Right to Remain Silent

“Thank you, so much Trina. I will.” I replied. “You and Randall both have been so gracious to me. None of this would even been possible without you guys. How will I ever repay you for your generosity?” I wasn’t really expecting her to answer that question. I just wanted her to know how appreciative I was. “Well you can start by gettin rid of that no good boyfriend of yours.” replied Trina. “Open your eyes Miya. Allow yourself to see the real men in this world like Fredrick Styles” she said. “Girl you know you got it goin on. You're smart, you’re beautiful, you’re successful and you have a bright future ahead of yourself. Sweetie, I just don’t want to see you end up losing everything you’ve worked so hard for by being involved with someone like Jamar.” Oh hell, I thought. Hear we go again with the Jamar bashing conversation. This conversation was really starting to get old and I was getting sick of it. Why couldn’t Trina and everyone else just let it go? Why couldn't they just accept the fact that I loved Jamar and nothing they said was gonna change that? Here she was, so concerned about me and my bright future, but she knew nothing about the darkness of my past. “I know you don’t want to hear this Miya.” Trina continued. She was absolutely right. I didn’t want to hear it but that never stopped her before, so why should today be any different? “Hear me out” she said. “Nothing good will come out of your relationship with Jamar. If he loves you the way you think he does, he’d be here by your side to support you as you work toward fulfilling your dreams. But instead, he's sitting in jail running up your phone bill with collect calls, while you sit here believing all his “I promise I’m gonna change” jail talk. Girlfriend, that man has you so strung, you don’t even realize he’s playin you.” I knew Trina meant well but where did she get off telling me who I was and was NOT supposed to love? And how could she even suggest that I was gettin played? Part of me wanted to tell her to mind her own damn business and stay outta mine. But I didn’t. I respected Trina not only as my boss and my friend, I also respected her as a mother figure in my life. As usual, I bit my tongue. Instead of going off on her like I wanted to, I decided to change the subject of our conversation as if I hadn’t heard a word she’d said.