Song: CCTV — King Promise ft. Mugeez

**Unedited**

"No one else is having a drink, by the way," Michael warned, feeling the need to inform us. "I refuse to go out with a bunch of drunk teens."

"Geez Mike, you're talking like we're a couple of addicts. We drink wisely you know?"

Michael ignored them and inched his way back to me. "I have a surprise for you later tonight."

I smiled and nodded, feeling a burst of euphoria exploding through me. I didn't know whether it was the alcohol or the anticipation of what was to come. It was probably because he'd forgiven me so quickly and easily.

"You're not going to ask?" He quizzed, looking a bit disappointed.

I could bet my soul that he wanted us to play that stupid game where I keep begging him to reveal the surprise and he keeps refusing, smiling because he was the one with a secret.

"Nope. Do you understand the word 'surprise'?" I joked, laughing when he frowned.

"If you keep annoying me, I'm going to throw you out of the car."

"Oh no! Please, what must I do to prevent such a calamity?" I lamented, sarcastically of course.

"I won't talk to you," he crossed his arms and looked out the window, glaring at them when he remembered that they were tinted. And he calls me cute.

I rolled my eyes and the next few minutes were spent imploring him to tell me what the surprise was and him refusing and seizing the opportunity to continuously pinch my cheeks.

Even though it was a useless and stupid interaction, it made me realise how sensitive my body was next to his. The thoughts that were running through my mind scared and shocked me. Turns out I wasn't the innocent girl I thought I was.

We ended up going to Papaye. The branch we went to was quite filled and even though it was a laidback restaurant, Michael somehow managed to have a table waiting for him.

"So none of you are ordering anything, we're all having fried rice with grilled chicken. Capiche?" Jake said.

"Do you want fried rice and grilled chicken?" Michael asked me. "You can have burgers or potato chips."

It was like he didn't know how much I detested foreign food. Actually, he didn't. I nearly sighed out loud. We'd changed. By the time I knew him like I knew the back of my palm, he was just a kid. He'd changed. I'd changed. We shouldn't be getting married. We didn't know each other.

"Fried rice is fine, thank you," I smiled, but the nagging voice at the back of my mind kept reminding me that I shouldn't be getting married on the thirtieth day of the next year, no matter how badly I wanted to make love to him.

I stole a glance at his freshly shaved face and felt butterflies in my tummy when he smiled, revealing his pearly whites. He and Jake were arguing about something trivial, Linda was rolling her eyes and tapping her phone, which meant no eyes were on me.

I studied his beautiful profile, all the while feeling the oil sloshing in my belly. He was so beautiful, but that didn't mean we should get married. Marriage was so much more than just attraction.

I sighed and turned away. For those few minutes that I consumed the amazing food and laughed with those amazing people — except Linda — I forgot about the sea of guilt that was filling my stomach. I forgot about all my problems and I forgot planning how I was going to tell Michael that I couldn't marry him.

After my fruit salad dessert, I was filled enough for two days. I refrained from giving a satisfactory belch because of my company.

"It's been an amazing afternoon, but I have to go," Jake said just after Michael took care of the bill. Linda had left to the bathroom to 'freshen up' but I knew she was going to piss.

"You can't leave without saying goodbye to her," Michael said, frowning. His hands were fists on the table.

Jake sighed and returned to his seat — he had gotten up to leave — glaring at Michael. "You have no right to butt into our life."

"Excuse me? You've been together for four years. You live together, and you've been with her. What more do you want?"

"Mind your own business Mike. There's no way I'm getting married at just twenty years old. When I get married, I want to stay married. I don't want to have to deal with that alimony nonsense and splitting custody for children. I don't care how many years it has been or how many times I've slept with her. I'm not marrying her till I'm hundred percent sure that she's the one I want to spend the rest of my life with. Excuse me," he grabbed his phone from the table and stormed out of the restaurant.

I felt left out, and since neither of them were bothered in engaging me in their conversation, I decided to sit back and enjoy the show. I didn't know Linda, and all I could see in her was a desperate girl who had given her all to a boy — probably even built her future around him — and now he refused to spend the rest of his life with her. There was nothing more stupid than a desperate girl, and I detested Linda for that.

