It was hard not to feel free of tension in the building. The sound of the crowd was making my knees weak. I was short of words as I began making my way behind the curtains. It was just me and myself against that vicious crowd, with Helen of course. “Welcome to the stage, Tamika Fisher…”That was my cue to get going. I had never calculated my steps as much as I had done at that point. There were just too many on me for me to do anything wrong at that point. There was loud applause and cheers. But for some reason, my ears were sharp enough to catch the slight boos in the background. Amid my avid supporters, there were always bound to be haters. I was sure enough to smile for the cameras and to wave at the people cheering me on. There were a lot of goosebumps popping up on my skin. I felt like I was living the most memorable moment of my life. “Welcome, Tamika…” Helen said with all formality, as we had never spoken to each other in our lives. I was trying my best to play along, but t
“Well… about my ex…” I said as I had never had to think through my words so carefully in such little time. “Things happened so suddenly and I realized that with all my years of experience in relationships, I still had a lot to learn.”Laughter erupted in the hall and that made me feel like getting a clip of the whole interview and playing it over every single morning. The people looked like they were having the time of their lives.I could only imagine just how good a laugh Dolph was shaving back there in the back. He was probably proud of the fact that I was giving them a good show while I was clearing my name. Helen cleared her throat, signaling that it was time to get serious again. “You were quite a mess after the phone call that ruined your whole career if not your life…”“Well, it ruined my career but not my life. And I think we should never give anyone the power to ruin our lives. That's just too much power for just one person.” I said, giving them all a dose of my therapy ses
“And that's a wrap, guys…” Helen said to the camera with an excited smile as she brought the show to an end. “Thank you, Tamika, for being part of the show. It was such an honor having you here.”We hugged each other and that gave her the chance to whisper something into my ears.“And I mean it…” she whispered as she was about to let go of me while she was about to let go of me. “You killed it.”After I had cleared the air about everything that had been happening so far, there was nothing left to look forward to besides my normal life as Tamika Fisher. I couldn't wait to step out of there and meet up with Dolph who had probably been waiting for me ever since. After shaking hands with all the people I was supposed to, I was well on my way to the backstage section where Dolph had been waiting with his mother. “Tamika…” time seemed like it had paused dramatically at the point he had called out my name. Dolph's arms were wide open for me to come fit myself into them. “You did amazing…”
“Surprise…!” all of the maids and butlers shouted out to me with an excitement that nearly had me jumping out of my skin. There was just too much on my mind as I was trying to keep myself from falling backward.“What's going on?” I asked as I had almost lost my breath from the sudden rush of excitement that had been so intense to the point that I was scared. “I asked for a little house party to be thrown for you…” Dolph said from behind as he was looking the most excited I had ever seen him in a while. “You deserve it, Tamika…”Oh yes, I did. I had gone against unimaginable odds that had me wondering how exactly I had made it through. Everything seemed to have been against me until the moment when I heard the crowds cheer for me.But then, all of that was over and I was about to enter a long time of activity as I was trying to resuscitate my career once again. “Julia and Michael will be over here to celebrate with us at any time from now. I wanted us to celebrate specially and there
“Tamika Fisher is back in business baby…” Julia let out as we all raised a toast with our glasses of red wine clinking together.I just couldn't get enough of that moment as we all seemed to be in peace and with no need to pursue anything, at least for the time being. I was just wishing that moment would last for a while before something else would pop up. “You were stunning in the show, Tamika. Many people say you changed, some said you learned tire lesson…” Julia teased as laughter followed from all four of us seated there. “They can assume whichever one they please…” I said as I just didn't have the mental fortitude to think about what people were going to say to me. I had made me return perfectly and nothing was going to change it no matter what.“So… did you both bring any food along with you on your way here…?” I asked, staring at their confusion. “Are you kidding me?”“Well, the thing is…” Julia said as she had suddenly become the spokesman for the couple. “We were thinking
“All right, the moment of truth is finally here for everyone…” Julia hit me with a suspicious glance as it was time for the dishes to be tasted. “Too bad we don't have any external judges to judge on our behalf. Some people might choose to rate their basic dishes ten out of ten.” I let out, looking at her in the same way she looked at me. “And just for the record, we are the winning couple…”“Enough of that, please… you could have possibly made trash while speeding up…” Julia teased back. “This… doesn't look like trash…” I said pointing at our seafood pasta which had my mouth watering already. “Ladies… calm down. I can make provisions for external judges who would come and settle these scores for good…” Dolph was suddenly speaking up at the last time I had expected him to. “And who are the judges you would be using for this?” I asked, wondering if Dolph was going to pay the best culinary wizards in town to come be the judges. He was rich and he could do almost anything. “They're
“All right, Julia… it was awesome having you guys over. You made my day even more thrilling…” I said as I embraced her dearly.“Of course we did. And I hope there are no grudges withheld for your loss at the cooking contest.” Julia wasn't going to stop talking about that for a while. “It doesn't mean you guys are not a real couple, all right?”“Stop saying that…” I said with a smile as I was trying not to let it get to me. Deep down, I knew that the status of the relationship between me and Dolph was still in question. There were connections, but it felt like they were being inhibited by the contract attached to it. “The week begins tomorrow, and there are a lot of shows and podcasts waiting for you to accept their offers for you to be in them. We'll begin with full force tomorrow, and I hope you'll be ready to bring the heat.” Julia said with enthusiasm. “I'm glad that we're back in business. Good thing you didn't do anything stupid when that bastard, Randy tried to do you over.”“Y
“I think I'm in love with you, Tamika…”Those words kept echoing in my head for the next couple of moments, along with the sigh he had let out after saying them. The sigh seemed to be a sign that he had to swallow a great deal of pride before being able to say those words to me. But either way, I was reeling as I realized that all of my suspicions had been right all that time. There were a lot of things that had me feeling like I was just being lured into bed again, as that moment was just too good to be true. “But their contact forbids anything like this from happening between us… how could you suddenly start having feelings for me? Besides you were the one that made the contract… you can't possibly be the first one to break it.” I hoped I wasn't going to scare him away with that, as his pride would seem to be a big obstacle to him expressing himself. “You don't understand, Tamika…” he sighed tiredly as he seemed like he was fighting for his life by merely standing there and havin