She was Never Yours

Skeletons in the Closet

Luna shuffled from foot to foot waiting for the light on the crosswalk to change. "Hurry up! I'm gonna be late." Luna thought to herself glancing at her phone. When the light changed green she rushed across the street and into the building where the studio was located. "Sorry, I'm late guys." Luna said running in the conference room only to see Ava sitting there. "Don't be sorry Lulu, Ms.Kelly cancelled on us anyway. Something about her cat not feeling well." Ava said rolling her eyes. "So I rushed over here for nothing?" Luna said exasperated, "Not for nothing you got to see me." Ava replied jokingly.
Ava Collins, Luna's best friend/ coworker, was the lead organizer of the radio show. She sets up the radio interviews so in a way she set up T'challa and Luna two years ago. Ava was a stunning woman in her 30s with a blond bob and sea blue eyes, she stood at 5'7 much taller than Luna and they liked to have a good laugh about it every now and then.
"Why so upset? Ooouu don't tell me. You've got Prince Charming at your apartment again huh?" Ava teased with a smile, Luna blushed before answering "Yes I do but he's leaving tonight and I was hoping to spend the day with him." "It's been two years you kids have been together. Think he's gonna pop the question soon?" Ava questioned.
Hearing about marriage made Luna unconsciously tense up, "Don't be ridiculous. I'm an outsider in his country and outsiders can't marry royalty. Besides I've dealt my hand in marriage before and it didn't go well for me." Luna answered as she sat down across from Ava. " Oh honey he'll be the king soon that means there won't be anything stopping him from marrying you." Ava said confidently, "How do you even know if he wants to marry me?" Luna asked crossing her arms. "I've seen the way he looks at you. He looks at you like you're all that matters to him. That man would move the Earth,Moon and Stars just to see you happy." Ava said with lovesick tone.
Luna blushed knowing that what Ava said is true. "I hate it when you're right." Luna remarked looking away, "When you're my age sweetie you know a thing or two about love. Now get out of here and tell Prince Charming I said Hi." Ava said as Luna stood up. "I will Ava. I'll call you later after T'challa heads back home." Luna promised as she made her way out the door to head back home.

Back at Luna's apartment

        T'challa just opened the box labeled with the name Erik to see 3 different photo albums,a military jacket, and a ring box. "What in Bast's name is this? Why would Luna be hiding this?" T'challa wondered out loud, picking up a photo album.
      It was a white, leather bound book that said Wedding Album on the front in gold lettering, he flipped it open to see a younger Luna with much shorter hair looking radiant in a beautiful mermaid gown holding a bouquet of flowers smiling at the camera. Standing next to her was a young man in a suit with his arm around Luna but unfortunately there was a burn hole where the man he presumed was Erik's face would be in the photo.
        T'challa continued to flip through the photo album, on the next page was a close up of Luna kissing Erik but again there was a burn hole where his face would be again. "Luna was married once before?" T'challa asked himself confused as he flipped to the next page only to see yet again the Erik's face was burned out. He continued flipping through the photo album to see that in every photo Erik's face was burned out. He stopped on a photo of Luna resting her head and left hand on Erik's chest, he looked at the ring on her left hand before picking up the ring box and opening it.
       Inside the small velvet box was the same ring Luna was wearing in the photo, it was a simple, silver band with a large circular diamond in the middle. T'challa took the ring out of the box and examined it, there was an inscription on the inside of the ring that said To the Queen of my Heart. He put the ring back in the box and grabbing a different photo album.
         This one was just a plain, brown photo album as T'challa began to flip through it he saw Erik's face was burned out in every photo yet again. The photos seemed to be from when Luna was in college because several of the photos were taken at house parties. In a couple photos she's seen sitting in Erik's lap smiling with a red solo cup in her hand and in a few others she's on his back smiling at the camera.
"Luna seemed very happy with this Erik person. What happened to him?" T'challa wondered out loud.
        He put down the second album and picked up the final one, it was a black photo album that said Honeymoon on the front in silver lettering. T'challa opened it to see that same thing of Erik's face being burned out of the pictures. Many of the photos were taken somewhere tropical judging by the fact that many of them were taken on a beach. T'challa continued flipped through until he stopped on a photo of just Luna by herself, his heart skipped a beat looking at it.
       She was sitting in a lounge chair on the beach wearing a white bikini, her hair was wet  and falling into her natural waves just a bit past her shoulders with a white lily behind her ear. Her normal lightly tanned skin was darker from the sun exposure making her beautiful green eyes pop and her teeth even whiter. She was radiant and stunning all at the same time, T'challa gently took the photo out of the album and held it up. "My dear were as beautiful then as you are now. I can see how you managed to steal the hearts of two different men."T'challa sighed dreamily.
          While T'challa was staring at the photograph he was completely unaware of the jingling of the lock at the front door until Luna opened it and announced her arrival did T'challa completely freeze.