𝙻𝚘𝚟𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙱𝚒𝚕𝚕𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚊𝚒𝚛𝚎'𝚜 𝚂𝚘𝚗.

Chapter 21

Femi walked swiftly into the large hall which was the venue for the engagement party. The entire place was brimming with guests, and he wondered if he arrived a bit too late. Over the night, he had been wondering what he would do to be able to stop the wedding from happening. He needed to stop it, because he knew his best friend wasn't happy with it. And he never wanted his best friend to end up with someone he wouldn't be able to stand.

However, Damola was more than irritated with everyone present at the party — well, excluding his friends: Femi and Wole. He had other friends present at the party, but Femi and Wole were the ones he felt most comfortable with. And in addition to his worries, he worried if Kunmi would be present at the engagement party. She had told him that she would be there, along with her aunt's family, but he wasn't sure if she would keep to her words. Perhaps something came up, he settled at that.

"Cheer up," Femi offered him a small smile, and gave him a light pat on the back. "I'm sure things will go well. Just do one thing for me; pretend to enjoy the party. Trust me... I won't let this wedding happen. But for now? Just pretend to be happy. We don't want anyone to get suspicious about anything, now do we?" Femi's last words got Damola's interest a lot piqued.

"Please tell me you have a plan! My guy, please tell me you do!" Damola exclaimed, whilst grabbing Femi by the shoulder.

Femi chuckled. "Yes. But I won't tell you what it is. Just do me a favour and play along." Damola smiled, with gratitude brimming in his orbs of chocolate brown.

"Thank you, man. Thank you. Everyone deserves a friend like you." Then they both shared a brief hug.

"By the way, is the girl you like going to attend this party? Does she even know it's happening? Did you keep her in the dark? Are you two cool or what?" Femi's eyes held a thousand and one questions, but Damola was only willing to keep him in the dark for a little while longer. Damola still felt it wasn't in his place to tell Femi of Kunmi's presence in Abuja. Nor the fact that she was, in fact, the girl he was talking about, of whom he liked. Of course he knew Femi would find it a bit crazy, but, he had promised Kunmi his silence. And he would keep that promise to her.

"We're... Going through issues. Things aren't exactly going smoothly between us, and— I guess I'll leave it at that. I'm not even sure if she's coming for the engagement party. She probably wouldn't... And she probably doesn't feel hurt cause she probably, sorta, maybe, doesn't have feelings for me at all. I know, ouch." Damola heaved a sad sigh afterwards, and Femi's eyes softened at him.

Femi felt that all that was happening right now wasn't exactly going in Damola's favour. And to him? Damola didn't deserve any of this, and it wasn't because Damola was his friend. No. It was because Femi knew Damola was a good person. Sure, Damola was a chronic flirt, and had fun having numerous flings and remained the backbone to more than a few broken hearts (unintentionally)... But he helped others, made everyone feel happy, and would joke about even the worst things that would happen to him - just so the people he cared about wouldn't get worried over him. He was the kind of person that was selfless, and Femi really did feel a lot bad about this entire situation.

"Don't worry. I don't think I've heard of a girl that never got smitten by the Damola charm. This girl must've cracked a bit." Femi tried to soothe his friend, but it only made Damola feel worse because Femi was being worried over him. And being the selfless, idiotic douche Damola was - he simply brushed the comment aside.

"Not this girl," a painful smile, one that showed pure hurt, displayed on Damola's lips. Then, a sigh escaped from his lips, too. "Forget that. It doesn't matter if she feels the same way or not. I'll be married to Chelsea in a few weeks. And so, it'd only hurt her to find out about something like that. So it's good she isn't reciprocating the feelings. She doesn't deserve to get hurt 'cause of me. Perhaps it's for the best that we both remain friends. That way, everyone's happy." A sad chuckle escaped Damola's lips, and no matter how much he tried to smile, the hurt was clearly evident in his eyes.