There was a mild silence as all attention shifted to Lakan from his wife. It was like they well all holding Lakan responsible for what his wife had just said. Insulting one Blackwaters is one thing but insulting the entire family was another thing. Such an insult cannot slide away so easily.
Even Mr. Blackwaters seem to be expecting some form of explanation for all the outburst.
"I have nothing to say, you can see she is intoxicated and didn't say anything that made sense how do you expect me to make a defense " Lakan replied angered by the question from Jezebel. It was already bad enough that Tara had embarrassed him, why would his sister want to add to the disgrace?
"If you will excuse me I will want to take my wife back home" Lakan requested turning to his father for permission to leave the party. He no longer felt like staying at the party. Even if the party was meant for him, he was no longer interested in staying, hence he looked with expectation at his father.
After receiving a slight nod from his father Lakan heads out of the party carrying Tara along as she clings to him tightly. He tries to hand her over to Sarah but she would not leave him. Even in her drunk state, she was still holding on to him as if her life depends on it. Lakan was boiling inside of him but there was little he could do. Taking out your anger on a drunk person would be a stupid thing to do. He carried her to the car and from there straight home. He instructed his driver to leave the car so he could be the only one in the car driving her back by himself. He was embarrassed about the whole situation but could only imagine how she would feel when she becomes sober and learned of all that she did.
One thing Lakan was sure of was that some sought of truth will come out when she becomes sober. His gut already tells him something is wrong
**********
"Marriage is not a bed of roses. One must be willing to accept the fact that one's partner cannot be perfect. How we deal with the strength and weaknesses of our partners is what matters. Love is always never enough. It is an institution of continuous learning. You may be an excellent Mafia Lord like me but Marriage will humble you."
Those were the words of Mr. Blackwaters when the issue of marriage was first spoken with Lakan. At first, he didn't seem to fully understand what his father was saying but with time he was sure he would understand.
Those words kept ringing in his head as he woke up the next day. He has been up since 4 am thinking about all that has happened since he got married to Tara in his study room. He likes waking up early when everywhere was quiet to make some reflections on activities going on in his life.
He had thought his marriage would be an easy and quiet one for him but this sudden change of Tara only meant a lot of things would change. The attempted assassination at the wedding her sudden interest in the Mafia world and now this embarrassing incident. Lakan didn't even know which one to make a priority this morning as they were all staring at him at the same time.
A soft knock landing on his door indicated to Lakan that someone wants to see him and it could only be Bishop.
"The guard at the door just informed me that your bride is awake. Will you like to speak to her now? Bishop asked looking at him with a sorry look on his face. He knew the marriage was already taking a toll on Lakan.
For Bishop Lakan getting married was a big relief for him. He has always been worried that it would be difficult to get someone into agreeing to a marriage with him because of his reputation.
Lakan stood up immediately as he took gíant stride to their room. He had instructed that the moment she was up he wanted to be the first to speak to her. The anger he felt last night came rushing back, he was planning on scolding her.
His heart melted when he saw her and his anger disappeared. There was his beautiful wife looking wild and lost with a confused expression on her face. Her hair was messed up. Instead of yelling, Lakan found himself speaking to her in a calm voice.
" How do you feel? He asked with concern in his voice that he tried to hide.
Tara looked around. She was expecting to wake up in her room but saw herself in Lakan's room with a terrible headache.
"I feel terrible. I can't even seem to remember anything from last night. Why am I here? She asked with a frown on her face. Not being able to remember anything was annoying but more troubling was seeing herself in Lakan's room.
" you don't remember anything? Lakan asked looking at her with disbelief in his eyes.
"No, I don't. What happened, how did I end up.... She could hardly complete the statement when she immediately felt nauseous forcing her to rush to the bathroom to throw up. Tara didn't understand why she was feeling so sick this morning. She noticed she has dressed in different cloth and again, male clothes were on her.
She quickly cleaned up and went out to confront Lakan.
" why am I in your clothes again? Why am I in your room? Did you take advantage of me? She asked raising her voice this time the confusion in her head increasing with every word..
Lakan who was patiently waiting for her so he could ask his own questions felt bad at her accusation. How could she conclude that he took advantage of her?
He wanted to reply but change his mind about it. He took some steps back and without saying a word he was out of the room.