SOLO
I just stood there as my fiance walked out of the house. In shock ... surprise ... fear ... pain? I don't know. Nadia is the love of my life, but could I have chosen her over my family ...
"If you don't go after her, I swear ..." Galina angrily stated.
"No, let her leave." Roman said and I could feel my anger growing.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Trinity angrily asked.
"Mind your place. Look at what your girl has done, Solo. She's turning our family against us." Roman stated.
"You're the one making us turn away from you." Takeisha said.
"Kiesha!" Jey scolded.
"No, this was way out of pocket, even for him. Solo, if you don't go after her ...
As she spoke, Nadia put my car keys in the mailbox and got into the Uber she ordered. I feel like I can't breathe, my heart is about to race out of my chest.
"I've lost all respect for you. For both of you." Galina said.
"What? Why me?" Her husband asked.
"You've lost the respect and love you had for your family. You care more for the career, the reputation, the character, more than you care about us. She loves that man even though he clearly doesn't love her. She loves him, and look at how to do them!"
"She doesn't belong with us! She doesn't have the personality or looks we need in this family. Doesn't have the schooling, knowledge, or experience in living a life like ours."
"She's a fucking college graduate! She's a fucking editor at ..." Galina started arguing.
"At one of the biggest publishing companies in Florida. Looks? She's fucking gorgeous and cleans up just as well as we do." Takeisha continued.
"Personality? She's got that in spades and has been toning it down to be respectful whenever you're around. Solo, the fact that we're arguing all of this and not you, shows us that you don't really love her." Trinity finished.
"I love her." I muttered.
"Then man the hell up and go after her." Galina said.
"No! He did what was best for the family. Do not go after her." Roman roared.
"You are the problem with our family." Galina told her husband, walking out of the room.
"If you really let him tell you what to do with your personal life, you're not the man I thought you were." Trinity said.
"Figure out just how important that woman is to you because you're not going to find another one like her. Be a fucking man for the woman who loves you. If you can't give her all of you, then it is best for you just to let her go." Takeisha said.
The attacked feeling is taking over, but it's my fucking fault.
"I love my fiance." I growled.
"Uce, calm down." Josh said.
"I can't ... I can't fucking calm down. I don't know what to do here." I said, rubbing my hands over my face.
"There's your answer. If you're that confused about what the right course of action is, just let her go. That means Nadia isn't important to you." Trinity said.
"Babe!" Jon said, trying to get her to stop.
"I've gotta go home and talk to her." I muttered.
"Don't fuck this up. You know where your loyalties lie." Roman said.
"You're an asshole." Takeisha told him, walking out of the room.
"I've gotta go."
Before I could walk out, my cousin grabbed my arm tightly.
"Do not ..."
"I've gotta go." I growled, pulling out of his grasp.
I didn't look at any of my sisters-in-law as I walked out of the house. My keys were in the mailbox, and grabbing them felt like an arrow straight to my heart. I fucked up, and I have to figure out how to fix it. Despite what my sisters-in-law believe, I do love her, I love her with everything I have in me. Desperately, I jumped in my car and took off for my place. My hopes were dashed when I opened the garage door, and her car was already gone. I sat in the living room, blowing up her cell phone, and she did not reply to any of my calls or text messages.
I did this, so I don't blame her for leaving. If she heard the entire conversation, and I believe she did, she saw my resignation. She saw that I didn't fight for her. She saw me be a coward, and that's what I'm most ashamed about, is that she saw me not fight for her. Karina has always gone to bat for me, has always been there to back me up, and I failed her. She's probably at her sister's house or at Marie's house, her best friend. If I show up there, I'll just be making things worse, what could I possibly say?
For a week, I was on autopilot. Woke up, went to work, did what I was told, came home, sleep, and repeat. I called her every day, texted her every day, and sent her flowers every day after confirming she was in her sister's house. I couldn't bring myself to actually going to see her but I couldn't.
After that week, the twins ambushed me in my house and basically forced me to get up and go to a family dinner at my parent's house. They're gonna have questions that I don't have an answer to.
