Page 172 of She will Always be Mine

Monica slides closer to me and wraps her arms around me while rubbing my back. Tears escape my eyes as she holds me and softly murmurs, “Shhh… It’ll be okay. You don’t need to worry about anything right now. It sucks and I can’t imagine the pain you’re in but I’m here for you. Besides, with a man like Riaan on your side, you’ll be fine.”

With the video gone, I feel marginally better but the shock doesn’t wear off. I pull back before I wet her shirt and give a shaky smile. “He’s the reason the video got taken down, Monica.”

“Really?” she asks, eyes wide with shock.

“Yeah.”

“He really loves you, doesn’t he?” she softly says with a tilt of her head. I nod and she smiles. “You’ll both get through this, Nyra. I just know it.”

“Thanks, babe.”

“Is everyone in your family against the two of you?”

“No. Riaan’s mom has been supportive of us.”

“Then maybe you should talk to her. She can even help convince your parents. If you trust her, then ask for help.”

“She texted me before you came, actually,” I tell her. “I was going to visit her. She’s the sweetest and the most loving aunt I’ve ever met. She sometimes reminds me of Mom. If anything ever went wrong, my mom would be the first I would run to and it hurts that I can’t do that anymore.”

“That’s awesome,” she says encouragingly. “You can meet her later. Until then, let me make you feel better.”

“I don’t have booze,” I joke. Since it’s always been her go-to to brighten the mood.

“Just so you know, I have other tricks in my bag,” she brags.

“Oh yeah, like what?”

“Like watching a naked Michele Morrone.” She sighs dreamily before winking. “He’ll make us forget the world.”

For the next two hours, my best friend distracts me the way only she can, making me feel blessed about our friendship.

***

The second Monica leaves, loneliness and sadness stab me in the chest. I haven’t looked at my phone, knowing my parents must still be reaching out to me. I’m still trying to process it all and don’t know how to explain everything to them.

I’m scared to hear the disappointment in my mom’s voice for making her live through this again. I’m scared to feel the anger and shame for humiliating my dad.

Mostly, I’m scared to face him and hear him say I disgraced our family by loving Riaan.

If he asks me to choose… I can’t even finish the thought.

Riaan hasn’t come home and I don’t know who to talk to. I feel the weight of the upending disaster trying to tear me down. My phone buzzes on the couch and I pull away as if it’s a landmine I don’t want to step on. When it dies down, a breath I didn’t know I was holding whooshes out of me.

Perhaps I should listen to Monica’s advice and visit my aunt.

Because the longer I stand in the haunted silence of the room, the darker my thoughts become. I feel suffocated and frightened. It’s as if the walls are closing in on me.

Unable to handle it a second longer, I grab my jacket from the back of the couch and hurry out of the apartment. I leave my phone because hardly any good news comes from it. As if someone’s cursed it.

Flinging open the door, I take the elevator down and hail a cab to my uncle’s home.

Chapter Fifty-Six

NYRA

The world is a harsh place.

It doesn’t stop or slow down for anyone. You can be hurting, dying, or simply existing, but it will go on. We, people, are only to blame.

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