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 getDarisha. 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.”
