excuse any mistakes.
𝐎𝐦𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭
𝙲𝙾𝙻𝚃𝚂 𝙽𝙴𝙲𝙺, 𝙽𝙹.
"Brooklyn put me onnn," Mieke muttered, taking a sip from her Starbucks cup. Mid-sip, her phone began buzzing, prompting her to place the drink down and retrieve her phone from the drawer. Seeing her Dad's call, she answered, "Hey Daddy."
"Wassup Poodie, You busy?" Derrick asked using the nickname he coined for Mieke. She despised the nickname at first, but the more her father called her it the more the nickname grew on her, becoming something she now adored.
"Not for another 20 minutes. Why?"
"I need your help with your apartment website. I'm trying to pay your bill, but it's adding this unnecessary $36 fee. What's that for?" Derrick's face scrunched up as he FaceTimed Mieke, who answered the call. "Poodie you know yo old man getting old.. How do I screen share?"
Derrick, being a devoted father, takes care of every bill for his daughters. From their monthly rent to their utility bills, internet charges, and even their car bills, he's on top of it all. He insists on taking care of these expenses because he simply adores spoiling his daughters. It's his way of expressing love and care, ensuring they have less to worry about and can focus on other aspects of their lives without financial stress.
Even though his daughters have jobs that pay them well.
"I already paid the bill."
"Why did you do that?" Derrick asked, his voice tinged with offense, prompting Mieke to burst into laughter. "Baby I said anything funny?"
"Yes, you did," Derrick's girlfriend, Ivy, confirmed. "Hey Mieke girl. Are you at work?"
"Hey Ivy Wivy." Mieke smiled waving. "And yeah I'm at work. What y'all doing?"
Last night, she barely got any sleep because she was busy planning Haveli's gender reveal. All day, her mind was focused on getting home just to catch up on some much-needed sleep.
"Girl, I'm trying to convince your daddy to come to the mall with me. All he wants to do is stay inside the house and watch the game all day." Ivy exclaimed. Derrick chuckled, flipping the camera around to reveal Ivy gripping his legs, attempting to pull him off the bed. "Hey Mieke."
"Hi Ivy." Mieke chuckled "Daddy why youn wanna go to the mall with Ivy?"
"The mall don't got shit for me. I ain't gone be doing nun but walking around following her." Derrick stated, kicking Ivy's hands away, which prompted Ivy to playfully slap his foot.
"You do have things to do. You need to buy clothes for our trip, Derrick." Ivy sighed.
"Ouu. Where y'all going?" Mieke asked.
"We're going on a cruise. I already have clothes here, so Ion know why I need more." Derrick said, kissing his teeth before standing up.
"It's mandatory to get new clothes every trip." Ivy stated, grabbing the phone from Derrick and turning the camera to face her."Isn't that right, Mieke? Like with the number of trips we've been on, how haven't you adapted to that rule?"
"Yeah, that's right." Mieke chuckled.
"Exactly! But I'm not even gone continue talking about this because he's up now, which means he's going to the mall with me."
"Not willingly." Derrick's voice could be heard in the background and Ivy waved him off.
Mieke enjoyed a few more minutes on the phone with Derrick and Ivy, sharing laughs and conversations. However, the call eventually came to an end as Derrick and Ivy needed to leave for the mall. They bid each other farewell, promising to talk tomorrow, leaving Mieke with a lingering smile from the pleasant conversation.
"They just know they funny."Mieke chuckled before opening TikTok. As she did, an ad featuring Keanu appeared and she rolled her eyes before she swiped up for the next video. "The Super Bowl was last month, why are they still talking about it?"
Mieke glanced at the time in the corner of her phone, and her heart sank as she noticed it was almost time for her next client –
By almost I mean, one minute away.
Quickly, she stashed her phone back in the drawer, switched it to silent mode, and briskly stood up. Moving with urgency, she approached the door, pressed the buzzer to alert the front desk that she was ready for her next client, and opened the door. There she stood, clipboard in hand, casting her gaze downward.
As Mieke stood by the door, focused on her clipboard, Keanu entered the hallway, heading towards Mieke's office door.
