Proverbs 16:18-19
18 Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.
19 Better it is to be of an humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud.
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Life had a very bad way of making even the greatest of men grovel at one's feet. I'd heard that what goes around, came back around but I only believed it at the moment Destiny was conflicted on who to choose between myself and that backless and skinny man, whose name would never slide off my tongue. Many men and women alike had fallen to their knees before me, asking for mercy and today the wheel had turned, I was at the knees of Destiny. But I would much rather be at her mercy than anybody else.
I wished I could wipe off the Cheshire grin on my rival's face but I knew that that would not help me plead my case in any sense so why do something that would cost me everything? Which was the love of my life. It was time I fought for what I loved, I could not bear the thought of Destiny choosing him over me, yes, I had the money to get any women I wanted but no money could buy a virtuous woman, a woman with a pure heart of gold.
Destiny cleared her throat throwing her honey-doe orbs at me, before casting a lingering glance at my rival's who had his head in the clouds, as though he could win but the loud thud of my heart spoke different sentiments. Utterances of "what ifs."
"Before I say anything, I just want to take the time to express how I am grateful to have met the both of you, learned how life looked from both of your eyes and got to make friends I never knew I could make but the person I choose will be the one the Lord has called me to choose, the one the Holy Spirit is calling me towards," and he just had to roll his eyes as though Destiny's words did not hold any importance. Clearly, religion was very important to Destiny, so when she chose me, I would swallow my pride and allow myself to learn more about this 'all-knowing God' they spoke so highly of.
"Do you swear that you will not cause a scene?" Destiny directed her question at the both of us, and of course, the skinny, insolent man beside her nodded like a crazy man, but once her gaze diverted to her hands, he flashed me an evil smirk, his eyes screaming how he thought he had won. But I knew people like him, they counted their chicks before they even had the chance to hatch and he would just get disappointed, him and his evil ego.
"Nio. I choose Nio," Destiny blurted out in one breath before taking in a great amount of air, avoiding the shocked gaze on my opponent's face and the satisfied smirk on my face. For a second, I was afraid that she would choose him but thankfully she had not. Though I had thought I did not deserve her, between myself and him, I was the best candidate. Yes, I was a liar but he was an even bigger liar and manipulator hiding behind a charming smile and innocent eyes. If anything he would only use her then unfortunately as much as the truth hurt, he would spit her out like a bubblegum that had run out of flavour.
"What!" I had expected nothing less than how he was behaving right now and like the small boy he was, he drew attention to himself, roughly sliding his chair on the tiled floor before abruptly standing up and pacing to and fro like a madman.
The only person who I was worried about was Destiny. Clearly, this man did like being told no but I knew he was an all bark-no-bite kind of man, or so I thought as he charged towards Destiny, his face red in rage and his hands balled up into fists but before he could come any closer, I stood up as well and took small, calculated steps to him as he continued his rampage, the high-class customers in the cafe took out their obnoxiously expensive cellphones taking videos and gossiping amongst themselves because that's all they knew. They would much rather watch a woman get beat up on the sidelines, while their social media accounts got more views, likes and comments at the cost of the victim then dared to play the victim and preached how much of good people they were at their fake tea parties and ball dances.
By now I was angry from the situation, forcely, I grabbed him by his collar, and shoved him, shaking him wake from his crazed daze. If he thought he could try to attack Destiny and get away with it, he was dearly mistaken, that was the beholder of my heart and anyone who so even dared to pluck a strand of her hair, would not live to tell the tale.
I pushed him out of the cafe, not caring about the eyes that followed our every move. He kept trying to move out of my stone grip but the boy was weak, his hand did not even manage to budge my grip. The irony of the situation was that he thought he could abuse women and make them weak but he was the weakling.
Thankfully the street outside the restaurant was isolated, due to the snobby area, and that gave me the perfect opportunity to shove him down a dark alley, so dark he tripped on his feet and fell face flat. I did not know whether to laugh in his face or shove him down again and again as I watched him suffer for making Destiny his puppet. I decided against either of one of those. When he finally had the guts to stand up, he held on to his crooked nose, his eyes red with anger, and his jaw clenched, and what I knew would happen happened, he swung a sloppy fist aimed at my face that ended up flinging all the way to my side.
That irked me, if he knew that he could not even aim, let alone throw a punch, why did he try in the first place? The number one rule of torture was to find your enemy's weakness and use it against them and judging by the man who heaved a sweat from the nonexistent fist aimed at me, I knew his weakness, his ego. His pride. He had pride a size bigger than his head and pride goes before destruction.
As he swung for another fist, I grabbed his arm and roughly twisted it to his back.
"Your father might have not taught you how to respect women, so I gladly do so," I sharply whispered into his ear as he winced at my tone and the grip he tried to remove his hand from. "Women are not possessions, they are not your property, without a woman, you wouldn't have been brought into this world unless you were the first person to deliver yourself into this world, then respect women."
"Who are you to tell me whom to respect? You don't know me so how does what I do with Destiny concern you?" He gritted through his teeth, his accent revealing how much of a baby he was.