One thing I've been doing a lot this week is watching the people around me, and watching my family. Roman was so happy with my work when I was most miserable, that says a lot about him. The twins were worried about me, I could see it on their faces. We've always been a close family but is he really taking advantage of us? With the things I've noticed this week, I think he is.
"Come on, Uce." The twins chorused when the car stopped.
"Yeah, right." I sighed, rubbing my hands over my face.
"Have you heard from her, man?" Josh asked.
"Nope, she hasn't blocked me but she's still not answering me." I told him.
"That woman loves you, uce. What she heard was rough but she does love you." Jon said.
"I don't deserve her love." I sighed, following them inside.
"Don't say that, bro, you just gotta figure out how to go about talking to her. You've gotta grovel." Josh said,
"I've gotta get her to listen to me first." I told them.
As soon as we walked out back, we saw my parents, Roman's parents, my other siblings and their significant others, Roman and the kids, but Galina isn't here. Roman just smirked at me, and I was overcome by the desire to knock that smirk off of his face. We said hi to the elders, and my mom looked around me, her smile dropping as Galina walked in with Trinity. The smirk on Roman's face did fall when his wife didn't even acknowledge him.
"Wait a minute, where's Nadia?" My mother asked.
"She's ...." Roman started to say.
"Your nephew decided to kick her out of the family, and your son didn't fight for her." Galina said, shocking everyone.
"What do you mean? What is she talking about?" My aunt asked her son, who was glaring at his wife.
"She doesn't mean ..."
"Do not speak for me." Galina angrily stated.
"Solo ... what is she ... what's going on?" My mom asked.
"I ... she ... we ..."
"You can stutter all you want and your cousin can lie all he wants but I'm gonna tell the truth. Trinity and Kiesha were there and they saw it just as clearly as I did." Galina insisted.
"They didn't see anything, right?" Roman growled.
"Yes, we did actually." Trinity said.
"You did your cousin dirty, Roman." Kiesha added.
"Yo!" The twins asked while my younger brother and sister just looked on in curiosity.
"What's going on? What did you do to Nadia? Is that why she hasn't been answering my messages?" My sister, Thava, asked.
"Are you going to tell them what you did?" Galina asked her husband.
"You see what you did, bringing that woman around for so long?" He demanded after whirling around to glare at me.
"No! You don't get to blame this on him." Jon said.
"What's going on?" My auntie asked her son.
"Solo ..." Galina said.
"Don't you ..."
"For some reason he doesn't like Nadia and he told me I had to break up with her or I'd lose my job and everything else." I said.
"Your son said Nadia was dead weight and didn't fit in our family. That she doesn't fit the mold for a woman in our family. She's holding him back from reaching his highest potential. When we argued and defended her, something that Solo didn't do, Roman said that Nadia was turning us against him as if his own arrogance wasn't already turning us away." Galina stated.
"G ..."
"Roman Leati Anoa'i Reigns, what have you done?" My mom asked him.
"I was right about her! This week he's got so much done! She was holding him back and now she won't." He stated.
"Oh, G forgot to mention that Solo had proposed to her. She gave the ring back and left so that " he wouldn't have to tell her that he was breaking up with her." Kiesha said.
"Solo!" My mom stated..
"I messed up momma." I sighed.
"Yes, you did, boy." My father said, and I could hear the disappointment in their voices.
"How are you gonna fix this?" My uncle asked.
"I ..."
"He's not going to fix anything." Roman growled.
"I'm going to get my fiance back." I told him.
"You will not." he insisted.
"Who are you to tell your cousin how to live his life?" My aunt asked.
"He's my cousin, I only want what's best. I know what's best for ..."
"No, you don't. You have no right to make demands of his personal life." My aunt told her son.
"Solo, what were you thinking?" My father asked me.
"She saw me not fight for her ..." I muttered.
"Solo ... go get your girl." My mother said.
"What? You've got no threats for him when your parents are here?" Galina asked.
"Threats?" My aunt ask.
