CHAPTER 1 TAMIKA's POV

My heart skipped, as my phone buzzed in my pocket. I had been startled greatly, as the sound resonated through the microphone. The eyes of the broadcast crew were all on me, with a look worth a thousand questions.

It had been yet another wonderful broadcast until that call came.

“So in essence, women are the prize to be won, and will always remain the prize in the relationship,” I had been proudly asserting into the microphone in front of me, how I thought women were more important in a relationship 

The fact that I knew that were millions of people listening to every single word I shot out of my mouth, gave me a feeling unimaginable and unexplainable.

“Wow… that's quite an audacious thing to say, if you ask me,” Janice, the host, was still teetering from my previous statement.

“Audacious, yeah, but that's the truth,” I asserted. “If your man is not, head-over-heels crazy over you, you are bound to be in one of the most miserable relationships ever.”

“Hmm…” Janice hummed with a slight nod. “Well, I can't wait to see what our listeners will have to say about this.”

“I know countless people will call me a manipulative narcissist for this, but it remains the truth no matter what.” I was silently enjoying every single second of the moment. 

There was something about those ‘wow’ moments that caused stirs online, that I couldn't get enough of. My instincts sparked up just when such moments were about to happen. 

“But the guy... isn't he supposed to have a life too? A life that's for himself and not just about his girl?” Maye, the talkative co-host asked, staring at me with her judging eyes. 

“He can't have a life without you in it,” I replied cockily, not changing my stance. “If he has a life besides you, then your relationship is at stake…”

“But that's simply blind obsession…” Janice retorted.

“But that's the kind of love that you need, to keep your man,” I replied with a smile, which I was sure they found annoying. “You have to be on his mind every minute of the day.”

“Even when he's pursuing a thousand and one ambitions?” Maye asked, with a raised eyebrow. 

“You should be one of his biggest motivations to get better at everything he does. While he's working, while he's working out, while he's staying healthy, while he's doing everything that men do, you should always have a—” 

That was when the phone buzzed.

I got that they hated me already, but then the arrogance of carrying my phone into the booth would make them hate me even more. 

But I couldn't care less. They were the ones that needed me and not the other way around. At the height of my arrogance, I took out my phone to see who it could have been. 

“See…” I was filled with a warm feeling, as I noted that it was Randy, my boyfriend, calling me. “Your man had to obsess over you, and that's what makes you a woman. You need to learn how to do that…”

“Don't pick up the call…” Janice whispered to me, but I wasn't paying attention, as I was bent on proving what I had been saying for the past couple of moments. 

“Hello, Randy,” I said, putting the phone up to my ears. “Don't tell me that you missed me that much that you had to call while I'm on a—”

“Tamika… I need to tell you something,” Randy cut in, sounding as though he were under several tons of pressure. “I just can't hide it anymore.”

“Oh… okay,” I said, taking a glance at the angry faces of the crew members starting at me. “Go on.” My heart was brimming with anticipation, as I expected him to say something sweet to prove all my words right. 

“The thing is that, Tamika,” his struggle to speak had me a bit worried. “I can't go on with this.”

“Go on with what?” I asked, my heart was now racing frightfully. Why the heck was Randy suddenly sounding so strange?

“With ‘us’…” he stuttered. “I just can't put up with you, anymore.”

My phone was about to slip off my hands. “What?”

“You claim to be a relationship professional, but you still couldn't read all the signs?” his tone suddenly went from calm and persuasive to angry and persuasive. “Well, don't come along long for me. It's over.”

“But Randy—” he hung up before I could get a word out in my defense. My body suddenly grew cold, as my palms became sweaty.

The whole broadcast crew had their jaws dropping to the floor, as they watched me battling to hold my phone in my shaking hand.

Had Randy been trying to prank me or what? I couldn't keep the tears from flowing out of my eyes. Not only had my heart been broken, I had been disgraced and embarrassed in front of the whole world. 

“I apologize to our listeners…” Janice stuttered into the microphone, as she tried to bring the show to an urgent close. “We'll be back shortly…”

With that, I stormed out of the booth in tears, as my career had taken the biggest hit it was ever going to take. Why on earth had I to take my phone with me? Even worse, why had I answered that call?

I made for the bathroom and locked the door behind me. The building was filled with the sound of loud chatters and murmurs about what just happened. 

Tamika Fisher's career had just been ended most unimaginably. Who would believe anything I had to say if I couldn't keep my relationship in order?

“Pick up… please…” I whispered, in hot tears, as I dialed Randy's number. But he kept ignoring it. I was shaking all over, as the thing that I had feared the most was happening to me.

“You can't do this to me, Randy…” I wanted to believe that it was all some prank and that he would call back to apologize. 

Maybe… but then, my reputation had been wrecked beyond repair. Several calls and texts of withdrawal began coming from my sponsors. It was all crashing too fast for me to keep up. 

Suddenly, a text came in from Randy. I opened expectantly, but then the words had my knees weakening rapidly. Soon enough, my legs were too shaky to keep my body standing.

I fell to the floor and felt myself fading, as I wondered, how could a man so loving, suddenly turn to become so heartless? What had I done?