that overlooks the city. The curtains are drawn giving natural lighting to the room. This is good for me as I really don’t like using electric lights during the day. There is a television at a corner which is broadcasting I think the 3 p. m news. I see another door a few feet from the other dining table which I am not sure where it leads to. I don’t dwell on that as Edward calls me to take a seat. “Come let’s sit,” he says and pulls out a chair for me. “Thank you,” I say shyly sitting down. I am grateful that he chooses the chair that faces the television; at least I will have something to look at because I can’t look at him directly in his eyes. It will be a bit of a destruction when I won’t be talking to him. He pulls his chair and sits automatically capturing my attention.

“So Neera, what do you do for a living?” That is the first question he asks me and this makes me feel like I am in a kind of interview. “I work as a sales assistant at a bookstore,” I tell him and I see his face frown a little before composing himself. “You studied sales in college?”

“No, I studied literature but the sales job came in handy because finding a job these days is quite a hustle.” “Good, so where did you study?” He asks. “I studied at St. Patrick’s College.” This is a well known public college in the whole city for peasants like me. When I was looking for a job I discovered that many employers preferred graduates from private and high class colleges or those from Ivy league overseas universities. With a degree from a public college it’s not easy to secure a job unless someone has some ‘connection’ to the senior staff. “Tell me about your family,” he enquires. “Oh nothing much to talk about. I am an only child, my mother is a stay at home wife. My dad used to work in a transport company but got involved in an accident which costed him the use of both his legs and weakened his heart as well. So my mom now takes care of him and I work to meet our financial needs,” I say. “Very hardworking, I see,” he compliments and I am taken aback and I can’t help the blush that creeps my cheek.

We are interrupted by a knock on the door and whoever knocked the door enters regardless. He is pushing a trolley. He pushes it to the side of our table and begins unloading whatever he was carrying on it. He puts two little table mats on Edward’s side and my side of the table. He retrieves two plates of food and places on the mats. He also retrieves the cutlery, two glasses and a bottle of wine and places them on the table. “Anything else sir?” “No thank you but I will call you incase,” Edward tells him and he pushes his trolley back, leaves the room and closes the door behind him.