Titi Iku: Until Death (Sequel To Irikuri)

32 - Until it Starts

I've always hated getting my hair done. But, I was the first to admit that some sacrifices were worth it (I had to be, considering Ade and I both had higher kill counts than body counts). As I looked at the braids stacked upon my head in a wide, regal, bun adorned with gold cuffs, I decided the sacrifice of seven hours in the chair may just have been worth it.

Those seven hours didn't include the hour I just spent sitting in a makeup chair arguing about nose contour. Under normal circumstances, I would've texted Ade complaining the whole time. But today? Today, I decided to tune out all negative energy and celebrate one of the biggest achievements of my husband's life. Finally he could take pride in the company built off of his blood, sweat, and sheer genius.

I'll admit that at times I couldn't tell whether I was celebrating the relaunch of the company or the relaunch of our lives. We had practically been living in hiding for the past few months and it almost felt like being kidnapped all over again. But, it was worth it. Once the new brand and the changes that have been made were brought to the public eye, not only would we have the protection of public opinion, but there also wouldn't really be an incentive to hurt Ade. If anyone was upset about the company rebranding, the best time to kill Ade would have been before everyone knew what he was doing and who would be upset about it. To do anything now would be asking for an uproar and would also guarantee that whoever took over the company would have nothing to pick up but ashes.

Ade had survived this long, and he would continue to do so. I knew it. I smiled in the mirror and forced down my nervousness at the prospect of my face being plastered everywhere the next morning. I would've been completely fine with Ade sneaking me in the back of the event like a hooker, but he insisted on having this be our first formal outing as a couple and made a whole big deal out of it. Now I was going to be walking into the event with a thousand different cameras in my face. I didn't sign up for the whole publicity aspect of this marriage but, again, sacrifices. My eyes darted up in the mirror as I heard heavy footsteps coming towards me. Ade came to hold me from behind as I continued inspecting my appearance.

"You finally finished giving that make-up artist hell?" He kissed my shoulder

"You heard?"

"Yeah I was coming to get my cologne but I decided to leave y'all alone. You were really going in."

"Oh. I'm sorry. You didn't need to hear all that on your big da-"

"Stop acting like I'm launching a new model of the human race today. It's really not that serious." He chuckled and sat on the bedroom sofa, pulling me down with him onto his lap. "You were upset. What happened?"

"I mean...Okay so my nose is wide as fuck, right? I get it. I could contour it if I wanted and nothing would be wrong with that. Hell on certain days I might. But to tell me that my natural nose was gonna be "undefined" without contour when that's literally just how my black ass looks feels disrespectful. Like I'm not even talking about a little contour, she had my nose looking pointy and everything then wanted to have an attitude when I said to take that shit off. It feels like some people want me to think I'm ugly so bad for just existing and it gets tiring constantly convincing myself otherwise." Ade just looked at me with bewilderment and analyzed my nose like a foreign object. I covered it with my hand in irritation but he swatted it away.

"You know how they say love is blind?"

"Yes?"

"Well then I'm clearly not a reliable source. I wouldn't know even if you looked like trash. But in all fairness, the first time I saw you I wasn't in love with you. You weren't even wearing makeup. But all I could think was that you had the most compelling face I had ever seen."