Subdued (18+)✔️ [A Nigerian Romance]

59~The pain of betrayal

Aria groaned as her ringing phone woke her up from her short nap. She groggily sat up and stretched, her eyes immediately finding the clock. It was a few minutes past nine in the night and Kachi hadn't returned home. He told her he had plans with his family and she'd been relieved when he hadn't asked her to go with her.

She wasn't sure she was ready to meet him family yet, there was just this pressure that came after you've met African parents, a lot of expectations too. She wasn't sure their relationship could handle that strain now. She was content to just have him all to herself, at lead for the moment. They hadn't even said the L-word yet. She could feel it in the way he treated her but none of them had confessed to it yet.

Kachi hadn't said anything about coming back late or not coming at all, and this was the first time he'd been away since after the party incident two weeks ago. Thinking about it, she remembered what had woken her up; her phone. It was probably Kachi calling to let her know he'd be late. However, when she picked up her phone, it wasn't Kachi but Pete. He'd called about three times before. She immediately dialed and waited for it to ring.

She was a little anxious about talking to him. Their relationship had seemed different since the party and they hadn't talked on the phone. He'd texted and they'd chatted online but she'd yet to call him and he hadn't called after she told him not to. It wasn't that she blamed Pete for what happened, she really didn't. She just knew he would want to talk about it and she'd rather they just moved on and forgot. For him to be calling her now, and at this late hour was really strange. She hoped nothing bad had happened to him.

"Finally!" He exhaled loudly. "Where are you?"

"It's late in the night, where else can I be?"

"Just answer me. Are you with your man?"

"No. I'm at home. What happened? Why are you calling so late?"

"I'm at your door. We need to talk about something serious."

"I'm not in my apartment. Just wait I'm coming." She ended the call, then grabbed a robe to cover her nightwear before leaving the apartment.

Pete was pacing in front of her door when she got there and managed to only give her a small smile as he waited for her to open the door. She paused and turned to face him. His usually cleanshaven face was covered with stubbles and she'd never seen him look so tense. She wondered if he had a fight with his girlfriend and if he did, he hadn't been able to tell her because she asked for space. She realized how selfish she'd been about the whole thing.

She pulled him into a hug and heard his exhale before he wrapped his hands around her, burying his head in her neck. "I've been a terrible friend," she said. "Sorry for everything P."

"No. I'm sorry. I took you there and didn't watch you like I should have. I'm the terrible friend and everything is my fault." He squeezed her to him again and she breathed in the familiar smell of him. It was comforting and she only just realized how much she'd missed him.

"It's not your fault, it's his fault." She didn't have to say who the he was, Pete understood, judging from the way his body tensed up again. She began to rub his back, hoping he calmed enough. Pete and his anger was something she usually prayed about so he wouldn't land himself in trouble. Now she'd added Kachi's own to her prayers. She smiled as she thought of her boyfriend and compared how similar their characters seemed.

"I should have beaten him more. The injuries he got would heal in about a month. I should have made sure that he was bedridden."

"Let's go inside." She pulled away, hoping he dropped that line of conversation. She knew Kachi had gone to see the bastard but she refused to learn more about what had happened to him.

The two of them got into the apartment and Aria offered Pete cold beer, noting how he'd gone tense again. She watched him sip the drink, his gaze finding her face each time she looked away.

"What is it?" She was tired of the suspense and his eyes were making her a little uncomfortable. "Did you have a fight with Yinka?"

"It's not about Yinka. Have you spoken to Kachi this evening? Where is he?"

"I haven't spoken to him yet, I was sleeping. He's at his parent's house and would be back late."

Pete shook his head slightly before going to sit beside her. "He's not at his father's place dear. I don't know how else to say this, but Kachi is at his engagement party, along with his friends."

She opened and closed her mouth. Of all the things she'd expected him to say, this wasn't one of them. It was not possible, she thought. Kachi loved her, she could tell and she trusted that there was some form of misunderstanding. Maybe Pete had misunderstood what he heard. How had he even known where Kachi was?

"What do you mean? I don't understand."

Pete pulled out his phone and unlocked it before he started typing. "You know how I live and die on Instagram? I was just scrolling through when I saw a post by one top account. I recognized Kachi immediately in the picture, so I checked the tagged people and saw it was the same woman I was talking to you about the other day." He handed her the phone.

"What woman? What happened?" She refused to look at the phone, partly afraid about what she'd find if she looked.

"She posted a lot of pictures from her engagement party and the caption was soon to be Mrs. Obiagu. Just look at the photos, you'll understand what I mean."

She looked down and saw Ada hugging a woman with a smile on her face. She scrolled and the next was a picture of Kachi and Chike standing, seemingly unaware of their photos being taken. The third was one of Kachi kissing the same woman that hugged Ada, his hands were on her waist. She let the phone drop from her hands as her heart rate soared.

That was Kachi and that was the native attire she'd picked out for him while commenting on how dashing he looked in blue. Why was Kachi there? And kissing another woman? What broke her heart more was Chike and Ada there, the same Ada that assured her this Rose was a thing of the past. She'd never been thoroughly fooled in her life. This was worse than Ife cheating on her because this was a man that she loved, totally loved. Kachi had let her pick out his clothes and then he'd kissed her and promised they'd spend the next day doing whatever she wanted.

"Aria, breathe! Breathe! God damnit! " Pete shook her and she blinked as tears rolled down her eyes. "You fucking scared me. You were out of it for a few minutes girl."

"Why is this happening to me again?"

"Aria relax and let's talk about this."

"I need to talk to her and confirm it by myself. What's the handle?"

Pete snatched his phone from her hand as she unlocked her own phone. "What's there to confirm? You'll only hurt yourself."

"Peter, give me the fucking phone. Right now." She yelled at him and he reluctantly handed the phone to her. She typed in the username and searched, finding the account almost immediately. It wasn't even a private account so she was able to see more pictures from the engagement.

She began typing immediately and when she pressed send, the message was viewed immediately and she could see Rose was typing a reply.

***

My baby girl is in a lot of pain. Poor Aria.

I'm late for my CDS meeting but I had to drop this chapter. I'll update again tonight. The next chapter might annoy you guys but please forgive me oo. I've begged in advance.

Please vote and comment ❤️