Always Yours (Lagos Romance Series) Read Free Page A

petulantly. “Because I haven’t seen any of them.”
    “You’re just panicking.” Ada said. “You’re afraid to go and see the man you know is the love of your life.” She continued. “Just relax” She coaxed. “You’re beautiful, in fact you’re stunning, forget about him for a moment and just dress up for a fabulous night out.”
    Easy for her to say, I thought.
    At last I decided to wear a simple black dress, which went really well with my light skin, with a pair nude coloured shoes and a matching clutch. I wore simple gold accessories and pinned my hair up. Combined with my barely there makeup, I looked simple but really elegant. Classy, as my mother would have said.
    It was a short drive to the MUSON centre. When I got there the event had just started. I saw Ada, looking odd in jeans and a T-shirt, taking pictures of people at the entrance. She saw me and gave me two thumbs up. I smiled, relaxing a bit.
    As soon as I entered the hall, my eyes started to scan the place for Michael. I didn’t see him. I tried to ignore the pang of disappointment in my stomach as I searched for my seat.
    There was funny couple on my table, both husband and wife in their sixties, who adopted me as soon as I sat down and before long, had me laughing at their stories on how they met.
    “He walked up to me and said he was going to marry me!” The lady told me with a smile. “And I told him to get in line.”
    “Then I told her I was starting a new line.” Her husband said with a self-satisfied chuckle.
    “Then I asked him what he had that my other beaus didn’t.” The lady said still smiling, “and do you know what he said?” She asked me.
    I shook my head.
    “He said marry me and you’ll find out!”
    “She couldn’t resist that!” Her husband laughed. “She just had to know.”
    It continued like that all evening and even helped to ease my tension a bit. But I still couldn’t forget why I was there. Michael Ade Cole was like a weight, holding my mind in one place and no matter what I did, I couldn’t turn it away from him.
    I had psyched myself to be cool when I finally saw him, but when I did see him all that preparation went out of the window. Somehow as soon as he came in, I knew he was in the room, my eyes went to the entrance and there he was, still beautiful, like some sort of god. I watched him stride into the hall, following an usher to a table at the front. As he passed by my table I thought I saw him pause and almost turn around, but then he kept on walking, and joined his sister at their table.
    “Are you all right?” It was the old lady. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
    “I’m fine” I reassured her, smiling quickly.
    She pursed her lips. “Why are you here alone anyway?” She asked as if I had affronted her. “A beautiful girl like you should be here with one of her beaus. I always had someone to escort me when I was your age.”
    “Times have changed” her husband quipped. “These days girls impress each other with their careers, not with the men on their arm.”
    At one point Ada came up to me and whispered in my ear. “Babes, I saw him and he is hot!!! How did you ever let that one get away?”
    I shook her away and then stole a glance at him. Yes, he was handsome, more handsome than I remembered. I sighed. It hurt to even look at him.
    The event drew towards the end. The last of the comedians and dancing troupes had concluded their acts and Michael’s sister gave her vote of thanks. Everyone was up and socializing. I got up. There was only one way to do this. If I was going to find out if my feelings for Michael would ever result in anything after all this time, then I was going to have to go to him.
    He was standing towards the front of the room, smiling and talking with a slender woman who, as far as I could see was being very receptive to whatever it was he was saying. Of course I had known that he might bring a date, but the sight was much more unamusing that the