I don't move.
I can't.
The restaurant fades around me, drowned out by the realization settling in my bones.
I wasn't talking to Ayo.
I was talking to her.
She watches me, amused, tapping Ayo's phone against the table.
"You look shocked," she muses. "Didn't expect to see me?"
My pulse pounds. "Where is he?"
She tilts her head. "Who knows? Maybe he's busy. Maybe he's avoiding you. Or…" She leans in, voice dropping. "Maybe he just doesn't care as much as you thought."
The words sting, but I school my face into indifference. "I don't know what game you're playing, but I'm not interested."
She laughs softly. "Oh, Zara. You still don't get it."
I clench my fists. "Enlighten me."
She twirls Ayo's phone. "Men like him love their pasts. They get attached to what's familiar. But the past is just that—past." She shrugs. "He's mine now. And you? You're not part of his future."
Ice slides down my spine.
"I don't need to be," I say, unlocking my phone and tapping on the Uber app. "Whatever insecurities you have, that's your problem, not mine."
I turn to leave.
"You sure about that?"
She smirks and taps her phone screen. "I could go back and forth with you all night, but I think it's better if I just show you."
She presses play.
At first, only muffled background noise. Then—
Ayo's voice.
"Zara?" He scoffs. "She's nothing. A means to an end. I just want to mess with her, remind her what she lost. She can't do the things you do to me in bed, bunny. She's no match for you."
Air rushes from my lungs.
"You don't have to worry about her," Ayo continues smoothly. "She's predictable. A little push, a little attention, and she'll come running. But she's not a threat. Never was. I want only you, hottie."
The recording ends, but the words don't. They echo in my head, suffocating my heart.
She tucks her phone away. "Figured you'd want to hear it from him."
I grip the edge of the table. My legs feel unsteady.
Ayo said that.
Ayo.
She watches me, head tilted. "Men like him? They're predators. They love the chase. The thrill of reeling you back in just to prove they can."
I stare at the table, pulse thudding in my ears.
She exhales. "I'm telling you this because… you don't deserve to be used like that." A pause. "You know…not again."
Her voice is gentle. Almost kind. Maybe that makes it worse.
She stands, smoothing her dress. "Anyway, now you know. Do with it what you will."
She turns to leave.
Something inside me—raw, bruised, burning—snaps.
"If you're so secure in your place," I say, voice steady, "why are you trying so hard to convince me that he loves you better?"
She stills.
For a second, something flickers in her eyes. Then she smiles again, but it's not as sharp as before.
"Take care, Zara."
And then she's gone.
________________
I don't remember getting home. I'm just grateful I did.
Tola is inside. Again. At this point, she should just pack her bags and move in with me.
Perched on my couch, arms crossed, brow arched.
I roll my eyes and say nothing, heading straight for my room.
She's on her feet in an instant. "Where did you go?"
I kick off my shoes.
"I swear, Zara, if you don't answer me—"
"I was with my mom," I cut in.
Silence. Then a scoff.
"Liar."
I spin around. "Excuse you?"
Tola folds her arms. "If you were with your mom, you wouldn't have snuck out of work like that. And you definitely wouldn't look like someone who just got their heart ripped out."
I say nothing.
"You know how much I had to cover for you today?" she snaps. "Boss was looking for you everywhere. I had to lie that you went home because of severe cramps. Good thing you put that in your health records, or I'd have been screwed!"
A pang of guilt creeps in, but I shove it down.
Tola exhales, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Zara, what the hell is going on?"
I hesitate. My first instinct is to brush her off. But after tonight, after hearing Ayo's voice, the casual cruelty… pretending feels stupid.
"I went to see Ayo," I admit.
Tola's eyes widen. "You did what?"
I sink onto the bed. "I didn't plan to. He texted. Said he wanted to talk." My throat tightens. "Except it wasn't him."
Not a lie. Not entirely, you know.
Tola's face darkens. "What do you mean?"
So I tell her.
Everything that happened between me and Ayo's girl.
From the moment I walked into that restaurant to the second I heard that recording. Ayo's voice, cool and dismissive, calling me a means to an end. Saying I meant nothing. That I was just something to toy with before leaving me exactly where he found me—in the past.
By the time I'm done, Tola looks like she might actually throw something.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" she snaps.
I flinch. Am I not supposed to be the victim here?
"You seriously went to meet that idiot? After everything he's done?" She throws her hands up. "Zara, do you have a death wish?!"
"Tola—"
"No, I'm serious!" she fumes. "What if she had set you up? What if she recorded you? Or worse, what if Ayo was in on it, waiting to humiliate you?"
My stomach churns, but I don't say anything.
Tola groans, gripping her hair. "I swear, if you ever do something this stupid again, I will personally unfriend you."
I let out a shaky breath. "Okay, I get it. I messed up. I'm sorry."
She blinks, surprised. "Wait, did you just agree? No arguing?"
But before I can answer, the tears hit.
Hot and sudden.
Tola's face softens. "Zara…"
I shake my head, pressing my palms against my eyes.
"I hate this," I choke out. "I hate that even after everything, even after I swore I was done, some pathetic part of me still hoped." My breath shudders. "I still thought maybe… maybe there was something real left."
Tola exhales, shaking her head. "I swear, if I ever see that bastard, I'm throwing hands."
She's always been the fighter between us, but even she doesn't know how to fight this. How to help me get past this.
Her phone rings.
She hesitates before picking up. "Yeah?"
A man's voice crackles through the speaker. I don't recognize it, but I hear the words Oladipo and oil saga.
Tola sighs. "Yeah, we're not covering that anymore—"
My body moves before my mind catches up. Maybe I can't stop myself from falling for the wrong person. But this? This, I can control. I snatch the phone from her hand.
"We are covering it," I say firmly. "Tell me everything you know."