Page 16 of Til Death
Dropping her shoulders forward, Mom sighed and stood up straight. “As your wife I should have been notified about everything before any decision was made, especially when our son is affected. I don’t care if you’re grown now, you’re still my baby boy and I’m going to always worry about you. I know your dad would never do anything to harm you, but I still don’t like being kept in the dark, especially with something this big that’ll affect my family. Next time I expect to be told right away.”
Dad stood and approached my mom. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. “There won’t be a next time. I fucked up and tried to fix it before it got out of hand so you wouldn’t have to worry.”
My parents were strong and both smart. The two of them were a force to be reckoned with. As long as they were on the same page, I knew they could overcome anything thrown at them.
“Well I guess there’s nothing left to say.” She looked between me and my dad one last time before pulling away from him. “While you’re here, you might as well come and get a plate. You look like you’re losing weight and need more meat on your bones.”
I chuckled as she turned and headed in the direction of the kitchen.
Dad faced me with the look of gratitude written all on his face. Nodding in understanding, I stood to follow my mom. What was done was done and we couldn’t turn back now.
Later that evening I sat in bed with my laptop working on coding. I was in the middle of reprogramming a certain code when my phone began to vibrate off the wall. Curious as to what was going on, I unlocked it and was caught off guard by the plethora of notifications flooding my lockscreen.
Clicking one of them, InstaFlik opened to Xylina’s latest post. I eyed the picture of her hand and noted the same ring she came to my house with on her ring finger. Dropping my eyes to the caption I scanned it and disbelief filled me as I read.
I said yes. This Saturday I’ll be marrying the love of my life and I can’t wait to share the rest of our lives together. To my hubby to be, I can’t wait to start this next chapter together as your wife @TechSiah.
The post itself didn’t bother me. I’d told her to handle it as she pleased, what I hadn’t expected was for her to tag me or how quickly people would respond to it. I knew Xylina was popular. Even though she wasn’t a celebrity, she had been seen out with a few. She had built a large following on social media. She had gotten a few brand deals over the years and modeled, so that caused her following to grow rapidly over the years. She was resilient when it came to rejection, I’d give her that.
A text popped up at the top of my screen. Seeing it was Xylina, I groaned inwardly as I pulled it down to read it.
Xylina
Hubby, I have officially made our engagement public so there’s no turning back now. Make sure you like it and engage. I also hope you ended things with that woman from earlier. I would hate to have to step in and end it for you. Only four more days until I’m Mrs. Xylina Bedford! Xoxo <3.
Pressure pounded in my temples.
Running a hand down my face, I locked my phone without responding. I refused to entertain any more nonsense when it came to this situation.
“So you’re really going through with this?” Roman questioned from the couch.
Lifting my eyes from my phone, I stared at my longtime friend. He was finding amusement in all this. When he learned of me getting married from Reginae and asked about it, I ended up summarizing everything to him. After he got his laughs out, he insisted on being my best man and standing by my side. The last thing I wanted was to get anyone else involved. While the venue was full of people I didn’t know for Xylina, only my parents, Roman, and his siblings were here for me.
The rehearsal was canceled last minute so we were winging this.
“I’m glad you’re amused by all this.”
Chuckling, he stood and adjusted his suit jacket. “My amusement is to lighten the mood.”
Shaking my head, I dropped my eyes back to my phone. I had twenty minutes before this façade would become reality.
“At least she’s nice to look at. You could be marrying some ugly ass chick.”
“Yeah, imagine that.”
Roman was always superficial when it came to the girls he dealt with. His logic was if he had to look at her every day she had to be something worth looking at. While I understood his point, I wasn’t so narrow minded that I based everything on how someone looked. My soon-to-be wife was proof a pretty face meant nothing if the inside didn’t match.
The door was pushed open and Reginae came barging in the room with Ryo behind her.
“I can’t believe you’re really about to get married, and to that young ass girl,” Reginae fussed. “You know I should object when they ask. Only one person deserves to be your wife and it isn’t her.” She scoffed.
“And it isn’t yo’ ass either. Chill out.” Ryo mugged her.
She waved him off. “Whatever, she’s lucky she paid the rush fee and I wasn’t aware the rings being made were for her or I would have turned her away.”
One corner of my mouth lifted. Reginae hadn’t stopped voicing her disdain since leaving my house.
“I saw the design for the ring. She’s gonna have a college tuition on her finger, hell all four years,” Roman commented.