But more importantly, this seemingly unnecessary scene and Jake's words only reinforced what I had been thinking all the while. I didn't want to deal with all that either. I didn't want to be a divorcee. I wanted a fulfilling marriage, a person I would spend the rest of my life with.

I couldn't marry Michael.

Oblivious to the major heartbreak he was going to suffer when I told him what was on my mind, Michael leaned forward with his forehead in his hands, muttering, "What am I going to tell her?"

Linda arrived from the bathroom on cue. "Where's Jakie?"

The name she had given to him infuriated me to no end. Imagine if I went round calling Michael Mikey. I actually did, but I was sensible enough to grow out of that.

"He left," I informed her. Michael's head turned to me so quickly that I was afraid that he would get whiplash. "What? Didn't he?" I questioned, innocently. I knew he heard the malice in my voice.

Michael rolled his eyes and went to her, taking her hands. I glared at their conjoined hands as if that would burn holes through hers.

"Did he actually leave?" The dumbass asked.

Michael nodded and it took everything in me to keep from rolling my eyes. She awoke the mean girl in me. I didn't understand why, but I couldn't help it.

"But why? I mean, what's the use? We live at the same place don't we?"

"You should come and stay with me for the mean time. Absence makes the heart grow fonder."

I giggled, telling myself that I wasn't hearing properly.

"I really can't. I know my parents aren't happy about me living with him while we aren't married, but moving in with you is even worse. Besides, you now have a wife to think about. You didn't even ask her."

They both looked at me, Michael guilty that he had done it again; making a decision that affected both of us without consulting me, and Linda with hope in her eyes. I knew that hypocrite was pretending like she didn't want to move in with my future husband.

"You don't have a problem with her moving in with me, do you?" Michael inquired.

"Excuse me? What are you talking about? I don't even know what has been going on here. No one has bothered to involve me in anything so I have no idea what you're talking about," I shrugged childishly.

In spite of the worry on his face, Michael smiled. "We should leave, we're causing a scene. Let's talk about this in the car."

Linda grabbed her purse and phone from the table and we went back into the chauffeur driven limousine. Funnily, the car felt empty without Jake's boisterous laughter.

"So what was this thing I'm supposed to agree to?" I dared Michael to ask me again.

He sighed. "Baby, I need you to be very rational about this okay?"

I frowned at the sound of the pet name. Not that I didn't like it, but it annoyed me that he was only using it because he wanted something from me.

"Do you want me to leave?" Linda asked. Her hands were shaking and her voice unsteady. I didn't know what had happened to make her nervous all of a sudden. She was all over her boyfriend only hours ago. Perhaps she had realised that him leaving without her was a nice way of kicking her out of the house they lived in.

"It'd please me if you took the front seat," Michael said.

She nodded and stepped out of the car only to take the seat next to the chauffeur.

"Ellie, I know you don't like her, I don't know why, but you don't."

"You don't know why?" I asked, smiling.

"Well, apart from earlier this morning, she's been nothing but nice to you," he said, squeezing my hands.

In any other case, that would have been nice, but all it did was to cause me pain.

"I'm sorry I find it hard to forgive her for being rude to me for no reason."

"No reason?"

As soon as he said the words, I pulled my hands away as if I'd been burned. Reminding me of my own wrongdoings was like a slap in my face to throw me off my high horse. I could've been Linda, desperate enough to throw myself at Michael if he wasn't the forgiving person he was.

"I'm sorry," I whispered meekly. In that moment, I prayed so hard to go back in time and take what I'd done back.

He leaned back, creating distance between us. It was like he also just remembered what happened. How I cheated on him.

"Her boyfriend is being a complete jerk. She left her parents in Kumasi to go to university and living with him here in Accra helped to ease the expenses. They were just roommates when they met but they soon began a relationship. The problem is that she's..."

The story made sense then. From roommates to lovers. I wanted to know what he was going to say before he trailed off from him, but I knew. I sighed. "She's pregnant isn't she?"

Michael grinned. "That, she is."

My idea of Jake's character changed all of a sudden. "So he doesn't want to be with her anymore because she's pregnant?"

