Flashbacks:
Queen's Engagement Party.
Fantasia showed up alone. Swam in the crowd to find Queen.
She got into a room where Queen was, fixing her lipstick and hair, getting pampered for her round two entrance in her party.
"Hey stranger, you look beautiful as always. Where is our wife?" Queen asked looking at Fantasia in the mirror. Fantasia smiled genuinely. "You mean my wife? She's not coming and she doesn't know I'm here, but I thought I owed you a decent goodbye. Queen this is goodbye from both me and Taraji. But we wish you nothing but happiness, we wish you love greatness, and joy. It was amazing spending those times with you. You have a powerful spot in our hearts and our marriage. We kinda love You" Fantasia smiled. Queen stood up, feeling hurt and disappointed.
"Why? Cause I'm getting married?"
"no, cause of who you marrying. Goodbye, baby girl. And you look amazing and you gonna be a beautiful bride, gonna make a hella of a wife too." Fantasia said and walked out. Queen felt dizzy and sat down.
Fantasia was Marching out.
Somebody grabbed her hand and pulled her to the closet. It happened so fast, next thing her lips were locked with bitch's lips, it was her ex, Toni... She slapped the woman and marched out of there. Toni snatched her phone from her opened purse.
Fantasia didn't notice.
Later that night
Taraji was at a bar having one drink with a colleague. Her company stood up to go to the bathroom.
Toni walked in sat on the chair and placed Fantasia's phone on the table.
"Would you give this to Fantasia? She left it in the closet while we... Nothing, just give it to her" Toni said and winked then walked out.
Taraji was confused but not upset cause she didn't believe there was anything there to worry herself about.
She cut her drinking time short and went home.
She found her wife ransacking the living room looking for her cellphone.
"Looking for something?" Taraji asked hanging her coat.
"Yeah, my phone."
"Well, where is the last place you saw it?" Taraji asked. "Queen's Penthouse. I went there to say goodbye, I thought we owed her that much. Then on my way out some bitch pulled me to the closet and kissed me... I didn't care who it was I just slapped the loony out of her and got out of there, shit, what if it fell in the damn closet?"
Taraji pulled out the phone.
"It did, and the loony who kissed you... Was Toni"
"Good God. I would have fucked her up if I knew"
Taraji chuckled and kissed her wife. "I'm glad you told me everything before I could even ask baby. I love you"
"of course. I'm grown, and I love my wife and love being married to her., Yes, I want nothing but honesty between us."
Taraji smiled. "well, how about we eat junk food in our home theater and fool around a little?" Taraji suggested. "I would like that very. Let's!"
They held hands and went to their home theater.
Presently:
Taraji was in a cab parked outside her Gate, contemplating about getting off but she couldn't do it.
"gosh, I can't do this. Take me away please" she told the cabby. "I don't have a life here anymore. It is over" she added.
Hours later she got back to the underground.
"You didn't show your face to Fantasia did you?" Jenelle snapped at her.
"I couldn't. It felt over. I lost my family. I lost everything I had. My kids, oh my gosh my kids" Taraji said tears running down her face like an open tap.
"I've been telling you Taraji, your life out there is over baby. You can't redeem it, it is gone. So is Fantasia and the kids., it is over" Jenelle said.
Taraji sobbed, she felt like screaming at the top of her lungs.
"Now you know how it, feels," Ken said approaching.
Taraji shot him a look. He raised his hands in the air. "I'm just saying, this is your new life now Taraji, you and Fantasia had a good run. It is done now, move on like the rest of us!"
Taraji stepped out, marching to her room. She got there and dived into her bed and cried her eyes out. She couldn't call or text Fantasia and the worse part she couldn't watch her anymore, the more she thought about that, the more her tears ran out.
Meanwhile:
Fantasia was with her genius IT guy who was reconnecting the cameras to trace the location she was watched from. They had been doing that all day, and finally, the coding beeped. Fantasia stood rapidly from the couch. "Got it?"
"Yes, a few more minutes to scan the location and we will be done" Fantasia waited impatiently. Another beeping. "Got it!" he said
"And?"
"There is no location. It says location not found. I'm so sorry,"
"What does that mean Trey? That I'm been watched and I will never find out who is creepily watching me and my kids?"
"Wait, there is a name... Oops, It says unclassified!" The guy said. Fantasia's eyes grew out of her face. "You know who that is?"
"I know the kind of people they are, very dangerous people. So is my house clear? No bugs, no other hidden cameras?"
"it was just one. Are you gonna be okay?
