The Good, The Bad & The Ugly
Chapter 18: FRACTURE
A week passed, but nothing truly settled between us. Even after I apologized over and over again for doubting him, for saying I wasn’t sure he loved me, something still felt off. George accepted my apology, yes, but he never really gave me one in return. All he said was that what happened with that girl meant nothing to him, and somehow, I was expected to move on from it just like that. I tried to believe him, I really did, but the truth was, things were no longer the same between us. The ease, the laughter, the way everything once felt so natural, it had all faded into something tense and uncertain.
At school, it didn’t make things any better. It was as if everyone was quietly watching us, waiting for something to happen. Some of them didn’t even bother to hide it. I caught the glances, the whispers, the fake smiles. It irritated me, but more than that, it hurt. It felt like my relationship had become entertainment, something people discussed when they were bored. Even my friends didn’t fully understand what I was going through. Nafisa had her own relationship to focus on, Hameedat was lost in her endless drama, and Desire, although she tried, couldn’t really grasp why I was still holding on so tightly.
But I knew why.
I wasn’t ready to lose George. Not after everything. Not after how deeply I had allowed myself to feel.
Still, the doubt wouldn’t leave me, and it kept growing quietly inside me until it pushed me to do something I probably shouldn’t have done.
I gathered a few friends from my area to threaten Rejoice. “Are you Rejoice?” I asked as soon as we saw a familiar face opposite George’s house.
Standing in front of Rejoice, I felt a strange kind of confidence. It wasn’t just anger, it was something stronger, something that made me feel like I was reclaiming what was mine.
“Yes.” She nodded
I smiled because I saw the fear in her eyes and it fueled something in me, something I didn’t even recognize in myself. For once, I wasn’t the one crying. I wasn’t the one feeling helpless. It was her.
“Stay away from my George, or else…” I didn’t need to complete the sentence. I pushed her so my friends and I could intimidate her more.
Now I’m sitting alone in my room, my phone rang, and I didn’t need to check the screen to know it was George. Of course she would have told him. I picked up the call anyway, trying to steady my voice before speaking.
“Hello.”
There was no greeting from his side, no softness, nothing familiar. Just anger.
“What did you do to Rejoice?”
I leaned back slightly, already expecting this. “Nothing,” I replied calmly. “Did you see any scratch on her?”
He didn’t find that funny. “I told you my relationship with her was nothing, yet you went to bully her. What do you want?”
That word ‘bully’ hit me harder than anything else he had said. My chest tightened immediately.
“I didn’t bully her,” I said, my voice dropping despite my effort to stay composed. “I just told her that you have a girlfriend. Is that why you’re shouting at me?”
There was a brief silence on the call, it was very uncomfortable, and felt like something fragile was breaking between us.
“I don’t like this version of you, Zara,” he finally said, his tone colder now. “You’re acting somehow.”
For a moment, I couldn’t even respond. I just sat there, trying to process what he had said.
This version of me?
Which version did he want? The one who pretended not to see what was happening? The one who smiled and acted like everything was fine even when it clearly wasn’t? Or the one who actually cared enough to react?
My grip tightened around my phone as tears filled my eyes.
“I’m acting somehow?” I repeated quietly. “George, you cheated on me.”
“It wasn’t cheating,” he replied almost immediately.
The sharpness in his voice hit me instantly, and my heart dropped. George had never raised his voice at me before, not like this. It felt strange. And the worst part was that I didn’t even bully that girl, I only wanted to scare her, to make her understand that he wasn’t available.
I swallowed hard, my throat suddenly dry, and I couldn’t take it anymore. Words started pouring out of me without control, everything I had been holding in for days.
I told him how I felt like nobody truly loved me, how everything in my life felt like it was falling apart, how I didn’t know what I was doing wrong. My voice broke again and again as I cried. I didn’t even realize when my crying turned into quiet sobbing until he finally spoke.
“I’m coming over.”
The call ended shortly after, but the heaviness in my chest remained.
I stepped outside and sat in one corner of the compound, hugging my knees to myself as the tears continued. At that point, I already knew the truth deep down, but I didn’t want to admit that George didn’t love me the way I loved him.
Yes, he cared, he liked me, but real love? I wasn’t sure. It felt like he he’s with me because he pitied me and felt guilty.
That realization hurt more than anything else.
Comment Question:
Do you think Zara handled the situation with Rejoice the right way, or did she let her emotions go too far?
Thank you for reading this chapter 🥰