Not more than strangers✔️

11| h e a r t a c h e

   This was exhausting, she had to admit and as much as staying angry with him did nothing to settle the pain beneath, she couldn't help it. He cheated on her countless times for money and then didn't bother to support her during labour.

    They were just some things she could never overlook, the perfume, the lipstick on his collar— and the neglect was the worst of them. She hated the anxiety he gave her when he said he was going to work or to help with her family's relocation when she knew he was hovering over someone else, telling her that he loved her.

She imagined what he would've been doing in Nigeria while she was writhing in pain in the hospital, how many women he laid with when she was between life and death. It made her resent him, made her poor self insecure beyond comprehension.

    There were times she felt ugly and different in the bad light, her shiny ebony skin looked like dirt in her eyes and all she saw when she looked in the mirror, stamped on her forehead in bold red letters; stupid.

   She couldn't understand the love-hate feeling brewing underneath her skin, she would look at him and throw herself into his arms in seconds at the same time would want to hurt him just as bad as he hurt her. Maybe that's why he cried after her outburst, she wasn't exactly thinking when she yelled the words 'I hate you' and instantly regretted them.

    She remembered the day as it made her stomach turn uneasily. Sade had gone out which was quite something considering how much he detests the cold, he loved staying indoors and reading a good article in the newspapers. She didn't think too much of it, she was grateful to have the house to herself, she needed the silence and serenity that came with putting her thoughts together.

     Funmi stroked his chocolate hair, smiling slightly at the resemblance Eric had to his father but as much as she didn't want to admit it, she missed him so damn much or at least the man she thought she married.

    She laid Eric down in his cot and proceeded to take a shower and get some sleep herself. She changed into a light cotton night gown, laying peaceful in bed. She missed the warmth that came along with Pierce, the way his hand would drape over her body when they slept only to wake up to complaints in the morning how Funmi wasn't a peaceful sleeper.

     She heard the knock on the door and assumed it was her uncle. The steps were a little too hurried and heavy, so she grabbed a bat off the dresser as she tiptoed towards the living room, her palms were sweaty and her heart hammered against her rib cage at the possibility of an intruder.

     She can swear to anything she almost swung that bat if not for his panic state and flushed skin. Eyes darting between the weapon and a faltering Funmi.

His grey eyes were dull, a shadow had grown across his chin, he looked miserable.

    "Drop the bat sweetheart." She gentle lowers the object from her hands as she could just stare at him, the man who for a fact took her for a fool. "I got these for you." He extended the bouquet of flowers towards her slowly, like she would bite off his hand if he came too close.

      He licked his lips just as she stayed put, she didn't know what to say or do. "I know you're really upset with me and I've fucked up badly but I'm so sorry. I honestly wish we could go back and I'd met you before Kemi-"

      "Don't-" she inhaled to calm her rising anger. "Don't you dare bring up Kemi. Kemi was good to me, was good for me! He has nothing to do with every single thing you've destroyed."