Mahogany Blues

18

Six months later

Tonight was their weekly date night, Levi had been anticipating the opportunity to partake in some downtime with his girl. It wasn't easy doing this over this app, Scener that Sabrina had raved about but it was worth seeing her face and hearing her voice.

Movie night was an easy choice, simply because they both enjoyed movies but it helped them both destress from the pilling workload they each had.

Sabrina's book had become a life of its own, being picked up for a film adaptation by a big streaming giant and was already in production.

While Levi's responsibilities had grown in the last couple of months since his mentor Raymond had retired and pretty much handed Levi his whole client portfolio.

This was the first time in 2 weeks that they both had been able to come to this date night and for that, he was happy.

The movie began as they equally turned off their lights for a more cinematic feel.

Conversations between them had become notably stressed but he was chalking up to the distance between them and the workload they both had.

He was too far gone to just give up on this and though he was sure where he stood, the same couldn't be said for her.

" You good, baby? " he turned to look at her screen. She shifted to her side, to face him with a sheepish smile.

" I'm good whenever you are close by, love."

" You so corny sometimes" he stroked the screen, feeling those same butterflies all over again.

He noticed her sitting up with excitement like she was ready to tell him something" You love it! Anyways, I have good news: I signed a three-book deal with my publisher,eeek"

He beamed with joy, watching her roll around with sheer happiness written all over her body. He knew that she was talented as hell, and this was only the beginning of her upward career trajectory.

"Baby girl, that's what the fuck I'm talking about! I see you doing yo shit and all I can say is I'm proud of you, ain't no stopping now."He rubbed the back of his head with a big smile on his face.

" You know, I wouldn't have done this without you. Your drive kind of inspired me to go harder with my book pitch. Guess who's going to get dedicated" She gave him a suggestive look.

" Oh me? Damn girl, you got me feeling like Will Smith on something inspirational shit. Mmm, I love you, girl" He lay there in blissful ignorance until the realization shocked him into reality.

He could only glance at her through his side vision, she was completely frozen in her position.

The silence was deafening, he wasn't sure why he even said it but deep down, he knew that it was, in fact, true.

He did love her.

All of a sudden, it was as if his chest became tight like he couldn't breathe. What was happening?

In the midst of this, he heard her say " I gotta go" before the soft sound of disconnect pinged, echoing in his quiet room.

He turned the movie off, sitting on the edge of the bed as his head hung low in his hands.

"Fuckkk" was all he could utter.

This wasn't even the way he wanted to say this, he didn't know what came over him but he knew whatever attempt to say anything now would be ignored by her.

Never did he think that he would be the sappy one out of the two, he had always preferred to be more disciplined in how he handled everything, even his love life.

In all his time, he never had a woman make him want to loosen up enough to say those words.

He figured that it was best to sleep on it and that's what he did.

A few restless hours later and sleeping on it did little to settle his nerves. He knew he had to be up by now since there was so much he had to do.

After finishing his morning workout and hygiene routine, he made a bowl of oatmeal coupled with a few berries and mango and devoured it in seconds.

He was out the door before the sun could rise, it was a perfect time to reflect and focus but it was hard when she was still troubling his mind.

He greeted the cleaning staff like always as he entered the building, travelling to the 7th floor where his brand new office was.

Encased in complete glass, he was able to have the open plan feel without the actual open plan. He needed some degree of separation from the rest of the office.

His phone vibrated, hoping it was her " Baby, I'm sorry-"

" It's ok, I forgive you, Daddy, period" Marcus mimicked.

" Ay, nigga, get the fuck off my line. Yo ass is so annoying"

"Mannnn, don't act like you weren't fooled by me"

" Whatchu want?"

" To hear from you, nigga? How can you ghost us like this? Your boys?" Marcus gasped.

"Man, you are too much. I'm just handling a few things with Brina, nothing much" Levi looked out of his office as more people poured into the office.

"Mmmmmm, whatever you say. Imma get at you later" The phone clicked off.

Looking out of his window, his mind wandered to her again. He knew that she would be awake by now but he couldn't bring himself to call or even text her just yet.

Before he could do anything else, his door opened with his assistant, Hanna walked in with a few files for him. " Sir, Mr Warman is on line 1 for you and the company meeting has been moved to tomorrow," She said, handing him the files

" Thanks, Hanna" She left the room quickly as he picked up the phone.

" Mr Warman! So good to hear from you, I trust that things are going well with the new account"

" Ah, yes! Levi, I wanted to personally thank you for all your help with moving the money, all this technology is confusing my poor old brain."

" That's what I'm here for. I'm glad I could make the process easier for you. Is there anything else you need?"

" No, but be sure to hear from a few of my friends very soon, Levi."

"Thank you, sir" Levi beamed, his hard work was finally really paying off. At first, he wasn't sure that he could take Raymond's work or even seek after this kind of clientele as well as Raymond but it seemed that the self-doubt was for nothing because he was doing much better than he thought.

After the small highlight of the day, time seemed to drag and as it did that, so did he begin to feel less worried and more frustrated. He expected, at least, an attempt at a conversation but she hadn't so much as read his 'Good Morning' text and negativity beginning to creep into his thoughts.

He knew that what he said was a very big declaration but he didn't feel warranted radio silence, he could chalk it up to her being busy however, he knew that she would still be on her phone if she was.

She was ignoring him.

He knew that's what it was but he didn't want to believe that she was that petty. After what had been a long day, he finally made it back to his apartment and once again, he was trapped with his thoughts.

He knew that when that call came, he would be more than ready to give her a piece of his mind.

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Another chapter!

Tell me all your thoughts.

Love, Tam xxx