AN URGENT WEDDING

Lisa Again, the choir begins another song. I look around, hoping the guests are entertained enough by their high pitched "classical" music — to realize that the seat beside me is unoccupied by the groom. Derrick was late to dates, meetings, everything, and now he's late to his own wedding. I bet he will be late to his own funeral too. I bring up my fingers to my teeth, but I pause, seeing my mother's hard glare from another pew. What was I about to do, ruin my manicured nails? I bounce my sparkly red shoes on the floor and the layers of my wedding dress bounce with it. It should have been me taking my time to get here so Derrick could wait for a change. Sophia's hand lays on my thighs, stilling the movement of my legs. I turn my face to her and she smiles at me. "He'll soon be here," she says. I nod, looking away. The guests are here. Some of them are friends from highschool that I had kept in touch with. My mother’s friends from her club take up a large part of the hall and it is because of them that my wedding is no longer a small wedding as I had planned. My colleagues at work might or might not turn up; I sent the invitation to them two days ago. I am a bit relieved that I do not see any of them in sight. I do love them, but not enough for them to see me in the church hall without a groom. I had never strongly believed this wedding would hold until this morning, when everyone was helping me dress up in this bulky gown and pinning my blonde hair to sit like a crown on my head. There is an unsettling feeling down the pit of my belly. I worked hard to get used to the idea of a few people watching me deliver my vows, but the crowd in this hall is more than I expected. It has to be my mum; Low-key has never been her style, although I thought she'll consider me for a change. They have already made me live their lives. My mother could not study law in her time so she insisted I study it. My father could not hold a business down in the right way and now I'm marrying his partner's son as a unifier, a bond, a contract. Whatever they call it. I like to be spared the details of this union, but Derrick and I agreed that we would make it work. We promised ourselves. Sophia leans in. "Imagine if we picked a pink veil with your dress." I laugh. "My mother will be traumatized for a long time." "When she saw your red shoes, she actually screamed." "You didn't tell me that," I say, laughing. "I mean it," Sophia says. "She literally screamed and came to me because she says I make you make bad choices." I quake with laughter, putting a hand over my mouth. " But you really do. I bet she'll be wondering how we can laugh right now when the groom is not here yet." "Girl, you did your bit to be here. We can't do everything for his over pampered ass." I raise my index finger in warning. "Be respectful. That's my husband." Sophia raises her hands in mock surrender then she puts her hand underneath my veil to touch my chin. "I want you to be happy every minute of today. Every second." I broaden my lips, hoping to retain the smile for a long time. I look at the large wall clock at the altar and I reason that Derrick will make it before the long hand, currently at twelve, gets to three. I keep staring at the clock, shutting out all distractions. He better come rushing in with a flimsy excuse about his suit getting burnt or his shoe getting missing so he had to rush down in flip-flops. Ten more minutes. He is officially two hours late already. Another excuse could be that he lost the key to his hotel room so he had to spend all morning at the front desk. Five more minutes. I look at the Best man who is Derrick's best friend. We have never had to do much talking except the few hang outs we did with friends before today and in all those outings, we co existed silently, separately. His name is Max or Matt. I choose not to call him either to get his attention so I poke him. "I have tried reaching him. Straight to voicemail," he says immediately as he turns to me. I let out an exasperated sigh. "You know him. He's always late," he says in an attempt to comfort me. I quirk an eyebrow. "Always late to his own wedding?" He bows his head into the wedding brochure and does not say another word. I notice my feet bouncing again and I do not stop it. Sophia doesn't either. I find my finger in my mouth again, but I realize myself before I can start biting it. I can't stomach one more minute of being here. The shame is beginning to settle in the rudest way possible. I do not want to think about it, but what is happening? I have been… No, Derrick could not. This is not our dream wedding yet we promised ourselves to get through this together. Nobody is to be left on the lurch. He's only late. He wants to make an entrance. He loves to be late so he can make an entrance. The more I go down this line of safe thoughts, the more my heart sinks. It feels like I am in denial, but I am not! "Sophie, do you think I have been stood up at my own wedding?" I ask, bowing my head. "No, Lisa. No. He'll come." I snort, knowing that she doesn't believe her own words. She looks at me, knowing now that I can see through her lies. I look away. In my mind, I'm on my feet, racing out of this hall with my gown in my hand. I will fling the flower and fling the veil without looking back. I wish I could do it, but I'm only brave in my thoughts. Besides, we are in my father's villa which is off from the city. I didn't come with my car so if I run out like a damsel in dress, probably kick off my purple pumps, I'll be racing under the sun for hours unless I race back to the house which ruins the entire point of running away. All the gleaming white decorations in the hall now makes my eyes feel tired. Not just my eyes, I feel tired. I have the strong desire to stand up, steal the first car I see, drive back to the villa, into my bed and into my white satin sheets. Consequences can wait. My eyes widen slowly as someone fills in the seat beside me. I gape at him and turn to Sophia to see if she is watching, then I turn back to him. "Close your mouth," he says, dabbing sweat off his face. "Sorry I'm late by the way." For a second, my hopes were raised as I felt a presence and now they're crushed by this stiff necked ego eaten leopard of a man. Leopard? Shaking that off, I glare at him Infuriated. Turning to Sophia, I say, "Sophie, please tell Noah to go to a seat behind." "Try talking to him. He listens to you," she says, averting her gaze. That's not true. This man here, does whatever he wants. I'm certain even if he listens to others, he definitely does a good job at ignoring me. I inhale, with everything I still stand for. "Noah, you need to go to the back. That's the groom's seat." He removes his dark shades and wipes them before putting it in a case then he locks his eyes on mine. "I'm here to save your day, Lisa. Let's have a wedding and I'm out of here." "What are you talking about?" I ask, looking instead at Sophia who only stares ahead. I bring back my eyes to Noah. "What are you talking about?" "I'm offering you the safest way to get through today. I have just thirty minutes to be here. You have to understand quickly." Give me a whole day, I still won't understand any of the German this man is saying. Is Noah proposing to be my husband this minute, has he thought about what will happen to Derrick? Hold on. Noah? He's all ruggedly handsome, toned and tall, but he tops the chart in being the most arrogant inconsiderate human on earth. Marry me? Eww. Lumpiest eww. I finally face him again. "I don't know what this is," I say. "But this is my wedding and it's a serious business. You need to leave that seat. Now." To my surprise, he gets up from the seat with his eyes fixed on me and a smug smile playing at the corner of his lips.