35

"He did not say he would not. He only meant that he wouldn't make it right in time before the party begins. That means he wouldn't come before your father, the celebrant," Agnes explained to her husband.
"He wouldn't come before the celebrant," he repeated and let out a low laugh.
"Why wouldn't he be able to come? Did he give you a justifiable reason, as to why he would not come or does he expect to wallow in his blatant lie without any reasonable excuse?"
"Ethan my boy," a familiar voice called from behind them.
He hesitated before turning to see the person.
"Hello, uncle."
"My only nephew, why are you so tensed up about the presence of my son? Whether he comes or not, that should not bother you, besides you and I know that you hate to see him," Marcus's dad said.
Agnes looked at her husband but after a little while, her eyes darted to the face of Mr. Arnold Moore, Marcus's father.
Ethan smiled faintly, "if you can explain to me what you just said, then it shall have a meaning to me."
Arnold Moore laughed. "Come on son, It is not a new thing or are you pretending because your wife is here. It is high time you bring her to light and make her know that you have been bearing a grudge against us. You intentionally deceived us and made us not to come to your wedding. What have I and my son done to deserve your ill treatment towards us?"
There was a pregnant pause.
Agnes looked confused and yes, she knew that her husband did not like his relatives but what she did not understand was why he would keep them in the dark about their wedding.
"What was happening? Uncle can you please hit the nail hard on the head and set the record straight," Ethan voiced out, his face looking so unfriendly.
"Oh my gosh, Ethan take a look at your face. Why are you acting as if you do not know that I am joking? Have you a bad conscience for something that is not true? Ethan you always make me laugh, I was only playing a prank on you."
Agnes heaved a sigh of relief, like father like son, always joking.
Ethan smiled, "come on uncle, I just gave you a real reaction or have you forgotten that your niece was once an actor. Come on I just reacted as supposed. So where is my brother, Marcus?"
"He had gone to handle something in our upgrading company. He will soon arrive. Try one of these days to come and visit your uncle's company."
"For what?" Ethan said, pretending to be joking but he really needed an answer.
"You are a good business man, having you in our country will only add great profit to our company," Arnold said, exhibiting friendship.
Ethan smiled. "I will be looking at my schedule to check when I can have a free time. You know I am almost as busy as a bee everytime but for your sake I shall squeeze out as tiny as a time for you and your company. Excuse I and my wife," he said, taking Agnes by the hand. They both left.
"Such foolish boy," Arnold muttered under his breath.
"Your uncle is such a funny and nice man. Now I see where your cousin, Marcus, inherited his funny and nice personality," Agnes said.
"If you are so fond of them, why not go and get married to him or even his father," Ethan suggested to her angrily and walked away.
"Come on darling," Agnes said, walking behind him.
"I was just speaking the truth."
"I am not interested in what you have to say Agnes, so please just keep away from me," he said and walked away in a hurry.
"Why are you acting so strange, Than?" She asked, trying to understand why he was angry.
"Are you jealous or what?" She asked him, trying to hide her laughter.
"Do you think I could ever be jealous and even if I were to be jealous, you would not be standing this close to me," he fumbled.
"How Than? Would you beat me up?"
Ethan stopped walking and looked at her. "Not you but Marcus. I shall talk to you later, bye for now," he said and left.
Agnes watched him walk away, there was this unexplainable smile on her face.
x x x x x x x x x
Finally the host of the party arrived in a grand style.
Ethan went to him. "Hey Dad you look so splendid in this outfit of yours.
"Thank you son," his father replied.
"Welcome dad," he said to him.
"So where is my beautiful daughter in law, I guess this is the right time for me to meet her," the old man said to his son.
He smiled at him. "It is time for you to meet her. Wait her and I will go and get her for you," he said to his dad and left at once.
The old man patiently waited for his son and his daughter in law. As for Ethan, he went deeper into the Hall, in search of his wife.
While looking for Agnes, he bumped into his best friend, Clinton.
"Hey man, what's up?" Clint asked him.
"I'm good bro," he replied.
"So what is happening?" Clinton asked him.
"I have to go now, I will get back to you later. Dad wants to meet Agnes but I can't find her," he detailed to his best friend.
He walked out immediately, Clinton ran after him. "Hey bro, I think I saw her around the entrance of the back door," Clinton revealed to him.
"Thanks buddy." He said and ran towards the back door.
When Ethan got there, he saw Agnes ordering the guards on how to do their duty and some of the waiters on how to serve. He really admired the great job she was doing, all for a man that she had no idea of. He walked up to her and dismissed all of the servants, whom she was talking to.
"Than, why did you tell them to go, I was still giving them details on they should carry out each of the tasks," she whined.
"Forget about all of that, there is something much more important for you to do," he said to her, with a big smile plastered on his face.
"What would be more better than making your father's birthday the best ever," she answered, with her hands on her chest and her eyes intently on him.
"Meeting him is more important don't you think so?" He asked her.
"What? Meeting... Him?" She stammered, immediately she realized what her husband had just said to her.
"Wait a minute, what did you just say?" She asked him.
Ethan smiled widely at her, "my dad is calling for you," he answered swiftly.
"Really? Why did you not tell me these much earlier?" She asked and slapped his shoulder.
"You had better stop talking and come with me. You never can tell what may happen next," he said to her.
"Alright, let's go," she said to him, feeling so glad.
They both walked to where Ethan had left his father but on reaching the spot, he wasn't there anymore.
"Where is he?" Agnes asked Ethan, as she looked around.
"I don't know, maybe he was tired of waiting," he replied.
"What do you mean by he was tired of waiting?" She asked.
"Well he asked me to call you like about twenty minutes ago," he replied.
"Twenty minutes?" She asked, staring at him like he was the reason for all the delay.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" He asked.
"Why didn't you call me when he asked you to?" She fired at him angrily but in an undertone.
"I was looking for you," he answered plainly, not wanting to get into any form of argument with her.
"Ohh," she mouthed. "You could have at least, tried reaching me through the cell phone."
"I don't have my phone with me."