If Keanu said he isn't nervous, that'd be
the biggest lie of the century.
The tension, the unknown, it was all bubbling up inside him. He just hoped Mieke wouldn't make a huge scene. He prayed she'd agree to talk, to give him a chance to clear the air.
It wasn't like he was expecting miracles, but her agreeing to a conversation would be a major win for him. This whole thing could make or break his year, and it was just the third month.
Mieke agreeing to have this talk could be the turning point he'd been waiting for.
He needed this chance, not just for closure, but for some kind of understanding.
There was this tiny flicker of hope burning inside him that maybe, just maybe, they could sort things out somehow.
But man, the uncertainty of how she'd react was eating him up.
He didn't want drama, just a conversation.
Every step towards her door felt like a commitment, a leap into the unknown.
He was ready, yet terrified at the same time. It was like riding a rollercoaster blindfolded; he had no idea how things would turn out.
When Keanu rounded the corner, he spotted Mieke standing by her office door, engrossed in whatever was on her clipboard.
There was this electric kind of feeling, as if she sensed someone entering the hallway. Suddenly, her eyes shot up from the clipboard, and just like that, their gazes locked.
It felt like a thousand emotions flashed between them in that split second, but before anything else could happen, she looked away.
Keanu started making his way over to where Mieke stood, and she could practically feel his approach, the faint echoes of her own heartbeat drumming in her ears.
"Mieke." Keanu called out.
Mieke's heart raced as she heard Keanu's voice call out her name. Her initial instinct was to ignore it, to pretend she hadn't heard, but the reality of the situation pulled her back to the present. Taking a deep breath, she looked up from the clipboard and looked at Keanu.
"Keanu," Mieke's voice trembled slightly, a mixture of frustration and anxiety. "I've made it known many times that I don't want to speak to you ever again. I have a client coming in and I can't have anyone seeing us like this Keanu."
"I know you gotta client coming in, I'm yo client. We gotta talk." Keanu stated, and Mieke couldn't help but release a chuckle.
Keanu's words settled in the air, suffocating the faint remnants of levity in Mieke's chuckle.
There was nothing humorous about this intrusion; he was just toying with her workspace, her boundaries, her peace of mind.
"Are you serious? My workspace?" Mieke hissed, her voice barely above a whisper yet laced with intensity. She felt a surge of anger, a volcano of emotions threatening to erupt. "Somebody probably wanted that spot for actual therapy, and you just took that just so you could talk to me? I don't want to talk to you. I don't ever want to talk to you. If I wanted to talk to you, I would've spoken to you the first time I saw you. We've been broken up for nine years if I wanted to talk to you I would've reached out, but I didn't! Keanu for the love of God leave me alone. I broke up with you for a reason." Mieke gritted out her eyes holding a mix of anguish and desperation.
And that's the problem.
She broke up with him for a reason yet he doesn't know what that reason is.
Their relationship had been, for the most part, a healthy one. Sure, they had their fair share of disagreements, but it was mainly the distance that exacerbated those moments.
Arguments surfaced, sure, but their communication skills were rock solid.
They navigated through the storms, always finding a way to calm the turbulent waters between them. It was what they were good at, talking it out, understanding each other's perspectives, and finding a middle ground.
"And what's yo reason, Huh?" Keanu asked and Mieke scoffed, meeting Keanu's gaze head-on. Their eyes locked in a tense standoff, each trying to decipher the other's intentions.
She studied the sincerity in his eyes, trying to gauge whether he genuinely didn't understand why she ended things—
an idea that baffled her, considering he played a crucial role in their breakup.
In that intense gaze, Mieke sifted through the layers of emotions reflected in Keanu's eyes.
There was a maze of emotions swirling in those eyes, a storm of confusion, hurt, and a raw vulnerability she hadn't expected.
There was an honesty there that startled her, a vulnerability that echoed her own hidden turmoil. His eyes held a question, an unspoken plea for understanding, as if he were lost in a maze of uncertainty, searching for the answers she held close to her heart.
"I'll text you all the information." Came a voice from nearby. Mieke swung her office door open, motioning for Keanu to enter. He stepped inside, and she closed the door behind him.
