It has been a month since her mother’s scare and blessedly it was becoming a faded memory. After that week, Abioye didn’t show up as often as he did, instead resorting back to their Saturday meeting. Maliah found that she was glad to get back to normal though she was oddly grateful that Abioye had stuck around as long as he did.

However this Tuesday night had her walking into her apartment in a daze of another kind. It was a normal day at the office like any other had been for the past year, yet today was totally different. Today a coworker asked her out. She had known him since she had been working at the office for 3 years, yet today was the first time that she got an inclination that he liked her that way.

Even as Maliah ate, bathed and did her nightly routine that Tuesday only to end up sitting on her yoga mate, she was still in a daze. A few downward facing dogs did not give her a new perspective that some people claimed it did.

After the shock of being asked out on a date wore off, uncertainty began to creep in. Had this been a year prior, she would have long since gotten over her shock, deciding to go out on the date. Although she wasn’t much for office romances she would be remiss if she didn’t admit that she hadn’t developed a bit of a crush on the man.

But now, she found herself in a dilemma that she had never thought she would have. Was it okay to go out on a date knowing that Abioye was in the background? It wasn’t cheating though. It wasn’t like having an extra one on the side, right? She didn’t even like Abioye like that. He had become an impossibility on her life, but they seem to have managed to make it work.

Maliah honestly didn’t know that this should be a problem. It wasn’t like it wouldn’t have come up but now that it did, she wasn’t sure what to do.

And then her imagination went into overdrive.

Say she got married one day, she would still have to do a bonding with Abioye on Saturdays. How would she handle that? Wouldn’t her future husband begin to get suspicious at some point? Even if she introduced Abioye as a friend, well, that presented two problems:

Abioye didn’t age. (he was millenna year old, she thought, and he looked no older than mid 30’s) so when she was 50-60 years old how did she justify knowing Abioye?

Even if point 1 passed, wouldn’t her future husband think something was off after a time?

Maliah growled and ran her hand through her hair messing up her perm as she flopped down to the side on the floor. How did she wind up with these problems? What was supposed to be a good thing, her first date, was leaving her feeling very confused!

What should she doooooo?

The only thing she could think was to ask Abioye, as embarrassing as it sounds. He was the only one that was equipped to help her.

She thought.

Maliah wasn’t sure. Human problems weren’t really Abioye’s forte and he really didn’t care much about them but what other choice did she have? She sat up and smoothed her perm before slipping on a shirt over her sports bra.

Abioye didn’t have a phone and Maliah never had to contact him before Saturday. On the day in question he just appeared to her at the required time. Could she even contact him? Maliah chewed on her lips a moment before crossing her legs and closing her eyes. She remembered when she intervertantly was screaming her thoughts in his head. Maybe she could do it consciously?

Maliah thought she would see if it would work as she breathed and meditated on Abioye. Which in all honestly ended up being her repeating his name in her head.

Abioye. Abioye. Can you hear me? I need to talk to you. Can you come here? Abioye.

After about five minutes she gave a sigh and opened her eyes.

Maybe out loud then?

So then Maliah kept calling Abioye over and over again, “Abioye. Abioye. Can you hear me? I need to talk to you. Can you come here? Abioye. Hellllo? Can you hear me? Is this thing on?”

“EHH!!!” came an almost screech that had her jumping up and almost running around in circles until she saw Abioye standing on her mat inside glaring at her from the door.

She grabbed her heart, “That took off some years”, she murmured.

“Can you be quiet?” Abioye growled.

Maliah brinkley finally registered that he was here, “It worked?”

“Yes, I can hear you. You don’t have to scream in my ear!”

“I wasn’t screaming. I was trying my head for five minutes but it didn’t work so I tried out loud.”

“I know I heard.”

Maliah wrinkled her nose, “Then why didn’t you come the first time I called?”

Abioye stared back at her from under his eyes, “I was trying to ignore it…..”

There as a pause before Maliah’s right eye twitched, “Then you could have been here 3 minutes ago?”

Abioye growled, “I’m here now. What do you want?”

“I need to talk to you”, Maliah mumbled as she walked over to the couch and sat down. Abioye kicked off his shoes and stalked over before plopping down next to her.

“It’s not even Saturday”, he muttered.

“I know what day it is but like I said I need to talk to you.”

Abioye looked at her, “Alright, what is it?”

Suddenly Maliah began to fidget. Now that Abioye was here she wasn't sure what to say. But Abioye’s dark glare finally made her burst out, “I have a date!”

Abioye blinked. And then blinked again, “I’m happy for you? What do you want, congratulations? More to the point why are you telling me this?”

Maliah shot up from her seat suddenly regretting this idea, “I’m sorry I told you.”

Abiye shrugged and stood up. He had only taken a few steps towards the door before Maliah turned around, “I just wasn’t sure. I mean, it’s a date and I want to go.”

“Then go”, Abioye said without turning around.

“But it’s on Saturday…...”

Abioye turned around and glared at her, “Of all the days? Can’t you change it to Sunday?”

Maliah clapped her hands, “That’s my point. Say he’s available on Sunday, great fine. But at some point, someone is going to want to do something on Saturday and that will be the only day available. Then what if I get married one day and you’re around. Wouldn't that look bad no matter how you look at it to my future husband? It's like you are a secret I’d have to keep. It’s like cheating.”

