Girl With The Tattoos™

Longing.

"I still can't believe he did that to you Imah," Renee comments for what Na'imah felt was for the 20th time since she answered the facetime call. "Are you sure you're ok? Do you need me to come visit? Or better yet, mollywhoop the hell out of JB for you?"

Leaning on the surface of the countertop in the kitchen, Na'imah let out a low laugh at her friend's words. "I'm fine, I promise. I don't think I could release any more tears even if I tried at this point," She softly reveals, giving Renee a sad smile. "It's been four weeks and I'm slowly but surely making my peace with it..."

"But..." Renee urges on, sensing that Na'imah had more to say.

"I miss him Renee. I miss that man so much to the point my heart aches for him," Na'imah admits, shifting her gaze to look at her phone next to her. "I've struggled so much forcing myself to leave him alone and not contact him. I felt so weak because you know me Nae. I don't trip over these men,"

"True, however, JB wasn't just one of these men, ma'am, he was a man you were in love with. That's different and it certainly hits differently when the man you love leaves you. Trust me, I know," Renee states before removing her sunglasses. "Remember Julian and I were broken up for about three months before he proposed to me,"

Just hearing Renee bring that up made Na'imah rub her temples. "Please Nae. I don't need or want to hear about your borderline tragic ass Shakespeare tale of a breakup again,"

For a few seconds, Renee eyed Na'imah up and down in judgment. "Ok, that's a bit dramatic now,"

"Dramatic? Nae, you called me daily sounding like a mess. I would've thought the world was ending-"

"It was,"

Rolling her eyes, Na'imah continued what she was saying. "Anyways, you had a whole breakdown when Julian was ignoring you. That man had to change his number three times because you were blowing him up. Even threaten you with a restraining order at one point. Which is crazy in itself because he turned into you once you went M.I.A on him. Both of yall got issues foreal,"

"Ok???" Renee draws out while holding out her hand. "All that proved was that we both couldn't be without the other. That we are without a doubt soulmates. Like you and Jaebeom once he stops tripping and comes to his senses,"

Na'imah was quick to wave her off with a dismissive flick of her hand. "You just say anything sometimes,"

Sitting up in her chair, Renee took off the floppy hat she was wearing and gave Na'imah a serious look. "No ma'am. I'm speaking real shit. I saw the way that man looked at you. From the practice to the ceremony and at the reception. It was filled with pure unfiltered love that anyone with eyes could see. That boy was in deep. Believe me,"

Na'imah softly shook her head. "I want to believe it Nae, I really do but how can I when he left me so easily?"

Licking her lips, Renee eyed the infinity pool in front of her before focusing her attention back on Na'imah. "I won't lie Imah, at the time, it probably was. Not because he didn't love you but because as you said, he was going through so much that he didn't care to really think about what he was doing at that moment," She voices, shrugging her shoulders. "But best believe when the shit settled, he was hurt by what he did,"

"And what makes you so sure Nae?"

"Because Julian was the same. When we had made up, he had admitted that once he sat down and really thought things through, he had messed up but his pride wouldn't let him admit to it until he realized he was going to lose me for good. Maybe JB is dealing with the same thing. He's probably more hurt than you are right now," Renee explains, understanding her friend's situation. "What did you say to him after he said he was done?"