THIRTY-TWO.

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO - Reese .


It was crazy how the time fled. It has been about two months since I left Luther in Washington and quit my job at C&O limited. Regina had told me how Luther had asked about my whereabouts from her and I was grateful she had told him that I moved away from Manhattan.

My parents also reached out to me and our relationship has been doing a bit better compared to these past years. It wasn't the best yet but our relationship was improving. I still haven't informed them that I was pregnant yet, only Regina and Xavier knew about my pregnancy. I wasn't ready to give out that information to my parents yet, they needed to earn my trust for them first.

I was two months gone and it hasn't been the easiest journey; I cried, panicked, I couldn't eat a lot, I was always disgusted by everything. Sometimes, I would lie around my house, looking unkempt and disorientated. For the first month of my pregnancy, I had decided not to abort the baby as I thought it to be unfair to Luther if he had no idea that I was carrying his child and then I decided to abort it. Strangely, I still hoped things turned out good for me.

A lot had happened in the past two months—I didn't want to stay in Manhattan anymore, it was filled with sad memories and I did not want that for myself, hence my decision to move to Chicago. For the first time, I was happy. Happy that I was away and left everything behind to start afresh. I wanted a change for myself. It was still a tough phase that brought anguish and anger, even bitterness sometimes but perhaps, it would become a phase that I would overcome. I had a human growing inside me and I did not know where to go from where at the same time.

I applied as a software developer for a different company. My savings had come in handy as I had been the one to save up fifty per cent of my salary when I was working under Luther. It was a huge sum of money and I was glad I could buy a house with it in Chicago. I think I was a bit satisfied with this new living, it brought me peace of mind but there were days when I would cry myself to sleep but that was part of the process. I had to do this all alone.

I sauntered into the kitchen and stood with my hands in akimbo. I didn't know what to eat, I had every foodstuff already in the fridge but I couldn't bring myself to eat. The longer I contemplated what to eat, the more I realized frustration grew worse for me. I opened the cupboard to check if I had any snacks to chew on, luckily, I found the doughnuts I had ordered from Dunkin donuts, yesterday. I brought out the box that had four donuts in it. I began to munch on it quickly, opening the fridge to get myself an orange juice. I poured some into a glass cup I placed on the kitchen island earlier this morning.

I gulped down my juice and stopped abruptly as I heard my doorbell ring. I pondered who it must have been, could it have probably been a post delivered to me from work? I moved near the door to open who it was.

“Surprise!” It was Regina, she had yelled and threw me a warm hug with a cake in her other hand.

Shit! Today was my birthday.

“Gigi! You came!” I beamed with surprise.

“Yes, biatch! Happy birthday to the most beautiful woman in my life plus the latest yummy mummy in town!” She danced happily as she handed over the cake to me.

I guffawed loudly at how enthusiastic she sounded about my birthday. I took the cake into my hands and checked to see how it was made. The cake looked rich and delicious, she had brought me my favorite cake which was mint filling and had pearl beads designed all over it. Where could I have been without Regina?

“Aw. . .you didn't have to fly from Manhattan to do this. I love you.”

“Oh, nonsense! Not when my god baby is involved.” She said jokingly as she rubbed my belly.

“Wow. . . I feel so jealous.”

“Don't be a silly mum-to-be.” She hit me on my arm softly.

“Thank you for the cake once again. You are the best.” I embraced her in a warm hug.

“Oh, shut up! Where should we go for your birthday?”

“You want to take me out?”

“Yup! Bills on me, babe.”

“Can I at least eat the cake you bought for me, first?”

“Whatever pleases you, the mummy of the town!”

“Let's go to a Chinese buffet then, it's been a while since I ate from there. ”

“No problem, get dressed and let's go.”

Regina had driven me to the nearby Chinese buffet in town, I had seen so many people coming in to eat for lunch. A lunch buffet lined one end of the restaurant with different people queuing in between to get all kinds of Chinese food. It was a big buffet also so I wasn't surprised a lot of people came here. Regina had led me to a table where we sat together to look at the menu. We waited for a while until a waitress came to us.

