His Suitable Bride ✔

Chapter one

Lagos, Nigeria.

The hooting of cars and the voices of traders calling out their wares to attract customers were the first things that greeted Toni as she stepped her feet out of the taxi that had just conveyed her to her destination. She pulled the mini traveling bag she brought with her from the whole of the USA closer to herself, knowing she was now in Lagos; one mistake you should never make is to be careless with your things. With moody eyes, she glanced around her surroundings, taking in the never-changing rushing that the people here seemed to always be doing, but it did nothing to make her feel lighthearted.

  "Aunty, you no buy pure water?"

  Toni looked at the little girl who had walked over to her with a bowl of sachet water, bottled water, soft drinks, and other goods, asking her if she wanted to buy water in Pidgin. She didn't feel thirsty in the least bit, but the smile on the little girl's face and the harsh reality of what this girl was going through pushed her to buy two bottles of water from her. She managed to dip one of her hands into her bag, then gave the girl a thousand naira note.

  "Aunty, I no get change."

  "Keep it," Toni said in a husky voice. The little girl's face lit up, and she thanked Toni almost a billion times before walking away to sell her wares to more people.

  Toni stood where she was for some minutes, wondering about what she was to do with the waters, then she saw a crippled man sitting on the sidewalk not too far away. She walked over to him, smiled, and gave him the water bottle. The man collected it, saying prayers that bounced right over her ears to her.

  A few feet away, the billboard sign caught her attention; she looked at the picture advertising Three Crown Milk. The lady in the commercial was spotting a smile, looking glamorous, confident, beautiful, happy, and everything she didn't feel like at that moment. Compared to her, she felt sad; her self-esteem had hit the bottom, her ugly appearance didn't cut out how she felt about herself, and her confidence was something out of the moon for her. The lady in the advert wore a red dress; her caramel skin was shining, her makeup was on point, and her hair was the best. While she was standing there, staring at the billboard, she was dressed in a gray baggy hoodie that defined her current mood and black jeans. She had on a face cap, and the hood was on to conceal her face, looking scrumpy as ever. Makeup, Noh, Nada, Zilch. She and the lady in the billboard were totally opposites.

  Although the glamorous lady from the billboard was one and the same as the scrumpy-looking lady, Toni didn't feel like Toni Davies at this point. She felt like a useless lump of dirt staring at a woman in paradise. A man shoved his way past her, nearly hurting her in the process, but it jolted her awake, reminding her that she needed to get moving.

  She walked briskly among the rushing crowds in the Ketu market, blending in, not standing out the way she would have if she was Toni Davies at this point. She squinted her eyes together, trying to locate her mum's store; she only hoped and prayed that this wouldn't end as a disaster. She wasn't sure if she would meet her mum at the store, but Toni knew there was nowhere else her mum would be right now. We all know how this woman behave, especially if they had workers as large as the one her mum had.

  That tiny little voice nudged her again, telling her she should have told her mum about her early arrival, but she hadn't felt like it. She knew if her mum was aware, she would have come to pick her up at the airport, but Toni didn't really feel up to anything.

   Dare's words echoed in her ears again as she made her way to the next street. "I'm sorry, Toni, my mum doesn't like the idea of me dating an actress."

  Yeah right! If his mum didn't like the idea, he shouldn't have dated her for so long, making her believe they had a future together. Everything seemed to be closing in on her, and she was glad when she finally located her mum's store.