The Promise

33) Aurora

I stare at my reflection, wearing a cream silk dress that clings to every curve in my body. It reaches my ankles with long sleeves and two huge cuts; one bares the milky skin of my back, and the other split starts at the beginning of my thigh, cascading until my feet, which have two white heels. My hair is in a loose up do to show the details of the dress and the necklace.

I'm applying the last of my makeup and perfume when Dionne barges into my room, "Ro, are you ready, yet- Wow"

She's wearing a short royal blue long sleeved dress too, with her brown locks down and a pair of earrings and a necklace, blue matching heels as well.

"Di, you look gorgeous!"

She's silent her mouth apart.

"Di?"

"Huh? Who's Di? Who's any girl rather than you? You'll eat them up!"

I giggle, "Di, don't say that!"

"Shut up and give me a hug, you look ravishing!" she says engulfing me in a hug.

We pull away, "Thanks for the color recommendation, babe"

She waves it off, "It was Mughrabi actually"

I roll my eyes at the mention of his name then realize what she said, "What? What do you mean?"

"He's the one who recommended it, I asked about colors and he said cream white"

"You should've told me, but it's too late, we'll talk later though"

"Ro, you accepted him, what happened?"

"Nothing"

She nods respecting my privacy and we head out for the car.

We arrive at the avenue; it's crowded not like the days I and the other interns came here to finish the organizations.

Music plays in the background and we great people as we pass by.

I look around, still no sign of him. He's always on time, why's he late? That doesn't concern me anyway.

"Ro! You look so pretty!" Zaira exclaims throwing her arms around my shoulders.

"You look amazing yourself, Z!" she's wearing a black short dress as always, with her hair up and heels.

The speech is said by Dionne then businessmen and women start gathering, some dance, some talk and I hear some flirt.

Dareen comes into my view clad in a black long dress with her thighs and cleavage on display, hair up.

"Hi, Aurora," she says and she kisses both of my cheeks and I nod respectfully, "Hello, Miss", she assesses me and pulls me aside,

"You look so good tonight, Aurora, you'll be something great in the future considering you're Mughrabi's intern, but let me tell you; open your eyes well to your surroundings; you're too cute for our world, baby" I suppress the urge to roll my eyes and muster a smile instead, "I will".

Dionne comes pulling me towards her, "Sorry, Dareen; I'll have to take, Aurora away it's dance time" She pulls me away before she responds.

"Di, I won't dance today. He's not here."

"I don't know where is he. I called 4 times; all went to voicemail." She sighs.

"It'll be fine, you go it's about to start"

"You'll have to do it"

"Without him?"

"Yes, you'll be in the middle"

"Yes, Dionne I know our position, but no I can't. Not alone"

"You can do anything alone, Ro; look at you in a huge country all alone"

My breath starts to quicken and my hands start to shake, I reach for my rings.

"You'll be fine, Sweetie" she says softly and the song starts, she looks around and I nod and tell her, "Go, I'll be fine".

I take a deep breath when I see the couples gather around the dance floor starting the routine, I've practiced a lot with him in the past weeks. I can't do this alone, as much as I despise him, he's the only one who can comfort me in this.

I start to freak out when couples start to part in front of me, then a strong arm wraps around me pulling me into his warmth and his familiar cologne.

I close my eyes taking a deep breath and open them to find us in the middle of the couples on the dance floor.

He looks like a fallen angel; dark locks frame his face, face smoothly shaved showing his sharp jaw and cheekbones, clad in a black shirt that clings to him with the top two bottoms undone and black pants as well.

He looks into my eyes, his eyes caressing me and he gives me his smile that we only share. At that moment, I forget about our fight, I forget about my discovery that he's stalking and following me everywhere and I focus on him and his warmth that relaxed my whole body.

Our bodies follow the routine we practiced, but our eyes and souls connect forgetting the whole room and people around us. I let my hands hold onto his shoulders as an anchor because I can't seem to trust my legs right now.

He guides us perfectly leaning in to whisper, "You're doing a good job, dove" I take a deep breath focusing on him.

"That's it, baby. Focus on me. Just me, I'm sorry I left you alone. I'm so sorry." He murmurs in the side of my head and I find myself doing something I never expected; I rest my head on his chest, letting him in, just once, just tonight.

The music comes to an end and all the couples start to compliment us, we pull away, but I still feel him everywhere; I still feel his warm hands around me.

I leave his side as I look for an exit when I find it, I rush its way. The place is in a closed hall, I need air.