Margot wished to move out progressively while Vanity directly rented a van saying it was an early birthday present and it was time to Move on like Toni Braxton featuring her.
"Should I wrap this up too?" Vanity asked. For her, the sooner Margot left better.
"No, it was a present I gave him."
Vanity looked around the living room. Margot wished to take nothing, and she kept using the pretext that the objects were gifts she gave Nathan, meaning she could not take them back. "Margot, you brought every damn thing in this room. Tell me what you want?"
Finally, only Margot's wardrobe filled the van and blocked the whole space. The woman refused to have anything else.
"It's just material things," she said and shrugged at the apartment.
Both Vanity and Rashan agreed to say perhaps it was a good idea to leave everything behind as she did her relationship with Nathan. Who knew maybe the objects could jinx her new start.
"You know white magic exists, babe," Vanity said as she drove.
"You mean good magic."
"Huh, why does good magic need to be white? No, I'm talking about white people's witchcraft. Who knows, perhaps Nathan got those charms that boost attraction," Vanity emphasized without letting her gaze wander off from the road.
"You're crazy."
"Rashan," Vanity said for backup.
"True, aunty, the Halliwell's arent a myth. Witchcraft is almost legit a job. Tiktok is full of modern-day self-proclaimed witches. Some people believe they're meeting with the classic foreseer, while others know. You can't imagine the number of celebrities and public personalities who meet those people and ask for them to be irresistible or even just to have more followers on socials," Rashan said from the back seat while sending out her Tweets.
"I swear you peeps are crazy," Margot said, wondering since when Vanity believed Nathan did such things.
Despite her words, Margot knew one couldn't accept the existence of the greater good without acknowledging the reality of evil.
Everything and everyone had a dark side. Nathan revealed himself when their story ended, but he had already shown her multiple shades. He had no gray zone. Nathan was black at heart from Margot's standpoint.
Margot's move only took the day.
Twenty minutes later, Vanity parked in front of Margot's new home.
"Sista, is this a palace or what?" Vanity exclaimed in front of the structure.
"Wait until you see inside."
"Oh my god, you've got to tell me how you got this?"
"It's a long story," Margot began.
"Gurl, we have all our time. Go ahead."
Margot explained the owner had moved to Thailand with his husband. They had a guesthouse and a restaurant there. The couple was picky about who they wanted to live there, and Mr. Papouiller said she and Rashan were the ideal tenants. Margot didn't seek to know more all she retained was she had a home and what a place. The ceiling was high, the spaces vast. One just wanted to create things in it.
When she lifted the blinds, she had a clear view of the canal. Margot already herself jogging along the canal's side or feeding ducks with Diva.
Diva.
Margot felt she abandoned her child when one would be tempted to say Diva let her down. Daddy's little girl stuck by the man who could give her all, believing she would gain all of his attention. The girl could not suspect what her dad had in store.
Asap Ferg Green Juice blasted, Pharell hummed the chorus as Vanity, Rashan, and Margot installed the furniture of her new home. On the ground floor with a door large enough for a king-size bed, moving into the apartment was childs' play.
"Wow, you can throw one crazy-ass housewarming here."
"I wasn't planning to."
Rashan and Vanity turned around, "say what?"
"Nah, Margot, who does that?" Vanity asked.
"A woman who wants peace in her new home."
"Whatever, let me organize it for you."
Margot widened her eyes at her friend, "no, Vanity."
"Oh please, aunty, I want to meet new people," Rashan interrupted.
Margot shook her head, "I don't know nobody."
"Ahem, gurl, you had plenty of friends and a life before you met Lucifer. Sis, life goes on; who knows, you might even find yourself a real one with more brains than dick."
"Are you out of your friggin' mind? I didn't leave a relationship to jump headfirst in another."
Vanity shrugged, "then just go for the good dick."
"Vanity," Margot slid her gaze to the side in her niece's direction, "Rashan is here."
"I'm eighteen, and I know how to make babies, so I'm good, Vanity, carry on."
