The Seven, and their Wealth. II

XVII - Naledi.

Naledi seldom uses the showers in the gym, but today was different. Seeing how it was her first in nearly three months, tired would be a dangerous understatement.

The gym was one of the many places she had been actively avoiding since post-lockdown. She also avoided it because she and Elijah frequented the place together. With each passing day, Naledi was given an opportunity to reflect on what was between her and Elijah; and the more she thought about it, they did everything together.

They would see each other for at least five of the seven days a week, more than a hundred text messages were exchanged between them, Naledi's call log only had Elijah's name present, and there were at least fifteen different Spotify playlists curated by Elijah for her, outings were never done with the other, and they nearly went as far as getting matching tattoos – she backed out last minute, opting for ear piercings instead. Thank God I did not go through with that.

Retrospectively, it hurt because all those adventures they'd been on went right down the drain. She was still thankful for it all, regardless. The good, the bad and the ugly were a part of her story and reliving it she could not help but smile at how ridiculous certain parts of their relationship were.

Naledi was happier at the idea of being able to finally move on. The once strong tether that existed between her and Naledi was sluggishly fading, because – for her – a new one was being formed with Clinton.

What started as harmless plotting, seemed to have taken a turn for the better because now she would be with someone new. Someone who made her feel special, an excellent communicator, looked just as good as Elijah (if not better), and someone who could not go a day without sending her a text message to make sure that she was okay. Awfully reminiscent of Elijah, but different in many ways.

Clinton was not mandated to do all these things, seeing how they weren't a couple. It all caught Naledi completely off-guard, and she was not complaining in the slightest bit. Naledi zipped up an oversized Adidas jacket and had black tights and Asics trainers on before carrying her branded duffle bag and walking out of the Melrose Arch Virgin Active gym.

She felt much better, despite the slight aches, for having exercised that hard and felt an even greater euphoria for doing it all without thinking about Elijah. Her wireless JBL earphones loudly blasted SZA's "Drew Barrymore" as she walked into a nearby Kauai.

Naledi placed her order for a breakfast bowl and a fresh mint and ginger tea before being asked to wait while her order was being prepared. She sat, absentmindedly scrolling through Clinton's Instagram page. He honestly was such a goof, with all the photos he had up. He looked carefree, happy, and like he was just enjoying life.

She also could not stop looking at the highlights from his birthday trip to Namibia. I mean sunset dinners, Jacquet Droz watches, safaris and quadbikes in the savannah seemed like such a great time. She wondered why she was not invited.

elijahmercury

Can we talk?

She read the incoming notification with resolute disgust.

No, how dare he, she hissed swiping away the notification.

He was not about to ruin the great morning she was having. All that was left on her to-do list was to visit Priya; she'd prepared big plans for their afternoon and would not tell Naledi what they were.

elijahmercury

Naledi.

Ugh, no! The smile from Priya's pending text message was wiped off.