"He told Solo that he would lose everything with her. That leaving her behind was the best for the family. She doesn't have the looks or the education for this family. You have turned into a man that I don't know and one I don't care for. The only reason I came here today was to say this because I knew that none of you would. I'm going back to my mother's house with the kids." She said, walking away from us.
"G ... G! Galina!" he shouted, whirling to glare at me again.
"Don't you dare blame this on me or Nadia. That woman did nothing but be respectful of you at all times. I'm gonna do whatever I have to, to get my girl back." I told him.
"You won't like the consequences." Roman threatened.
"Roman!" My auntie shouted.
"You watch your mouth boy, we don't threaten family in this house." My uncle said.
"No problem, uncle. I quit anyway. I'll figure out what to do in the meantime." I said.
"You go, Uce. Get your girl." Josh said.
"You're gonna support this?" Roman angrily asked.
"Yes, why, you gonna take food outta my kids mouth?" he asked.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Thava asked. "If this is how you treat your family, I formally resign before even starting to work there. I don't want to work with you."
"Yeah, I'm glad I never put in my application." My younger brother said.
"All of you can go home, tonight's dinner is canceled." My mom said.
Roman turned away to go after his wife but his parents stopped him.
"You stay." My uncle said.
"I've gotta go talk to ..."
"No, you're staying here and we're going to have a talk with you." My auntie said.
"Uce, can you take me home?" I asked my brothers.
"Yeah man, let's go get your girl back." Josh said.
"You better figure something good, she deserves one hell of an apology." Kiesha said.
"I know."
"Let's go." Josh smiled.
"Have you reached out to her?" Trinity asked as we walked out.
"Texting her every day, sending her flowers. I didn't try to go and see her at her sister's house because I know she wants space and I had to respect that. Now, I'm gonna do whatever I have to. I can't believe I just let this happen."
"Would you have really broken up with her if she didn't do it first?" Thava asked.
"If I had to seriously choose between her and my family, I'm always choosing my family, but this wasn't like that. He shocked me with the statement, and yes, I said I would talk to her, but I wouldn't have broken up with her. What I would've done was talk to her about what he said and figure out what's next. I'm disappointed in myself that she believed I would, and that's just the effect Roman had. I knew he wasn't really cool with her, but I never thought he'd be this fucking unreasonable." I told them.
"You really quitting?" Jon asked.
"Yeah, I've been looking into opening my own security firm. I have the know-how, I have some of the contacts, I think I can do it." I smiled, finally admitting it out loud.
"Count me in." Thava quickly said.
"Me too." My younger brother, Joseph, said.
"You can't ..."
"Don't tell me what I can and can't do. I don't want to work with Roman, and if he decides to retaliate, it looks worse on him. We'll help you set everything up." Thava argued.
"You know how many people have quit because they just didn't wanna work with Ro, you've got people you can reach out to." Josh said.
"Yeah, I've already got a list. I'm not gonna focus on that right now, I've gotta get my woman back."
"That's my brother." Joseph said.
"This is the man we know." Kiesha said.
"Go get your girl." Trinity smiled.
"Bet your ass I am."
Once my brothers dropped me off, I had to figure out what was next. I hopped into my car and went to the flower shop first. More flowers aren't gonna change anything but these are going to be delivered by me. I considered getting her a gift, getting chocolate, her favorite candies, but that's not what she wants, and it's certainly not what she deserves. I've gotta grovel and buying things is like trying to buy her forgiveness which isn't what I want.
My nerves are frayed, that much is true. The closer I got to her sister's house, the quicker my heart started beating. Her car is parked in the garage and so is her sister's, thank God, and also fuck. The two of them together can bring me down to my knees ... which I deserve. After spraying some of my perfume on, I got out of the car and made my way up to the front door. I swear, the knocks echoed in my entire body.
"I got it." I heard her call out and my heart stopped for a few seconds.
"Probably more flowers, my house looks like a fucking garden." her sister replied.
"Yeah well ... Solo ..." she whispered, her eyes wide when she opened the door.
"Baby ... Nadia, I'm so fucking sorry." I said, feeling my heart break when her eyes filled with tears.