Abioye just stared at Maliah as she got more and more riled up.

Maliah continued, “This date isn’t it like cheating. I mean, would you be a side piece in this scenario?”

She winced. Why did this seem to get more wrong as she talked?

Abioye finally grunted and crossed his arms, “We don’t have relations, Maliah.”

“I know that! You know that!” Maliah waved her arms around, “Everyone else doesn’t know that!”

The Death Prince forked an eyebrow, “Are you being a bit melodramatic?”

“It’s called forethinking, you oughta try it sometime.” shot Maliah back before continuing, “And I’m not being melodramatic. I’m trying to solve problems that have a high chance of being created.”

Abioye waved one hand elegantly, dismissively, “That’s your personal life. You forget. I don’t deal with your personal life.”

“I’m not asking you too.”

“Then what do you want me to do? This seems like a problem you have to figure out.”

Maliah growled to herself and began to wonder if she was making this more than what it should be? But she was convinced that her arguments had merit. It could be a problem one day. No matter how she thought, he was a secret she had to keep. The question was for how long? She didn't have a boyfriend right now. She didn’t even have friends. Thankfully she lived away from her parents so she didn’t have to hide it from them. But what about going forward? She was not crazy to think about this.

The question was, why couldn't she shake the feeling that it was akin to cheating to go out with her co-work Stephan, knowing that Abioye was a secret in her life? And then on Saturday? How would she pull that off? She didn't want Abioye trailing her date and she certainly knew that Abioye would flip if she suggested so.

Maliah was trying to keep her patience that was slowly wearing thin as she exhaled, “That’s exactly what I’m trying to do, figure out how this works!”

Abioye gave her a hooded look, “It works the same way that it’s been working. I show up every Saturday and nurse your spirit. If you want to mess with that, fine, then you will pay the price. You are the one that will fade, ceasing to exist, not me.”

Maliah saw that he was looking at her as if she was no more than an insect. Was this really that bad? Here she was trying to make the best out of a situation and he had a devil-may-care attitude about it. It had been almost a year now since she had died and met Abioye.

Was she stupid? She had thought when her mother was in trouble that they may have finally begun to have a repore. She noticed he seemed a bit mellower since then. She thought they had finally reached a meeting of the minds long ago that he would tag along if she had to go out on Saturdays and not try to keep her at home. In which case so far, she has tried to keep Saturday free which wasn’t very hard because she didn’t like going out if there wasn't something interesting she felt she needed to do. And yet, when she needed some advice about something that no one else could help her with, this was how she was treated. Almost with disdain.

The longer she stared at him gaping the more Maliah felt herself snapping until finally:

“Do you hate me that much?” she whispered.

Abioye just stared at her not moving a muscle.

“I know you hate humans, Abioye. I can understand that. But it wasn't me. I wasn’t there for whatever humans did to your mother…..”

Abioye twitched, “Woman….”

Maliah continued quickly, bringing her hand to her chest, “I’m talking about me. Do you hate me? Not human or whatever. Me, me? Am I that much of a problem to you? I know you treat me with cold disdain most of the time and I’m okay with that because neither of us wanted this. But I’m trying my hardest to make this as pleasant as I can for both of us but that's not good enough is it? Now I have a problem that only you can help me with and you just like whatever…..”

Abioye eyebrows furrowed. He couldn't understand why Maliah was having a problem with this. What were they even talking about? What difference did it make if she went on a date? If she wanted to go with some mortal man, that was her problem. Why were they having this argument to begin with?

He breathed, “Again what do you want me to do? Trail you on your date? You wouldn’t even like that.”

“Forget the date for a moment!” Maliah almost yelled, “I’m talking about us! Is my presence that shameful?”

Abioye raised an eyebrow, “You sound like you’ve warmed to the idea of being a Death Prince’s mate.”

“What does that have to do with anything? I thought that was a done deal! Forget the mate thing! You don’t think we can co-exist. Be friends if nothing else? You hate me that much?”

Abioye snorted, “Friends? Me with a human?”

“Do you have any other friends?”

“What do I need with them? I’m a busy person.”

“Abioye you are avoiding the question…” growled Maliah.

“Yes, I hate you.”

Although Maliah half expected the answer, the quiet voice was still like a slap in the face. Maliah’s mouth clacked closed as Abioye continued.

“I hate humans and I hate you. I hate that we are bound together like this. I hate that Baba sought to make this contract. I hate that I have to waste my time coming to you.” He lifted his chin, “But then again, none of this is new to you so what difference does it make?”

He was right.

Maliah knew that.

Yet still, she blinked hard at the tears that welled up in her eyes. It was different hearing it so directly. It seemed far more personal than she ever felt it to be.

Maliah turned away waving at him, “Fine! Whatever! Just go then! I’m sick and tired of having to deal with you when you aren’t even making an effort.”

It was silent for a long awhile and eventually Maliah turned to peek to see if he was gone.

He was, even his shoes.

Maliah wiped at the stubborn tear that fell down her cheek. There was no reason to feel this way.

Like he said, what else was new?