Fault

Chapter 39

I awoke from the fainting spell, having no recollection of how long I had been out. Although still on the ground, Jeremy managed to lift my upper body and rest my head onto his chest. Next to him now, was a familiar faced woman was who was leaning over us both. While attending to my aid, she began asking a bunch of random questions.

"What's your name? How many fingers am I holding up? Do you know what day of the week it is?" She quizzed.

Her voice was gentle, calming and sweet. Jeremy's on the other hand, was full of panic and concern.

"I don't know what happened, she just dropped to the ground!" He explained to the woman who was ironically dressed in scrubs. "She pregnant too, so maybe I should take her to the hospital!"

The moment I heard him disclosing my secret, I jolted up and let them both know that I was fine. The woman, now in full view, was beautiful, had a thick frame and appeared to be in her late 30's to early '40s. It wasn't until she directed Jeremy to bring me inside, that I realized she was his older cousin, Vaeda, who owned the house he was living in. The familiar pictures on the walls also confirmed that.

Although having been in her home more times than I could count, the way she spoke and guided me around made me feel like she didn't know who I was. This didn't necessarily alarm me, because she was rarely home, so why would she recognize my face?

After inquiring about the pregnancy, and advising that I follow-up with my OBGYN as soon a possible, Vaeda handed me a paper plate to eat the takeout food she had brought for the family. She even encouraged me to stay as long as I needed to feel better. Before I could respectfully decline, Shayna walked into the kitchen and greeted us.

"Shay this is Jeremy's girlfriend. You said your name was Shi Shi, right?" Vaeda asked.

"Ma, if you don't stop trying to introduce me to people I already know..." She laughed hysterically.

"What? Wait a minute, you knew he had a pregnant girlfriend and didn't tell me!" She exclaimed, talking about me as if I weren't standing right there.

"Pregnant?" She said looking at me in shock. I purposely turned my head in the opposite direction.

"Clearly, I'm out of the loop!" Vaeda continued. "The last thing I knew, he was seeing that fat girl, Jada. The one with the pretty daughter who has hazel eyes."

My attention peeked, as I had never heard that name before. Not wanting to seem like a jealous girlfriend in front of his people, I chose to say nothing. Unfortunately for me, before the conversation came about, Jeremy had conveniently disappeared from the kitchen. Therefore, I wasn't able to get to the bottom of who the hell his cousin was talking about.

"Maaaaa! Just be quiet!" Shayna said shaking her head. "Jay hasn't been around for a while. Plus, he never really liked that girl. He only used her to ge..."

"You know what, I think I'm feeling much better...don't really have an appetite either, so I'm just gonna head out," I announced.

"Nooooo, you sure?" Both ladies basically said in unison.

"Yeah, I just wanna get home before I start feeling faint again, ya know."

"Okay, I'll go let the bum know so he can drive you home," Shayna giggled.

"No! He doesn't need to take me home. Just let him know that I'll call him as soon as I get there."

Both had skeptical looks on their faces. They probably knew Jeremy well enough to know that he would never let me just leave this late without making sure I got home safely. More importantly, it must've seemed strange that I wanted to leave without saying goodbye. Nevertheless, I finally made my escape from him, unnoticed.

My phone rang not even two minutes after I left out. Luckily by that time, I had managed to catch a bus that just happened to be passing by, right in the nick of time. He was upset about my sudden departure, naturally, but the moment I mentioned the conversation about 'Jada,' his energy shifted.

"So, who is she?" I demanded, caring to a certain degree, but not really. Mentally, I was so close to being done with the relationship, but I still didn't want to get played.

"NOBODY, she's just a friend! I used to talk to her before you, so maybe that's why my cousin brought her up. Then again, we never talk about my personal business like that, so I don't get why Vaeda would even mention ANY names to you in the first place!"

"I don't know why either, but I'm glad she did. As many times as we've talked about our ex's, I've never heard you mention her name before though. Maybe this whole time you've been accusing me of cheating on you because you've been doin' it to me!"

"Really! You've got to be kidding me! You're gonna believe someone you just met over ME, your man!"

"Yeah, I believe her..."

"Aight, cool...believe her then!" He voiced angrily.

Instead of continuing to explain himself, he hung up the phone. When I tried calling him back, he sent me to voicemail. In fact, I didn't hear from him for the next few days...