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The tension was intense as the soon to be exes stood in the middle of the living room of his condo.
Nicole held a deadly, but hurtful look on her face while staring down the man she claimed to love the most.
Meanwhile, it was quite hard to explain DeVanté's face as he just strictly stared back, not knowing how to retaliate.
"Really?"
"That's how we're ending this right now?"
A single tear rolled down the woman's cheek from her eye that was slowly turning red.
DeVanté looked down at the wooden floor, cursing himself out in his head for having to deal with this the hard way.
"Can you at least answer me.."
"Listen," De started calmly. "I understand how you can be hurt, okay? Trust me, I do, but can you think and realize for just a second on how hurt I am? Why do you have to be the victim in every situation, huh?"
Nicole was quick with a come back. "How can't I be the victim, DeVanté? You fucking cheated on me! With my friend!"
"You did too, Nicki!" He yelled back.
She finally let out a wail of tears. Shutting her eyes tightly until there were wrinkles made on her eyelids.
"You did too! I know two wrongs don't make a right, but damnit Nicole, I was hurting."
"I was hurting and you failed to realize. No matter what you say, I always made sure you was straight. Name a time when I didn't check up on you." De raised his voice more and more as his feelings began to show.
Nicole opened her eyes and looked up at the ceiling while there was a moment of silence, trying to wrap her head around her current situation. She couldn't even think of a time he didn't. No matter how hard she thought.
"Exactly."
"It hurts to admit that you never really cared for me til' the end. When you see me distancing away from you, that's when you want to come and care for our relationship."
She soon smacked her lips and suddenly gained the courage to look him in the eye. "I always cared for you! What I did to you was a mistake, okay? I've been trying to make it work with you for I don't know how long! It's just tiring to-"
She stopped in the middle of her sentence right when she heard De laugh. The fake joy on his face began to anger her in the inside. He tilted his head back, making his adam's apple appear.
"This is what I mean!" She flung her arm up, gesturing towards him. "Now you want to sit here and laugh in my face!"
"Tiring? It's tiring to what? Treat me like shit," His sarcastic smile faded as he wanted a genuine answer. "That's what's tiring right? Right?!"
He chose to not let her answer as he wasted no time in talking again.
"And if it was a mistake then why did you continue to make it? You never gave a damn 'bout this relationship and now that I reciprocated the energy, it's my fault that our relationship's down the drain? Shit, if it wasn't for me, our relationship would've been dead!"
Frustration hit Nicole hard as she didn't know how to control her emotions. She didn't want to acknowledge the fact that everything the man in front of her was saying was true. She never realized how messed up their relationship was until now.
She tried her best not to fold in front of him, not wanting him to get the last word. All she wanted was to forget anything even happened. But De on the other hand wanted everything to be dealt with for good.
"DeVanté..," She wiped her wet face, not really caring about the makeup smudge that appeared on the side of her hand. "Honestly, I don't wanna keep arguing about this. I fucked up, you fucked up. We're even, okay? Now can we just forget about this whole situation?"
She stepped closer to him as if he was going to throw himself into her arms. Instead, DeVanté took a step back as she got too close.
Nicole furrowed her brows as he looked at her like she was insane.
"You've gotta be kiddin' me right now," He chuckled in disbelief. "There's no way you think after all of this— imma just forgive & forget.."
Silence flew throughout the room as Nicole had yet to respond. "You know what,"
The next few words caught her attention as more liquid drops began to trickle down her face again.
"I think it'll be better if you just leave..," De seen the waterworks fill her eyes when he blankly stared down at her. Even though he held animosity towards her, he still hated to see her in that predicament. "Stop cryin', Nicole..."
He had no choice but to look back down at the floor as she didn't listen to him. The wails started to be heard again as guilt sunk into her mind.
He shut his eyes while she cried louder than before. But this time, she cried out to him as she called his name, begging to stay.
"DeVanté, please!" Was all that was heard in the quiet living room. He stood there, not knowing what to do as he continued to stand before her.
For De, there was no turning back. There was no doubt that he still had love for her, but deep down he knew that there was no way he could continue to deal with the emotional damage she'd caused. It was as if this was a now closed chapter of his life that he wouldn't like to relive.
With nothing else to say or do, he backed up from her a little more, giving her more room to make her way to the door.
