Picture of Oluchi and Ajay in the background.❤️❤️

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°
Surprises can be deadly
at certain moments
~Ajay
°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

~𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚛𝚍 𝙿𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚘𝚗~

The atmosphere of the late hours of Saturday morning in the house of Oluchi's parents, was one of merriment. Several women who came all the way from the village, were seated at the backyard preparing several delicacies and singing several traditional songs to express how happy they were. The event decorators were already in the front yard installing canopies and putting the necessary designs and decorations for the traditional wedding.

The bride was in her room along with the make up artist, the hair dresser and a host of her friends and cousins. Ajay was not left behind. She and Zara came over to the house the previous day to help in the preparations and also cheer Oluchi on. Ajay was surprised at how fast she was able to click with her favourite cousin again. They had a lot of fun gisting and learning how to dance the cultural dance. Ajay was able to grasp it immediately. She was a natural!

On the other hand, Zara who had just very little knowledge on the Igbo cultural dance, did surprisingly better than even Oluchi who was the teacher.

"Zara abeg come and design the nails o. I'm done filing then." One of Oluchi's friend, Daberechi said, calling Zara's attention.

"Did you apply the nail hardener?" Zara asked, walking towards Daberechi.

"Yes, that was the last thing I did." Zara nodded in reply and got into action immediately, painting and designing Oluchi's nails.

About an hour later, the bride was looking ravishingly ready to meet her groom in her first outfit which consisted of a golden coloured armless gown which was straight to her knee and flayed from her knees to the floor, several red beads adorning her ears, neck and wrist and a horsetail which she held firmly. Ajay and the rest of her entourage also got ready to accompany the bride. The were dressed in red and black striped wrappers tied around their chest and waist respectively and a couple of red beads adorned their waist, head, ears, ankles, necks and wrist.

Oluchi's youngest sister walked into the room minutes later to inform Zara that her attention was needed outside.

"Aunty Zara, somebody said I should tell you that your attention is needed outside."

"Who's the somebody?" Zara asked, looking away from the mirror

"I don't know the person o." She said and left immediately.

Zara quickly applied her lip gloss and stepped out into the living room. The so called 'somebody' was dressed in a black, well-sown senator, backing her.

"Sorry, are you the one looking for me?" She asked in the calmest voice possible.

He turned and gave Zara one of his familiar smiles, "Hello Zara."

Zara gave him a blank stare, trying to figure out if this guy had finally lost his mind. She eyeballed him, gave a long hiss and turned to leave but he quickly grabbed her arm.

"Ken, what is it?" Zara asked, glaring at him

"Jeez! Calm down. I'm here for peace, trust me."

"Me, I don't want your peace. Just leave me the fuck, alone." Zara fired sharply. Ken groaned in frustration, gently massaging his temple.

"Zara, please, I'm sorry. I'm really sorry, okay?" Zara ignored him. "Okay, look, just one last chance, Zara, I swear it'll be better. I'll make it up to you, I promise. Hm?" Zara still ignored him, tapping her feet anxiously. "Zara please, ever since that day, it's been you in my head. I've tried all I can to make it stop, but it's just like I'm adding fuel to a burning fire. It keeps growing every fucking second and I'm loosing my mind, okay? I just need you to forgive me, please?"

Zara looked at him for a while, with her hands folded on her chest. Ken stopped talking, hoping for a reply from her.

"Are you done?" Zara finally said after almost a minute of scrutinizing him. He nodded nervously in reply. "If you're done, then I'll be taking my leave." And with that she left him standing there totally embarrassed, surprised and heartbroken.

The traditional wedding kicked off and the bride and her entaurage danced in excitedly to make their first appearance. As they danced around, Zara caught sight of someone very familiar in the groom's attire, but she couldn't recognize the face due to the distance from which she sighted him from. The bride danced around greeting her relatives and other procedures were done, after which she retired back into the house to wear her second dress.

"Ajay, I feel like I know the groom from somewhere." Zara said as they sat to change into their asoebi proper.

Ajay scoffed, "Like there's anyone you don't know.."

Zara rolled her eyes, mumbling incoherent words. Her inquisitive side took the better part of her and she secretly went back to the compound to see who the groom was.

"Blood of Jesus!" Zara exclaimed in shock upon realizing whom the groom was. It just couldn't be. Or is it possible he had a twin brother somewhere and never informed them? A tear slipped out from her eye as her heart wrenched in pain. She quickly hurried back into the house trying as much as possible not to look obvious but Ajay knew her better.

"Madam welcome o. I knew you would still go to check." Ajay laughed as Zara walked in, shaking her head. Zara just nodded in reply and didn't give her usual savage response.

"Zara, what's wrong?" Ajay asked calmly, moving closer to where Zara was seated.

"Jesus Christ! Were you crying?" Ajay exclaimed, after noticing the redness of Zara's eyes.

"Ajay, calm down and please stop shouting." Zara mumbled

"Okay, fine! So what's wrong?"

"When last did you speak to Obinna?" Zara asked after contemplating for a while.

"Um... Two days ago, the night you came back from your outing with Kenechukwu. He said he would be really busy with the shoot this weekend so he might not be able to call me." Ajay explained "Why do you ask?"

"Nothing, it's just......" Zara trailed off "Okay, has he mentioned anything about a twin brother to you?"

