“We can’t keep on doing this. You know that, right?” I questioned. He didn’t answer.
Ocean might not know now, but it was only a matter of time before she did find out.
“Come on, let’s go take a shower,” he said, taking my hand and leading me to his bedroom.
Makari went to turn on the shower while I took off my socks, but then his phone beeped. Someone was in his elevator.
He looked at it, and when his eyes widened, something in my gut told me exactly who it was.
“What the fuck is she doing here?” Makari breathed, letting me know that it was, in fact, Ocean.
He gave me a look and quickly headed for the door, leaving me in his bedroom. I circled my arms around myself.
“Ocean, what you doing?”
“Nah, nigga, let me in! I wanna know what bitch you got up in here!” she screamed.
My mouth fell.
She was here because of me!
And there I was just thinking about the fact that she didn’t know about me. Everything was pointing to the fact that we needed to end this. There couldn’t be any bigger sign than this!
“What you talking about? You know nobody is here, Ocean,” Makari said.
“That’s not what I heard!”
“Well, you heard wrong,” he hit back. And then there was silence before I heard her sniffling.
“Makari, we both know what my dad said,” she spoke. A clear threat in her words. I peeked through the cracked door to see that Makari’s body was stiff, and his right hand that held the door was clenched into a fist.
“I know, that’s why I’m telling you that you heard wrong,” he said and huffed. “Look, why don’t you go home, let me finish this business call, and I’ll come over.”
“You promise?” she said, her voice sounding low.
“Yeah.”
I walked away from the door and over to the floor-to-ceiling window.
“Okay. I won’t tell my dad if we plan our wedding now, Havoc. I don’t want to wait anymore,” Ocean said. Her words made tears spring to my eyes.
“Okay, Ocean.”
“Thank you. I love you. See you soon,” she said, and then I heard her feet descend down the hallway. The door clicked closed, and a few seconds later, he appeared back in the room.
I continued to look out of the window for a few seconds before I turned to look at him. Tears rolled down my face, but I smiled at him, hoping it would ease him.
“Kairi, I—” Makari started but stopped. His sentence was incomplete because there was nothing more he could say or do at this point.
“I’m gonna go,” I said because there was nothing more to say than that. We’d run out of time and options. Now that Ocean heard the rumors, I knew she was going to be on his case, and we’d definitely get caught then. While he deflected, it was best to walk away while I had the chance.
He just stood there looking at me, pain, remorse, and anger flashing in his hazel eyes.
I picked up my backpack and slowly walked past to leave, but he caught me by the arm. We locked eyes for a second before I gently pulled my arm away from him and walked out of his condo, vowing never to go back.
Thankfully, I never ran into Ocean when I left Havoc’s condo. My heart was heavy the whole ride home, but there was also lightness knowing we’d ended things before it got worse. If Ocean had managed to get into his condo and saw me, I’d probably be breathing my last breath along with my family instead of getting to go home. So, I had to count it as a blessing. I would undoubtedly miss him, but all good things eventually came to an end.
After the Uber dropped me off, I stepped into my house feeling somewhat better. I knew after a good night’s sleep, I’d feel even better in the morning. A few days and I’d be over it!
