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“Mitch” Milan said backing up. “We’re not doing that. I appreciate the apology but we can never get back to the way we were.”

“Doing what? I wasn’t about to kiss you or nothing, Mimi. I got a girl and shit now. I can’t hug you now?” Milan’s whole face went blank. She just knew Mitch was about to do something else. She felt stupid. Then him bringing up his girl made her feel stupid.

Milan let Mitch hug her and that was that. She didn’t feel anything. It felt like a friendly hug and that’s what she wanted. She was done and thought this could finally bury any feelings Mitch May have thought was still there.

“Again, thanks for the apology, and thanks for coming.” Milan pulled away and they both went back out to the crowd.

Walking back over to her friends, Milan’s heart dropped. She couldn’t believe Amir was standing behind them. He had told her he was busy with work and would make her LA show instead. Milan was surprised but also impressed by him. Amir was different and even though they were only friends he put in a lot of effort. Milan didn’t know if he was doing it because he just wanted something or if he was genuine. She felt he was very genuine, she just wanted to be sure.

“Oh my god. You told me you were busy!” Milan hugged Amir and she knew Rodney and Mitch were probably looking over at them.

“I had some business to take care of, but I cut that shit short to surprise you.” Amir smirked and wrapped his arms around her. Milan could see Mitch glance over and whisper something to Rodney. She didn’t care though. She was just happy to see Amir.

As time went by and it was getting close to the last hour of the show, Milan decided to get on the mic and say a few words. She was overwhelmed with joy and was so happy her show turned out great. She was stressed out at first but knowing that everything went the way it was supposed to just made her ready for the next show. She was happy she couldn’t finally do what she loved.

“I just want to say thank you everyone for coming out tonight. I was nervous considering this is my first show and I’m just happy I could pull this off. I worked hard and to see one of my dreams playing out like this, it’s crazy. I just want the artist who displayed their work and for taking a chance on me and yourselves. You are all so talented, thank you again. I also want to thank my brother and friends for believing in me. I also want to thank all of you for even coming out and just showing your support. Thank You again.” The claps started and Milan still couldn’t believe she accomplished one of her goals.

Milan was happy with everything. She had supporting friends and she was surprised to see that Amir flew out to New York to support her. Even with him telling her he had something to take care of and then telling her he cut it short for her, it made her happy. She knew Mitch probably would felt some type of way about him being there and she could care less. He was no longer a factor in her life. She forced herself to move on and it was probably the best thing to do. She needed to move on and love herself. She needed this time to focus on her career which was the most important thing.

After the show was over, Milan friends and Amir stayed after. She knew everyone wanted to go out after this and she was cool with it until Mitch and Rodney came over there inviting themselves. It was awkward and she knew she had to introduce them to Amir and she didn't want to. Well, at least she didn't want to introduce her ex-husband to him.

”Um, Mimi I love you and all but I love how you brought your new friends out here but you didn’t introduce us to this one.” Lauren said as she eyed Amir.

“Right. Got us all standing here looking awkward.” Jaylah said as she took a sip from her cup.

“I’m sorry, Amir this is Camille, Lauren, and Jaylah.” Amir spoke to them but Milan could tell Camille, Lauren and Jaylah were still skeptical about who he was.

“Mm. Amir, what's your relationship with Mimi?” Lauren asked and everyone started chuckling.

“Lauren, please.”

“What? I just asked a question and I don’t want you answering it.” She said with a smirk on her face.

“This my homie.” Amir said wrapping his arm around Milan’s neck.

“Homie? Mm. I feel like it’s something el-“

“Okay since everything is cleaned up, I think we can leave.” Milan stopped Camille before she could finish her sentence and pulled Amir towards the door.

Walking into another room to grab her jacket, Milan felt everything was awkward now. She knew she would get questioned about Amir but it was weird. They were only friends and nothing more. Milan just wanted to be single and be able to be friends with a guy without all the extra. Milan knew she was probably overthinking it but she hating feeling awkward.

“I hope my friends don’t scare you off.”

“Nah, you good. I expected that shit but it’s cool.”

“Okay but I already know that when I introduce you to my brother he will do the most.” Milan said putting her jacket on.

“You actin’ like I’m yo nigga or somethin’. Why you actin’ nervous? He asked with a smirk on his face while walking up to her.