"No, no, Jake isn't like that. He doesn't know."

"Congratulations Michael. You have succeeded in confusing me."

Michael chuckled.

"If he 'isn't like that' why doesn't she just tell him so that he marries her?"

"Because she isn't like that either. She doesn't want to tie him down with her pregnancy. She wants him to marry her because he loves her, not because they have a baby on the way."

At that point, I didn't know how to feel. Certainly, my respect for her had increased but keeping a secret like a baby away from your partner is just wrong.

"So, I want her to live with me while she gives a little space to Jake to sort his feelings out," Michael continued.

It was clear that Jake needed sometime to sort his feelings out, and Linda needed some space away from the boyfriend who had impregnated her and was currently breaking her heart to pieces. But then again, there was no way that I'd be stupid enough to let my fiancé live with that pregnant albeit gorgeous girl.

"Michael... I really want to agree, but we're getting married in the next two months. I'm... not comfortable with you living with her."

I hated how selfish I sounded. It was like my comfort was more important than her and her baby's safety.

He ran his hand through his hair like I was frustrating him. "I don't know if you've seen it, but it's a big house. I could live there without even running into her."

I heard the underlying insult. "How would you feel if I brought a man to live with me just two months prior to our wedding?"

"This isn't a joke Elorm!" He snapped. "She isn't just some girl! She's my best friend and she needs me right now."

"She doesn't have any other friends?"

"No, she doesn't. What you're doing right now is another level of wrong. You don't want her to live at the palace because you don't trust me."

"That's not true," I lied.

"It is. Even though I've never given you a reason to doubt me, you still do."

"I've seen the way she looks at you!" I snapped back, my eyes wide and my hands balled into fists.

"What are you talking about?"

"When I saw you earlier today, she did kiss you on the cheek — I see that now — but it was so close to your lips that anyone could've mistaken it for a kiss on your lips."

He leaned back on his seat and folded his arms. "That wasn't intentional."

"You should see the way she looks at you when you don't notice."

"And you noticed? You know what I think this is, Elorm? I think you're making things up so that we're even."

"What?"

"You hate it how your episode with that boy yesterday keeps getting brought up whenever we fight, so you're trying to twist every situation you get to make it seem like I'm cheating too so that we're even."

"That's absurd."

"But it's the truth," he said, daring me to deny it.

At that point, I didn't even know what was true and what wasn't anymore. All I wanted was to exonerate myself, and if it meant that I had to incriminate him to do so, then so be it.

I was a horrible person. There was no denying it.

"I promise you, even if that was what I was doing, it was not my intention," I said truthfully. "It's just that, there are so many things keeping us apart right now—"

"The only thing trying to keep us apart right now is you," he cut in. "I don't know why you're trying to sabotage us. Maybe it's your insecurities? If you don't want to be with me Elorm, you don't have to. I'm not forcing you."

"You aren't, but my circumstances are. And it's not that I don't want to be with you, God knows that I do, but I don't want to be with you like this. If we ever get married, I want it to be because we love each other, not because I want to clear my name. My insecurities led me to do something stupid—"

"You mean cheating on me?" He cut in again, his eyes filled with accusation.

Embarrassment coursed through me. "Yes, that. I've said that I am sorry over and over again, but if you don't want to let it go, there's nothing I can do about that. I know that I promised to give you time, but how much time do you really need?"

He chuckled, shaking his head. "You're so selfish. I don't know you anymore, this isn't the Elorm I fell in love with. You've changed, and not in a good way."

His words went through me like a knife.

"Have you forgotten that it was only yesterday you cheated on me? It hasn't even been a day! You expect me to forgive you and forget everything like nothing happened? Clearly you haven't been cheated on before. The image of his arms around your waist is burned into my brain. I saw you kiss him Elorm. We were getting nearer just as you stood on tiptoe to press your lips against his. You have no idea the kind of pain I felt in that instant, it nearly drove me crazy," his eyes moistened. "When you saw me alight, the cruel smile you gave me, like you were happy that you had been caught."

I saw the look in his eyes change and his gaze divert to the tinted window. He wiped the unshed tears from his eyes whilst gritting his teeth which made his jaw tick.

