Chapter Fourteen

Faith's voice cut through the haze of my pain, growing more desperate with each call. "You have no idea what you just did to me, babe! Did you even notice what I did for you?"

Her words fell on deaf ears. My self-esteem was lying somewhere back there on the ground where Ken had knocked me down.

I kept walking anyway, leaving her behind. Let Michael's ride come. Leaving her figure out her own way home. Right then, all I could focus on was this pain I never knew could feel so physical.

Standing at the gate, waiting for my ride, I caught myself doing something pathetic – looking back every few seconds, hoping to see her following. The emptiness behind me created this weird hollow feeling in my chest. Then I felt it – something wet rolling down my cheek. No, they weren't tears. Just... salty water drops. Wait... tears taste like salt? Damn. I really was crying.

"Fuck this" I said as I tried consoling myself, wiping the salty water off my face. My ride arrived and I entered.

"Now she gets to be with the main Guy". I thought.

"Who was I even kidding anyway?, Thinking a night at a would change my life". The pain sinking further into my heart as I made peace with my situation.

as I tried playing TYLER THE CREATOR's "Bastard" Song to console myself, I didn't know how I ended up playing Bruno Mars song.. Can't really remember the title but it had lyrics like "If you ever leave me baby.. Leave the morphine at my door, cause it will take a whole lots of medication.. To realise what blah blah blah.."..

My mind was racing with different thoughts and I felt like I was going to drown in them, so I brought out my phone, opened the Twitter app to see what was going on.

The first post I saw was a picture of me and Faith. The picture was taken when the both of us arrived at the party yesterday evening.

It had the caption:

"Just a day with him and it felt better than 1year with you, get a life". - 3 hours ago.

My eyes widened when I realized that it was Faith that made the post.

"Oh fuck! What have you done you idiot?" I muttered.

Faith tweeted that? I wanted to tell the driver to stop the car so I could go back but we had gone too far and besides, how on earth was I going to approach her? With the way I treated her back there?.

I continued scrolling down, and I saw that she replied all the tweets Ken tweeted about me. At that point, I felt a new wave of tightness in my chest.

The reality was daunting, I messed up. I fucked up real bad, Ken knew he was losing her and all he had to do was get me riled up and it worked.

"Awwww! Ladi just walked out on Faith, damn that is just sad" - 20 minutes ago.

"Now Faith is just in tears? Someone kill Ken already." - 15 minutes ago.

"Ken is just an insecure man-child" - 30 minutes ago.

I stopped scrolling through my feed and closed my eyes, rubbing my temples. This time, I didn't fight the tears. They rolled down my cheeks freely, and I just let them come. The weight of how I'd treated Faith – dismissing her, not letting her explain – pressed down on me like a physical thing.

That's when the memories started clicking into place. Every time I'd seen Ken standing near her, Faith's face had been tight with anger. The way she'd deliberately called me pet names when he was around. Even this morning, she'd looked upset – not at me, but at Ken, at what he'd done.

The realization hit me like a punch to the gut. I'd acted on pure impulse, letting anger and hurt pride drive me instead of just... listening. My thoughts were spinning when Asamoah's call lit up my screen.

I let it ring the first time. Had to get myself together – no way I wanted him hearing me crying. When he called again, I picked up.

"Charlie. Where are you?"

"Ummm... on my way home," I managed, hoping my voice sounded normal.

"Michael told me what happened man, are you good?" Concern filled his voice.

"Yeah, shit happens I guess." The words came out hollow.

"You know, that asshole wasn't even invited. He showed up at the party because Faith was there."

"That makes sense." Everything was making sense now, just too late.

"Take care of yourself man. Call me if you need anything," Asamoah said before ending the call.

Sitting in the backseat, I lost myself in memories of Faith. Her smile. The electricity when we kissed. Her moments of vulnerability. Those words... that kiss. Her perfume still clung to my clothes, making it difficult to even forget about her.

The driver was supposed to take me to my uncle's house, but I had him stop at the estate gate instead. The twenty-minute walk ahead of me didn't seem so bad. Maybe I needed it.

Surprisingly, the security guard didn't stop me for questioning. It was Musa on duty – one of the many people I'd made friends with over time. I had a habit of chatting with everyone, from security guards to the vendors on the street.

The streets were unusually empty, and it took me a moment to remember it was Christmas – of course everyone would be home. My feet were killing me in these tight shoes, but I kept walking, trying to convince myself I was enjoying the solitude.

That's when I saw a white Toyota Camry cruising past me. I recognized it from the party. It turned down the street leading to my destination.

"Looks like she found her way home after all," I muttered to myself.

A few minutes later, the same car passed me again, heading out of the estate. They honked, and I automatically waved back like I knew them. Could've been someone from Twitter – some of her followers had been at that party thanks to her tweets about it. My mind started to whisper "Ken," but I shut that thought down quick.

At my uncle's gate, I stood there knocking for a good minute or two, before Abigail opened the gate.

"Hey! Merry Christmas" I said while trying to hide my mouth odour from the alcohol.

"Same to you".. She replied as she turned around to go back to whatever she was doing.

Walking inside I started wondering how I was going to stay in the same house with people I had problems with.

Joyce is cheating on my uncle with his friend, Esther probably wants to kill me for seeing her naked and Faith... Oh well.

I tried warding off the thought as much as I could.