Beautiful Mistakes

Seventeen

"They don't bite." Clara said quickly in an attempt to make me feel at ease, not only did it not work, but my anxiety levels hiked up. It was something about the way she said it, like she wasn't sure herself. Having many Christians in one room, I may not be able to handle.

Making our way into Ije's room, apparently she has a room here but she chose not to live here. But it didn't look like she wasn't staying here though. Everything was in place, everything a girl could ever need. Maybe she shuffled between both houses.

I was pushed into a chair and Clara removed the hair bonnet securing my hair and she gasped dramatically.

"Lord, what are we going to do about this?" She asked no one in particular. My hair was too much, honestly, I could imagine the horror on their faces. Clara had quite a volume of hair as well that she always kept braided but mine was too much. I wonder how my neck didn't hurt.

"What are you doing?" I shrieked in horror as Ije held up local hot combs. Not the electric hair straightener. Where did she even get those from?

"You have a mass of hair and you've broken two large combs in the last thirty minutes. So this is the only way honey. We don't have all day." She stated plainly, not sparing me a glance.

"Clara, please tell her to just drop those combs, what if they burn my scalp?" The comb already entered my thick mass of hair and pulled through without burning or killing me. Okay not bad.

After another fifteen minutes, my hair was done. I insisted in wearing something breathable and chose a long Ankara dress that was super simple yet beautiful. The Ankara came with a matching hair tie which I used to hold my hair up in an afro bun.

"You should keep this," Ije muttered with a smile. The dress well, it was Ije's and after rummaging through my closet and I didn't like anything I saw, Ije took me to her room and let me go through her stuff. The initial plan was to be adamant about not finding anything to wear and making Christian cancel this meet and greet sort of thing. But that didn't happen and here we are, all dressed up and ready. It was noon already.

"They are here." Clara said dryly. She was by the window and I went to her, mass of exotic cars parked in the compound and it made me nervous.

"Perfect." Ije clapped her hands, giving me one last look. She reached around her neck and unclasped her simple pearl necklace and fastened it around my neck. "You look even more perfect this way. Don't be nervous, it will end sooner than you think." I liked her confidence, she wasn't nervous like me or hesitant like Clara. Maybe it was because she born among these people. Nothing new.

"Ije, open the door." The voice boomed. Yeah yeah, we all know.

"Brother, don't shout like that." Clara mocked as she opened the door and Christian rolled his eyes. They all seemed pretty close. He even treated Clara with respect.

"Miss Lawal, we can begin." He stated and I snorted. He held out his hand and I hesitated for a split second before taking it. His large hand closed on my smaller one and he squeezed gently. If it was to intimidate or reassure me, I didn't know as my nervousness spiked up and I suddenly got cold feet.

We ventured down the stairs in silence and the muttering got closer. They all took seats at the large dining hall leaving the first chair and the one beside it for me and Christian.

All heads turned my direction as soon as we got to them and I gulped. These people looked normal? I wasn't sure what to think but they look like the people we see everyday. Nothing unusual but Christian looked like a normal person and look where that got me. I would have preferred if they plastered a gun on their foreheads. I mean I was prepared for quite an amount of weirdness and eerie danger but nothing normal.