Swapping Places Chapter 22

Read ​Chapter Twenty One here.

*

“I can see you are better now,” Seth said as he crossed his arms and stared at Delphine.

“Yes I am, thanks to God. I thought my boyfriend would be concerned and at least check on me via text.” She noticed the word ‘boyfriend’ felt heavy and foreign on her tongue. She sat.

“That’s not the vibe I got the last time I saw you.” Delphine sighed.

“Kobby is an old friend. What can I say to convince you of that?”

“So you think it’s cool for your friend to know your up-to-date status whiles your boyfriend stays in the dark?”

“I was going to tell you…”

“Really, when? After you were better like now?”

“Is this really a deal breaker for you? It’s not like I’m cheating or anything.”

“For any relationship to thrive, there should be trust and something tells me you don’t trust me, Del. I am some spare fiddle to you and I can’t take that. It’s unless I come first or not at all.”

Delphine was quiet for some seconds.

“Maybe we are better off as friends.” Seth chuckled.

“Oh so you would rather break it off than commit fully? Is our relationship not that important to you?”

“You know what, I’m not in the mood for sentimental displays, okay? I’m sorry what I have to offer isn’t good enough for you. I do like you and that’s why I’d love for us to be friends but if you don’t like it then, it’s cool. It was nice knowing you, Seth,” She said and headed towards the door.

“I don’t know why you bother putting up this front.” She turned to face him, her eyes begging the obvious question. He began walking towards her.

“The front where you act like Miss Goody Two Shoes when we both know you are a master in seducing men to bed.” The piercing words hang in the tensed air for some time while they stared at each other.

“I knew we were done since that day. For a moment, I thought you wouldn’t hold it against me but I guess I was wrong. I’m so glad I can finally put it behind me,” she said and walked out. Seth almost flinched when the door slammed shut.

*
Delphine couldn’t stop the tears from falling on her face as she drove back home. No man had ever spoken to her like that. She had given no one that chance. She would never forget the sneer on his face and the scorn in his voice. How dare he?!
Seth scratched his head vigorously. Why did he say that? He only wanted to throw the last punch before she walked out but that was a low blow. He always went for amicable break ups but this time, he had crossed the line. He loved her more than the previous women he had dated so he shouldn’t have done that. He called her number. She didn’t answer so he left a voice message.

Forgive me, Del. I shouldn’t have said that. My anger took the better part of me. I still love you.

That was lame. Maybe he should just let it be. But was he ready to let her go just yet?
Daphne glanced at her phone when it beeped. New message. She tapped it to read and blinked. She read Seth’s message. What had he said to Del?

“Is something wrong?” Kobby asked, jolting Daphne out of her thoughts.

“No…yeah, Del and Seth broke up.” Kobby stared at her.

“What happened?”

“I’m not too sure. I’m sorry but I don’t think I can sit down for smoothie.”

“Yeah, I understand. We’ll buy to go.” Kobby pulled the car to a halt and got down in front of Smoothy’s. Daphne chewed on her thumb nail nervously. What was keeping Kobby that long? She sighed in relief when he opened the door and got into the car. He drove her home.

“I guess I’ll come in and say hi to Del,” Kobby said and got out of the car. When Daphne opened the door, she saw her sister eating ice cream. Oh no, this was bad, she thought.

“Hey,” Del said.

“Hi…how are you feeling?”

“What?” Kobby entered.

“I’m so sorry to hear about your breakup with Seth. You two seemed to have a thing going,” he said. Del looked at them, puzzled.

“How did you…?”

“You sent me a message, remember?” Daphne asked, widening her eyes.

“I did?” Del asked before reading the message in her sister’s eyes a second later.

“Oh yeah…I forgot. I’m fine though. He was too sentimental for my liking anyway,” Del said with a dismissive shrug as she licked the spoon free.

“Come for a hug,” Kobby said, pulling Del up. He hugged her.

“You’ll be fine. You will meet your right match soon.”

“Amen.” He pulled away.

“I’ll be on my way. We’ll talk tomorrow, yeah?” he said as he kissed Daph’s cheek.

“Yeah. Take care, darling.”

“You too, love.” He gave Del a wave and walked out. Daphne turned to face her sister the instant after the door closed shut.

“What happened?”

“How did you know?”

“Seth sent me a message apologizing for what he said. Tell me, what happened Del?”

“He practically called me a slut because of you-know-what. It was about time we went our separate ways.”

“I’m so sorry, Del.”

“No need to apologize. I’m fine, really.”

*

A week later, Seth was in his office. He scanned through his Facebook timeline leisurely during his break time and paused when he came across Kobby’s post. It was a ‘save the date’ poster. He fisted his hand when he saw a photo of Kobby and Delphine on the poster.

“I knew it! They were seeing each other behind my back the whole time. Why is the name Daph…Daphne? Oh he thinks he’s smart, doesn’t he?”

*
Kobby was working on his laptop when Seth stormed into his office.

“Hey man…” Before he could blink, there was a hard blow to his face then another one.

“You think you can fool me, huh?”

“Hey…calm down. What is this about?” Kobby asked as he stood, touching his assaulted jaws.

“Are you going to pretend that you don’t know? You thought I wouldn’t find out, right?”

“Find out what?”

“That you and Del are seeing each other and are planning to get married. I saw it on Facebook.”

“Excuse me?” Seth took out his phone and opened Facebook. He landed on Kobby’s timeline.

“I’m talking of this!” Seth asked, holding the phone up for him to see.

“Oh…it’s not what you think. I’m not seeing Del behind your back. Didn’t you read the name?”

“Uh huh, altering the name so I wouldn’t find out? That was stupid, Kobby.”

“No, I changed nothing. I’m getting married to Daphne, not Delphine. They are sisters…identical twins.”

Seth blinked.

“What?”

“You just punched me over a girl who isn’t even mine,” Kobby asked.

Seth glanced at the photo on his phone.

“You’re saying this lady isn’t Del?”

“Nope, Del’s twin. They do look perfectly alike.”

“So how are you able to differentiate between them?”

“I don’t know. It’s one of the best abilities, I think. I’m so sorry about your breakup with Del, Seth.”

“Yeah, sorry about the punch.” Seth left the office.
Daphne and Delphine…identical twins.

Why did Delphine never mention her? Had he met this Daphne twin? There were several questions to be answered.
© Josephine Amoako 2017

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