“Don’t even do all that, you want to be my man anyway.”

“True but you playin’ with a nigga.”

“Mhmm. Let’s go.”

MITCH

“Fuck wrong with you?” Rodney asked looking over at Mitch.

Mitch looked like he was fuming as he starred over at Milan and Amir. Mitch was pissed Milan was standing with another guy that wasn’t him and was even more pissed because technically they were married but of course she didn’t know that. He still didn’t tell her and he felt since she wanted to move on so quick he wouldn’t say anything. He had thought about mentioning it before she went back to LA but he changed his mind. He was feeling petty but he also felt some type of way. Here they were, supposed to be moving on but in his eyes she was moving on too fast. He expected her to still be hurt and cautious about moving on because he hoped she would come back.

“Who the fuck is that nigga Milan talking to?”

“I don’t know. She ain’t never mention nobody to me. Probably just some nigga she cool with. Why you worried about it? Y’all ain’t together no more.” MIitch ignored Rodney and walked out.

Mitch didn’t know why he was mad because Milan was single. She could do whatever but at the same time he was hiding that they were still legally married. He wanted to be petty and go up to her and talk about the marriage. What would he gain from it? Nothing. He just didn’t want her to move on so easily. Since he couldn't have her, he would make sure no one else would.

***

Later that night.....

“I’m about to go. Shit look dead.” Mitch was annoyed. He didn’t want to be at any club where Milan would be. He hated that Rodney even asked him to come.

“Nigga you been on some bullshit all day. Fuck is wrong with you?”

“Aint shit wrong. I ain’t feeling this shit tonight.” As soon as he said that Milan walked up to them with Amir and the rest of her friends. Mitch's blood started boiling.

“Hey. Rodney, I forgot to introduce you to my new friends. This is Imani, Don, and Amir.”

“What up” Rodney said at all of them. Milan purposely didn’t introduce them to Mitch.

“Damn I'm invisible?” Mitch caught an attitude and Milan frowned when he said that.

“Oh, this is Mitch. He’s my brother's friend.” Milan was being sarcastic and before Mitch could respond, she ended up walking away with everyone following behind her. He was pissed.

As the night continued, Mitch was drunk, annoyed, and ready to start shit with anybody. He hated Rodney made him come out to the club because he already knew Milan would be the reason for his annoyance. With Amir next to her, he kept feeling a way. The way Milan was standing there with another man pissed Mitch off. She was laughing and having fun and Amir was all on her like they were a couple. Mitch couldn’t believe how she was acting like he didn’t exist. After everything, they have been through and she came back showing off another man. He couldn’t take it and even with his new girlfriend with him, he didn’t care about his next move.

“You’ve been tripping all night. What is wrong with you?” Danielle said to Mitch as they left out of the club.

“Fuck out my face Danny. I ain’t trying to hear that shit.” Mitch walked over to everybody else and that’s when things went left.

“Aye Rod, when people married and they cheat, what that means?” Rodney was confused by what Mitch was saying.

“Nigga what?”

“So Mimi, you tell everybody how we married?” Mitch smirked.

“What? Mitch, what is your problem? We’re not married.”

“Oh, so you didn’t tell everybody we got married? After your birthday last year?”

“Fuck is he talking about Mimi?” Rodney was pissed and didn’t know what to believe.

Mitch could tell Milan was shocked and he didn’t care. He was happy she was embarrassed and could finally feel what it’s like to be in the position to be embarrassed in front of people. He knew Milan didn’t do too well with embarrassment and it was apart of his plan. Now nobody would want her because now it looked like she was a liar. Mitch didn’t think about it though. He was the one who was looking dumb. He was drunk, embarrassed his girlfriend, himself, and Milan. Everybody was confused and silent. Mitch knew he probably wouldn’t even remember this happening the next day and with all eyes on him, he was starting to feel stupid.

“You got a lot of fucking nerve trying to embarrass me! How dare you stand here and think you’re exposing me by telling everyone that we used to be married. Yeah, we got married and you were the one who made me sign the papers. Fuck you, Mitch. Don’t ever say anything else to me.” Before Milan could walk away Mitch had one last thing to say.

“You niggas really think Mimi would bring another nigga around? She, not even that type.” Mitch said with an attitude.

