You made a Fool of Death with your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi

Author:Akwaeke Emezi [Emezi, Akwaeke]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Faber and Faber Ltd
Published: 2022-07-15T00:00:00+00:00

The dinner turned out to be more like an after-party, as cars pulled up into the compound, spilling out breathless guests all delighted to be invited into Alim Blake’s home. Nasir knocked on Feyi’s door as she was changing her clothes.

“Courtyard in five!” he called. “We’re toasting you, so you better be there!”

“Coming!” Feyi yelled back, wriggling her way into a fringed taffeta dress, short and pale pink, light as a breath. She’d barely had time to send Joy a voice note about how the opening went, but she’d promised to catch up with her as soon as she could. Feyi made sure her legs were oiled, then hurried down the stairs as she fastened long gold earrings to each earlobe. Her skin felt like it was buzzing, either from the success of the opening or the offer of a commission or the energy of the party, or a combination of everything. Nothing felt impossible. She could do this. She could be bright and brilliant and charming and act as if she belonged there, among these people, because weren’t they all just people, after all?

Feyi caught a glimpse of her reflection in one of the windows and hissed out an annoyed breath—she’d forgotten her braids in the updo and it was totally the wrong look for this outfit. She stopped in front of the glass and started pulling out the pins holding it up, fluffing out the braids as they fell so they made a tangled gold cloud around her face. Alim came around the corner, and his eyes crinkled into a smile when he saw her.

“Just the person I was looking for,” he said. “We’re ready for you.” He held out his hand to her, then dropped it awkwardly to his side.

Feyi wrapped the pins in her fist, feeling the metal press against her palm and the sting of a sudden hurt. What was she expecting—that they’d walk into the courtyard holding hands? Alim had reached out like it was instinct, or habit, and she’d almost taken his hand with equal ease.

As she followed him out, dropping the pins discreetly on a counter, Feyi wondered if it wouldn’t be best to take up Pooja on her offer of staying at the Hilton. That way Na-sir could return to the city by himself, she’d be away from Alim and this house, and maybe that was better than staying here with whatever this was between them, something that couldn’t afford to exist, something she wasn’t entirely sure was even real.

Maybe she was imagining it. His voice at the sunrise, his eyes the other night in the kitchen. Maybe she was just seeing what she wanted to see. Feyi pasted a smile on her face as they walked into the courtyard and everyone there raised a champagne flute and cheered. Nasir was standing in the middle, wearing an ecru buttoned shirt, a wide grin on his face. Feyi could see Rebecca behind him in a bone-white suit, her mouth a vivid slash of purple.

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