Chapter 173 042
SHANTEL’S small living room had become a storm center. Her phone lay on the coffee table, the screen lighting up with Charles’s social media posts, yet she hadn’t even touched it in the last five minutes. Instead, she sat cross-legged on the couch, her back hunched, her fingers running through her hair as she hissed for the umpteenth time. The sound was sharp, almost cat-like, as though it could slice through the thick tension that filled the room. She threw her arms over her face, then ripped them down again, her eyes glued to the phone.
“Ughhh!” she hissed, slamming the phone back on the couch. She leaned forward, muttering under her breath. “Why isn’t he answering? Why? Why?”
Her younger sister, Tiana, who had been perched on the arm of the couch with her legs tucked underneath her, finally looked up. She raised one brow, giving Shantel a sidelong glance.
“Don’t tell me Charles is really making you act this way, sis?” she asked, trying to keep her voice calm despite the amused smirk threatening to break through.
Shantel whipped around to look at her, eyes wide, lips pursed. “What do you mean, making me act this way? Of course he is! He knows he is my Charles, and he is ignoring me! Ignoring me, Tia! How dare he?” She sprang up, pacing back and forth, kicking at the carpet with her heels. “I have been nothing but patient. I have waited, I have begged, I have—” she paused, snatching the phone up again, “I have done everything, and he still… he still—”
“Still what?” Tiana asked, tilting her head.
“Still doesn’t call! Doesn’t answer! Doesn’t acknowledge me!” Shantel hissed, throwing her arms up in exasperation. She sank back down onto the couch, hair falling into her face. “I can’t believe this. After all these years, after everything, he has the audacity to move on, or act like he has, without me!”
Tiana let out a low whistle and leaned back.
“Slow down, sis. You are going to give yourself a stroke. Talk to me. What is it really that is going on?”
Shantel glanced at her, her eyes wild, darting between her sister and the phone.
“Tia… he is living it up. He is rich now, Tia. He has money. He is finally making it. And I— I want in. I want him back. I want him to know that I’m the one he should have had all along. I want—” she paused, pinching the bridge of her nose, “I want him to realize what he has lost.”
Tiana blinked, her lips pressing together to hold back a laugh.
“Wait. Slow down. You are telling me you want him back… because he has money now? How are you even sure he is rich?”
Shantel rolled her eyes and threw her head back.
“Are you kidding me? Tia, I see it! I see his posts on Instagram! The pictures with his friends at fancy places, the dinners, the trips, he even posts him clearing bills sometimes!” She hissed again, pacing the room. “Do you know what that feels like? Knowing that he is living well, and I’m not the one there enjoying it?”
Her sister laughed, more at disbelief than amusement.
“Hold on… how do you know he is really clearing bills on some nights? Are you spying on him?”
Shantel’s eyes narrowed.
“No! Julian told me that! He knows things. He told me everything. Charles isn’t broke anymore. He has made it. He has money. He is independent. And he should be mine!” She clutched the phone in both hands, almost hugging it.
Tiana leaned forward, her tone softening.
“And what about his fiancée? I mean he is engaged, right?”
Shantel waved her hand dismissively, lips curling into a disgusted smile.
“Oh please… That old hag? A divorcee with three kids? Come on, Tia. Please spare me that. He doesn’t know what he is doing. By the time I’m done opening his eyes, he will realize who the real woman for him is. Me. It’s me, Tia. Not her. Not that… that woman.”
Tiana shook her head, eyes wide.
“Shantel… listen to me. I’m just trying to be real here. Don’t you think you should consider… I don’t know… that he is engaged? You see his posts, right? The proposal, the ring, the whole thing?”
Shantel huffed, slapping the phone down onto the coffee table again.
“Engaged? Ha! Tia, please. Don’t give me that ‘engaged’ speech. That doesn’t mean a thing. A ring? Pfft. Words on a post? Doesn’t make it real. I know my Charles. My Charles would never really be… trapped. He doesn’t belong with her, Tia. He belongs with me.”
“You sound more like you are fantasizing than anything else,” Tiana said, trying to mask her concern. “But fine, let’s say all that is true. You really think he is just going to what? Leave her for you?”
Shantel jumped up again, pacing furiously, her heels clacking against the wooden floor.
“Of course he will! Once he sees me. Once I talk to him. I will tell him everything, Tia. I will apologize, I will beg if I have to. I will show him… I will show him that I’m the one who should be at his side, that I was wrong to leave him, that I have changed. I will make him see. He can’t resist me.”
Tiana leaned back on the couch, sighing heavily.
“Sis… I mean… you really think he wants to hear all that? After everything you did?”
Shantel’s jaw tightened.
“He will. He has to. He is mine. Do you understand? He is mine. I don’t care about the years that passed. I don’t care about Amelia. That woman doesn’t deserve him. I deserve him. I—” she stopped abruptly, her hands flying to her face as she hissed again. “Why won’t he answer me? Why won’t he just look at my messages? I just want him to see! To hear me! To understand that I have changed, Tia! I have… I have missed him so much! I want him back! I… I— ugh!”
Her sister sighed, exasperated but not surprised.
“Sis, I don’t know what to tell you. You are really fixated on him. And all I can say… be careful. He has moved on, you know. You can’t just—”
Shantel waved her off angrily, her voice rising.
“I don’t care! I see him now, Tia. I see him. And I will get him back. I will make him mine again, no matter what it takes. He can’t ignore me forever! He will see! He has to!”
Tiana shook her head, eyes wide but a little amused.
“You are something else, sis. I don’t know how you keep your sanity with this obsession. Just… promise me you won’t make a fool of yourself, okay?”
Shantel huffed, flipping her hair dramatically.
“Fool? Ha! I am not a fool. I am strategic. I am prepared. And once Charles realizes what he has been missing, once he finally sees me… it will be game over. Amelia will be nothing. Nothing compared to me.”
Her sister groaned.
“I don’t know whether to laugh or cry at this point.”
Shantel’s phone lit up again with a new notification from Charles. Her eyes widened, she grabbed the phone, heart racing.
“Finally… maybe now, maybe now he will see me!”
Tiana leaned back, crossing her arms.
“Or… maybe he will just keep ignoring you.”
Shantel waved her hand dismissively, standing tall, hair cascading over her shoulders, voice full of determination.
“No. He will not. He can’t. He belongs to me. And I will not stop until he’s mine again. He will see. He will… he will see!”
And with that, she sank back onto the couch, phone clutched in her hand, muttering to herself, hissing every so often as her mind raced with plans and hopes, oblivious to Tiana’s half-amused, half-worried gaze.