“Choose.”
“Don’t make me.”
“Now, Francine.” Za’s face was stone cold. “Pick. Me, or him.”
I see Francine’s hands tighten as my sister and I wait for a response.
Finally, we got an answer. “I can’t.”
Za’s face crumples before she can stop it.
Then hardens.
“Get out.”
Frankie shakes her head slowly. “Chinaza?—”
“Get. Out.”
“Please—”
“GET OUT! GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!”
I grab Frankie’s arm before she can say anything else, because whatever comes next will make this worse, and she’s already shaking too hard to stand properly.
Za turns away from us and doesn’t look back as we walk out the door.
By the time we’re out in the hallway, Frankie’s breathing is ragged. By the time we’re in the lift, she’s crying. And by the time we’re in the car… well.
“Fuck, I know she’s upset but all that was unnecessary, bruv. And what she called you?—”
“You said she’d understand!” Frankie chokes, turning on me immediately. “You said I wouldn’t lose her! You promised!”
Her voice breaks on the last word.
“I—”
“You said she loved me too much to walk away!”
Tears are already falling.
“I thought?—”
“You thought?!” she yells, hysterical. “You thought?!”
Her hands are pounding against my arms now.
“You promised me, Bari,” she whimpers. “You promised.”
I don’t have anything to say to that. I can’t. All I do is take it.
“You promised me…”
Her face crumples.
And then she starts crying full body sobs that make her fold in on herself in the passenger seat while I sit there with my hands on the steering wheel and nowhere to put any of this guilt.
Because I did this.
