As Obiora took his seat, he saw that the non-competing bachelors were positioned in such a way that they could not see or be seen by the bachelorette, which made sense given the blind date theme. Instead, they could see and be seen by the audience and the competing bachelors, their five empty seats waiting ahead in the centre of the stage. A partition blocked off the rest of the stage, where the bachelorette was hidden from view except to the audience.
“Now please join me in welcoming our first competing bachelors!”
The first section of the show passed relatively quickly. Sophia fired off questions that each of the bachelors answered equally as quickly; some were flirty, some downright silly, and others serious. Obiora would have memorised the questions, but he had a feeling they’d probably change with each set of bachelors.
And he was proven right. Sophia had picked Noah, or bachelor number three, as her favourite bachelor from the first group, and the segment ended with the man in question walking past the partition to reveal himself.
After some hugs and applause, and Ameri reminding the audience that Noah had officially scored a private date with the bachelorette, Diana yelled cut and led the first group of bachelors from the stage.
“Bachelors six to ten, with me, please! Bachelors one to five, please take their vacated seats.”
Obiora’s heart skipped a beat when he stood and noticed Ejiro standing as well. Ejiro looked around, possibly to check out the group as well, and noticed Obiora looking. He smiled, raising one single eyebrow in challenge.
Obiora’s heart skipped again. He wanted to kiss that smile off his fucking face.
He returned the eyebrow raise, his lips curving into a confident smirk he did not feel, and Ejiro grinned, his eyes dancing with mischief, every inch of him screaming it’s on.
Despite his brain screaming at him to stay away, Obiora moved until they were walking next to each other.
“Really?” Ejiro asked under his breath, amusement in his voice. “Are we really doing this? You do know there are other people competing for Sophia’s heart, not just me, right?”
“Yeah, but, I mean, seeing as you won the last challenge—out of nowhere, if I might add—you’ll forgive me if I want to keep you in my sights at all times.”
Ejiro laughed, and it was a real laugh—nothing like the small, shy, and slightly stifled things he gave the other bachelors when they teased him.
This one was full; genuine.
Fuck, Obiora had to be careful here. He might not be in danger of losing his heart to Sophia, but that didn’t mean it was safe from Ejiro, either.
“I’m flattered, honestly.” The words were teasing, said with the hint of a laugh, but Obiora could tell Ejiro was being honest. Then the smile was wiped off his face, and Ejiro’s eyes turned dark, expression intense. Jesus fucking Christ fuck me. “Third time’s the charm, eh, Obiora?”
“Oh, it’s definitely on,” Obiora growled. Ejiro laughed just as Diana hurried them up onto the stage.
“May the best man win,” Ejiro said, a playful grin on his lips. He was moving down to his seat before Obiora could respond.
They were seated according to the numbers they’d pulled from the fish bowl, which had Obiora on the seat closest to the partition hiding the bachelorette, while Ejiro sat on the other edge, the three remaining bachelors between them.
Diana had the staff fit them all with small microphones pinned to the front of their suits, the microphone packs taped hidden to their backs. Make-up and costuming checked them one more time, then they quickly left the stage.
“And we’re going live in five—” Diana held up five fingers, dropping one consecutively as she counted “—four, three …” two, one.
“Hello, and welcome back to episode three of Cupid Calling!” Ameri said brightly, standing on a platform between the audience and competitors, cameras in her face. “We’re back with our bachelorette, Miss Sophia Bailey!” Applause followed the introduction on cue. “Sophia will be asking our second set of bachelors a series of questions, and whoever she vibes with the most will win the chance of a private date. Now, without further ado, off to you, Sophia!”
“Thank you, Ameri.” Sophia’s voice rang through the small studio space thanks to her microphone, loud and clear. From the sound of her voice, Obiora could tell she was smiling, genuinely excited. “For my first question, do you believe in love at first sight?” The audience “oohed”. “Bachelor number one.”
Obiora almost forgot he was the first bachelor.
“Love at first sight?” he repeated to buy himself some time. He managed to hide his flinch when his voice came out slightly distorted; warped and deeper to hide his identity from Sophia. “To be honest? I’ll have to say no. Now, lust at first sight? That I definitely believe.”
The audience laughed, along with Sophia.
“Of course,” she said, sounding highly amused. “Bachelor number two?”
“I’m going to have to agree with bachelor number one,” he said, confident as you please. With short dark hair, pale skin, and a buff build, he was one of the more attractive bunch of the bachelors. His suit was pinstripe—which Obiora thought was obnoxious, but honestly, Obiora just hated the guy because he let the homophobic f-slur drop from his lips way too easily and frequently. He’d gotten aggressive when Obiora had tried to shut that shit down, and Obiora wasn’t in the mood to fight, so he’d let it be and decided to avoid him altogether. “Lust at first sight is just more believable.”
“Bachelor number three?”
“I agree as well.” Ronald was bachelor number three, another white man. He had short brown hair and tanned skin, and what seemed to be permanently bitten fingernails, despite costuming’s numerous attempts to make him TV-ready. “Can the attraction be so intense it can be mistaken for love? Absolutely. But that means it’s still lust at first sight underneath the surface, not love.”
