Mend

𝑻𝒆𝒏

"Start talking." Ashley said as soon as we walked into my flat, her eyes bulging out of her face. When we walked away from Alex in the common area a few minutes ago, I could tell she was itching to ask me what I was doing having lunch with him. I wanted to applaud her for holding out until we actually got back to my place.

"And say what?" I asked, sighing and plopping down on the couch with my laptop in hand. I ignored Ashley's bouncing hip to pull up our meeting's agenda and to have the laptop ready for the Zoom call we'd be on to talk to the rest of our team.

Ashley walked over and sat next to me with an impatient groan. "And tell me why I found you eating lunch with the sexy doctor minutes after your boyfriend told me you weren't together anymore."

"Ex boyfriend." I reminded her, earning myself a passionate roll of her eyes. "How did that conversation with Bakari even go? Is he just going around telling people he dumped me?"

"I bumped into him in the snack aisle and asked him if he'd be watching today's games with you and he said, 'Cheyenne didn't tell you that we're done?' and stupid little me went, 'Done watching netball matches?'"

I had to laugh at that. My hand gripped my stomach as tears pricked the corners of my eyes. "I'm sorry, Ashley. I should have given you a heads up."

"You should have. I mean, I know I never really had faith in you two, but this is such a drastic change from what you were saying on Friday. How did you go from defending your relationship to getting dumped and not telling me?"

"Honestly, Ashley, it's still so fresh. I haven't really had the chance to sit down and even think of what our breakup means." I sighed. "A lot has happened since last Monday when he left, okay?"

"Clearly." she scoffed, throwing her locs over one shoulder. "Which brings us back to Alex Mujulizi staring into your eyes like he lost something precious in them. What was that about?"

I huffed a breath and checked the time. Ten minutes till the meeting. Time was clearly not on my side today. "Let's not exaggerate the way he was looking at me, thank you. And to calm your titties down a little, Alex works at Pamoja. We coincidentally ran into each other there last week and ended up having a short chat. Today, we saw each other there again and talked a little when he had free time. When I was leaving, he asked me to join him for lunch because he wanted a little break from having lunch with his daughter. That's what us eating together was about."

"Lunch with his daughter?" she echoed. "He has a child?"

"Mmhmmm."

"How does that make you feel?"

"Uhh, that's a weird question." I giggled nervously. "Why would I feel anything about a man I barely know being a father?"

"Because you two are bound to land heart first into each other's beds. I can just smell it off you." Ashley said without missing a beat, the confidence in her statement turning my eyes to saucers. "That child might not mean anything to you now, but what about months from now when you meet the woman he made her with and maybe she's still in love with him and wants to make your life a living hell? Or you meet the child and she hates you? Or mom and child both love you, but Alex can't prioritise you because he loves them both a bit more than he does you?"