A sinister and dark chuckle emitted from my mouth and a hiss from his mouth, as my hand twisted his hand all the way more, "It became my concern when you made Destiny your target. You don't mess with her and expect me to leave you be. Never," I did not make false promises, and if he did not do as instructed, I would keep my end of the promise.
A maniac laugh escaped his mouth, there was nothing delightful about it, it was a mocking laugh. The boy thought I was one of his friends that he stood for his crazy antics.
"And what will you do about that? Do you know who I am? You are just a weakling in comparison to me, so leave Destiny and I in peace we had, stop interfering in things that ain't any of your business." And that's when I lost it. Who did he think he was?
Within a span of a few seconds my gun pressed against his temple, full of bullets. As removed the safety of the gun and clicked it to shoot him dead right there and then, nothing happened and I was one hundred percent sure I had put in more than enough bullets, after two unsuccessful attempts I settled on threatening him instead as he shook like paper in my hands.
His perspiration stuck on my hands, making me push him further away from me, but not before wiping my hands on his crisp white shirt. Disgusted was the only way I could describe how I felt at the moment. My anger had diminished to mere notches.
Seems like he had not noticed that my gun had turned against me as his eyes searched frantically for an escape, his hands trembling at his sides. I could hear his rapid heartbeat from my far-standing position. Fear was shredding off his body like paper but he knew better than to make a run for it. Astoundingly, I did not get the satisfaction I usually got from the fear in my enemy's eyes, just nothing.
"If I see or hear you talking to Destiny. You will not live to tell the tale of how you escaped from the clutches of death. Do you hear me?" My gun was still aimed at his head as he nodded in fear of the possibility of dying at my mercy.
"Yes or No?" I walked up to him in short calculated steps, towering over him.
"Y-yes... I understand," he said, taking short fearful glances at the gun in my hands.
After I made a motion for him to go away. He did not waste time to make a beeline out of the allay to wherever his legs led him.
I did not waste time checking my bullet supply and unfortunately, I found I had forgotten to reload after training a newcomer, which was very weird, I was always precise with all I did and never forgot anything because unplanned attacks from my enemies were inevitable and they could not find me vulnerable, even though I travelled with guards that knew how to stay out of view everywhere I went. I made a mental reminder to put in more bullets as I put my gun back into the empty holster and shielded it with my suit coat, from the public eye and in the nick of time as Destiny stuck her anxious head into the ally. I'm sure in search of me, her hands clutched tightly on her purse, as her eyes searched for any traces of me.
"Amore?"
The sudden noise caused her to jump out of her skin, adrenaline pumping through her veins from the startle. For a moment her eyes seemed disoriented before the fright wore off and she was pulled back to our world. And that's when her eyes darted everywhere in search of the source of the sound, also known as me.
As she saw my approaching figure she heaved a sigh, realising that the sound was harmless, her face flushed hot and her cheeks took on a slight red tinge, looking like a doll and feeling embarrassed that she had thought I was someone else, I just hoped that she was not terrified because of that boy, or else his bones would not sustain him enough to stand on his two feet.
"What are you doing here?" I flashed her a smirk to ease her nerves, once more admiring her lustre skin that never failed to radiate the glow of the sun.
"I was waiting for you and Samuel but you did not show up. What are you doing here and where is Samuel?" She asked looking around the alley, I felt a pang of envy regarding why she was inquiring about my rivalry and her manipulator.
"I was just having a little chat with him, and that 'Samuel friend' of yours left just before you arrived," I replied moving out of the alley and walking into the broad daylight.
"I hope you when you say you were talking, your fists weren't doing the talking," she folded her hands on her chest, with an arched brow awaiting my answer. Her demeanour dared me to lie.
"Of course not, amore," I said giving her one of my very rare and genuine smiles.
She sighed, her eyes softening at my term of endearment, "Okay, that's good. I know that you think that he probably deserved a fist or two but he is also human, and he makes mistakes. I mean how would you have reacted had I chosen him over you? I'm sure you would have been equally frustrated, if not more. The thing is he thought we could become more than friends and I just had to crush his dream and love for me, and he would have not done anything to me. He is not an abusive man," she spoke as though she truly knew him, if only she knew just how he was just using her as someone to play and pass time with.
"Can you never fault anyone?" I was genuinely confused about how she could forgive and forget so easily and instead of being angry at the person that hurt her, blame herself. I had never met someone with such a heart.
"It is not my place to judge or fault, I am not fair and just. There is only one fair and just judge, the Lord, who will ultimately give us our final judgement. So I will not judge anyone for Matthew 7 verse 1 says; "Judge not that you be not judged. So I would much rather judge them righteously and lead them into the path of salvation," she replied with a soft smile on her face. Her face lit up at the mention of her God.
And that's when the most absurd words came out of my mouth, "I want to know about this God that you talk about so much."
Destiny gasped, looking at me with eyes that were suddenly tearing up, "Really?"
"Yeah, I want to learn about your God, amore."