©Haryormideh Ayeni
Chapter 1
— ALLISON —
“Wake up silly girl” mum hit me with a pillow.
I rolled over and fell on the floor with tangled sheets
“What’s it mum?” I opened my eyes
“The prince is coming tomorrow and when he comes, he’s picking a bride and going back” she said
“Congratulations to him in advance, now can I continue sleeping?”
“No you can’t” she hit me with the pillow again “get up, we’re going to get you a dress”
“Why?” I asked
“Because you’re going to present yourself to the prince”
“Why?”
“So you can get married”
“Why?”
“So you can leave the house”
“Why?”
“So we can have rest of mind”
“Am I disturbing?”
“You have no idea, get down in fifteen minutes”
“Okay” I mumbled
I stood up and watch her go, she gave me parting glare before closing the door.
I’m Allison, the eldest child of my parents.
I have two other siblings who are adorable and a pain in the ass.
Since I finished high school, I made no plans to go to college because I didn’t want to.
Instead I start doing part time jobs and give my salary to homeless people.
I can’t give my hard earned money to my parents, they’re making their money too so I don’t need to give them mine and they know they have to provide food for me, maybe that’s they’re trying to get me married out.
I took my bath and dressed up quickly.
I wore a faded jeans and a black hoodie with sneakers.
I opened my room window and sneaked out as quietly as I could and ran into the streets.
I don’t have friends not to talk of best friends, I’m always on my own. No one wants to be friends with me and I understand why.
I’m a weird person.
It won’t take long before mum finds out I’ve gone so I ran faster till I got to an uncompleted building.
I don’t want to get married especially to a prince who I’ve heard all about his sex escapades.
— TYLER—
“My baby, welcome home” mum hugged me and kissed my cheeks
I huffed and rolled my eyes when she released me.
“Hey Brenda” I shouted by sister’s name instead
She came running down in excitement and hugged me.
“Thank you Tyler” she said into my ears
“Anything for you” I replied
“Go get ready, you’re picking a bride tomorrow morning” mum said
“Fine” I replied and went to my room with my sis trailing behind me telling me about her boyfriend.
“What about Father?” I asked
“He went out for a stroll” she replied
“Okay”
I decided to come home so I left Jerry in charge of the office till tomorrow.
By tomorrow, I should be back with my supposed bride.
The Next day,
—ALLISON—
I entered my room late yesterday night through my bedroom window and met a very angry mum sitting on my bed.
“Mumm” I gave a small smile
“Where are you coming from?” She threw a book at me
“No where” I dodged the book
“I waited for ages!!” She screamed
“Calm down mum, you’ll wake the entire neighborhood”
“I don’t care”
“Can we talk about it later in morning, I want to sleep”
“No, we aren’t sleeping” she stated matter-of-factly.
“Why?” I asked in horror
“We are dressing you up and getting you prepared for the ceremony this morning” she replied
“Won’t I need a beauty sleep?” I tried again.
“No you aren’t, now go to the bathroom, I prepared your bath”
Mum followed me to the bathroom and stood at the entrance as I took my bath.
By the time the sun broke out, I couldn’t recognize myself.
I felt like an alien.
“My child is so beautiful” mum kept saying.
I didn’t sleep a wink and my eyelids are getting heavy.
“Promise me you’ll attend the ceremony Allison” mum looked into my eyes pleading.
“I promise I will but on one condition” I smiled to reassure her.
“What’s it?”
“I’ll take my bag with me”
“Okay” she smiled and hugged me.
I took my bag and head out
“Good luck, we’ll be there very soon” my parents and siblings said before I went out, heading to the ceremony.
—TYLER—
I stood next to Dad and watched the maidens squirming, excitement filled the air. I looked at each of them, none of them meets my Ideal type of woman.
“If after ten minutes, you don’t pick a bride, I’ll pick one for you and there’s no going back” mum came to whisper in my ear
I continued staring straight ahead, ignoring her.
“Let the ceremony begin” Dad announced.
Each came out and gave a description of themselves, they all are attractive and wore beautiful clothes.
Halfway into the ceremony, a young girl came in with paint stained baggy clothes, her hair was loose and wild.
Her face was smeared with clay and sweaty.
Her nails were long and dirty, she wore an oversized cowboy boots on her feets.
It looked like she had borrowed her clothes from an obese man.
She kept yawning and looking around with a bored look
My sister tapped me, jolting me back to reality.
The second to the last girl was already giving a description of herself.
“My name is Jade, I’m a black beauty, I’ll be a good mother to your children and I’m good in bed” she stopped and blushed before continuing ” I’m a very good cook and a fashionista”
I shook my head in irritation.
“Next!” Mom called
“Allison by name, bad cook, foodie, I eat meats raw. I love playing with sands, I give everyone one around me high blood pressure, I’m a sadist. I hate humans and disturbance too. Sleeping and walking is my hobby. I’ll be a bad mother to your future children. Hot tempered. I can wear pyjamas to a store. My current mode of dress is to show how unimportant even you are”
A collective gasp arose from the crowds.
“Allison!” An older woman screamed in horror.
” I hate going out” she continued “and I’m so bored now, I want to sleep, so choose a damn bride so I can go back to bed” she let out a yawn and didn’t even cover her mouth.
“Oh, before I forget, I’m uneducated. I didn’t attend school at all and I have bad habits”.
I was shocked for minutes, I couldn’t say anything.
“You have two minutes to pick a bride or I do so for you” mum reminded.
I looked around and shook my head in disapproval. “I don’t want to get married”
“Your sister” mum threatened.
I kept silent and stared into space.
My mind reeling with the last girl’s word.
“Time up” mum whispered before addressing the crowd. “Thank you everyone for participating. We’ve chosen a perfect bride for our prince and the wedding will take place this night.”
The crowd cheered.
“Our chosen bride is Allison!” Mum announced
The ground became silent you could hear a pin drop.
“What??!!!” Allison and I screamed together in shock.
“Remember you have no choice my dear” mum smiled cheekily at me.
I turned back to look at Allison and found her glaring daggers at me.
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