NOTHING BUT A BAD TASTE. (✓)

23. C'EST FINI

( unedited )

NOBODY IN MAYA'S STAFF DARED TO ASK the question that naturally fizzed their intrigue. Would Maya and Ebén ever reconcile? Most had already surmised that they wouldn't, knowing that deceit was an immediate dealbreaker for Ebén. Maya knew that too, but rather foolishly, remained staunch in her belief that they were on the rocks but not over.

The two had undoubtedly been through worse; but Ebén needed time without her influencing him to piece together the puzzles of her infidelity and stage a conversation that was rooted in reason, compassion and love. Impatience was running Maya down — who pleaded with her own personal intermediaries to gauge where Ebén's head was at. He rebuffed every third party interference by them; forcing Maya to give him the time she promised him as she was not the one with leverage, Ebén was.

So, every breakfast, every lunch and every dinner, she made a conscientious effort to set his place mat with unfailing hope that today would be the day for his return. After all, it had been six months. Each day her optimism deflated as she regrettably watched those grey panel doors remain firmly shut.

"He just needs time, Maya. To really think about where the both of you are going to go from here."

She resignedly twisted her fork that had linguine lumped on it, "Blaze, I've given him time. Six months of time and we are still where we are."

Maya couldn't deny that she hadn't been patient, incredibly so, but this game of patience was overwhelming her and her hormones. She was desperate to talk, even if it spelled the end; she wanted to deal with only absolutes and not maybes.

"Maybe, he needs more?" Blaze suggested, trying to reason with Maya who lacked perspective. "What happened between you two... is hardly a quick fix."

"I know, I know. And I hate myself everyday for it." Maya's fork was now engulfed in a creamy white sauce, as her fork scooped up the linguine and then she watched it dramatically slop back on her plate. Maya's constant shifting of her food with her fork had made the dollop of linguine was so unappetising on her plate as she stared back at it in disgust.

"I know you feel that way Maya but you shouldn't," said a condoling Blaze, who looked at Maya with woe. She knew that her best friend never intentionally went out to light a fire on her home, but in a web of lust and deceit, she had found herself under the thumb of her once-irresistibile ex. But Ebén disagreed with Blaze's observation, coming to the conclusion that Maya knew what her endgame was and still chose to destroy her home. What now made matters more difficult was that there was a baby caught in the middle of this. A helpless one at that. And this wasn't at all how Ebén or Maya wanted to welcome into this world their beloved baby.

Maya sighed disconsolately, "I can't help it, B. The greatest love, the greatest man... who loved me, stuck with me, stayed with me despite my bullshit, my trauma, my damn past. Tsk, I messed it up because of what? A kiss that didn't do shit for me."

"That's Reuben though. He likes to fuck up shit,"

Maya clanged her fork against the ceramic plate, "That's the thing I knew all this. I just thought that I was in control of the way the conversation was going. There was a point where it was kinda... pleasant but then it went left and he sprung that shit on me."

"Closure with an ex is a dangerous thing I been tellin' you. There is no reason why a conversation between two people who used to fxck needs to be had. Once it's over, blocka blocka blocka," said Blaze, who tried to offset the mood with some light humour. Maya smiled for just a millisecond but Blaze was determined to count that as a win albeit a small one.