Page 76 of You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty

Chapter Twenty-Two

The finished painting was a glorious thing. Feyi always liked her work, but this was different, this had a precise weight to it. Pooja had insisted that Feyi not worry about packing or transport, she’d come up the mountain and have her people handle it.

“It gives me an excuse to share a meal with Alim,” she’d said. “The man is impossible to pin down.” Pooja had flicked her eyes up to Feyi as she said that, and she knew she was dying to ask about the rumors, but Feyi just smiled pleasantly back at her and said nothing, so Pooja shrugged and grinned and let it go. She was coming to pick it up the next afternoon, and Feyi was overwhelmed with the endorphin rush she got every time she finished a piece.

Her phone started ringing, and Feyi did a double take when she saw Milan’s name on the screen. She picked up the call and said a tentative hello.

“Yo. It’s Milan.”

It still didn’t make any sense. “You know you on an international call, right?”

“Girl, I know where you are.” His voice sounded exactly the same, down to the note of exasperation, and Feyi hid a smile.

“Just making sure. What’s up?”

“Aight, so I just spoke to Nasir, and he caught me up on all the shit that’s been going down over there.”

Feyi sighed. “Bruh, if you’re about to go in on me, don’t even start. I’ve had enough of that shit from him, I don’t need it from you, too.”

“Nah, nah. That’s not why I’m calling. I just wanted to say, do what you gotta do, Feyi.”

“What?”

“I mean it. Do what you gotta do to be happy. This world is literally on fucking fire right now. I didn’t know about your husband dying in that accident and all that, but it makes sense. You had something that was hurting real bad inside you. I could feel it.”

Feyi cradled the phone in her shoulder and walked to the studio window, staring out at the trees. “This is … not what I expected you to say.”

“Yeah, well. Nasir’s my boy and all, but he’s had a good life. He doesn’t know about the shit that cuts you up deep inside, you know? He doesn’t know what that’s like.”

Feyi was quiet, not knowing what to say, what to ask. Defending Nasir or bringing up his mother’s death didn’t feel quite right, especially if he hadn’t talked to Milan about it, so she said nothing.

Milan continued. “I felt you watching, you know. All those nights when you thought I thought you were asleep. I felt you watching me, but you never asked me about it.”

She cleared her throat, nervous. “Nah, I didn’t. Was that an asshole move?”

“Nah. It was perfect. I didn’t wanna talk about my shit, and you didn’t wanna talk about yours, but I dunno. I think we recognized something in each other anyway, you know?”

Feyi slid her back down the wall and wrapped an arm around her knees. “You were hurting, too.”

“Yeah. Lost one of my kids from group a while back. That shit stays with you, takes up a whole lotta space.”

“Yeah. I know the feeling.” There was a pause where it was just both of them on each end of the line, then Feyi filled the silence. “So you basically called to give me your blessing, is that it?”

Milan laughed. “I just wanted to make sure you were looking out for you. Nasir will be fine. He’s got his boys, and yeah this shit is messy, but it’s not like his dad stole his girl or some shit, you feel me?”

Feyi scoffed. “Yeah, well, I’m sure that’s not the way he’s telling the story.”

“Eh. He’s hurting. We know how that shit goes. It’ll pass with time. Just don’t throw away your life to make him feel better, you know? Me and the guys will look out for him. You look out for you.”

Feyi felt tears well up. “You’re being kind as hell.”

“We friends, ain’t we?”

“Shit, I thought you were just saying that.”

“Well, I meant it.”

She sniffled. “The guys are talking mad shit about me, aren’t they?”