Chapter 5

[Trevor's Pov]

Great! The day I've been waiting for is finally upon me, and my body can't help but feel jittery while shaking vigorously in nervousness just from thinking about it.

My joints are weak, and my knees feel useless.

What a situation.

It's 11 in the morning, and I'm in my room shitting on my pants.

My parents and a few village elders are preparing for the day.

Patricias' mom is also present, and they all look happy and in a good mood.

If only they knew that Patricia and l are just acting to be in love with each other for our personal gains.

She's doing this for her family while I'm doing this for myself.

Our acting has been pretty good. We've been spending time together in my room, and our parents were all convinced that we got along pretty fast.

Although all of this is acting, there's something upon us that we won't be able to pass through by mere acting alone.

And I'm talking about the virgin-breaking ceremony.

We can't get married if we don't do that, and there's no amount of acting in the world that can pull that off because they check the girl in the morning.

The only option is to do it, although I'm very nervous and uncomfortable about it.

I feel like it's not a good thing to do.

If I take her virginity and claim to marry her and then run away thereafter, she won't find another man to marry her easily.

Man in our village tend to marry only the virgin girls, but it's sarcastic because the same men are going around, sleeping with girls in the neighborhood and when it's time to marry, they want virgins. How absurd!!

It's just how society works, and in our village culture, a virgin girl is a real treasure. Even the parents can easily approve of a union between their sons and a virgin girl.

So, this is one of the reasons why I dont feel exhilarated about all this.

I don't want to rob Patricia of her treasure because once it's taken, it will never come back again for the rest of her life.

But for some reason, she said she doesn't care.

She's prepared to do anything even if it means giving up her treasure.

I understand how desperate she is, but it just doesn't feel right to me.

Besides, I'm also still a virgin, and I don't know if I'd be able to do it. I have zero experience in this, and what's scary is that parents would come in the morning to check if the ceremony was a success. What if I fail to do it.

What will they say in the morning?

"Ugh.... fuck that. Who cares what anyone would think . It's high time I look out for myself alone and stop caring about other irrelevant things.

If losing my virginity tonight means getting out of this situation and doing what my heart desires, then so be it.

Life is short anyway. I might die a virgin if I don't grab this opportunity with both hands.

Surprisingly, no matter how hard I try to assure myself, my body just can't stop shaking.

So, I switched on my mini speaker and started listening to music until I drifted off to Wonderland and woke up in front of a river.

It's foggy, and I can't see shit. The only thing I'm seeing are figures in the water calling me to get in and help them cross the river.

For some reason, my body moves on its own as I jumped into the river without hesitation.

When I got close to the people asking for help, I noticed that it was my mom and dad trying to swim with someone covering her face with some sort of a veil but the veil is dark and for some reason, it sent chilling vibes down my spine.

I ignored the person and tried helping my parents cross the river, then as we were about to cross it, a very big rock fell from the sky, but surprisingly,  it didn't hit any of us. It hit in between us, which was crazy, and separated me from them. The water in the river started flowing in different directions. I was flowing to the right direction, while my parents and this stranger were flowing to the left direction.

The atmosphere around became intense and violent, accompanied by thunderstorms. As the violent waters carried me forcefully, I saw a waterfall up ahead of me, and the pressure of the water was too much.  I knew that if I fell there, there was nowhere I'd survive so, I started screaming "help" , on the top of my voice, and as I was about to fall to what seemed like my death, someone caught me and whispered, "I've got you" in an angelic voice and before I saw the person's face, I woke up.

It was a dream!!!!! Again!! Goddammit -  a scary one of that matter.

My face was already drenched in sweat.  I checked the time on my phone, and it was already 1700.

The sun is about to set, and Patricia is surely on her way here.

"Anyway, whew... that was a scary dream.

It's strange. I don't usually dream, and when I do, I'd be dreaming about that girl, but ever since I met her last week, I haven't been dreaming about her even once.

In fact, I haven't been dreaming at all. Well, until now.

But, who cares. It's not like dreams have some sort of meaning to me. They are just irrelevant in one's life.

Suddenly, as I was still thinking, someone opened my door, and it was my young brother.

"Ayoo, man. It's smelling like a rat died in here, and the room is junky. What are you doing?

"Just mind your own business, Aleck. I'm not in the mood for your critics right now. 

"OH.... I'm sorry, angry bird, lol. I was just checking up on you to see if you haven't hanged up yourself yet.  Y'know. From nervousness. 

"Bruh... fuck you. Why would I hang myself.

"Hahaha, for obvious reasons of cause. The girl is coming over, and we both know how nervous you are, my virgin big brother, "he said in a very mocking tone.

I got a little angry and ran to slap him, but the little rascal dodged me and went out and started talking through the window. 

"Bruh.... father said you should go and bathe. Mom and the other village elders will come and set the room up for the ceremony. Don't say I didn't tell you. The time is ticking! OH... and before I go, good luck, man. Show that girl who's the boss..... or maybe not, hahaha ha, "he laughed, walking away.

What a pain of a brother he is. I'm definitely going to teach him a lesson in one of these days, but for now. Let me concentrate on the situation at hand.

Without delaying, I took my bathing kit and went to bathe.

As I was bathing, my brother came to the bathroom with clothes to change and other things, and said my room is occupied now. Mom and others have begun preparing for the ceremony, so after bathing, I should go outside to where men were sitting.

I hissed as l listened to that,  then after bathing and changing to our traditional attire, I went out, and it was already getting dark. There was a big fire on the other side of the yard where my father and other married men gathered while eating meat, and on the other side was a big fire as well, where woman were cooking.

Damn....they took this seriously than I thought they would.

When I made my presence known to the men, they all started cheering and welcoming me.

My father started calling me with our totems.

"Sibanda.... weVodlozoza. Mfanami uDawuduna. You are getting married today, my boy. I'm very proud of you, and soon, I'd be a grandfather "he said, smiling and patting my head.

The other men started cheering, and then after that, we were served meat again.

My father slaughtered a cow, so there's a lot of meat.

As we started eating, the men started lecturing me on how to handle a woman in both life and in bed.

I hate to admit it, but their lectures were fun to listen to. These old men are really feisty, lol. If only they knew what's really going on, they wouldn't be putting so much effort in this, but thanks to them, I felt a little hope in my heart that I was going to get through this situation with ease.

In simple words, I feel sort of exhilarated. 

As they were busy lecturing me, we heard noise from the women's side. They were all ullulating and clapping hands. That's what Africans do when a bride comes.

"Nangu'Makoti!!! (Here comes the bride)   lululululululuuuuuu lulu lulu.

And in that moment, my heart started beating fast in my chest, and I just felt like disappearing into thin air, but there was no escaping this. I had to face this situation head-on.

I looked in the woman's direction and saw her, dressed in a very beautiful African attire and getting out of a donkey cart that she used for transport.

My mom and other ladies started dancing and singing our traditional songs.

Damn.... what a pain!!