The Deal

Eighteen-Bernadette

"Thank you so much, Officer," Thabo says, as he shakes Officer Baduza's thick hands. I'm eyeballing this man in uniform as I'm seated on the living room sofa. He has thick forearms and a scruffy, dark brown mustache which reminds me of......Well, I can't even compare his facial features to anything since I can't remember anything. Short strands of grey, as pale as his skin, taint around the brown of his spiky hair. Why let an old man like Baduza take care of me, while he has children or is past his retirement?

Hey, you know I've always got your back, brother," Baduza says. "The way you take care of your wife, I wish I could do the same thing to mine when she was still alive."

"Yeah, she was a good soul."

Thabo pats the old man on his shoulder and gives a small hug before he leaves the front door.

I know my husband is pissed off at me right now but I don't care. My mind's preoccupied with this article I'm scrolling through on my phone. The headline reads; Will This Be Bernadette Amara's Last Season? Another one I previously read was; Producers of Bad Habits Blame Bernadette's Amnesia for Bad Performance on Set. The things these tabloids say about my amnesia make me want to find the writers and shove this phone into their throats.

Speaking of throats, did I just hear Thabo clear his? I don't know. He does it, and this time, I do hear him. I lift my head to catch him stuffing his hands in jeans pockets. "Nettie, what the hell?"

"Have you seen the rumors?" I ask, avoiding his gaze once again. I realize I just muttered the question. I doubt he even heard me.

Nettie, look at me for Christ's sake."

I lift my head. "Huh?"

The bags underneath his eyes are very detectable through his glasses. He may be exhausted but I'm exhausted too.

"Honey, take a look." I hand him the phone and he scroll through silently. The reaction he gives out doesn't convince me he'll stick with my decisions.

"I think it was Bill who leaked this. It has to be him. What do you think?"

Thabo rolls his eyes and sighs. "It's a rumor, Nettie. It'll die down. As of now, there's no confirmation."

He hands the phone back. "Yeah, but he might have been watching me. He was probably at J's Bar, hiding, listening to the conversation with Yvonne."

"Whether it was Bill or not, Yvonne will take care of this. Rumors come almost every time but they never end up confirmed. You can always go out there and say they're not true, and then your fans would buy it. Your assistant used to handle these problems."

"I had an assistant?" I inquire.

"What did we talk about today?" He cuts in. "You left the house without informing me. What if something terrible had happened?"

Oh, this again. I shrug at him. "I was taking a stroll around the neighborhood. Is that such an irresponsible thing to do? What did we say about giving me space? Because I have no memory doesn't mean I've become a child again. I go and come when I want."

"Even when there's a dangerous man out there, taunting you? When you sneak past security to my friggin' brother's house?"

"What?" His lips are pursed.

"Trust me, Officer Baduza is good at his job. I was serious when I said I'd do anything to make you safe."

Well, Sweet Mary Virgin. I can't really tell my husband I cheated on him with Jabar. Thoughts of the slow humping, and his sweaty abs come to mind. Thabo sinks his gloomy gaze to mine. When he looks deep into my eyes like this, pure guilt floods my chest. As my forearms glisten with sweat, I do my best to avoid the stare.

"May I ask what you were doing there?"

I furrow my brows at him. "Am I not allowed to visit your younger brother? How many times have we shared a conversation since the coma? If you wanted to ban me from going there, you should have said it back in the ER."

"I'm not restricting you from going to see him, Nettie. I'm only being curious. Before the accident, you crashed at his apartment more times than I can count."

I sigh. "I don't know what you want me to say. You think there's something going on between me and him?"

data-p-id=d443e5a0d08ae7a5f0bd83e8cc0235f8,"Is there?"

My jaw freezes. Jabar lifting me off the floor comes to mind.

"I went there to ask him about a certain customer. It turns out she's real. She's the woman from my memories. She lives in this neighborhood."

Thabo narrows his eyes at me. "What are you saying?"

I groan. "Please follow up, Thabo. The lady and Bill could be connected. That night, Jabar confirmed she was there. But he never saw us sitting together. We were engaged in a conversation, and then she offered me a deal. It could be I refused to take her deal, so she either drugged me or something. Thabo, it's all connecting."

"Okay. I understand. You've got your answers. Now, can you please promise me you'll stop and let me handle it."

I narrow my eyes at him. "I thought you said we would figure this out."

"I don't want you to stress yourself with this. You're going to make this trauma worst if you try to remember. Please, babe. Understand me for once."

I pause waiting for him to confront me on my decisions but he walks away. "I hope you're working on finding this private investigator."

He turns to look me over the shoulder. "Like I said, I'll handle it."

When he climbs the stairs, I pick my phone to memorize the location of the Bongani's Books store. I didn't tell him this mystery lady who's a part of my memories works as a clerk. Not only that, but she's a damn doppelganger. A tiny scoff escapes my lips. This is getting really out of hand. The fact that I have a double of me living in the same town is, to my surprise, quite hilarious. There are a few, different features differentiating me from her, though. Her mannerisms were also different, but I have only seen her once. I need to know her name, and what she knows about my stalker.