【21】One and Only

13.5K 1.2K 681
                                    

By the time I arrived at the Kelex building, I was positive being away all day would be beneficial

Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.

By the time I arrived at the Kelex building, I was positive being away all day would be beneficial. Lex would get more space, and I'd get to decompress, surrounded by friends and colleagues. As it so happened, Lex would also get to unwind sometime today, since he'd meet with his shrink.

Maybe when I'd get home tonight, he would finally be ready to talk, and we'd be able to have the conversation we so desperately needed.

That, or he would have had all the locks changed and taken me out from his visitors' list. No, he wouldn't... Even if he wasn't willing to admit it, he wanted me there, and he knew it deep down.

Quickly after I'd stepped onto the Kelex floor, it became rather clear that this wouldn't, indeed, be relaxing or comforting. As soon as they saw me, a few people rushed toward me. While their intentions were good, they also happened to be very much unwanted.

They had about a thousand questions about Lex, how he was doing, when would he come back, how happy was I that he'd been freed... I had no idea what to answer to most of these, so I remained vague and generic.

I couldn't tell them that Lex wasn't exactly home yet. Because while his physical self was freed, an important part of him hadn't come home yet, locked away in a mental prison of his own fabrication. That was exactly what it was. The old Lex was still missing, somehow, and I was starting to believe that getting that part of him freed might take longer than getting the charges against him dropped.

Eventually, I reached the break room, despite being stopped so many times on my way there, and busied myself with my morning coffee.

"Sis, how are you even standing up?" Mason's voice said next to me. He grabbed my arm and pulled me further, where no one would hear us. "Your man just got out of prison, and from everything you've told me, you should be in a wheelchair, girl."

"I guess we kept it reasonable," I argued, eager to move on from this line of questioning."

"Ah, was homeboy missing his prison wife?"

"Mace," I warned softly, shaking my head.

"Sorry, boo. I was just trying to lighten up the mood. You look like you need it. What's going on, Dee?"

Looking around to make sure no one could hear, I sighed and offered him a pained look. "He isn't doing well. Everything just... really took a toll on him."

"Aw, I'm sorry to hear that, bestie. And you, how are you doing with all this?"

"Not very well, either. But I'm staying strong. If I break just like he broke, I don't think there'll be an 'us' to salvage anymore by the time we're doing better."

Mace seemed to grasp the extent of my struggles, and how tenuous this whole situation was. His eyes turned compassionate, and he gave me a supportive smile. "God prolly made you a strong ass bitch just for that. I just know you can hold on cause you're a fierce queen. But girl, you gotta think about yourself too."

The Love Algorithm - Vol. IIIWhere stories live. Discover now