A lovely day it was with birds chirping in the nearby trees happy for the rain the previous night. One could see children skipping about playfully in the streets elated by the cool breeze that came down from the east to the west. Flowers bloomed beautifully luring one to stop and stare at them for a moment. I reached my friend Elena’s place at 11:30am, as I was to pick her up for our lunch date downtown.

“Ooh my, looking dazzling today are we?” she said, as she looked me up and down with a wide grin pasted on her face.

“Daring right?” I said as I twirled around to showcase my figure-hugging dress that clung to my body revealing a tiny waist with round hips.

It had a low cut neck that showcased my well-rounded cleavage, which compared to those superstar models. Truthfully, this was my first time wearing something this provocative and oh, boy was I in love with myself. My light brown skin complemented the maroon dress beautifully and left no room for criticism. I had put on some makeup to complete my look for the day.

Grinning from eye to eye we set off in Elena’s car excited for our date at one of the high-class restaurants in town. As we went to pay for our meal, the cashier smiled and said, “Please ladies your bill has been cleared by the gentleman over there,” pointing in the direction of the table opposite where we sat for our meal.

“Oh! Okay, thank you then,” Elena said to the cashier and pulled to the side. “Girl this dress sure has worked wonders for us! I mean can you see that hot stuff over there! I’m telling you, if you don’t go over there now and get his number I sure will,” she squealed with the most devious grin I’d ever seen on her face.

I shyly went over and thanked him for paying our meal and lord! His voice was to die for as he shook my hand, followed by a “My pleasure”. My God, those dimples on that clean-shaven face turned my legs into wobbly jelly. I drowned in those deep blue eyes that seemed to enthral me with a spell I couldn’t escape.

“Okay Jen, time to go before you make a fool of yourself,” my brain said but my body stood rooted to the spot still holding his hand.

I came to my senses when one of his friends coughed loudly only to realise that I wasn’t the only one who had fallen deep into the abyss. I don’t even know how we arrived at Elena’s place as my brain was still muddled.

“You have fallen hard J, look at you girl, the world can end and you won’t even know it, I’m so happy for you girl,” she said as she looked at me playfully with a genuine smile on her face, hugging me.

That’s how my fate with Allen began. Days turned into weeks and finally we were celebrating our second wedding anniversary since that fateful meeting. We didn’t plan any extravagant celebration, instead Al, as I like to call him, prepared a romantic dinner for us in our garden. Everything was so romantic and reminded me of how I had fallen in love with this man as we danced slowly to the soft music. Suddenly Al collapsed lifelessly in my arms. I shouted at the top of my lungs calling out his name as I shook him. The neighbours came rushing to help and the last thing I remembered was Al’s pale face which looked so lifeless. I woke up to find Elena sobbing pitifully at my side with my brother holding her, my mother-in-law sat in a corner with my aunt with a forlorn look in her eyes and she seemed to have aged a few years. This picture alone crushed my heart and told me what I didn’t want to hear. I wailed as my mom confirmed my suspicions and she hugged me comfortingly.

“No! Baby! Baby! No! Please God this can’t be!” I shouted uncontrollably as I couldn’t believe that my Al was gone just like that because of a sudden heart attack.

This day marked the end of my life with Al and I came to a realisation that the clock is always ticking so we should live and love while we still have the time.

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