"Don't worry, I will make sure my family is safe. Thank you for the great work here today. And here is your check." Fantasia said handing him a check. "Thank you. Let me know if you need anything else" He said packing his gadgets. Fantasia nodded.
That night, she went to a meeting after hiring tight security for her family, leaving her kids with two housekeepers.
She joined a meeting that had already started. There was a new member in the group, a woman wearing black, shades and a mask and hoodie. No way you could see her face or eyes.
Fantasia barely paid attention to the woman's presence.
"Would our new member like to share?" the group leader asked. The woman just shook her, head.
After the meeting, Fantasia was headed out.
The woman's body touched hers while she was marching out. Fantasia's body got an immediate shook. Her heart pounded out of her chest. Her body shivered, and her heart almost stopped.
She felt like she was having a heart attack and grabbed a chair to steady herself. "Are you okay?"
"Please, pass me a bottle of water," Fantasia said breathing hard. Eyes on the woman, who was marching out without looking back. She was limping so there was nothing in her walk, or her scent, or her look that could lead Fantasia to recognize this mysterious woman. She was in baggy clothes as well. Nothing to pinpoint.
"Who is that?" Fantasia asked watching, the woman get in a cab. "Oh, that's Mercedes. She prefers being called mercy. She's our new member, she doesn't speak much, she lost her family in a car crash, and she's still grieving"
Fantasia nodded eyes on the cab.
They handed her a bottle of water. She sipped a few times and then breathed deeply before walking to her car. She got in her car. Her mind kept playing the short event she shared with that woman.
She texted Queen. Asked to see her.
They met at Queen's penthouse.
"Is everything okay?"
"How early is it to move on with my life? I guess what I'm asking is... How much longer am I supposed to grieve?" Fantasia asked sitting on a chair in Queen's kitchen. Queen joined her.
"I don't know baby. I've honestly never been in this tragic situation. I wouldn't know. But I guess when it feels right? Does it feel right? Have you met somebody?"
"Not exactly. Is just that...Today I met this woman, not as much as bumped into...her arm touched mine and my blood raised immediately. Only Taraji could make me feel that way. I missed feeling that way. I just wanna meet the woman. Maybe, 6 months down the line, we could date, right now I just... I just selfishly want her to make me feel the way my wife used to make me feel."
Queen nodded.
"I hear you baby, but when you approach this woman, make it clear to her, what you need from her. Don't lead her on. You don't need the Drama right now"
Fantasia nodded in agreement.
"speaking of drama, the Camera I told you about... Is connected in an unclassified area."
"Really? Like the FBI and CIA type of thing?"
"Exactly... CIA to be most exact. They are the sketchy ones if you ask me... My ex-husband is still one of the underground CIA and he is the most dishonest human being I've ever met"
"There you go. Maybe it's him"
"Uh... Nah, he has no motive at all. I don't think is him"
"Who do you think it is?"
"I know this sounds crazy, but If my wife was still alive, I would damn think it was her. She too has connections with these unclassified agencies"
"It's a mystery. Maybe you are not supposed to find out. Just destroy the camera and move on and stop digging"
"I'm trying. I will try harder. I just want to make sure my kids are safe. That's all" Fantasia said.
"I know"
The door opened, and Toni walked in. "and that's my queue. Call me" Fantasia said and kissed Queen on the cheek and walked out.
On her way to her car, she saw a group of drunks, the mysterious woman was walking with them.
"Hey, hi. Mercy right?" Fantasia said. The woman stopped turned and took off her hoodie. Her friendsto kept walking away.
"Do I know you? How do you know my name?" Mercy asked looking shocked.
"from the AA meeting. I'm Fantasia"
Fantasia outstretched her hand. Mercy took it.
But she looked confused and their touch was cold for Fantasia, it was like she was touching a different woman. "You said AA. I signed in but I never attended, it is really not for me. I won't be going in"
Fantasia looked at her confused. "Tonight? You didn't go tonight?"
"Hell no, I'm from the liquor store."
Fantasia looked at her, and how she was dressed. The woman she saw at the meeting looked exactly like that. "Oh, my bad. Have a great night"
Mercy nodded and walked away. fantasia remembered that the woman who attended the meeting was limping.
"What the fucking freak?" Fantasia muttered and marched to her car. She got in to call Queen. She found a note on her seat.
Horror writing on her face. She opened it.
*Don't be scared, Baby. It's me. And I miss you*
Typed, not signed. Fantasia checked her car. Started the engine and sped away.
Her heart was pounding out of her chest...Not once has she thought it could be her dead wife, to her she was dead and buried.
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