“Ahhh this mad.” Fee said laughing.

“I don’t know. My sister changed a lot. She might, why care anyway? Nigga you with Danielle.” Rodney sat down and gave Mitch a look.

“I ain’t with her. We just cool.”

“We can’t tell. Every time me and this nigga Dre try to link with you, you with her. It’s cool if you like shorty.”

“Deadass, it ain’t like that with her.”

“Alright. So if me and Rod hit you up later, you linking up?” Dre said that with a smirk on his face. Mitch got up and walked out of the room. He didn’t feel like hearing that. He knew it would continue to be jokes with Rodney and Dre. He was over it.

Time was going by and he hated that he was stringing someone else along. He was still dealing with Danielle of course but he didn’t want it to go any further. He was okay with them just chilling and having sex. He vowed to never get serious with anyone that wasn’t Milan. He was slowly slipping back into his old ways. The way he was when he was with Tierra. He had changed for Milan, but she wasn’t there anymore. He needed to get back to old Mitch. He was getting back to the streets, even with everything that happened. He was going back to his dog ways with women and he didn’t care. He just hoped Danielle would accept it and if she didn’t, oh well.

Danny: hey r u coming by later?

Mitch: Nah....got some shit to take care of.

Danny: but u promised. Danny: whatever.

Mitch: look imma see u tomorrow Mitch: I promise

Mitch didn’t want to respond. He didn’t have anything to take care of. He lied and was about to go see another girl. Mitch knew he would have to deal with the consequences later, but right now he didn’t care. He knew Danielle would stay around. She wanted to be official with him. She wanted to be in the position Milan was in and honestly he wasn’t trying to put any woman in that position.

MILAN

Three Weeks Later.

“Niggas real disrespectful. They don’t know if you mine or not.” Milan giggled as Amir became annoyed at the stares and guys trying to talk to her.

Milan decided to hang out with Amir before he went out town for the next two weeks. She was getting prepared for her version of Art Basel, but it was for local artists. Her first event was going to be in New York. She had to do it there and the second was going to be in Los Angeles. She had been sitting on this idea for months, but it was finally happening.

“You have to chill. Guys are going to look at me regardless.” She said chuckling.

“That’s cool and shit, but tryin’ to talk to you? That’s disrespectful and I ain’t lettin’ that shit ride.”

“Hmm, well I can understand that. Nobody knows if we’re together or not.” Amir grabbed Milan’s hand as they walked into the restaurant.

All eyes were on her it seemed. Milan knew she was pretty, but it was something about Amir as well. Since meeting him, she noticed when they walk into a room they both got stares. They looked nice together, but they weren’t a couple. Hell they weren’t really dating either. Well, at least they haven’t established anything. Milan didn’t want a relationship or anything, but she was enjoying Amir. He was nice to her, treated her like she was the only thing that mattered when they were together. Amir was everything a girl would want, but Milan couldn’t go down that road again. She needed to be single and continue finding herself and learn to love her more than she ever did.

“Amir?” Snapping out her thoughts, Milan watched as a young woman approached their table. She was tall, slim and her face was perfect. She was very beautiful and Milan was curious to know who she was.

“Oh what up, Robin.”

“I’ve been waiting on that date.” She glanced over at Milan and gave Amir a smirk. Amir could see Milan got uncomfortable for a moment.

“Aye, right now not a good time.” She looked at both Milan and Amir, then she walked away. Milan was annoyed. Not because he was possibly dealing with the girl, but the fact she was very rude.

Milan didn’t say much and she was happy that the waitress came over to the table and took their order. She knew she couldn’t stay silent. She just didn’t want to make things awkward because of what happened. She didn’t want him to feel weird because they weren’t together.

“Sorry about that. I can tell that shit irritated you. That’s just somebody I used to deal with. Nothin’ serious.”

“You have nothing to apologize about. We’re not together or anything. We’re friends, I was just annoyed at her. It was rude, but it’s whatever.” Milan said as she took a sip of her lemonade.

“Yeah.....that’s somethin’ I want to talk about. I know you mentioned you wasn’t ready for the relationship shit and I’m cool with that. Takin’ you out on dates, I don’t mind it but let me know what this is. I know what I want.” Milan already one what answer to give. She wanted to tell him what he wanted to hear, but she couldn’t lie to him.

