Chapter 24
Chapter
Twenty-Four
Thirty-eight miserable, long ass hours. It’s been almost two days since Sunjiya’s life was turned upside damn down and she still hasn’t heard from Akeem—no calls, texts, and responses to hers.
He didn’t say shit in the stupid rental car and hasn’t shit in thirty-eight hours.
It’s just her, in his condo, drowning in sorrow, what-ifs, and regret.
After leaving Conyers, she drove to the phone store in Atlanta.
She walked in fifteen minutes before closing and exited an hour later with a new phone.
The gift of her sister’s betrayal went deeper than she knew.
Aside from contacting Akeem, her sister jammed a grain of rice into her charging port.
It damaged the area and prevented her phone from charging.
The only good thing about that horrible Thursday evening was that she was able to catch the last flight out of Atlanta to Austin.
She dragged herself into the condo a little after two and she cried herself to sleep.
If she ever wondered how many tears one person could cry, she knows the answer now—infinite, because she hasn’t stopped.
For thirty-eight hours, she’s been crying, sleeping, and worrying on repeat.
The lie she told to save her life ended up ruining her new life.
I fucked up.
I fucked up bad.
I’ve lost the only man who truly loved me.
His hurtful silence, cold demeanor, blank stare, and hatred for her haunt her. Every minute she thinks back to him in that car, she breaks and her damn infinite tears flow.
After dragging herself out of bed, Sunjiya ambles to the bar for a cup of ice.
As with her last several trips to the bar, she calls Akeem, and just like her previous attempts, he doesn’t answer.
It’s truly over but she’s having a hard time accepting that painfully obvious fact. It hurts too damn bad.
When she makes it back to the bedroom, she plops onto the bed, inhales his pillow, then eases under the covers and drifts back to sleep. Two hours later, a sharp pain in her chest jerks her awake; her heart is broken.
The first thing she does when she sits up is check her phone.
Although her notifications are all on and her volume is set to max, she still checks.
She’s immediately disappointed when there’s nothing on the screen.
Sighing dejectedly, she throws it onto the bed, gets up, and treks to the bathroom.
She starts a hot bath, peels off his sweatshirt, then slides into the tub as it fills.
The hot water, oatmeal bath oil, and cocoa butter bath gel soothe her soul but nothing works to repair her heart and calm her mind.
The longer she soaks, the more she realizes he doesn’t love her anymore.
His silence in the car and continued muteness now confirms it.
It’s time for her to accept it and move on.
She’s been hurt before and survived. Hopefully, she’ll survive this too.
The minute she leans into accepting her new life without him, she hears her phone ring.
Hoping it’s finally him, she jumps out of the tub and rushes into the bedroom, leaving puddles of water and droplets of suds in her path.
She practically dives for her phone and answers without looking at the screen.
“Akeem?” she rushes out breathlessly.
“No. It’s me, Darisha. Girl, are you okay?” she asks.
Hearing Darisha’s voice and question reopens Sunjiya’s flood gates. Her tears flow and she sobs for almost ten minutes. Darisha doesn’t interrupt. Instead, she simply stays on the line until Sunjiya’s able to speak.
“Sorry,” Sunjiya finally whimpers when she catches her breath.
“No, friend. Don’t apologize. Just tell me what you need.”
“I need to pack my shit and get out of here,” Sunjiya says.
Although a million and one questions flow into Darisha’s mind, she bypasses them and simply says, “Give me an hour. I’m on my way.”
They end the call and Sunjiya returns to the bathroom.
After releasing the tub stopper, she drops a bath towel on the floor.
Using it and her feet, she mops up her water puddles.
Then, she takes a quick shower, washes her face, handles her dental hygiene, then brushes her hair into a huge puff on top of her head.
In the bedroom, she dresses in a pair of comfortable, distressed jeans, a tee, and slides. She takes a slow walk through the condo and determines what she’s going to take. She settles on her personal items only. Anything else she added had been paid for by him. He can keep it.
Because she hasn’t eaten since the wings and rice in Conyers, she forces herself to eat before getting started.
She prepares a turkey and cheese croissant and grabs a bag of chips from the pantry.
The salt from the sour cream and onion chips calms her queasy stomach, so she finishes the bag but only manages to finish less than half of her croissant.
