“Shit… Was that Zioh?” he muttered, blank and eyes wide, staring into the empty corridor ahead.
I rolled my eyes. “You see him? And where the hell were you? Did you take a dump or meditate? You were gone forever, Andi!” I looked up at him. “What came out of your ass—bricks?”
Some companion he was—more like abandoning me entirely.
But Andi didn’t even blink at my rant. His eyes stayed locked on the corridor, his voice half in awe, half in disbelief. “Biba… seriously, what the fuck happened in the UK? How did your ex come back thathot? Damn, bastard looks fine as he—”
Brushing past him, I lowered my head, lost in the storm of my emotional state. Too drained to engage, and maybe sensing that, he finally shut up. He seemed to realize how things had gone in the meeting, so he stayed quiet, trailingbehind me.
“Come on, chin up, bitch. There’s no gold on that floor, only in your best friend’s pocket.” He nudged my shoulder, draping his arm over me. “Let’s eat. Whatever you want, it’s on me.”
A faint smile tugged at my lips, and my shoulders loosened. I also slipped an arm around him as we stepped into the lift together.
Andi was my best friend. Sometimes, I saw him the way I saw Tsabinu, and I could feel that he saw me the same way.
« -- * -- »
By the time we reached the parking lot, we were still leaning on each other, laughing. Andi rambled, rattling off a thousand and one random tidbits of gossip only he would know.
We stopped at his car, a Manhattan Grey Audi A6. He pulled out his key and unlocked it. I was about to climb in when a strange sensation prickled over me.
My body went rigid all at once.
It felt like eyes were crawling over my skin, stripping me bare.
I turned, scanning left and right, until my gaze snagged on the VIP section.
A black Mercedes sat there, sleek and unfamiliar. I didn’t recognize it, and had never seen it parked at our office before. But the moment I looked at it, I knew.
The weight of someone’s stare.
From there.
Andi’s whistle broke my trance. He glanced where I was looking, then let out a low praise sound. “Wow… Mercedes Maybach S580 4Matic in Onyx Black? Shit, that man’s got taste.” He clicked his tongue. “Nice car for the money.”
He slid into his seat with a casual sigh. “When I get promoted, I’m showing up here in a McLaren.”
I lingered longer, my eyes narrowing at that car. But then Andi called my name, and I finally tore my gaze away, slipping into his Audi.
5
Zioh
Soft, rough, uneven, jagged.
Cars. Seats. Lights. Steering wheel. And—
Tshabina.
You’re the best person I’ve ever met, Zioh! That’s why I wanna see you every day.Blue. 7.
Tshabina was walking arm in arm with a slight, fair-skinned man. She was wearing an ivory knit top and beigehigh-waisted trousers. A tank watch was wrapped gently around her left wrist as she carried her bag. I looked at her other wrist; there was nothing there. My gaze travelled from head to toe, but there was no hint of pink on her.
She smiled. She laughed. And—
Noise. The voices crawled inside my skull like something alive.
Watching her for too long, I read the things she left unsaid from the safety of my car, parked at Artamain’s lot. This was a situation I should’ve never let myself fall into; she was the last person I should ever meet, see, or breathe the same air as.