"You should take her home with you."

He turned back to me. "What?"

"Linda. You're right, I was behaving like a selfish child. Take her to the palace while Jake sorts himself out."

He kept staring at me.

"Like you said, you're nothing like me. I trust you. I trust that nothing will happen between both of you."

He didn't stop staring.

"I just have one thing to ask of you. Take me home."

* * *

I cried my birthday away on my new bed. My mother tried to get me to eat something, but I was too disgusted at myself to even think about maintaining my energy.

Michael was right. I was selfish, and egotistic and judgemental. I was flawed without any perfections. Nobody can boast of being completely perfect, but there are somethings that they are perfect at.

Understanding, kindness, humility, a heart of gold, but I possessed none of those qualities, and in other words, that meant that I didn't deserve love. It made sense that my family detested me and now that Michael was beginning to see my true colours, he would begin to hate me too.

Beauty isn't skin deep. What's the point of being beautiful on the outside and rotten on the inside? Because people may be attracted to beauty like moths to a flame, but once they began to know the monster hidden inside, they repel like same poles of a magnet do.

Linda was probably in the palace. Who knows? Michael could be in her room and laughing with her while she whispered sweet nothings into his ears like earlier.

The funniest thing about this disaster of a birthday was that I planned to tell him that I was in love with him. It was what I meant when I told him 'I thought a lot last night'.

If anything, the way the day ended made me realise that I didn't care that I was marrying Michael because of my circumstances. I did love him. If it hurt that much, then it had to be love.

I turned on my back and stared at the ceilings, creating patterns that my mind would deceive me were actually there. I was almost asleep when I heard the piercing sound of gravel being thrown against my window.

There was a window in my room, but I didn't consider it as one because it was only big enough to let in a bird, maybe as big as an eagle, but that was it. I often left it open when I was in to allow ventilation but I forgot to open it that night. That was why someone was able to throw stones against it.

I sensed Michael's presence before I could even go to the front door. I had brushed my teeth before going to bed and I hadn't really slept so I didn't have to worry about bad breath.

I rushed out of my bedroom and through the front door to see my prince dressed in black from head to toe. He had a beanie on his head. It was my first time seeing him in that — I liked his hair — but the beanie gave him an alluring look.

"Happy birthday Princess," he said, encaging me in his arms.

I clung to his chest like a leech, allowing his warmth and the scent of his subtle cologne to envelop me. I didn't know why he came back after the childish way I'd behaved but I wasn't about to ask.

"I got you something," he continued. He handed me a box covered with purple wrapping paper. "Open it."

"Right now?"

"Yes," he pushed the box closer to my chest.

I managed to remove the covering without destroying the beautiful wrapping paper. I lifted the lid to find another box, but this one wasn't wrapped. On it was a picture of a phone. I lifted the lid of that box to find an iPhone ten staring back at me.

"Say something. Do you like it?" He asked.

"It's beautiful," I said, caressing the smooth screen with my fingers.

"So you like it?"

I smiled at him, willing myself not to cry. "I love it."

He smiled as if he was relieved. "I'm sorry for ruining your birthday."

"We both know you didn't. I managed to single-handedly do that myself."

"I love you Elorm," he said, tilting my chin.

"I love you too Michael," I said, sincerely this time. And I did. I really did.

He smiled. It was the brightest and most genuine one I had ever seen so far from him. I wanted nothing more than to kiss him, but he probably wasn't ready for physical contact like that yet, so I settled for a smile.

His smile suddenly turned devilish and handed me a shopping bag that looked shockingly familiar. "A certain someone asked me to give this to you."

I studied the bag carefully and noticed that it was from that lingerie shop. It was the lingerie Justus had bought for me!

I gasped and nearly dropped it. "But why would you want me to have this?"

He smirked cockily. "Just two months baby. It'd be a shame to let a good gift like this go to waste. Consider it a wedding present."

He called me baby.

Heat rose to my cheeks from what he was implying and because I was happy that he was giving me that silly pet name. I looked up shyly, smiling like my life depended on it.

"Happy birthday, my love."

So saying, he disappeared like a thief in the night.

* * *

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