IMADE AND JAMAL

JAMAL.

"I am not apologising to anyone because I've done nothing wrong!" I yell back at Daniel, already feeling irritated by how persistent he was being over an issue that was absolutely none of his business. "You know you were wrong Jamal. Apologising when you're wrong is not a crime at all. Look how devastated that girl sounded because of you and I can tell by the look in your eyes that you weren't happy to see her that way which means the sensible part of your brain knows you were wrong to treat her like that. Now do the needful and apologise to her." Daniel rants on and I sigh in frustration. "Joshua, please tell this idiot to leave me the fuck alone and stay out of my business." I say to Josh, hoping he would be sensible enough to interfere but as usual, the idiot added fuel to the fire.

"I'm not gonna lie Jamal, you owe that girl an apology, it's very necessary. By the way, you never told me she was so hot. I mean damn bro! That girl is fire! And your stupid self don't wanna get burnt when I'd gladly let that hot butt burn me anytime, any day. You are so stupid, you know that." He says and I couldn't help but sneer at him. Why do I even bother with him? Asides going out with women and spending money, he had nothing else to offer.

"You just had to ruin it, you idiot." Daniel hisses irritatedly earning a light chuckle from an unbothered Josh.

"Sorry not sorry bro." He teases and I roll my eyes.

"But on a serious note bro, you need to apologise to that girl cause from that little scene that we witnessed earlier, it's obvious she's hurting bro and I won't lie, you're being a fucking son of a bitch right now and it's very immature. Don't you always call me the immature one? Now look at you." He adds mockingly and I couldn't help but sigh in frustration.

"You two should just let this go. I already did my best by asking you to help her out and yes, I feel bad for not acknowledging her but I had my reasons and you need to respect my decision and stop criticising me. Imade is a good person and all but right now, I'm not ready to have her in my life. She's not good for me and I'm not good for her either so staying away from her benefits us both." I explain to them hoping they'd drop the subject and stop persisting.

"She doesn't have to be a part of your life Jamal, the only thing you need to do is apologise to her, talk to her about things and then you can both put the past behind you and move on properly." Daniel insists and I kinda understood where he was coming from although I still plan on rejecting his advice.

"Listen Dan, I'll try to talk to her but I won't force anything. If she refuses to talk to me, I won't force her. I still want nothing to do with her." I reply him sharply.

"Well before you cut things off, at least get me her number or you know what, never mind, I'll do it myself." Joshua chimes in and I frown.

"Don't you even think about it Josh or I swear, I'll kill you." I warn him immediately.

"Don't tell me you're actually jealous Jamal? How ridiculous!" He scoffs, eyeing me suspiciously.

"I'm not jealous you fool. I just know Imade well enough to know that jerks like you don't fit her profile. I might not want anything to do with her but I won't let you play with her emotions. So back off and don't test me!" I warn him again.

"Fine, whatever." He drawls boredly before gulping down the rest of his drink.

"Now to change the subject, Jamal, what exactly is going on with Natasha?" Daniel asks and I'm lost.

"What do you mean by what's going on? Is something supposed to be happening?" I ask.

"Well, she called me earlier today and asked me if I knew anything about your relationship with Imade and I told her to ask you but she claims you're not being straight with her and she doesn't like the fact that you keep avoiding her questions. As usual, I could tell she was just being jealous so I ignored her." He explained boredly and I rolled my eyes. Now Natasha's constant fits are definitely starting to irritate me. "Bro, you need to put that girl in her place by standing up to her. Her obsession is starting to creep me the fuck out." Joshua tells me and this time he was right. Natasha needed to know her place and stop trying to pry into every aspect of my life.

"I know she's extra and all but she's definitely a good person but I will talk to her and try to get her to stop overreacting." I assure them but part of me knew, it wasn't as easy as it sounded.

"I don't mean to sound rude or anything but I doubt that young lady will ever stop. You need to pick a side with her, is she your friend or is she your girlfriend? You know she's in love with you and well, it seems you might like her in your weird type of way so what exactly is stopping you from putting the right name to your relationship with her?" Daniel asks.

"Love? You think I love her? Do I look capable of actually loving someone?" I teased and he scowls.

"Don't make me hit you Jamal. You've always mentioned that she was special and all that so that must mean you feel something stronger than friendship for her." He tells me and I calm down a little to think of a perfect reply.

