Trill-Land, Jungle Estate
When we reached the other side of the mansion, I started to realize real quick that this wasn’t just some room Renza stayed in whenever he came over.
The deeper we walked into his space, the more it felt like I had stepped into a whole different part of the house that was set up just for him, and it made me slow down a little without even meanin’ to.
His side was quiet, clean, and put together in a way that didn’t feel temporary at all. There was a whole livin’ area set up before you even got to his room, with furniture that actually looked lived in instead of just bein’ there for show, and a small kitchen off to the side. Everything matched, everything was in itsplace, and it felt comfortable in a way that made it clear he spent real time here.
By the time we got to his room, I was already seein’ why he wasn’t in a rush to get his own house the way I had been thinkin’. His room alone was big enough to be somebody’s whole apartment, with a king-sized bed sittin’ in the center dressed in black sheets that made the whole space feel even more put together. The bathroom was off to the side, wide open with a glass shower, and I caught a glimpse of his closet that looked deeper than most people’s bedrooms.
Renza didn’t say anything about none of it. He just moved through his space like it was normal, like this was just how he lived, and I followed him, takin’ it all in whether I wanted to or not.
He reached back and grabbed my hand, pullin’ me toward the bed.
I sat down, lettin’ my body sink into the mattress, and before I could even say anything, he bent down and slid my slides off my feet like he had done a thousand times before.
“Relax,” he said, settin’ them to the side before his hands wrapped around my foot.
His thumbs pressed into my arch slow, workin’ his way up and down like he already knew what he was doin’, and I let out a light breath because it felt good.
He looked up at me for a second with a smile sittin’ on his face. “See… this what you need right here.”
I leaned back on my hands a little, lettin’ him work, but my mind was still sittin’ back at that table whether I wanted it to be or not.
After a minute, I spoke. “I don’t think they like me.”
Renza didn’t answer right away. He just kept rubbin’ my foot, his thumbs pressin’ a little deeper like he was focusin’ on thatinstead of what I just said, and I could hear that light sigh leave him even though he tried to keep it low.
“I’m serious,” I went on, watchin’ him. “Soon as I asked Pluto what she do for a livin’, her and Toni got up and walked off.”
He still didn’t rush to speak. He just switched to my other foot, liftin’ it into his lap and startin’ all over again like he was givin’ himself a second before sayin’ anything.
“And then she asked me how long we been together,” I added. “Like she don’t know, or like you never ever mentioned me before.”
That made him look up at me, and the way his eyes met mine told me everything before he even said a word. There wasn’t any irritation there, and he didn’t look mad at me, but I could see him holdin’ himself back from reactin’ the way he probably wanted to.
It was a controlled kind of patience where somebody is choosin’ not to snap or say the first thing on their mind. I could tell he was tryin’ to keep things from goin’ left, even though I had already pushed us close to that line.
He stayed right there, lookin’ at me, and even without him sayin’ anything yet, I could feel that shift in the moment. Shit wasn’t light no more, and it wasn’t somethin’ he was about to joke his way out of.
“It ain’t like that,” he said finally.
I tilted my head. “Then what it is?”
He shook his head a little, lettin’ out a breath before lookin’ back down at my foot. “You don’t really be sayin’ much when you around them, baby. That’s all.”
I frowned. “So?”
“So, if you don’t say nothin’, they gon’ go off what they see,” he replied. “You gotta chime in, baby. Talk… joke and throw jabs back. They loud as hell, that’s just how we is, but if you open up, they gon’ open up to you.”
I ran my fingers through my hair, lettin’ out a small sigh as I leaned back a little more.
“I don’t know…” I muttered.
For a second, neither of us said anything, and I could feel him tryin’ to keep the mood from shiftin’ too hard. But it was already there.
“What she text you?” I asked, lookin’ down at him again.
That made him pause. His hands didn’t stop, but his expression changed just a little, and I knew he didn’t like that question.
