"Mustafa, I can't spend my life with a switch-hitter, I'm sorry, I can't help but feel that someday you might actually leave me for a woman," said Dalton Whitaker, and the tall, slender young Jamaican-Canadian man looked at his silent lover dejectedly. Mustafa Ali leaned back in his chair, quietly absorbing what his boyfriend of three years was telling him. They were seated inside East Side Mario's inside Ottawa's Saint Laurent Mall, one of their favorite eateries.
"Dalton, come on, can we talk about this?" Mustafa asked, and Dalton shook his head, grabbed his coat and left the restaurant in a huff. Mustafa watched him go, feeling as though he ought to chase him but he remained firmly rooted to his chair. Shaking his head, Mustafa took a sip of the iced tea he'd ordered, and pursed his lips. Amazing how things could turn to shit so damn fast, Mustafa thought, saddened by this turn of events.
"No, we're done," Dalton hollered quite loudly as he exited the mall. From the restaurant window, Mustafa saw Dalton cross the parking lot, get into his car and leave. Dalton was still fuming over an incident that happened over a year ago. He and Mustafa had gone on vacation to Cancun, and while staying there, they had a bit of a falling out. Dalton is such a drama queen, Mustafa thought bitterly.
After one of Dalton's many useless arguments over random crap that didn't matter, such as the color of their towels and the mannerisms of the hotel staff, Mustafa ended up leaving Dalton's hotel room. Mustafa felt like he needed some space after a particularly vicious argument. Pissed off by Mustafa's callousness, Dalton hooked up with Pedro, the handsome Mexican guy who was in charge of security at the gay-friendly resort where they stayed.
In revenge, Mustafa had some fun with an attractive, curvaceous and big-bottomed Mexican female escort named Marianna. That put Dalton on notice, that's for damn sure. The couple eventually made up, and returned to the City of Ottawa, Ontario, to resume their regular lives after that tumultuous vacation. Dalton eventually never got over the fact that Mustafa cheated on him with a female, and kept bringing that up every time they had an argument.
Like a lot of gay men, Dalton, who had never felt any sexual desires for women throughout his entire life, felt distrustful of bisexual men. Dalton had known that Mustafa Ali was bisexual from the first moment they met, during a meeting for business students at the famed Dunton Tower Building at Carleton University. In fact, Mustafa was there with Beatrice Lucien, his girlfriend at the time, but Dalton set out to seduce him anyway.
Fast forward five years, and Dalton Whitaker and Mustafa Ali were done with their studies at Carleton University. Beatrice was long gone, and Mustafa now lived with his lover Dalton. They stayed at a nice three-bedroom townhouse in the South Keys area of Ottawa. Dalton got himself a job with Coldwell Realty, the international real estate company. Dalton was doing well for himself, and wanted his lover Mustafa to keep up.
As for Mustafa, he bounced from job to job, from cell phone salesman at the Rideau Shopping Center to security guard, from security guard to security manager. Dalton constantly got on Mustafa's case for his lack of ambition. Sadly, on the day that Mustafa actually began to get some career advancement, it spelled doom for his relationship with Dalton. Too bad, Mustafa didn't see it coming...
Earlier that day, Mustafa received an email and a phone call from the Department of Public Works. A month ago he'd applied for a position with them at their offices in the Portage area of Gatineau, Quebec. Amazingly, he got it. Finally, Mustafa was going to put to good use his bachelor's degree in business management, acquired through four and a half painful years of study at Carleton University. He'd called his lover Dalton and invited him to lunch to celebrate, and then this happened...
"Josh, are you alright?" came a feminine voice, snatching Mustafa out of his murky thoughts, and he finally looked up from his glass of iced tea. Before him stood Gianna Rutelli, a tall, curvy, bronze-skinned and brown-eyed young Italian woman with a concerned expression on her lovely face. She'd been his friend for ages, ever since their halcyon days at Carleton University. Now she was a restaurant manager, and he was...in between jobs, and possibly in between relationships.
"Oh, you saw that, eh, Gianna? Dalton is tripping again," Mustafa replied, trying to play it cool, but Gianna saw right through that. Pulling up a chair, she sat opposite Mustafa, and looked into his eyes. Such sadness in those eyes, Gianna thought, and her heart winced. Gianna brushed her hand against Mustafa's, and the tall, handsome and well-dressed young black man flinched. She almost regretted that gesture...key word being almost.
"Mustafa, come on, it's me, you can tell me what's happening," Gianna said, and she locked eyes with Mustafa. Nodding gently, Mustafa swiftly gave her the Cliffs Notes version of his issues with Dalton. Yet another one of those endless fights that Mustafa had enough of, and this time, Dalton looked like he meant it. Still, Mustafa was having trouble letting go of that tumultuous, ultimately toxic relationship...
"Dalton gets on my damn nerves with his hissy fits, but we've been together since I came out as bisexual, so that's that," Mustafa replied, his voice barely above a whisper. Gianna nodded understandingly and gently patted Mustafa's arm. She'd known Mustafa since their freshman year at Carleton University. He'd always been the most wonderful friend, so generous, so awesome, and oh-so unattainable.
Back then, Mustafa Ali was the dashingly handsome brother from Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Gianna was the doe-eyed newcomer from Salerno, southwestern Italy. They bonded while volunteering at the Carleton University International Student Bureau. Gianna had a major crush on Mustafa, who was tall, athletic, and carried himself like an authentic African prince. Something about Mustafa's confidence and swagger appealed to Gianna immensely, and she thought about putting the moves on him.