FULL CIRCLE

19.

🎶 Now playing: Falling by Blxst.

At this point Antonio was avoiding Reign whether it was on purpose or not. He thought it would be best if she only knew what was happening on surface level instead of exposing the full extent of things to her. He walked into the store under the impression that it would be empty since business was usually closed on these days.

To his surprise, he found Ms Maya signing something off. He watched the guys walk out before being greeted by a stare he knew all too well. "When did you come back?"

"Back in town? A day ago. In the store? The second I heard you were acting a fool. Antonio Mills, what has gotten into you?" She reprimanded. One thing about Ms Maya's tone, it never got loud but it was always firm. Always. Antonio listened even when he tried to be stubborn. "What is that girl doing back in the store?"

The thought of him exposing Justine and Morris crossed his mind upon many occasions but that would be too easy for them to hurt the people he loved. He needed to be strategic about it. "She needed her job back to take care of her grandmother."

Ms Maya shook her head repeatedly, "I am tired of hearing you sing that song. Luna told me everything. I heard she's prancing around this place like she owns it. You need to put your feelings aside and pull your socks up as the store manager and owner."

"So you decided to get a camera system installed?" Antonio's brow furrowed.

Ms Maya took a step closer to give him a warning gaze. "If you don't fire her, I will. Or better yet call the police for that questioning she dodged, how about that?" She spoke before her eyes landed on another one of the files on the shelf. "What's really going on Antonio? You've been acting strange for some time now. Is it the new girl too?"

He sighed and shook his head repeatedly. If anything, he was the one bringing drama into Reign's life unprovoked. "It's nothing you need to worry about mama. I'll sort the Justine issue out."

~

The day later progressed to Antonio and Roman's regular sessions and him ending up back at Reign's apartment. He opted for knocking instead of letting himself in with the spare key because it had been quite some time since they actually talked. "Hey." He spoke softly.

"Hi." Reign responded back plainly before stepping aside to let him in.

"Are you busy?" He questioned as he scanned the open plan space. Reign's laptop was open with a few papers and documents scattered across her counter and coffee table. "Even if I am, we still have quite a bit to talk about, don't we?"

Antonio pressed his lips together, nodding nervously. "I know things between us have been a little rocky lately, and it's my fault. I'm sorry."

By now Reign had bottled up all her anger and emotion; it was just a matter of time before she let it all out. "Yeah, about that... I don't think we should do this, us," she motioned between them with her hand. "Anymore. I feel myself changing, trying to be something I'm not, hell, even competing with your ex for your attention. This isn't me, so I want out. Also Tone, I'm so tired of hearing you say sorry. I'm just over everything." She expressed tiredly.

For that second, she had put all the good feelings he made her feel aside. She needed to get back to herself because quite frankly, she was losing pieces since Antonio confronted Justine. The worst part was that even amidst all the expressing she had done, she still didn't have the courage to tell him about the pregnancy tests she took. One one hand, she felt it would be unnecessary because they came out negative and on the other hand, she felt like she needed to alert him.