RESILIENT HEARTS

CHAPTER SIX

“Lets go meet my parents and brother, Cel and Jas” came Thelma suddenly motioning us to stand.

“ Like now, right now?” I asked Thelma “Yes dear, I want us to meet them now that we’re still sane, then we can eat, drink and get wasted” she said and I laughed.

“ Okay then” I agreed and stood up “And can I borrow that accent of yours?, You speak so well dear” Thelma complimented.

“Thank you” I said yet another compliment from her.

“I mean for someone who hasn’t even left the continent your accent is really nice, look at me that had my middle and high school in the U.S but there’s nothing to show for it, instead this pidgin kept popping up in my head” Courtney said and we all laughed.

“We’ll be back girls” Celine said and we left to look around for her parents.

Wow!, Chris looks much younger in person than on Tv.

I heard his wife, Clare is a Senior nurse.

They look good together.

From what I gathered from Thelma, they have five children Gabby, the first son and child who is a legal practitioner, he’s married with a child, Jane, is the second, she’s also a nurse just like her mum, she’s also married with twin daughters, the third is Jeffery, the one who has spent thirteen years of his life in the U.S, he’s a graduate of Business administration and the heir to his father’s business, the fourth is Cyrus he’s host and TV presenter, he’s a graduate of Theatre Arts, he's quite famous for his shows and events and then lastly is Thelma she is a civil Engineer.

Their parents must be very proud of them, they are all successful.

“Mama, Papa, meet Celine and Jasmine, they are my good friends” Thelma introduced when we got to where her parents were seated with some other people their age.

“Good Evening sir, Good Evening ma” Celine and I greeted respectively.

“How’re you two doing?, Hope you’re enjoying the party?” Her father asked smiling.

“Yes sir, thanks for your concern” I said to him.

“You’re beautiful ladies” her mum complimented.

“Thank you ma”

“Mama have you seen Jeff?” Thelma asked.

“I think he went to the lounge upstairs with Oscar and George a few minutes ago” she replied.

“Okay then see you later” she said and we headed upstairs.

“Jas, I’m sure you’d sweep my brother off his feet” Thelma said smirking.

“Huh, what did you say?” I asked a bit confused.

“You’ll understand when we get there” she said and we ascended the stairs.

My eyes caught a particular light skinned face, he was very handsome, with perfectly shaped beards, pink lips and just then he smiled his deep dimples were revealed.

It was as if I forgot how to walk and my body felt numb.

I noticed him staring at me it was at that instant I regained myself.

Thank God nothing happened.

“Hey guys, meet my friends Celine and Jasmine, girls meet my brother Jeffrey and his friends Oscar and Paschal” Thelma introduced.

“Good Evening” we greeted.

Jeffrey held out his hands to me for a shake “I’m Jeffrey” he said with his deep voice and he took my tiny hands in his.

"Jasmine" I muttered calmly.

For a moment, it felt like we were the only ones in the room, we were lost in each other’s eyes.

I could only think about the handsome face before me.

‘How can one be this handsome?’ I thought myself.

Someone coughed and I regained consciousness and quickly took my hands back.

“You are looking very beautiful” he complimented me still staring at me.

“Thank you” I said inaudibly.

“I hope I’d see you around” he said.

“I don’t……”

Thelma quickly cut off.

“They’re spending the night, so she’s still around”.

“That’s great then, I’d see you later” he said smiling.

God!! That smile was doing something to my body.

“See you later” I managed to say and turned to leave.

“ You couldn’t even say hi to us” Oscar the dark skinned guy said.

“I’m really sorry, Good Evening” I said.

“No problem it’s fine, Hope you’re enjoying the party?” Paschal asked.

“Yes, you?” I asked him.

“Of course, seeing my guy after many years is enough enjoyment” he said and I could feel the sincerity

.

“Keep enjoying yourself then” I said to him.

As we were descending the stairs I could still feel Jeffrey’s eyes on me.

And the guys were saying something to him.

That guy is so sweet, his voice coupled with the American accent, his face, I don’t think I can get enough of his handsome face.

“Girl, I told you, I think my brother likes you” Thelma said calling me back to reality.

“ Emm…, Are you sure about that?” I asked blushing.

“Of course, you guys can hang out later and talk” she said.

“But, why did you do that?, I wanted to decline seeing him because he might start asking questions about me and I don’t think he’ll still be interested in me when I tell him I’m unemployed” I complained.

“Come on, Jas, that’s nothing okay” Celine tried to calm me.