"I don't think he loves her. I think it's merely a physical attraction. He loves being with her but only when he's horny." Joshua chimes in randomly, earning a light smack on the head from Daniel.

"Don't let her hear you or she'll kill us both and if I'm being very honest, I love Natasha but it ain't that deep boys. I'm definitely not ready to commit to any woman. I love my freedom and my sanity. Relationship equals stress, stress equals insanity, insanity equals to an unhappy ending and I'm not cut out for such a disastrous life." I tell them and they both stared back at me with confused expressions on their faces. "Young man, you're definitely unwell. You need to see a doctor." Daniel replies plainly before excusing himself from the table and walking off to the restroom, leaving me with Joshua who didn't waste time to start taunting me with his cruel jokes.

***

"You're avoiding me Jamal and I want to know why!" Natasha yells angrily as soon as she barged into my office disrespectfully.

"You need to learn how to knock first Natasha. You can't just walk into my office whenever the hell you please." I snap back at her and she gasps.

"So all of a sudden, it's a problem? Now you're demanding that I knock before I walk into your office? Since when did my showing up out of the blue start to piss you off so much? You are changing Jamal and I don't like it one bit cause it's irritating me!" She hurled at me furiously and I stare back at her confused.

"I don't think you're doing well Tasha. Something is definitely wrong with you so I would advice that you take a break from work until you get better cause this raging bull in front of me is very far from normal." I say to her harshly and she deadpanned.

"Did you just call me a raging bull Jamal? You actually have the effrontery and the audacity to call me a raging bull? It's cause of that low class good for nothing bitch, right? She's the reason you're treating me this way, am I right?" She retorts and I roll my eyes boredly.

"Don't you get tired of sounding like a broken record? It's always the same thing with you Tasha. You see me with someone and you immediately start to imagine a nonexistent relationship. If you can't stop being so insecure then there's no point talking to you cause at the end of the day, you'll still throw your stupid, unnecessary jealous fits. So I'm gonna ask you to leave if you're only here to annoy me." I tell her harshly and her face goes blank.

"You're kicking me out of your office? You're actually kicking me out like for real? What the hell is wrong with you Jamal? How can you treat me this way after everything we've been through together? I don't deserve this and you know it! But it's okay Jamal, I'll relax and I'll stop shouting at you but you have to promise me something." She says and I look on curiously.

"Only if it's reasonable." I reply her.

"Well, I promise to stop assuming things and throwing unnecessary tantrums but you also have to promise to stay away from that girl, Imade or whatever the hell her name is. I don't like her one bit and I hate the idea of seeing you with her. Can you at least do that for me?" She asks and I sigh.

"This is what I'm saying Tasha. You're jealous of someone that I have nothing to do with. She and I are old friends and we may get to talk occasionally but it doesn't read any meaning other than the fact that we're acquainted. If you can't keep your jealousy away then it's your problem but you will not dictate who I can talk to and who I can't talk to." I tell her straight forwardly and she sighs frustratedly.

"Can't you just try to understand me Jamal? I don't like that girl one bit. I can tell she still has something for you and I can't stand the idea of having her close to you. I don't care if you tell me I'm jealous or whatever all I can tell you is that I don't like seeing you with her."

"If I could, I would fire her immediately but I just don't want to seem petty so I'm holding back the urge to kick her out. You need to understand me Jamal. I have every right to be uncomfortable." She blurts out and I struggled to hold back my laugh.

The fact that she even thinks I care about her unending jealousy seemed very funny to me but knowing how impulsive she was, I didn't want to trigger her into making any rash decision by laughing out loud. "I don't know what else to say to you Natasha. Let me make it clear that currently Imade and I are not friends, so your jealousy is not necessary but we do have pending issues to sort out and maybe, just maybe we might but I don't plan on making an effort cause I don't really care. So, I'll appreciate if you respect me and stop with the jealousy. Like you said earlier, we've come a long way so trust me." I say to her and her facial expression seemed to relax a bit.

"I'll trust you Jamal. Don't make me regret it." She replies before leaning in to plant a quick kiss on my lips.

"I'm leaving now, I have a meeting to attend to but as soon as I'm done, I'll meet you at your place." She adds quickly.

"Okay, see you later." I reply tiredly, watching her strut out of my office like she owned the place. If I didn't care about her so much, I'd have most definitely thrown her out of my life but unfortunately, that wasn't happening anytime soon.