When I heard my door bell ring, I hastily took off my apron and turned off the gas cooker. Running towards the door and opening it, I was slightly surprised to see Desmond standing there.

"You're an hour early." I let him in and watched him give me a morbid expression.

"I just needed to tell you something important." He rubbed his fingers against the small stubble on his jaw. If I didn't know any better, I'd say that his actions were pretty much like that of a nervous man. Wetin dey happen sef?

"So important that you absolutely needed to see me an hour earlier than we planned?" I questioned and lightly tugged the edges of my hair.

He ran his hands through his dark hair and his eyes looked almost pleading. Beads of sweat ran down the moonlight dark skin of his face. It worried me how uncomfortable he looked "Yeah. Exactly."

"Well sit down or something. You're getting me all worried."

His jaw clenched. Instantly, his nervous demeanor morphed into something different, as anger trailed over his words. "No. I want to say this, while standing. It's important that I do."

From the way he looked, a part of me knew what he was going to say and it scared me. "Okay. What is it?"

"We need to break up." He stated, coldly. There wasn't a shred of remorse in his words and something about his behavior didn't sit well with me.

My whole body went still, but my eyes narrowed with suspicion. "Why?"

At this moment, his handsome face scrunched up and it somehow annoyed the hell out of me. Of course, I needed an explanation. I deserved that much. "Do I need a reason to break up with you?"

"Well I deserve better than that since I spent almost nineteen months of my life dating you." What was wrong with me? Why was I not crying or feeling heartbroken about this? I couldn't understand why I didn't feel anything but anger running through my veins.

Desmond spat out. "You want the truth. Fine. I met someone else."

My heart shattered, but somehow I couldn't bring myself to cry. I instead, found myself still seething. "You cheated on me?"

He sounded apologetic, but then again, I was too angry to care. "It's not like that. I've been miserable in this shitty relationship and I finally found someone that doesn't feel like a burden to me anymore."

"So I feel like a burden?" I tensed up immediately. How dare he say that?

"You have no idea how exhausting it is to be dating you. Your obsession with having a perfect life is too much pressure for me. When I'm dating someone, I want to enjoy myself. I don't need to be wondering if what I'm doing is good enough for you." He continued to rant. I knew how flawed I was, but it wasn't fair how he made it all to be MY fault. "You have no idea what it feels like, Nara. It's clear you don't love me as much as you claim. Our relationship has run its course and you know it."

Once again, his words stung. He didn't think that I loved him? That was bullshit. It was hard not to feel offended by this. "Obsessed with the perfect life? How dare you act like I'm some kind of control freak? I never made you seem perfect. If anything, I had to put up with your nags. It almost felt like I was dating a baby. But I looked past that because relationships takes work and patience. Too bad you never saw that."

"Say whatever you want but you know I'm saying the truth. You always wanted this perfect love life. It doesn't take a genius to figure out why you do so." Desmond paused, putting emphasis on his next words. "I get it. I understand why you want it. Your parents have a perfect and flawless marriage. Congratulations to them. But you have no right to shove your ideals and expectations down my throat. I'm not a spineless heap."

I bit my lower lip gently, trying to hold back my anger. I wasn't a violent person but I was finding it hard to fight the urge to slap him across his arrogant face. "So why now? Why are you breaking up with me now?"

"Because I want to propose to the woman I love and I can't do it if I'm still around you. I feel bad that I led you on, but I don't regret it. I couldn't wait another day to keep you around so I knew that I needed to do it now. Before things get more complicated."

Before things got complicated? The nerve of him. Looking at him squarely, after mustering as much confidence I could get, I folded my arms across my chest and belted out my words. "Congratulations on finding love. I sincerely hope you get everything you deserve. I really do. Please, do me a simple favor by getting the hell out of my house, you spineless heap. Isn't that what you called it?"

Frowning tightly, he walked out of my house, without giving a response. I peeped through the curtains of my window and watched him enter his car. Once I was sure he was out of earshot, I picked up the plate I was going to serve for dinner with him and threw it on the floor in annoyance. The ceramic plate shattered into tiny pieces, as several pieces scattered all over the dining room and I let myself fall on the floor in a corner. My hair fell over my face and I let myself sob softly, finally accepting my loss.

