If anyone ever told me that one day I'll meet the love of my life inside a hotel, sitting quietly as he gisted with the love of his life, I would have never believed them.
It was three weeks since I began working at Sa hotel. It was on a Sunday morning, a good day for a family outting. Sundays were always for rest, restrategize and restart before people marched into Monday to begin the week. The previous week I had promised to take my family on an outing, and so I did that week.
Lana together with Denis,our bodyguard was coupled beside me. On the other hand, it was my baby Prince, held dearly to my chest.
Like the world was a void with nothingness in it, Prince was oblivious to it. He was on his own small era, with the woman he regarded to be his dearly mother, patting his back gently as she tickled him.
With every giggle my boy was making, my smile grew wider. I kept engaging him into a talk, boosting his moods while playing with him. Prince was enjoying every single moment of it, and so was his mother.
We reached by our table where we ordered our meal. We had sumptuously dived into it, having no idea about the special occasion that was scheduled in the hotel. We were busy moaning at how delicious the meal was to notice what was happening around us.
Suddenly, cheers filled the air, followed with the clicking of glasses and claps. It was at this moment, each one of us raised our heads from our meals to have a look at our surroundings.
Everything seemed to elapse into a romantic mood, with dimly lit lights on the stage. The music too had mysteriously changed into a slow motion classic that would woe one into a romantic dance.
I also noticed a young man whom I had spotted seating by the far end across from us, getting on the stage with the mic clung onto his hand.
On one hand he was holding a woman's hand, a romantic gesture anyone could tell would be followed by a proposal.
It was around seven in the evening, a perfect time to push that proposal one has been silently plotting behind the closed doors. The young man without wasting any more time and now having the full attention of the audience, went down on his one knee, an act that left the crowd gasping.
"Will you marry me?" He proposed.
The lady in a red, curvaceous gown that held her everything right in their places, squeaked in a very high voice that left the audience cheering and clapping.
"Yes. Yes my love. I'll marry you."
She rejoiced, as the young man slid the diamond ring onto her finger.
She then intertwined him into a kiss, earning a round of applause from the crowd.
Everyone was on their feet to celebrate their new engagement.
It was then the young man turned to thank the crowd for their attention, that my world fell apart.
It was him. In his dark domineering aura and black tinted shadows of his suit.
Standing by the pulpit, holding another woman's hand, was the man I was longing for and had been waiting for years.
Brian McDermott Grey!
The glass I was holding in my hand, accidentally slipped out of my fingers, straight onto the cold floor. A shattering sound was heard all over the hotel's premises, jerking the newly engaged couple out of their heavenly moment.
Everyone had seated, leaving me and my wobbly feet standing.
His eyes froze. The exact reaction I had imagined out of him. He looked at me. Worry, confusion, remorse, anger, all emotions combined flashed through his dark embedded emeralds.
I did not realize I was whimpering until Lana's hand settled on my shoulder.
"Brian. " I mumbled.
It was him. It was really him.
Lana's hand on my shoulder, left a gentle squeeze on it.
As if Prince had sensed the sombre mood in the air, he shrieked into a loud yell that startled me out of my dazzled state.
"Shh baby. "
I took him in my arms, holding him tightly into my chest. At this point the tears were carelessly streaming down my eyes.
My eyes could not believe it was Brian who was standing on that stage. My baby's father was standing on that pulpit. Not a lone. But with a woman in his arm. Everything seemed so surreal.
I blinked my eyes shut, again and again and when I opened them, my Brian was still standing on that stage. A myriad of emotions surged through me, as something strange began pushing me onto that stage.
With my baby perched in my arms, courage guiding my feeble limbs, I quietly tiptoed onto the ordained stage. I would have left. I would have run out of that hotel like any woman in my place. But I couldn't. My new status couldn't allow me.
I was a mother who could not sit by and watch as the father of her child was being swiped away from under her eyes.
Before I could get onto that stage, Lana called me. She had held my hand without my notice. I looked down at her frail hand, and a fresh pool of tears fell. My baby had stopped crying, and at some point he had slept.
Lana shook his head at me, motioning me to follow her. I did not want to leave . Neither did I want to cause drama. It wasn't part of me. And so a deep breath I took in. One after another, until my heart rate jotted down into normal.
My insides on the other hand, were in a very fierce battle on what should be done and shouldn't.
On one end a part of me wanted to lash out, call out Brian for abandoning us, and ripple him with guilt, but another part was too tired to fight.
One of the perks of being a mother is that you forgive. You forgive anything and everything. You let go of everything that might bring you harm or to your child. And at this point, my lovely Brian was a being a threat.
Steady and slow, I spared Brian one last glance, before turning on my heals and following my lead.