When A Playboy Loves

|| 15.

King

Smile. Wave. Don't stand too long with a group.

That was the mantra I had been chanting since the movie ended. Minus the stiffness in my cheeks from fake smiling for too long, it was working, my sanity was intact. No one bothered me as I stood alone, just watching strange and familiar faces shake hands, mingle, tell dry jokes to each other.

Thankfully, Umar was still talking to his costars; Uche and Cynthia, my favourite celebrity couple, were making funny faces at the camera. While, Lola and Tomiwa were off somewhere, doing what engaged couples do. So, no one noticed my sour mood or constant glances at my wristwatch until I finally slipped away.

Another peek at my wrist showed the time was past seven, still, there was no sign of her.

I shouldn't have felt this way, hell, I half-expected her to be absent, after all, she never called to ask for directions. Yet, that knowledge didn't lessen the hurt or stop me from hoping as my eyes continued to roam this large, expensively decorated room.

On a good day, I would have been awed at the beauty of this hall that they had -by some miracle- been able to convert to a semi hall of fame. But, everything annoyed me. The lights were too bright, the supposed red carpet wasn't even red, it was maroon coloured.

Worse of all was the lustful looks that were thrown my way by both men and women. I was nauseated, about ready to smack the back of the head of the next person to wink at me.

She could have been held back by traffic or was delayed by the numerous stops on her way here. The optimistic part of me tried to reason but I mentally shut it up; there was no excuse.

"Guy, what's up, where have you been?" Junior's hand landed painfully on my back with a thud, jolting me out of my thoughts.

Doesn't he know that shit is painful? And where the hell did he come from?

"Here," I growled out in response, wrenching his arm off my shoulder. My action earned me a questioning look and an eye roll from him but his arms stayed put by his side.

He took a step back from me and I used that chance to inspect his odd but perfect choice of outfit. Usually, when we needed to attend fashion events, Cynthia would style us but since she announced her pregnancy, Uche was having none of that.

Reverting my attention back to Junior - the shiniest pair of black brogues graced his feet, a white collared shirt paired with a blue jacket and black trousers that were sewn to perfection hugged his body. He finished off his young CEO look with his signature glasses, appearing dapper with an innocent face that was the cause of many heartbreaks.

"What are you even wearing?" He eyed my outfit with distaste, struggling with his black bowtie that soon found its way into his pocket.

Annoyance crept into my voice when I gave a reply to his question, "clothes." There was nothing wrong with the black Senator I was putting on, except for the fact that it wasn't a suit or anything at all like the clothe Vincent had sewn for me.

If it were someone else, I would have been more careful with my response, even tried to tone down my irritation but this was Junior. We had more embarrassing moments together than we did with anyone else.

What I didn't expect was for his lips to break into a smile, revealing pearly white teeth. I found myself shaking my head, he was yet to speak but whatever he was about to say couldn't be good.

"I know exactly what you need." He pulled my arms with surprising agility, ignoring my protests as we headed towards the entrance, where a few females were posing for the paparazzi.