Page 164 of Certified To Handle You 2

Kay’Lo’s face changed ‘cause he already knew I was gon’ try to explain it away. “I heard ‘Nelle talkin’ to Toni myself. She showed Toni the ring.”

I shook my head. “That still don’t mean shit. Women play with that marriage shit all the time.”

Kay’Lo stared at me like he ain’t know what to say next. Then he sighed and looked down at the phone in his hand.

“I went to her page after I heard it,” he admitted. “Somebody tagged ‘Nelle in a video, and the tagged video show on her profile.”

My stomach started hurtin’ before he even showed me anything, but my pride kept me standin’ here like it was impossible.

“You saw the nigga propose?” I asked.

Kay’Lo nodded slowly. “Yeah.”

“And she said yes?”

He stayed quiet for half a second too long.

I stepped closer. “She said yes?”

“Yeah,” Kay’Lo answered.

The room felt different after that. Not ‘cause anything around me changed, but ‘cause every plan I had been makin’ suddenly looked stupid.

I stared at Kay’Lo and could tell he ain’t wanna pull his phone out.

“Let me see it,” I told him.

Kay’Lo shook his head. “Renza, you don’t need to see that shit.”

“Nigga, let me see.”

“I’m tellin’ you what happened. That should be enough.”

“I don’t give a fuck what you think enough is,” I snapped. “Show me.”

Kay’Lo rubbed his hand down his face and looked toward the window. “Cuz, I ain’t tryna put that in front of you.”

“You already told me. Now show me the shit.”

He knew me well enough to understand I wasn’t lettin’ it go. After another second, he pulled his phone from his back pocket, opened the app and moved through Sha’Nelle’s profile until he found the video.

Kay’Lo held the phone out but kept his eyes on my face. “You sure?”

“Play it.”

The video started with Sha’Nelle standin’ in the middle of some open field surrounded by a bunch of country lookin’ ass Black people dressed in blue. I saw tents, tables and phones lifted everywhere before the camera moved closer.

Then I saw Sha’Nelle. She stood there lookin’ beautiful with her hand in that nigga’s. She looked surprised while he talked to her, but she ain’t pull away. She ain’t stop him when he got down on one knee, and she damn sure ain’t look confused about what was happenin’ once he opened that box.

I watched that nigga ask the woman I loved to marry him.

Then I heard Sha’Nelle say yes…

People screamed around ‘em. Somebody started clappin’ near the camera, and his whole family lost they damn minds like the best thing in the world had just happened.

My chest started burnin’ so bad that I could feel the pain spread down into my stomach. It felt like somebody had reached inside me, wrapped a hand around everything I cared about and squeezed.

That nigga stood up, put a ring on Sha’Nelle’s finger and kissed her while everybody cheered.