She’s putting the remainder away and cleaning the kitchen when lobby security informs her Darisha is here.
Normally, she authorizes them to allow her up, but today’s different.
Instead, she takes the elevator down to get Darisha.
The moment Darisha spots Sunjiya, she rushes toward her and wraps her arms around her friend.
“Now tell me what he did,” Darisha says the moment they are in the elevator.
“It was me,” Sunjiya admits, to her friend’s shock and dismay. “I fucked everything up. I kept something from him that I shouldn’t’ve.”
“That man loves you; he couldn’t forgive you?”
“He used to love me,” Sunjiya murmurs right as the elevator door opens. She walks out, leaving Darisha stunned and speechless. The elevator almost closes on her until she hears, “You coming?”
As soon as they are in the condo, Darisha goes to the bar. Her friend’s shocking revelation warrants liquor.
“I’m making a margarita. You want one?” Darisha asks.
“No. I’m good. I need to take my ice machine though,” she says.
“I can figure out how to unhook it. If I can’t, I can get Trent’s ass over here to do it.”
“No. I’m just playing. He can keep it. I’m just going to pack up my stuff in the bedroom.”
“Where are you going?”
“A hotel for now. I’ll figure everything else out once I stop crying and get my whole life together.” My life without him.
“You’re welcome to stay with us,” Darisha offers.
“I appreciate that, but I need to be alone. Besides, I look exactly how I feel,” she says and laughs wryly. Her hand swipes across her tear stained face. “Maybe I do need a margarita. Make me one, please.”
“I gotcha. One shot or two?”
Ano, D-Low, and Preach are no longer breathing, and while Akeem is pleased with that, he’s still uneasy.
Sunjiya’s abusers are exactly where they belong but that’s the only thing resolved in their situation.
Everything else is fucked up. Her lie, her reasons for lying, and his brother’s words all float in his head as he takes the stairs two at a time to the condo.
His flight landed three hours ago but he couldn’t bring himself to go home. After spending an hour in Second Bar + Kitchen in the airport, he took an iDrive to the place he’d proposed, Melanin Voyages.
Sunjiya had too many opportunities to fess up and tell him the truth but she didn’t.
She let him believe he’d failed Tanjaya and didn’t save her, when in fact, he’s been with Tanjaya this entire time.
He fell in love with Tanjaya and asked Tanjaya to marry him.
The real Sunjiya is in Conyers and she tricked him into going there.
Everything about this whole situation is fucked up and he doesn’t know what he’s going to do or say when he walks inside. His anger has subsided but his disappointment hasn’t. He can’t process what she did and how she did it. For weeks, months, she’s been lying to him over and over.
After inhaling deeply and exhaling loud enough for his neighbors to hear, he unlocks the door and walks in. Sunjiya’s definitely here because he hears music and voices coming from down the hall. As he gets closer to the room, he recognizes the voice. It’s Sunjiya’s friend Darisha.
She’s socializing and shit and I’m stressing? he thinks before turning into the room.
Seeing what’s going on in their bedroom causes his feet to stop moving. Sunjiya’s luggage is on the bed, her clothes piled on the chairs in their seating area and her shoes stacked at the end of the bed.
She’s leaving me.
He’s absolutely mad at her for lying. He’s furious at himself for not realizing he was being lied to again by another woman but he’s even more angry that she’s leaving.
“What you doing?” he asks and his deep baritone startles both ladies.
Darisha actually jumps then laughs nervously.
Sunjiya merely stares at him. Tears instantly fill her eyes when their gazes meet but she refuses to let them fall.
He said nothing when she pleaded with him in that rental car and ghosted her for the last forty-something hours.
She’s not going to give him the benefit of seeing her cry again.
It’s clear that her tears mean nothing to him.
She inhales then turns back to Darisha. Instead of answering him, she speaks to her friend.
“We should take the clothes off the hangers,” she tells Darisha and Darisha tilts her head confusedly and squints. “It’ll be easier, right?” Sunjiya continues, missing her friend’s blank stare, discomfort, and confusion.
“Why do you need the hangers off?” Akeem asks and Darisha’s level of discomfort rises.
“I think I should let you two talk,” Darisha utters to Sunjiya.
“He doesn’t talk to me,” Sunjiya fires back loudly, so he can hear her.