Margot shook her head in disapproval, "I can't. I really can't. What is wrong with you people? I don't want to have sex either. All I want is peace."
Diva wasn't home when her mom left, her dad picked her up from school, and they went back to a house without Margot. The little girl went to wash her hands, automatically as though her mother yelled at her to do so.
She hurried to the living and turned on the tv, while her dad threw himself on the couch and began to write things on his phone.
The girl wished Miraculous Ladybug until 7 PM
"Dad, I'm hungry."
Nathan had forgotten, Margot wasn't there. She had sent a text saying she would sleep in her new apartment. The man jumped off the couch and went to the fridge. He was happy to find a pepperoni pizza.
"Dad, I have homework."
"Okay, you can do that."
Margot usually asked her to show her textbook and sit down to help her. There her dad trusted Diva to do it alone. Not wanting to deceive him, the little girl attempted to do her exercises alone. Of course, she had a hard time with the maths but didn't wish to bother her dad.
They sat to eat at a table where Margot's seat remained empty twenty minutes later. Father and daughter rarely spoke. It was Margot who mustered conversations and cracked jokes.
"How was your day?"
"Okay, we made ukelele with cartons. It's for the recital."
"Good."
Nothing more came out of their dinner. After their ice cream dessert, Nathan played Ghost Recon while Diva tried to finish her homework.
Diva had never realized how absorbed her father was by himself. She didn't have time to as her mother always filled in the blanks.
At 9 PM, the girl came with a book, "dad, can you read me a story?"
When she was little, her father always read her one but stopped. Perhaps they could restore the tradition she missed.
"Diva, not now. Dad can die if he leaves the game now."
The little girls' lips drooped.
"Okay, just give me a minute."
Diva went to sit on the couch and waited. The minute became ten, fifteen, half another later, Nathan still played. When Nathan finally turned around, Diva slept.
The man carried her to her bed. He then returned to the living room, "I'm logging off, guys," he said in his headphones.
"Ait," Russell threw.
"Girl, bye," Clovis joked.
"Peace," Alonzo added.
Nathan took his phone. It was 5 PM in Canada.
Nathan tried his luck and called.
"Nate."
"Rina."
"Wow, I'm shocked."
Nathan hadn't lied when he told Margot he stopped seeing her. He told Rina he couldn't carry on with the long-distance relationship. Thus their last conversation was almost four years old.
"Why of a sudden?" Asked the woman.
"I dunno, nostalgia maybe. I've been thinking about you."
"Really? the woman laughed, four years later."
"I like your new show."
"Oh, I get it, you saw me on tv and thought, hey, why don't I call her now she's making it."
Nathan swiped a hand behind his head, "you know I can just hang up. I don't know what I was thinking."
The man knew exactly what he thought when he dialed. Margot was gone, which meant he was free to do but also renew whatever. Rina was the woman he would be with if Diva wasn't there. Nathan wished to be the family man for his child's sake, but he wasn't ready for it. He wanted the best of both worlds, but it wasn't possible.
Nathan didn't wish to be the one to breakup, he patiently waited for Margot to forfeit, and now he was back to square one. Not precisely everything deepened on Rina.
"What have you been up to, Nathan?"
The woman almost heard him smile as he replied, "I had a daughter, and my girlfriend and I split up."
Of course, Rina imagined Diva was three or four, and Nathan didn't give the age which would reveal his two-timing persona.
"Wow, you're a dad."
"Yes, and I'm raising her alone."
Nathan knew honesty was the best policy.
Rina's voice softened, the conversation took off, and they reminisced on what they were. The woman starred in many movies and series since. Nathan followed her ascension. If she had a relationship with someone, Rina kept the tabloids away. There were few rumors, but that was about it.
Nathan had a talent for picking women who didn't play leapfrog on different men. After him, Rina focused on her career, though she never expressed she wished Nathan somehow found his way back to her.
It took four years, but there he was, and Margot's departure wasn't even ten hours old.