SNOWFLAKE

I fell in love with love at a very early age. I wouldn't say I was fully aware of what it was when I first had the feeling, but I recognized it as something strong, strange and addictive, even from the very first moment. It was something my young mind couldn't really understand, but it never stopped me from feeling what I felt, and ever since then, I fell in love every time, anytime, over and over.

I was six when I had my first love. It was love at first sight.

I was attending a wedding with an aunt of mine, aunty Flora. Then the little bride and groom strolled in ahead of the couple during the procession. I took one look at the little groom and all I wanted to do was replace the little bride, take her gown and hold his hand in her stead. He was this cute, bubbly little thing, looking all handsome and like a small man in his smart blue tuxedo. His skin glowed as if it was illuminated from within and his smile was as ravishing as it was charming, so that even to my young and naive mind, it did a lot of things that I did not understand and I felt a lot of things that I had never felt before. He was a child of one of the big men who came from the city to attend the wedding. It was the wedding ceremony of the village chief's daughter, so there were a lot of strangers who had come all the way from the city to be in attendance. There were so many of them, as if an entire city had followed the couples down to the village to celebrate their marriage. It was very obvious that they knew a lot of people. Rich and influential people from the way their wedding guests were dressed and by the cars they rode. The wedding venue was packed full with several expensive cars, we had to squeeze through a garage full of expensive cars to get into the venue. The couple themselves lived in the city, they only brought the wedding down to the village to honor the bride's parents.

I tapped my aunty Flora and pointed at the little groom as he strolled down the aisle, past our pew.

"Aunty, I want to marry him." I said.

Aunty Flora laughed so loud people turned in our direction. She had to stifle her laughter to avert their gazes and attention.

"Regina, what do you know about marriage?" She said still fighting back bouts of laughter.

"When a man and a woman marry." I told her. She laughed aloud again. This time, the woman sitting beside us tapped her a little and she apologized to the woman.

"My niece is cracking me up." She said and went ahead to reveal to the stranger the little secret desire I had just confided in her.

The woman looked at me rather sternly, as if I had done something wrong.

"Come on shut up!" She chided. "Look at this small girl oh. Don't you know you're still a child? What do you know about marriage?" She asked, and I just stared at her confused. Not knowing what my crime was.

"If she says it again, you beat her. Don't spoil that little girl oh." She advised my aunty Flora. Aunty Flora nodded in agreement and I wondered what I had done to deserve a beating.

I sat quietly, watching the wedding service proceed. (Mostly, watching the little groom, that is. He played with so much cheer and light heart that I was sure I was older than him. He looked older, but he acted like younger kids. I wanted to go over and play with them, ask him if he was older or younger than me. But I didn't know how he would react or if that would provoke my aunt Flora to give me that beating she had been advised upon. So, I just sat there, watching from a distance.)

As I watched him, it became more disturbing why I had to receive a beating for liking this boy and wanting to marry him.

If marrying someone you like was a crime, why were we sitting here, watching two people who like themselves get married?

"Why can't I marry him?" I asked my aunty Flora suddenly.

She looked at me in confusion at first.

"You said?" She asked.

"I said, why can't I marry the boy. I like him." I repeated.

My aunty Flora looked at me in surprise for a moment, then she laughed. This time, she made an effort to hide it so that the woman next to us wouldn't notice.

"Because you're still a child. You're too young to marry or even like somebody." She whispered to me.

"So, when can I like somebody?" I asked her. She looked at me thoughtfully.

"Maybe, when you're older. Like, seventeen or eighteen. When you're in highschool maybe." She said.

"Highschool?" I asked.

"Yes. You can start liking someone then. Then by the time you are twenty or more and done with college, you can marry who you like." Aunty Flora explained.

Highschool;

I whispered. I can only wait till highschool. Not college, no. I couldn't wait that long. Not if there were so many more of the likes of this beautiful ring bearer!

I watched my love sadly, as he did his duties. 'Once the wedding ends, he'll be gone. And I would never see him again', I thought in silence.

If only I were in highschool already!

I would wait. Only until highschool, I would wait. I promised myself in the silence.