“My brother isn’t like that and besides that reminds me, text me your C.V, I’ll send it to one of Papa’s companies and hopefully you’d resume by Monday” Thelma assured.

“Are you serious?, Oh my God, thank you very much dear” I said hugging her.

“Come on it’s nothing, you’re my friend and that’s the least thing I could do for you” Thelma smiled.

“Didn’t I tell you, just calm down and everything will fall in place” Celine said smiling.

“Thanks Cel” I said and hugged her too.

“So girls let’s go enjoy the party” Thelma said and we went back to sit with Kim and Courtney.

The waiter came and served us fried rice with grilled turkey and salad, with some fruit juice.

After which the girls ordered some alcohol, I’m not really an alcohol person so I just took a little and we went off to the floor and joined others dancing.

While dancing i looked up to the lounge just to see him and caught his gaze, he was staring at me absent mindedly.

‘I just hope he isn’t going to be disappointed when he finds out that I’m not from a rich family and I’m unemployed’ I thought to myself.

I focused on the girls and we had lots of fun.

I’m so happy I met Thelma, and I made three wonderful friends.

They’ve been on about how we will be spending our subsequent weekends, going out, partying clubbing, travelling and I’m looking forward to it.

I’m just so different from them, they’re all from rich families, they all have heavy paying jobs and most importantly they all have a special man in their lives.

Thelma said to me that she’d make me work out with her brother and there’s nothing to regret about it.

Kimberly joked about how she had a crush on him when they were much younger and how she forgot about him when he could only see her as a kid sister.

Courtney will be getting married at the end of the year that’s like six months from now while my 24th birthday is five months from now.

In this circle, I’m the youngest, Courtney and Thelma are just few months older than myself while Kimberly and Celine are a year older than us.

The party ended just few minutes to 1 am.

Thelma took Celine and I to our room.

This house is very large, I’ve counted like 12 rooms just in the first floor.

“This is where you girls would spend the night, everything you’d need is in here okay?, So make yourself comfortable” she said.

“Thank you very much dear” we appreciated her.

“You’re welcome, Jas, please tell me everything later in the morning” She smirked and left.

“What’s she talking about?” I asked Celine as we got inside the room.

Gosh, the room is very large with a king sized mattress and a large plasma television opposite the bed.

“I think she’s talking about her brother” Cel cleared me.

“Oh okay” I said and got into the bathroom, I quickly showered and changed in a dark gold night gown with it's coat, and covered my hair in the matching bonnet.

Why do most ladies prefer gown night dresses, personally I love two pieces nighties like knickers or pants, I meant trousers.

I applied some deodorants and body location, smeared some body mist and went into the room.

“This guy would go crazy if he sees you in this nightie, and the color too is mad” Celine joked.

“Hope it’s not too revealing or short".

The nighties just slightly above my knees, and has a V-shaped neckline which made it reveal my cleavages.

“No, not at all, besides it’s a night dresses, so it isn’t bad” Celine said.

“Okay”.

Just then my phone beeped and it’s a credit alert, Nicky just sent me five hundred thousand.

“Jeez!!, Guess what?” I screamed.

“ I’m really not in a right frame of mind to guess, what is it?” Celine asked anxiously.

“Just look at this” I said and handed the phone to her.

“OMG, 500k, thank God for him” Celine said happily and I understood her.

Nicky had a time in his life when he couldn’t boast of ten thousand of his own but in the last three years, his labor and hard work starting paying, he starting getting contracts and they were paying him heavily.

Now he’s launching his own brand in less than two months.

The highest amount I’ve gotten from him was fifty thousand I’m shocked to the marrow, God works in mysterious ways.

In his narration he said ‘Just manage it for now, I’ll send you more by weekend’.

What’s there to manage, this money will go a long way for me.

I’m actually planning on setting up my own salon and May has promised to be of great help to me.

“Thank God for everything” that’s all I can say.

“Well I just spoke with Josh, and he sends his regards” Celine said and stood up.

“Okay, hope he’s good?” I asked.

“Yes he is, he’ll be traveling in a couple of days” she informed me.

“Oh really, is he leaving the country or just here in the country?” I asked.

“No, he’s leaving the country, Lebanon precisely, he's spending two weeks there” She said sadly.

“Oh dear, I know you’ll miss him” I said.

“I miss him already” she said making a baby face.

“Don’t worry, I’m here for you okay?” I said.

“I know right” she immediately brighten up.