Asha’s insistence on remaining ignorant landed her in a toxic relationship with her stalker ex, Rell. They had met in an Uber, he was her driver, and it started as a business relationship. He needed someone to finish building his website and she was willing to help so they exchanged info. Between his seemingly respectful concern for her traveling on public transportation at night, letting her sleep on the couch whenever their late night meetings would run too long ; and his insistence that she was ‘everything he’d been manifesting’ Asha was in too deep before she realized it was a tar pit.It didn’t help that her 1 year survival anniversary since her attempted suicide coincided with the new year and 2 weeks after they’d officially agreed to be a couple. Having someone to hold her through the sounds of fireworks and gunshots going on outside and the atomic bomb of emotion happening inside was too alluring for her to want to give up the feeling. It was the first and only time Rell had m
Rell was too caught up in himself and his plans for their future to really notice or care about the increase in sleep deprivation she’d been experiencing. His aloofness to the trauma and pain she was working through really reached its peak when he found her in the kitchen crying as she prepared their dinner. He hadn’t even addressed her emotional breakdown, just asked if dinner would be done before 9 this time, a question he loved asking despite never offering to help. Eventually she had to admit that Rell just liked the idea of what parts of his ideal woman Asha fit and the longer they stayed a couple, the more apparent it became that she would never truly live up to the task of being her, his ideal woman. She tried though, damn did she really try. Seven months of consistently and excessively drinking despite being a super lightweight social drinker, using more grabba leaf in her joints than ever before, anything to numb her from the fact that she’d chosen to remain in a romantic pr
She’d finally gotten the call of a lifetime, being asked to do the post editing special effects for an industry friend’s low budget sci-fi short film as well as creating a graphics heavy interactive website. Not only was she going to help bring the project to its finished product to be seen by who knows who, but she would be solely responsible for the creation of the project’s potentially biggest marketing tool. Asha was over the moon, the pay wasn’t great now, but it was an opportunity to actively be working and living in her dreams. She could add it to her resume and use the experience as fuel to keep going after what she wanted. Rather than working unfulfilled, she was passionately playing in her purpose alongside friends and by doing so she was helping make their dreams come true in return. A yin and Yang she relished in daily.Imagine her surprise when all her man had to say was along the lines of unconstructive and even as far as destructive criticism. Despite not having a probl
It wasn’t enough though and there was only one person who could and would stop Rell and any other person trying to harm his angel. Young. While on planet Earth as a human, he’d been her protector from the day they met, though she hardly welcomed his methods of protection. Although kids liked to bully her, Asha had no problem fighting her own battles and preferred to. He’d come to know that she’d rather the shame of being beat up than someone coming to her rescue and beating up her bullies. She always made her assailant work for their win too. It didn’t stop him from threatening to or actually beating up a few of the kids he’d heard about, especially if it was a boy. She’d always beat his arm black and blue in return, but he could never bring himself to stop trying to be her knight in muted armor. Her moms always made her bring extra food to his house and it was almost always the only home cooked meals he ever got growing up. His mom and older brother’s habits didn’t leave too much r
It was the middle of their junior year in high school and he’d had to threaten away any little knuckleheads looking to take the newly bloomed Asha out on a date. The summer prior, puberty had been kind to her and the first semester of school was a culture shock of all her previous bullies now trying to be her friend and it wasn’t just cause Young was her best friend like usual. Her acne had vanished, she grew into her body with her previously known baby phat accentuating the womanly curves growing in, and after a summer spent with cousins her usually unkempt curls had a new style every week. Young hated the new attention she was getting, but she barely blinked at the change in everyone’s behavior. She was still the same Asha, the only thing that was different was how she looked and it wasn’t drastic, so even though their peers changed the way they were treating her, Asha treated them the same as always. That didn’t stop Young from panicking, suddenly face-to-face with the fact that t
They did indeed have the fairytale prom night Asha had always dreamed of and more. Young ended the night at their favorite diner by their complex, their favorite milkshake between them to share. He couldn’t help but stutter over his words as he watched her sip and look up at him with those big brown eyes that melted him faster than an ice cream cone in July. His heart nearly jumped onto the table when he finally asked her to be his girl and it definitely jumped back in when she squeaked out ‘yes’. Not much had changed about their interactions besides the type and frequency of pda. His vigilance for her safety however, multiplied a thousand fold when they changed the nature of their relationship. Young had always been her number one protector but he became overbearing at times after they’d made themselves a couple. She always forgave his overprotective acts, writing them off as him struggling to maintain his usual filter of how he protected her, but as they moved through their senior
She was led into a spacious hotel room laden with rose petals from the front door to the king bed and into the luxury bathroom that had a fresh bath hot and ready for the couple. Asha turned to him to ask how he made all of this happen while they were at the prom, but was hushed by the deep kiss he laid on her.“I always knew you were the one I wanted to have this moment with and I’m so glad I never gave it to anyone else.” Young had told her when he pulled away to watch Asha search out more kisses with her eyes closed. It had become a favorite pastime of his, drawing her into the weightless pleasure their kisses always created and pulling away to watch her swim in it a little longer than he did. The face she made as she searched out his lips again was priceless, no other girl had ever brought such contentment before Asha and Young had a feeling that would remain long after she left him.She knew he wasn’t buttering her up because that nervous stutter he had whenever he had to talk ou
Asha didn’t see or hear from Young for an entire week after that and while she was worrying, blowing up his phone, and stalking his apartment, she increasingly went from distressed to infuriated. Never had he ever behaved this way and after he rushed the end of their fairytale weekend to run after his brother, she was left to panic about what it meant. What could’ve possibly happened that Young would go to his brother for help?When Young did finally grace the halls of their high school again, he avoided her best he could the whole day, but Asha cornered him before he could get in his car and escape back to whatever hole he crawled out of.“Where the hell have you been?” Asha screamed at Young as she punched his arm repeatedly. She stopped when he turned to her with this haunted gaunt look in his eyes.Asha’s voice got quiet as she palmed his face and took a good look at him, “Baby? What happened?”Young damn near collapsed into her arms, wrapping his entire body around her and tuckin