There are are 8 billion people on this unfortunate earth and out of them exists trillions of lies, but out of all the lies 8 billion people have come up with, this shit decided to tell one quite fucked up.
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A tender silenced engulfed the room and left nothing but imaginary crickets singing somewhere in Virela's head. "There is no way he just said that", is what was ringing in her mind. That phrase spread like wild fire in Virela's mind. Her mind, going as blank as a sheet of paper, began to show through her eyes as her pupils dilated by each passing second.
-Keith POV-
"What did I just say?! Am I insane?! MARRIED?! TO HER?!
It's all because of my stupid tongue, I should have just swallowed my words. Pity? I did feel for her but that doesn't mean I should have catapulted myself into this situation. I know what the situation looks like to someone who isn't aware of the context but why the hell would I even say we were married. I JUST MET HER!", I thought.
I had to take a moment to gather my thoughts from the last interaction I had with her father. He looked into my eyes and then glanced at his daughter for an affirmative answer. I could clearly see that Virela's soul had left her body. Her pupils had turned twice their size and the confident look she always wore on her face was replaced by one that could very well be a meme.
"Ela! Virela! Is this true?", her father said as he tried to tuck the anger on his face away. A questioning 'huh' was the only thing that could be heard from Virela's lips. Once again my body moved on its own and before I knew it, I was groveling at the feet of the man who thought me to be his secret son in law. 'Why why why am I doing this', I thought to myself. I wanted to take everything I said back but I knew I couldn't. It was either I continue this facade or he sends my body to my mom in sections.
I'm not African myself, but I do have some friends with African parents and from what I've heard, I've basically landed myself in a tub of shit. If I take it back I risk seeming irresponsible, but if I go forward with the lie, it makes me seem like an asshole for pulling his daughter into a shotgun marriage. Before I could even reach the of my train of thought, Virela jerked my soul out of my body, and sent me across the floor.
"Baba, can we go to the living room please?" She pleaded with her father before shooting a distasteful look at me.
-Virela POV-
If I had to name the worst moments of my life, they would be: my failed promposal, finding out my mother's expiration date was approaching, and my dad catching me in a bed with a half naked man. To say I was losing it would be an absolute understatement. I wasn't mad at the fact that a man was in my bed, but at the revelation that just unfolded. New to both me and my father.
I took an oath yes, but did I intend to keep it? Probably not. I took the celibacy oath when I was as fresh as a freshly cooked Walmart rotisserie chicken. A fresh out of the oven croissant, when the place where the sun don't shine felt it wanted to go out into the world without seeking a man to depend on. I broke my oath...long ago. I just broke it in a place where my fucking father wouldn't walk in to see what happened.
Although nothing happened between me and Keith, the chances of my father letting this go were slim as in his mind, "we had already entangled our bodies and made them one with such skin-ship". I tried to listen to his lecture about how I should have brought Keith home, how I should have held it in e.t.c. But I really wasn't listening to what he was saying, instead I was thinking of this monologue.
"—ela . Virela? Virela! Are you a rock? I'm asking you a damn question and you won't even answer!". My dad yelled at me. I looked to my side to see veins popping from his head. Keith was on the floor kneeling down, trying to keep his eyes as low as possible as if he were encountering snake haired Medusa.
"You will marry him".
"Absolutely not-".
"I will not be repeating myself Virela! You will marry him and that is final".
My heart dropped into my stomach