Human Nature A T'Challa Udaku Short Story

Part 3

See that girl, she knows I'm watching

She likes the way I stare,

I like livin' this way,

I like lovin' this way

-Michael Jackson "Human Nature"

T'Challa grinned as his car pulled into the driveway. He grabbed his suitcase and prepared to surprise Naomi. He'd purposely not called her back this morning and instead flew the first quinjet he could get his hands on over here. Though he had taken Okoye's advice and asked one of the pilots to fly him due to his lack of sleep. He took out his keys, and smiled as he heard the bass line of a song bouncing through the house. He turned the key and pushed open his door, grateful that the music would hide his presence for a few seconds more. He shut the white door quietly and left his suitcases by the doors. He slipped off his shoes and tiptoed into the kitchen.

The previous song had ended and he heard her sing along to the intro of the new one. "I am a single QUEEN!," the king laughed, recognizing the track from one of her recent obsessions. The album KIKI by Kiana Ledé.

"Your Husband leaves for two weeks and suddenly you're single again," T'Challa teased, giving away his presence. "T'Challa!" Her whole face lit up once it registered that he was standing in front of her. She ran over to him and he scooped her up in his arms. She grinned as he covered her face with kisses. "Hey baby," he finally replied, placing her back on her own feet.

"Hi, you weren't supposed to be back until tomorrow."

"I know, I finished my work early and I wanted to surprise you," the king smiled then cleared his throat, "there's also something I need to talk to you about, but it can't wait for a little while longer."

Naomi's smile fell, "Okay. I was cooking some leftovers from dinner last night, you want some?" Naomi walked back into the kitchen. T'Challa nodded and simply drank the sight of her in. Her hair was pulled into a large puff and she wore sweats and a t-shirt. She looked absolutely stunning. The new king took a seat and watched as she filled a bowl with pasta for him. Once she was done filling her own bowl. She turned off the oven and walked both dishes over to the island. She took a seat next to him and smiled.

"How was work?" She asked.

"It was great actually," T'Challa twirled some of the pasta around his fork. "I actually got a promotion that I can't wait to tell you about, later." Naomi smiled. That's amazing baby! I can't wait to hear all about it."

Somehow I doubt that the king thought to himself. "What about you?" he asked his wife. "It was good, I finished up that really big wedding I was telling you about. It was really sweet and surprisingly went off with very few problems."

T'Challa grabbed his wife's hand and kissed it. "You do it every time baby." Naomi blushed and it caused the man to chuckle. "I also worked with the girls on our wedding," Naomi revealed.

"How'd that go? Did you have a venue that you liked?"

"Yeah we narrowed it down to two, I wanted to make the final decision with you though. I'll pull the profile on them and we can decide now if you want."

"Let's save that for later," T'Challa smiled.

"Okay," Naomi sat back down. "I wanted to ask you though, do you think that I could go on your next work trip with you? I know I probably can't go work with you. But I could buy my own ticket and I could explore the city and just hang out with you whenever you have free time."

"I am so glad that you said that. I was going to tell you that I wanted you to come to the next one with me. I'm going back home and I want you to come with me," the king revealed. He knew that this was not the way to address the problem but it felt so much easier than telling the truth right now. His heart broke a little more as he watched a grin spread across his lover's face. He needed to start telling the truth soon, or he'd be in too deep.