“Excuse me,” I muttered to Henry. I began walking Camille around the house as I introduced her to some of my parents' doctor friends.
Camille and I were starting as junior surgeons at the Robinson’s Hospital, and she needed to become familiar with the faces we would be working with. She had met Mrs. Robinson during her job interview; since then, Mrs. Robinson seemed interested in Camille for some reason.
Mrs. Robinson looked at Camille like she was looking into the mirror – seeing her younger self.
Mrs. Robinson went as far as boycotting her son, Troy, in hiring Camille as a junior surgeon at the hospital.
Troy seemed mad at his mother's decision to favor Camille. I feared he already bore great hatred for my best friend. Mrs. Robinson did what no one thought she would do. She had invited Camille to the family dinner.
The look of surprise on Troy and Henry’s faces told me that no one had expected Mrs. Robinson to have non-family over for dinner. Camile and I returned to my room when the party stopped being about me. “I saw you talking with a hot man out there. Did you get his contact info?”
Camille was proud that I had spoken with someone other than my family and her.
“Who?” I asked. “Henry Robinson?”
Camille closed the door behind her. “That’s Henry Robinson? The man your parents want you to marry?”
“Yes,”
Camille raised her brows. “I wasn’t expecting him to be that good-looking.”
“Neither was I,” I chuckled. “I have a date with him tomorrow.”
Camille looked at me with questions in her eyes. Questions that might escape her lips anytime.
These were questions I also pondered. Would I be happy marrying someone I didn’t think I could ever love? Marrying Henry was one of the sacrifices I must make for my family, and I would gladly make it to make my parents happy. I knew I'd have to marry Henry Robinson at some point in my life. I couldn’t back down now as it would be selfish.
I was willing to do this for my family as long as I remain in the profession I love so much – a surgeon. I’d consoled myself that as long as I was happy in my career, I didn't care who I marry.
"I'll be fine," I affirmed as I squeezed Camille's hand. "As long as I have you as my friend and my profession."
Camille started to talk about our journey as junior surgeons at the hospital. We were about to start a new feat in our lives, and I could tell it scared Camille.
“Troy doesn't like me,” Camille shared her fear. “I can tell from how he looked at me. He seemed to hate me with his life.”
“That's not true. Troy doesn't even know you yet. He has no right to hate you.”
Camille snapped out of her self-sabotaging mood and scrambled into my closet to get the perfect outfit for my first date with Henry.
“It's not until tomorrow night,” I tried to dissuade her, but she wouldn't have it.
“If you must make a second impression with this man, make it a head-turning one.”
I laughed as I gave in to Camille’s mandatory dress testing. We settled for a blue drop waist dress. Camille said Henry wouldn’t stop looking at me in that dress. Henry had started off being a real jerk, but I was willing to meet him again for the sake of this marriage. Hopefully, he wasn’t so much of an asshole as I had thought.
****
“You look good,” Henry said, kissing me on the cheek. I wore the blue dress Camille had picked out. I had light makeup on my face and packed my blond hair into a neat ponytail.
“Thank you,” I said. I was sitting across from Henry in one of the fancy restaurants his family owned.
It felt good knowing that Camille was right about the dress because Henry struggled to keep his eyes off it. We both took another few minutes to decide what to order. Like a proud father, Henry talked about his achievements since he had started running the family business. He spoke about why he was so different from everyone: Henry’s lack of ambition for the medical profession had prompted him into business administration and management. So, Henry managed the other enterprise owned by his family. From my parent’s continuous bragging, he was great at his job.
“Why aren’t you a doctor?” I asked. Henry’s father was a renowned doctor before he had passed away a few years ago.
His mother also practiced medicine before she retired, and his elder brother ran the biggest hospital in Richmond. I was only curious to know why he took a different career path.
“Do you also think I'm the family's black sheep?”