Page 11 of Rewind

His nostrils flared and he gritted his teeth. “You wouldn’t dare!”

“Try me. I’m clearly not the one who’s not himself if you’re putting hands on me.”

As if a switch went off inside of him, he released her and backed away with his hands in the air. “Look, I wasn’t trying to hurt you but obviously you can’t blame me for being upset about what you said. I’m sure you didn’t mean it because you wouldn’t break up with me. Who else would love you like I do? Let’s face it, Amina, you’re cute and all but you’re not the gold standard of women.”

“Clearly, you’re having a bad day so I’ll cut you some slack. I’m going to give you a few days to get your head straight and then we can talk again. Maybe I’ll take you out to that nice seafood place you like so much. What do you think about that?”

He leaned forward and gave her a kiss on the cheek. It took everything in her not to flinch away and smack him in the face. Her hands wouldn’t stop trembling and her racing heart made it difficult to breathe.

Amina forced herself to nod in agreement.

An easy smile curved Mark’s lips as if the last few minutes hadn’t transpired. “Call you in a few days, bae?”

Again Amina could only nod.

He gave her a quick wave before exiting her house.

What a psychopath.

Only when she heard his car pull out of her driveway did she collapse on the floor in a puddle. She released the breath she’dbeen holding and stayed where she was until the shaking in her hands subsided.

There was no way she could allow the events of the previous timelines to repeat. It was obvious Mark’s ego would not allow her to break up with him so her only option was to get him to end their relationship. But she didn’t want to just break up.

Amina wanted revenge.

Chapter

Five

Amina was thankful she didn’t hear from Mark for the remainder of the week. She needed this space to figure out her next move. But she couldn’t shake the impending doom she felt. He’d pop up again for sure. And according to her calendar he was supposed to propose to her soon.

She shuddered thinking about it. Mark had been super secretive about where he wanted to take her and she’d gone along with it. To her surprise, his parents was there along with her Aunt Sharon and cousin Candace at one of Mark’s favorite steakhouses.

Amina thought it was the happiest day of her life but looking back on that day she wasn’t really happy. She hated the restaurant because the lighting was too dim and the tables were so close together to maximize the amount of customers they could legally fit inside the building. And to make matters worse, they were seated so close to the kitchen the sounds from the staff was so loud the people around them practically yelled to be heard.

Mark thought he was doing her a favor by ordering the meal for her even though she didn’t like what he’d chosen. His mother kept making snide comments about her hair and outfit.

Candace openly flirted with Mark, most likely to get under Amina’s skin and her aunt was loud and rude to the wait staff. Amina had held herself so erect under Mrs. Caldwell’s judgmental stare she could barely taste a bite of her food.

When the proposal finally came, Amina was proud of the simple diamond solitaire Mark had presented her but she was quickly put on the defensive by Candace who pointed out that it wasn’t a full carat.

The final humiliation had come when the pastor decided to say a few words to bless the union and made a point to note that it was a woman’s duty to take care of their man and to provide as many children as the lord willed.

Amina shuddered with embarrassment when she remembered that dopey smile she’d worn that night as if it was so special marrying into that family.

“What an idiot I was,” she said to herself in the mirror. She studied her reflection for the eighth time in the last ten minutes hoping she looked good enough to be seen with Dr. Han for their dinner date.

She tugged at the braids around her shoulders and inspected them for stray strands. There was nearly an inch of new growth, and she didn’t have enough time to take them down, thoroughly cleanse her scalp and deep condition her hair before her date. To solve her dilemma, she wrapped a black silk band with a bow around her edges to go with the black and red dress she chose.

It was one of the nicest outfits she owned. It was a black short sleeve off the shoulder corset bodice with red flowers that gave just a hint of cleavage. It flowed into an A line skirt that fell just below her knees. She felt really girly in it. However, the one time she’d worn it on a date with Mark, he’d called it cheap looking.

That memory was enough to make her want to change but it was too late. Dr. Han would be picking her up in less than five minutes.

She gave herself one last look in the mirror. Her makeup was minimal, just some eyeliner, mascara and a neutral lip gloss.

The doorbell rang, cutting into her inspection. She grabbed the black heels she laid out and rushed down the stairs.

Her heart skipped several beats as soon as she opened the door. Dr. Han was undeniably an attractive man but seeing him in all black with a strand of his thick hair casually resting on his forehead, Amina could only stare. The first two buttons of his short sleeve shirt was undone showing off a hint of a tone and tanned chest.

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