Mieke lowered the blinds of her office doors, then turned around to face Keanu.
"Why you hate me? Huh? You got this whole resentment towards me and Ian do nun." Keanu said, leaning on the couch, hands tucked into his jacket, His voice mixed with a mix of anger and desperation, his eyes fixated on Mieke.
Then, a dam burst. His words cascaded out, carrying the weight of years of unanswered questions and unhealed wounds.
"You just left. No explanation, no closure. Two months, I ain't seen you, and when I finally did, I'm thinking we bout to enjoy ourselves for the three days you in Alabama and you ended up leaving me the first day. It's been nine years, and not a week goes by where ion think about you. You know how much that shit hurt me, Meeks? You know how much it hurt having the love of my life leave without a word? You know how bad that shit still hurts me to this day? I ain't seen your face in nine years, and when I finally do, you looked at me like you hate the fuck out of me. That shit hurt bruh,"
His voice quivered with emotion as he poured out his soul. "I couldn't even talk to you. You blocked me on everything. You told your family not to let me speak to you when I showed up at your door, trying to understand. I kept coming, hoping for a conversation, for some closure. You hurt me, Mieke. You know how much I love you, and here you are acting like I'm the one who caused all this pain when I didn't,"
"I've loved you, and I still do. And now, you standing here, acting like I hurt you? I ain't do shit to you. Hurting you is the last thing in the world I'd ever do and you know that. Even if it were the only thing left in the world, I wouldn't do it. I can't do it. You my world, Mieke. I'd never intentionally hurt you, not in a million years. You know me better than that. You know me, Mieke. You know how much you mean to me. What we had was real, and it's been eating at me for nine years not knowing why you left."
In that moment, Keanu searched Mieke's eyes, hoping to convey the depth of his sincerity.
"I'm not here to start trouble," he continued, his tone softening, a plea underlying his words. "I just wanna know why. Why do you hate me? Why you left? I need some understanding. I can't keep carrying this. Just give me that. Just an answer, that's all I'm asking for."
Mieke felt the words rise in her throat, but as she was about to respond, a torrent of conflicting emotions surged within her, leaving her momentarily speechless.
Mieke's eyes began to sting as a surge of emotions threatened to spill over.
She blinked rapidly, trying to push back the tears that welled up, but they betrayed her, shimmering at the corners of her eyes.
Quickly, she lifted her hand, brushing away the forming tears, and as Keanu started to walk towards her, she instinctively held her hand up, halting his advance. "I'm good." she murmured, her voice firm but laced with emotion.
Alabama.
The mere mention of that sent shivers down her spine, dredging up the dark, suppressed memories she'd carried alone for years.
She hadn't told a soul about what happened in Alabama. Not her friends, not her family.
It was an ordeal she had to confront alone, a burden she carried silently, afraid to let it out because she couldn't handle the aftermath of speaking up.
The very thought of speaking up about it made her feel exposed, vulnerable, and terrified.
The pain she'd endured in those moments had been etched into her soul, and the weight of carrying it alone felt unbearable at times.
The memories played like a movie reel in her mind—she remembered the haunting nights, the stifling fear, the sense of being trapped, and the desperation to escape. But she had held it all within, buried it under layers of silence.
She couldn't fathom that the first person she would consider opening up to about those harrowing memories was her ex-boyfriend,
The one she had been led to believe was linked to that dark chapter of her life.
"Did you ever plan something with Landon? Something that had to do with me? Be honest, please Keanu." Mieke wiped away the tears streaming down her face. The heartbreak and pain resonated deeply in her tone.
Keanu felt a wave of confusion wash over him. Why was his best friend, of all people, being brought up in the midst of this emotionally charged conversation about their breakup?
It felt perplexing and unexpected, completely diverging from the trajectory of their talk.
"Whatchu talking bout?" Keanu's words hit Mieke hard, causing her to break down in tears and the sight of her pain shattered Keanu's heart once more. After years had passed, witnessing the love of his life cry still pierced him deeply. "What's wrong? Why you crying? What Landon gotta do with all this?"
"Landon raped me Keanu."