Beyond Desire

12-He got more red flags than a bullfighting arena.

I returned home to an empty house.

Instead of idly wallowing around in boredom, I decided it was best to get myself a little treat after a rough start to the day. To add to that, it has been ages since the last time I actually had a productive day so I might as well make use of this opportunity to beat Mahir's accusation of calling me "an Irish in winter"

The moment I made it to my room, I dialed my accomplice in shenanigans, my therapist without the degree, to hear if she was up for a day out around town or if she was even in town, to begin with. While my online presence is louder than my physical, Tassie, my best friend, is the reverse. She's making waves globally but you'd hardly know it from her socials. The last time we caught up, she had already explored seventy-three countries, driven by her ambitious goal to become the first Nigerian to circumnavigate the globe. Though her jet-setting lifestyle is too much of a headache to keep up with, I'm one hundred percent rooting for her. That's what being a girl's girl is all about.

The phone barely completed its first ring when..."Jalee Mai!" She yelled into my ear.

"Tassie" my voice held far less amount of enthusiasm than hers and I swear that was the best I could come up with. It's still too damn early in the morning for anyone to act like a chicken at dawn. Anyone except Tessie.

"I was low-key trying to hit you up tbh. I saw your new project online and I'm dead-ass impressed. It's going to be a total game changer for the youths." She was speaking about the new scheme we started where we fund young entrepreneurs with potentials. "I am super proud of yo ass" I pictured her jiggling around as she spoke.

"We leaned more toward children and women the past few years, I figured a new group for a change wouldn't hurt" I shrugged lazily and plopped myself on the bed with a thud.

"That's a great idea, you are such an icon I want to devour you!" Have I mentioned that Tassie is wild? Well, there you have it.

"Last I knew, humans aren't cannibals anymore!" I couldn't help but smile, feeling instantly at home and realizing how much I missed this girl's company.

"Who says I am human?" She argued, mischievousness playing in her tone.

"Fair question. How're things with Mike?" I asked, not because I was interested in hearing about her toxic boyfriend, but because I wanted to know how steady her mental health was.

The manipulative fool she called a boyfriend got more red flags than a bullfighting arena. It doesn't take a genius to figure out he's playing her. Yes, it's that obvious, to everyone but the plaything herself. Tessie fell for him so hard she wasn't even conscious of the wounds he was inflicting on her. All her therapy sessions kept circling back to one person: Mike.

"Mike's fine. How is everyone? Mahir promised me a movie date when next we meet. Remind him, will you?" She tried to wave away my question. Our eighteen years of friendship must have slipped her mind.

"How are things with Mike?" I repeated my question, this time making sure to convey in my tone, how I wasn't going to settle for anything less than an answer to that.

"Mike's fine"

"Yeah, I heard that the first time"

She was quiet for a while, likely concocting a way to spin the words without making her already jerk of a boyfriend, an even bigger jerk. "HaveItoldyouthatMikepropossed?" She spoke so fast that, Twista with his world record for the fastest English rapper would have been put to shame.

"What?" I frowned and sat up from my relaxing posture. I did pick up some rephrases and it doesn't sound like something I would be happy with.

"Mike proposed" Hearing those words felt like a punch directly to my gut. Ironically, hearing he had ended things with her would have been a more welcomed relief since she was too unhealthily attached to rid herself of that toxic being. But this was a shocking twist.