A Hookup Worth Billions

"Toyosi, wait, please!" Yemi's urgent yet incredulous voice broke through the din of conversation.

I didn't look back. I was unable to. With each step I moved away from him, my heart was already breaking apart, fragment by fragment.

"Toyosi!" As I made my way to the door, his fingers touched my arm.

I shook my head and jerked away from him. "Don’t touch me, Yemi." Even though I was only whispering, the words were more powerful than any scream.

The noise of glasses clinking, laughter, and cries of congratulations filled the room behind me, but none of it registered. With the exception of the cold, acrid reality that had just torn through my chest, I felt as though I was in a fog, with everything warped.

"You’re not the man I thought you were," I said, my voice shaking.

As I turned to face him, his face—so familiar, so loved—was a haze. His eyes had an expression I didn't recognize. It wasn't the man who had given me all of my dreams, who had comforted me when I sobbed, and who shared my laughter in my ecstasies. No, that was another individual. Someone with lies and secrets, and I could no longer bear to be around him.

With each stride, the weight of the engagement party's applause faded into a faint hum, far from the tempest building inside my chest, as I turned my back on him and pressed my heels against the marble floor. The chilly night air struck me like a slap as I forced through the massive doors, but I was oblivious to it. Now I could hardly feel anything.

I had cherished him. So fully, so profoundly. Now, though? Everything felt false, including our future, the wedding, and our shared goals. A lovely deception, skillfully constructed.

I heard the harsh snap of a door opening halfway down the steps leading to the street. I knew it was Yemi without having to turn around. He ran toward me, and his footsteps reverberated.

"Toyosi, please," he again called.

I did not respond this time. What could be said? I had never anticipated the extent of the treachery. Not only did the words pierce me, but everything that came before them did as well: the covert looks, the touch of his hand on someone else's, the secrets I was unaware of.

I said, "Yemi, I saw you," with a broken voice. The words were sharp, like if they were struggling to get out of my chest.

"You saw me? "What are you discussing?" Panic was evident in his voice.

I couldn't help but turn to face him. "I noticed you with her. in the bar. Yemi, you kissed her. You gave her the same kiss that you gave me.

A mixture of guilt and something deeper, which I didn't recognize, distorted his face. "Toyosi, I—I don’t know what you saw, but I can explain."

"Explain?" I laughed, but it was a hollow, empty chuckle. Yemi, tell me how you justify kissing someone else on the evening of our engagement celebration. How? Is that how you would explain it?

I stopped him by raising my hand as he took a step closer. "No. Stay away from me."

"You’re not understanding," he remarked in a tight tone. "It’s not what you think."

I insisted, "Then tell me what it is," "Yemi, tell me. You being honest with me is what I've been waiting for. I've been anticipating that you will—"

"You don't get it, Toyosi. She's a longtime buddy of mine who I knew before you. Before we became serious, that is. She is nothing. He spoke too hastily, as though he was trying to persuade himself more than I was.

I felt the chilly air soaking through me and chilling the warmth of everything I believed we had, so I shook my head. "Do you not understand? I saw how you looked at her, and you don't understand that. I could see the desire in your eyes. Yemi, it wasn't nothing. Furthermore, I really cannot ignore it."

In an attempt to regain his composure, he inhaled. "Please, Toyosi. I cherish you. I've loved you forever. The person I desire is you—"

"Don’t," I broke in, my voice trembling. "I also believed that I was the one you desired. However, you—" The words caught in my throat and I halted.

He said, "I was wrong," in a voice that was almost audible above a whisper. "I should have avoided doing that. I ought to have told you the truth right away. However, I adore you, Toyosi. She is not the focus of this. It's about us. I erred.

With my heart thumping in my chest, I took a step back. "An error? Yemi, you kissed her. You told me a falsehood after kissing her. How is that merely an error? Yemi, you were concealing her. You've been concealing her, and now you want me to think it was an error?"

He had nothing to say.

I walked down the steps without looking back, turning away from him again. He didn't follow this time. He didn't come after me. And I wondered if it was because he knew this was the end, or because something inside me was broken.

When I got to the bottom of the steps, I inhaled deeply for the first time that evening. My lungs stung from the cool night air, yet it felt liberating in some way, like the burden of the falsehoods was finally being lifted.

The silence was soon broken by a voice I hadn't anticipated hearing.

"Toyosi."

I went cold.

Yemi wasn't the one. No. Someone else did it. Someone I hadn't given much thought to for years.

With my heart thumping in my chest, I turned slowly.

Victor Langston, Yemi's former business partner and the guy whose treachery had previously been the root of all that had gone wrong between us, was standing in the alley's shadows.

I recognized the smirk that curled his lips. The type that chilled me to the bone. "You didn’t think this was over, did you?"