After Love

Chapter 11 - I Thee Wed

I yelled, "To you and Jessica." as we raised our glasses.

We always joked that I'd be the first to marry and he would be the first to have a child but life had other plans.

I was now on my second child and Kyle was getting married in 3 weeks. It had been a month since he and his family surprised her family with the letter and the negotiations were concluded.

They were happy he tried to perform the cultural rights needed of him. Jessica's father expected nothing but a white wedding, so he was most pleased that he would send his only daughter off the right way. Her uncles were glad she brought home a man with money and her aunts weren't too happy she was the first to marry amongst her cousins but everyone played their part even Namisa.

Kyle and Namisa's used to be the closest of friends. Their friendship was something lost as a consequence of our break up. It was never anything inappropriate, they spoke mostly when I was around and texted when Namisa was struggling to reach me or Kyle wanted to plan a surprise for me and he needed her help.

Despite his goofy demeanour, Kyle was very knowledgeable and that's where their friendship stemmed from. Namisa loved the way Kyle's mind worked and Kyle enjoyed Namisa's ability to hold herself in a debate. I used to tell him that she just loves the sound of her own voice but with time I learnt to appreciate her ability to state her opinion without allowing bias affect her comprehension.

Namisa was always terrible at acknowledging another's emotions or anything that went against something her emotions were invested in but she could state her case and absorb another's perception without belittling them. She just wouldn't care what they had to say, she was a "agree to disagree" person to the core of her being.

"Hurry up, we don't want to be late for dinner." , Kyle said as he finished his drink.

"It was your idea that we have pre-celebration drinks." , I responded.

He shook his head, "You should have talked me out of it".

"I was trying to be a good best man," I said as we paid the bill and ran off to the car.

I thought he would ask one of his cousins to be his best man. I was a bit surprised when he told me he wanted me by his side when he marries Jessica. When I told my mother about my shock, she told me she wasn't surprised. She said that Kyle didn't see me as his friend but his brother and it only made sense that he'd ask me.

My brother was getting married and I couldn't be happier for him.

He threw me the keys and quickly came on our playlist. Our 'Celebrating Life' playlist with songs we used to keep us motivate and appreciate the strides we'd made. The drive began on such a high, with the music turned up loud and rapping along to Meek Mill's Amen.

However as we continued to drive to the golf estate, I could see he was lost in his thoughts; staring outside the window. He hardly said a word and occasionally sang along to the radio. Nothing but silence, which was something out of character for him.

"Are you okay Kyle?"

He turned and looked at me.

"Can you believe it? I'm getting married man.", he said with a smile on his face.

"Yeah man. Are you excited?".

"For the wedding? Not really, it's just a huge party basically but to spend the rest of my life with her? Yes... Definitely... She makes everything better man".