80 - TOILET SURPRISE

“Be careful” he whispered in my ears. His hands were placed firmly around my waist in his frantic bid to steady me and save me from crashing to the marble tiled floors. His hands lingered on me while I tried to gain myself but I pulled away from his hold, resisting the urge to read any other meaning to his gestures except for the fact that he was trying to save me.

“Thank you” I whispered back to him, an awkward tension suddenly coming between us as he walked me outside anyways but I managed to ignore it and keep my eyes straight ahead without glancing side ways at him.

“Be here 8am sharp tomorrow otherwise you’re fired” Marvis definitely has an attitude problem but didn’t want to dwell on his sharp words, I was barely nodding my head when he turned around and walked away leaving me with my mouth open in surprise.

I walked outside instead when my phone began to ring and it was Kyle calling, I picked immediately and my heart fluttered as Kyle’s voice filled my ears.

“What are you up to?” his buttery voice sounded.

“Just gallivanting the city as a jobless lady” I said back and he paused for a few seconds, at this point I was back at the corner of th street looking at my reflection at the same storefront window, only this time my lipstick was slightly smudged and I stared at it in horror.

“Let’s go out to lunch then, I can’t seem to get any work done because I miss you so much” he said

“Or you can’t get any work done because I’m no longer there to do it all for you”

“You read me so well my darling” he chuckled into the phone before saying “I’ll meet you at The Piazza in thirty minutes”

I walked into the The Piazza which was a little fancy restaurant uptown in the middl of the business district where mostly everyone in the city frequented for lunch break, I walked a little later than thirty minutes because of the time it took me commute all the way, and found Kyle already waiting for me and nursing a glass of wine, his lips stretched out into a wide eyes when his eyes met and he pulled me into a tight hug when I reached him, kissing my hair.

“Someone missed me” I teased, taking in the scent of his cologne that I had equally missed so much. I sat down beside fiddling through the menu with Kyle playing with my hair while I figured out what I was hungry for and after I had ordered, he spoke.

“So where have you been gallivanting all day” he asked but for some reason, I couldn’t tell him that I had gotten a job, I couldn’t seem to spew the words out of my mouth to say to him. It felt like betrayal even though it didn’t and as much as he was willing to support me no matter what I did, I didn’t want him showing up every two seconds because he misses me or worse still because he could.

“Just downtown, at the shops and the cafes; I never really explored the city since I moved here so now that I have some free time, I’m doing that” why did it feel so easy to lie through my teeth without even a second thought whatsoever. Just then, Kyle reached out to hold my hand with sincerity in his eyes and he said.

“You know I’m really sorry I couldn’t protect your job, I know how much you enjoyed working there. I should have seen it all coming, the blog post and everything and I should’ve stopped it”
I looked at him and the moment he mentioned that, I couldn’t help but think about the coffee he shared with Dahlia and how he never mentioned it. I was never going to ask, I didn’t think I needed to because I wanted to trust him, but curiosity scratched the back of my neck like a bad skin rash, and my poking my sides to ask him about it so I did.

“You never said anything about Dahlia?”

“What’s there to say?” he looked confused and for some reason it infuriated me. What is he confused about?

“The whole meeting you had that she had to pull you away, she wants you and you know it. What’s the history? Help me here”
Kyle sighed, pulling his eyes away from me for a second before fixing them on me again. He eyes roamed about in conflictions, judging whether to speak or not but the impatience spewing from my eyes and propelling themselves at him pulled his words out.

“I slept with her – ” I gasped but Kyle stopped me before I could delve further in my theatrics

“Hear me out Aria – it was a long time ago and I never saw her again till the Banquet dinner and that was when you saw us”

I relaxed a little but still plagued by the fact that he had slept with her at all “So what’s the deal now?”

“She’s pushing for a merger with my company to go globally and – ”

“It’s a great opportunity to push your company into the global space” I completed for him and he nodded his head in agreement

“But I promise you, there’s nothing going on there. I’m only tunnel vision with you now baby” his words conveyed the sincerity that I needed them to convey, his fixed on mine and holding them captive. His hands found mine and he squeezed them softly and that was when he drifted closer to me with his lips meeting mine in a soft delicate kiss that sent butterflies fluttering not just in my stomach but every inch of my body that could flutter to.

“I love you” he said into the kiss, even deepening the kiss further and his lips further smudging my lipstick but I relished in it.
Later on after we had finished eating, I excused myself to use the restroom and after I was done and stepping out of the bathroom, I felt someone place their hands over my mouth and pulling me to a corner. The instant memories of someone placing a towel over mouth rushed to my head and I panicked, ready to start screaming when they pushed me to a corner and slamming my back on the wall, when I looked to see who it was – it was Shawn with an angry look on his face, and his eyes bloodshot and sunken like he had barely slept in days.