Broke and Woke -Part 1
The day love broke me.
Genevieve woke up again this morning with puffy eyes after crying herself to sleep last night, and the cause of those tears, the man she had loved for five years, was no longer hers. The hot breakfast that Ahmed served her was one she never saw coming, but that’s the thing, we never see those things coming till they jam us right in the face.
On the fateful day when Genevieve’s heart shattered into a million pieces, she woke up with a plan to visit Ahmed; she hadn’t seen him for two weeks because she had been travelling. She got up from her bed, turned on her speaker and blasted “Fun” by Rema, and went into the shower, where she took her time because she wanted to smell nice and clean for her man. After her shower, she moved to her room, where she moisturised her skin and layered the scents which Ahmed said drove him crazy. Done with her skincare routine, she did a light, clean-girl makeup, and moved to her walk-in closet, where she selected a red body con dress and paired it with gold accessories and heels! Since she did a silk press at the hair salon yesterday, she just combed through her hair and called it a day.
She stood before the mirror and stared at her reflection. Satisfied with her appearance, she headed out the door and down to her garage, where her Mercedes-Benz awaited her. Stepping into the car, she warmed it up, turned on the air conditioning, and drove out. On the way, she stopped by her and Ahmed’s favourite bakery, Crave Atelier, to get him their Crimson Silk Red Velvet and Noir Chocolate Couture cupcake.
Finally, she arrived at Ahmed’s apartment complex. After parking her car, she quickly sprayed more perfume, grabbed the box of cupcakes, and made her way into the building. Ahmed stayed on the last floor, and since she didn’t have it in her to take the stairs, she used the elevator. Ahmed’s apartment was the only one on this floor, and after stepping out of the lift, she made her way to his door and used the spare key that Ahmed had given her.
When Genevieve stepped into the room, something felt wrong, but she couldn’t place it. She moved towards the kitchen to drop the cupcakes on the kitchen counter. When she got there, she saw two glass cups and a chilled bottle of Champagne beside them. She picked one up and saw that it had a red lipstick stain on it. Immediately, everywhere blurred, moving from the kitchen, she made her way to Ahmed’s bedroom. On the rug leading to the room, she saw a red thong, bra, gown, and high heels littered everywhere on the floor.
When she moved closer to the door, she could hear two people moaning; the sounds coming from the room made her stomach turn. She froze, her fingers tightening around the wall as the reality began to sink in. The voices grew louder as she got closer to the door. She didn’t need to see it to understand what was happening… but she opened the door anyway. Genevieve screamed, oh, she screamed as a woman possessed, she shouted and started wailing, asking, “Ahmed, Ahmed, why did you do this to us? How do we come back from this? What did I do to deserve this? Whyyyy? Ahmed, whyyy?” She continued crying, even when Ahmed dropped her on the bed to wear his clothes and show the witch out the door, she stayed and continued wailing until she had nothing left in her.
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When night had fallen, she finally stood from the bed and made her way to the sitting room to grab her stuff. On the way out, she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror, and the person that looked back at her looked like someone whose life had been drained out of her. She got to the sitting room, only to still see Ahmed and that witch, sitting together and eating the expensive cupcake she bought.
“ I thought you threw this witch out earlier. What is she still doing here?” Genevieve asked. Ahmed turned to look at her and said, “Genevieve, let’s talk in the kitchen, please.” “Ahmed, you haven’t answered the fucking question. What the hell is this bitch doing here?” Genevieve asked again, as she moved towards the lady to give her a dirty slap; Ahmed, seeing what she was about to do, stepped in between them and pulled Genevieve into the kitchen and shut the door.
Ahmed turned to face Genevieve, ran a hand through his hair, and began talking, “Geni.. I was going to tell you.” “When?” she snapped. He hesitated, “It’s been… six months.” Genevieve could not believe the rubbish her ears were hearing. Ahmed looked to the ceiling and said, “I just–” he exhaled. “I needed something different.” She stared at him. “Different?” “Someone my family approves of.” That one landed.
Genevieve laughed hysterically, but there was no humour in it. She laughed because there was nothing gorgeous or remarkable about Sophie, for goodness sake, nothing that made any of this worth it. Genevieve laughed because she didn’t know that the man you once loved with everything in you could now be the same person you hated with the power of a thousand suns. Genevieve laughed because everything had finally crumbled, and she had nothing.
When she finished laughing, she looked Ahmed deep in the eyes and said, “Five years.” Ahmed said nothing. She nodded slowly, like she finally understood something. “I loved you,” she paused before speaking again, “Ahmed, I really did.” Her gaze hardened. “But I won’t beg you to choose me.”
For a moment, no one spoke. The room felt smaller, suffocating. Genevieve looked around slowly — the couch, the table, the life she thought she had. None of it felt like hers anymore.
She picked up her bag, and Ahmed took a step forward. “Gen–” she raised her hand, stopping him. “Don’t even try it.” She glanced once at Sophie, then back at him. “If he could do it to me, he’ll do it to you.” And with that, she walked out.
As Genevieve drove back home, she didn’t cry, not once. But when she stood in front of the apartment… the truth hit her harder than anything that had happened that day. None of it was truly hers, and what scared Genevieve the most was that she didn’t even know where to start.
Pulling out her phone, she dialled the only person who could truly help her right now, and that was her best friend, Monica. When Monica picked, Genevieve said, “Moni, please come to my place, I need you!”
How does Genevieve pick up the pieces of a life that was never really hers? Part 2 is coming soon!