“Welcome to the Asia paradise, what may I offer you for drinks?” She asked politely.

I took a look at the menu to check for a drink to pick. “I will have the non-alcoholic virgin strawberry daiquiri.”

She nodded and scribbled what I ordered on the jotter. “Right away ma'am,” and then she turned to Regina. “Any drinks you would like to order, ma'am?”

“The big size of the sprite, please.”

“Alright, I will bring them in the next five minutes.” She smiled at us again and left.

It took me back to times when I worked as a waitress in a restaurant during my days in college. Being a waitress wasn't easy, my cheeks would hurt from putting on a facade smile at everyone who came to order food. I was running out of money at that period and I didn't want to ask my parents. Not that they wouldn't give me money but I didn't want them helping anymore, I found a job as a waitress and decided to use the salary I got for the necessities I needed in college and spent on my upkeep. I was lucky to have not been underpaid. It was a five-star restaurant so I knew it would bring out good pay. It was partly a disaster—men who came for their dates would slap or grab my ass and few of the women who noticed their man did this would give me a glare in return. I could remember vividly when a much older man grabbed me from behind, the woman in front of him had called me a slut but it pained me that she could not see her husband being the slut because he was the one who grabbed me. I would never understand why some women cape for such men.

Just like my uncle's wife. They would rather kill the actual victim than hold their men accountable but I did not blame such women too—maybe partly but this was the kind of society every woman lived in. People had preached to women for so long that their men were more important than everything, even if their man was wrong. The truth was, that society gave women like this nothing. They made the women believe they were nothing without their men. It just infuriated me that there were women who would risk it all, even if it cost them their lives to protect a good for nothing man.

Minutes later, the waitress holding our drinks on a tray came toward us and dropped the drink. Regina and I would have queued with other people in the lined buffet. Regina chose Chinese fried rice with shrimps whilst I went for noodles with shrimps. We had settled at our table to eat, we chit-chat and laughed until I heard a familiar voice.

I gazed up to check who it was—turned out it was one of my exes, Toby. The bastard and good for nothing man. I was with Toby in a library I visited to get some books. Toby saw me first and for the first time after eight months of a breakup with my first ex, Toby and I bonded so quickly unexpectedly, that he got into a conversation with me. Toby was straightforward and was also a flirt. The first time we talked, there was this connection we had but I didn't want to give in too quickly as I was still recovering from a terrible heartbreak. He understood that I wasn't ready to pace things between us yet.

Toby was a charmer, calm and well reserved. One wouldn't see how much of a worthless piece of shit he was. Toby knew his way with words, he had such a sugar-coated mouth. He would cheat and lie. His whole life was a lie. I couldn't believe I was dumb enough to have decided to get married to him even when I knew he was a lying cheat. It was finally our wedding day when I had gotten the news that Toby absconded. He called off the wedding on our wedding day and told me never to find him. Seeing why he was in front of me now bothered me, what did he want to say?

“Reese ?” He called with a smile with an unsure look.

“He,y Toby. . .” I laughed nervously, staring at Regina as a sign of help.

“Hello? How may we be of help?” Regina asked with one of her eyebrows raised in curiosity. I could tell she was being protective.

“Hi, I'm Toby Brown.” He said to Regina.

“Yes, babe, he's my. . .my ex,” I said to Regina.

“Good to see you Reese , it's been a while.” He smiled delightedly. I wish I could smack that smile off his face. This sure had the audacity.

“I can't say the same,” I replied.

“Oh, come on Reese , let the past remain in the past. I see you are doing good for yourself.”

“I don't think we should be talking about this, just leave.” I tried to stay calm.

“I see you still haven't gotten over the past. I have moved on, you should move on too.” I could not believe my ears when he said this.

Was he being sarcastic? I should be the one to move on? This man was ridiculous. “You will lay blame on anything other than holding yourself accountable. Get lost!” I yelled, getting everyone's attention.

“Honey.” A woman called, obviously that she was referring to Toby.

“Yes.” He answered and and and and then left along with her.

I heaved a sigh of relief as I watched them go.

“You have a lot of explaining to do,” Regina said in bewilderment.

“I sure do.” I replied.


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