Ajay shook her head negative before something struck her, "Wait! Did you see Obinna outside there?" She asked and when Zara was hesitant to reply, she knew something was definitely wrong. She stood up immediately, heading for the venue of the celebration.

"Ajay, No." Zara gasped, realizing what Ajay was going to do. "Ajay, please wait!" She hurried quickly behind Ajay, but due to the fast steps which she took, Zara was nowhere close to getting to her. Immediately Ajay came out of the building, she used her eyes to scan through the area, until their eyes locked.

*********Flashback***********
The proposal night

Ajay couldn't just believe both her ears and her eyes. Obinna freaking proposed to her in public. All her doubts about him cleared the moment he was down on his knees, asking her to be his girlfriend.

"So what do you say?" Obinna asked Ajay nervously. She could see the sincerity in his eyes and the way the beautiful pair pleaded with her to say yes.

"Only if you promise you won't do anything to make me regret this." Ajay smiled

"I swear on my life baby. I'll live to make sure this is your best decision ever. Come on, Ajay, say yes na. My knees are beginning to hurt."

Ajay giggled at that, "Oya just put the ring on my finger, I'll manage it." This got everyone laughing as Obinna happily slid the ring into her left ring finger.

Everyone cheered as Obinna stood up and engulfed Ajay in a loving hug. Camera flashlights shone on their faces from different angles as everyone wanted to get the beautiful moment on their phones.

"I love you." Obinna whispered to Ajay, before lowering his head and capturing her lips in his. He kissed her gently making sure to explore every single inch of her mouth. After a while of intense kissing, they broke apart and Ajay smiled,

"I love you too."

**********************

Ajay's legs wobbled as she reached out to the closest pillar for support. It was her Obinna in the groom's attire. Obinna's eyes widened as he stared back at Ajay in shock. Immediately, guilt washed over him as he stared at Ajay visibly breaking down. He wanted to run over to her and explain everything but he knew he couldn't possibly do that on his own traditional wedding.

"Ajay, please let's just go inside. Let's not create a scene here." Zara pleaded, holding Ajay as she led her back into the house but to the visitors room instead.

"Zara, Obinna is getting married to my cousin." Ajay said quietly, looking outside the window into space.

"Ajay, he's just in the groom's attire, he might be a representative or something." Zara said in attempt to calm Ajay down.

"DON'T FREAKING TELL ME THAT!!" Ajay yelled, breaking down into tears. "Is this the movie he is supposedly shooting? Huh? Tell me!"

"Ajay please, you need to calm down." Zara said as tears began to pour from her eyes too.

"Zara, he promised to marry me. Like the fuck, he proposed to me with this ring." Ajay pointed at the ring on her finger

She collapsed on the bed, sobbing quietly as she continued, almost in whispers "He promised never to hurt me. He promised to make me happy, to love me. Like the fuck, he swore never to make me regret my decision of accepting him. Zara, I thought he was my bus stop. Why is he suddenly getting married? Did I do anything wrong?"

"Ajay, no. Ajay please you need to calm down, please." Zara consoled, letting Ajay cry on her shoulder. They remained like that for sometime before Daberechi came looking for them.

"Zara, Ajay, we're about to go out. The bride is done getting ready."

"Ohh... Sorry, Ajay's a little bit down. You guys should just go ahead."

"Ohh, okay, no problem. I'll inform Oluchi. Ajay sorry o. Take your time." Daberechi said and took her leave. Immediately she closed the door, Ajay bursted into another fit of sobs, her arms trembling as she held unto her chest, which felt so tight and constricted.

"Zara, I swear it hurts so much. It has never hurt so much like this before." Ajay cried. Zara felt helpless and lost for words. She didn't know the right thing to say to her best friend at that moment.

"Ajay, do you want to go back to Lagos?" Zara asked, hoping it would be for the best.

"Right now?"

Zara nodded "I can quickly book the earliest flight, that's if you want to."

"But what about the wedding? My mum wouldn't even agree to that."

"Don't worry, I can call Kenny to help out." Zara assured and Ajay agreed to it. Zara immediately booked the earliest flight to Lagos and they immediately started getting ready. Kenechukwu helped them to quietly obtain their suitcases from Ajay's parents' house and then drove them to the airport just ten minutes before the scheduled flight time.

"But Zara, why are you guys leaving so soon?" Kenechukwu asked with a disappointment-laced face.

"Kenny, I'll explain later. I promise."

"So, can I at least get your number, cos I don't know when next I'll be seeing you." He pleaded, stretching out his iphone 12 Pro max to her. She reluctantly took it and typed in her number. Kenechukwu smiled excitedly after taking the phone back from her, like a child who just received a limited edition candy.

"Thank you. I'll call you." He grinned and Zara rolled her eyes, walking back to where Ajay stood waiting for her.

"Bye, lover boy." She waved and he smiled in return. In a matter on minutes, they were already on the plane back to Lagos.

🙃🙃🙃🙃🙃🙃🙃
2000 words on the dot!🥺🥺

We're you expecting this twist? How did you see this chapter? Please let me know what you think ❤️

Meanwhile, I want to let y'all decide Zara's fate.
So question of the chapter..

Who do you want Zara to end up with?
Frank or Kenny?

Will be expecting your answers.

Please don't forget to vote, share and leave your comments.

🥰🥰♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️