Infinity♾️

48🤎

Shuri

"So does this mean you'll get married upon your return?" M'Baku asks over the hologram.

"No, but we will eventually. This is the woman I want to spend my life with."

"I understand but it'd be best for you to marry Jahzara or someone that'll be prepared to wed upon your return. My instructions were clear Panther." He gets a little bass in his tone.

"I don't want to marry Jahzara and I won't marry anyone else but Miss Sutton."

"You're failing to realize I'm not asking you. I'm telling you."

"I won't come home then."

"You will come back to Wakanda when the time comes or I'll have to extradite you for treason."

"What's the issue? Why do you want me married so bad it has nothing to do with you."

"I promised your brother I would make sure that you are taken care of. Yes, you do a great job at being Panther but you aren't happy." He yells.

"I am though my King. Rue makes me happy, I can finally say I know how to love. She makes my heart beat at speeds I didn't know was safe. She brings me a sense of comfort I need in my life. If you can't understand that then my presence is not needed in Wakanda." He begins to chuckle as if I'm a joke, he always does this. "What now, nothing I said was funny."

"Oh put your baby panther claws away. Do you remember what you told me when your mother passed away?" He got calm.

"No, I don't remember a lot from that time." I admit.

"You told me when we buried your mother, we buried your heart as well. I'm just glad to hear that you still have one of those. But my statement still stands."

"I won't come home M'Baku."

"Yes, you will."

"You're going to have to lock me up and find another Panther. That's if you can catch me."

He grunts in frustration. "Say I let you marry her. What if it doesn't work out?" He sits back on the throne.

"It will, I don't care what I have to do to make it work."

"Okay, now I have a new deal to offer you."

"I'm all ears King."

♾️

Rue

"So you two getting married?" My mom asks chopping onions.

"No, but we're not not getting married." I say chopping celery from the other side of the island.

"What exactly does that mean?"

"It means it's a promise that we'll marry each other in the future." Shuri says.

"So are you two back together? How's that working?"

"No, we're not together. Not right now anyway." I look up at her.

"So why promise to marry each other if you aren't even in a relationship? Shouldn't that be what the promise is toward?" My mom is still confused.

"A lot goes into that Headmaster Sutton."

"So really my question is what's the wait on you two getting back together? You already know you want to be together so why not just do it?"

"Because I'm not ready momma. When I'm ready we'll do this our way. No one questions you and Daddy." I shrug. Shuri looks at me like I have a second head growing. Maybe I should've kept that to myself.

"For your information, your father and I had a mutual divorce."

"What does that even mean momma?" I halted what I was doing.

"Look at you with all the questions now. It means your father and I made up long before I signed those papers. He has plans and I've been hindering him from following through with them. It was my choice whether we got divorced or not in the end."

"So why'd you go through with it? Especially when you two could've stayed together." I get slightly more curious.

"Your father has always had bigger and better teaching offers. The one for Harvard won't be there if he doesn't take it next school year. He won't take it if I'm here and I'm not leaving my school. So I did what anyone in love would do."

"Which was?" Shuri asks.

"Do I have to spell everything out for you two? I let him go because I love him, it's the right thing to do. That man has so much potential. He almost let it go to waste because of us. Now that you kids are all grown up and he no longer has me to tie him down he can go do what he does best." She walks over to the sink to wash her hands.

I've never seen my mother cry before. Even now, I can't see her face but I know.

"Let's take Lillian for a walk Angel." Shuri places her hand on my thigh.

"Yeah, okay. Go grab her and meet me by the front door, I'll grab her leash." I say as we get up to leave the kitchen.

"I'm sorry for asking momma." I whisper before making my exit.

Our walk was long. We talked about everything that came to our minds. We walked until the conversation got short, then we walked back. On the way inside I saw some mail with my name on it sitting on the small table by the front door. It's from Cornell. I slid it into my bag to open later.

We ate dinner with my mom and dad before getting back to campus. The whole ride I was just itching to know what was in the envelope.

"Do you want me to come up?" Shuri asked.

"Not tonight. I have a paper to finish and then it's lights out, I have a long day." I lean over to kiss her. "I love you, goodnight."

"I love you too Angel."

I practically run to my door with my keys in hand. I don't even wait until I make it to my room. I open it in the kitchen.

Dear Korine Sutton,

We at Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine would like to offer you an early scholarship.

I can't even contain my excitement to read the rest. I almost forgot all about this. I even had Ms. Nia write me a letter of recommendation. The only person I want to call right now is Shuri. I pull up her contact without even thinking.

"Hey Angel is everything alright?" I hear her voice.

If I take this offer at Cornell where will that leave us? I'm supposed to join her in Wakanda after I graduate next year.

"Hello?" She speaks again.

Should I even accept? Should I even tell anyone I got in?

"I think you butt-dialed me." She speaks on the other end.

It seems as if we've run into another hiccup. It's like the universe is against us being together.

"Hey Princess, I'm sorry."