“I’m going, to be honest, I like what we’re doing. I do and I like you but I don’t if I’m ready to be exclusive. I enjoy being with you, but I kind of want to see if this is what we really want.”

“I respect it. I told you what I wanted so you know where I stand with everything. I mean everything I say so don’t think I’m lyin’ or nothin’. Just let me know when you ready.” Milan was happy that was out of the way. They both agreed to keep taking things slow. Milan understood that Amir wouldn’t wait forever for her to make a decision. She just didn’t want to start off so soon with him like how she did Mitch. She saw where that got her and she didn’t want to go down that same road. Amir was patient and Milan liked that about him. Everything about him was what she wanted, she just needed some time.

****** Sitting on her bed, Milan got angry. Angry that Mitch still had power over her life. Every time she thought she wanted to move on with someone, she couldn’t. Too scared to move on, too scared to get hurt. Milan wanted to scream. She didn’t like feeling that way. She knew she didn’t want to start any relationship, but she felt like if she wanted to she couldn’t. She declined dating Amir and she felt bad because she knew he liked her. He told her he didn’t have an issue with her not wanting to date exclusively, but she knew that’s what he wanted. She couldn’t do it and was scared.

Milan knew she couldn’t dwell on it. She had to get ready for her event. If she continued to dwell, it would make her depressed. Dwelling on the past with Mitch wasn’t healthy. He wanted them to not be together and she went along with it. He wanted to be free of her and let her live her life and that’s what she would try to do but when? She didn’t know and she couldn’t think about that right now.

A Few Days Later........

New York. 7:00 pm

The space Milan was in; nobody could disturb it. The universe worked in her favor, even though her cards said otherwise. Death and sorrow were in her cards and to think about it, that played out as well. Not necessarily someone else dying, but a dead weight was lifted. She went from being dangerously in love to feeling hurt, and to wanting to be free. Now she was in a positive space and now everything was going right, for once.

No one told her love would hurt so bad, but it did. She hoped he felt everything she did, but that was the person she was months ago. The person she now hopes he “feels free” now, something he claimed he never been. He wanted to be free so bad, he didn’t realize it cost him everything he loved. When Milan was done, that’s what she was. Never looked back and honestly she couldn’t. If she did, it probably would ruin everything good happening to her. According to him, her loving him so hard was the reason she couldn’t move forward. When the whole time, it was really him not wanting to be the man she thought he would be.

“Mimi, you know it’s okay to breathe now.”

“Huh? What are you talking about, Camille?”

“Breath. Be free, the universe is giving you another chance to be great. You’re here, embrace this. This is your moment.” Milan knew exactly what she meant. Milan wanted to be free and she thought she was, but her energy was saying otherwise.

It was her very first art show and she could feel a strong presence there. Or maybe she was nervous and overthinking. Whatever she felt, it was strong. Strong like it was staring right at her. She didn’t have time to worry about that feeling, she just knew she had to focus on her baby; her art.

“I’m trying. I’ll be back Camille, I need to call my brother and see if he’s going to make it.” Making her way to the main entrance, she called her brother only for him to be behind her, calling her name.

“Mimi! I’m here!” Turning around with a smile on her face, she embraced her brother with a big hug.

“Rodney! You really came out here. Thank you, bro.”

“Of course I did. I couldn’t miss your big ass event. I’m proud of you, you really on your bullshit now.”

“I’m proud of you, too.” Her smile turned to a frown. Her heart started pounding. That presence was right in front of her. He was was really there. Now how was her brother going to explain this?

“Really? Why is he here?” Milan didn’t look at Mitch. The night before she got mad all over again about them and she didn’t know why. She was over him, but she wasn’t over the situation. She felt played and didn’t want it to happen again, hence why she had to tell Amir she wasn’t ready to be in another relationship.

Milan knew her past with Mitch would affect anything in her future. She had the power to control her own thoughts and actions, but what if Amir or any other guy would do her the same? She just wanted to be by herself, was it too much to ask? She didn’t want to have these feelings about her past situations anymore. That’s why she moved away in the first place.

“Man y’all need to talk. That’s why he came here.” Rodney left them and Milan stood there with disgust on her face.