......
.....
.....

THREE MONTHS LATER

Imade gushed. "I can't believe it's been over four months since Victor and I have been dating. Everything is so perfect. I think I'm in love." She had this dopey look on her face, and I couldn't help the smile popping up on my lips.

"I can't believe it's been three months since that lying cheating scumbag dumped my ass. At least one of us is happy. That's the most important thing." I muttered, as I danced my spoon around the plate of food on the table. The food didn't even taste that good and I had lost my appetite, just by staring at it.

"It's just awful he turned out to be like this. I never pictured him like that. That yeye guy."

I mumbled softly, remembering how often Tife made comments about Desmond. So that stubborn jerk was right. Nawa o. "Tife did. I should have listened to him. I can't believe he was right all along."

"Tife's a good judge of character, despite his stubborn and sarcastic exterior. Though, I can't even imagine you listening to him."

I mused. "You know the worst part? I thought I'd be more heartbroken that I broke up with him. Instead, I'm more bothered about the things he said. He meant a lot to me, but I just can't explain why I'm not affected by it. I was angry about being cheated on, but heartbroken? I don't think so."

Imade shrugged. "Maybe a part of you was already detached from the relationship, just the same way for him. Maybe that part of you could just tell that he wasn't fully in it."

I frowned, letting her words sink in. Desmond had said something similar and I hated the possibility of it being true. "Or maybe, I didn't even love him. Maybe I loved how perfect he was on paper and never let myself realize how terrible he was in real life."

Imade sent me a deflated look in her doe eyes. "I guess we'd never really know, even if we wanted to."

"Unfortunately. I just want to worry about Cupid's touch and nothing else for now." Cupid's touch was my semi-successful online love and dating blog. It started off as a small hobby for me and developed into a pretty decent enterprise. At the moment, I had a total of 6 workers under my belt and an above-than-average income to sustain myself. It was a life I was proud to have invested my money, time and sweat into it, and it made me proud how far I've come.

"That sounds pretty much okay. I wouldn't know though. I'm the last person that knows what's healthy or not."

"You should give yourself some credit sometimes. You're getting a lot better."

She grimaced. "As long as I take my pills and let myself enjoy my new relationship, then I have nothing to worry about."

"That sounds like a decent plan."

"Thank you, Nara. I need to get back to work though. The new sales rep. I got doesn't really know anything about wine business so I need to keep an eye on her, before she sells anything below the normal price." Imade's wineshop was a little over 5 mins away from my office, so we occasionally spent lunchtime at each other's place of work. Presently we were at Cupid's touch, specifically in my small office.

Chuckling, I said. "Good luck with that and send my regards to Victor."

"I will. But seriously, would you be home for Easter?"

"The usuals. Yeah. What about you?"

"Me and Tife both. Yeah. We wouldn't dare miss it. Our parents would skin us alive if we did, no matter how grown up we are." I grinned at the thought. Imade's parents didn't joke about family events, so they would have made a big deal out of it, no matter what.

My laugh came out louder than I wanted it to be. "I can totally imagine it. It's still two weeks away so you still have enough time to prepare yourself for it."

Imade's keen eyes held mine. "I was thinking of inviting Victor over, since none of his parents are alive anymore. I just want him to feel like a part of the family and let him have a taste of our family tradition."

"That's really thoughtful of you. I'm sure your parents would love that."

With a content smile, she said. "You think so? That's a relief. I was worried that they'd think that Victor and I were going too fast."

"Well it's your relationship and your choice. You have every right to do as you please."

Still smiling broadly, Imade's pearly white teeth came into view. "I like the sound of that. I've got to go now. See you later, hon."

★★★
To all my foreign readers out there, I made some Nigerian pidgin terms in my book, so I'm hoping you don't get confused by it. I didn't make a blunder or any kind of mistake. Those are real words spoken in Nigeria.
Thank you.