Loved By You

Thirty-three

Omniscient

Over next year Angelo would send her pictures with little messages reminding her of how sorry he was. At first, Maja hated that he would send her pictures.

'Bronzed in elegance'

'Enameled with grace'

'Toasted with beauty'

'My lord, she's a Black woman'

(-Dr. Yosef Ben-Jochannan)

She thought that he was using the pictures to try and weasel his way back into her life, but they had no effect on her or so she thought. Maja found herself looking forward to the next picture he would send because each one came with a note. Each of the notes flowed together to form a beautiful poem but once she got the last sentence of the poem they stopped. She would come home from work to see if she got anything but after a while, she gave up.

Maja

It was Saturday and I was shopping with Haseem and Sami. "Why don't you just write him back?" Haseem asked. "No," I said as I continued to look at clothes. "Maja clearly he misses you." I scoffed. "If he cared in the first place he wouldn't have left. And he..." "Mommy!" My head shot up seeing Sami standing at the entrance talking to some man. "Samiya!" I snapped walking over to her. "Have you lost your mind? What have I told you about walking off?" She looked at me with big eyes making me sigh. "I'm sorry mommy, but...." "No buts anything could have happened to you. Then mommy would have to kill someone. Then mommy would end up in jail, do you want mommy to go to jail?" I asked tickling her making her laugh.

"No mommy." She as her laughter calmed down. "Strangers are bad" I poked her. "You hear me?" She nodded her head. "But mommy he's not a stranger." I looked at her confused as I stood up. "It's Gelo." I looked up locking eyes with a green pair. Before he could say anything, I slapped him before walking over to Haseem grabbing his arm and walking out the store. "Maja what's happening?" Haseem asked. "Angelo's back." I paused. "And I just slapped Angelo," I said as I kept walking until we hit the food court.

"Mama why did you hit Gelo." Sami pouted. "Because... Because...." "You know tag. They were playing a game kind of like that, but for adults." Sami looked at us before she finally said okay.

--

"He was at the mall?" Arnell asked. "Yep, he was talking to Sami." "Sami come here, mamas," Arnell called. "Yes?" She said as she skipped into the kitchen. "What did Gelo tell you?" Sami looked at me giggling before looking back at Arnell. She gestured for Arnell to come closer before she whispered something in her ear and then handed her something. Arnell covered her mouth laughing with Sami. Sami looked at me again and giggled before running to the back.

"What did she tell you? What did he say?" I asked. Arnell looked at the note then up at me with a smile. "He told her to tell you to go put some shoes on." I looked at her confused. "What?" "Go put your shoes on." I got up from my seat and quickly threw some shoes on. "Haseem can you watch Samiya. We'll be right back." Once he agreed I found myself sitting in Arnell's car. We pulled up to this all-white building downtown. I looked around seeing there was no one around not a single car, nothing but buildings. "Oh hell no. Where the fuck are we?" I questioned. "Calm down just follow me." She said as we got out. "I'm sending a text in the group chat," I said as I texted what I thought was going to be my last text.

"And I dropped the address. Shit, you're not about to have me disappear without a trace. Not I." I said as she opened the door to the building. I walked in and right as the door closed everything went black. "Arnell?" I called only to receive no response. "Arnell!" I said again before the light flipped on.

Omniscient

Maja stared at him as he stood in front of her looking completely different. "Hey." He said taking a step towards her. Maja began looking at the projections that shined on the wall. She was so into looking at the display that she didn't notice him standing right behind her.

She turned around quickly looking up at him staring into his eyes. They looked cold compared to the last time she saw them. "You look different." She mumbled. "A lot has happened since we last saw each other." He said coldly. "You look beautiful, though." He said biting his lip as he looked her over before wrapping his arm around her. "I know." Was all she said as she grabbed his arm.

"I need to go." She said. She turned to leave only to be stopped by Angelo pressing her against a wall. Maja breathing became slightly uneven as she felt his body pressed up against her body. "Please talk to me." He whispered as he pressed his forehead against hers. "You left. You just handed me off like I was just some object to be traded. You couldn't even sit down and talk to me about what you were thinking." She said as she glanced over his shoulder.

"Then you thought that your little letter would make up for the shit you pulled. You seemed very sure of what you wanted that night. You went weeks without speaking to me only to just leave with Dimitri and the funny thing is that night I chose you. I wanted you." She said softly as he stared at her seeing the different emotions run through her eyes.

"So, no I don't want to talk to you," Maja said before pulling the door open. "I'm not going anywhere Maja. I love you! I don't care how long I have to wait!" Angelo watched as Maja stopped walking to listen to what he said before she rushed off to her car.

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