"You're trippin' for real ! How you gon' believe social media ? This is not serious ! You can't be serious right now, Ebony ! "

"Lower your voice. This is the last time I'm telling you this. Now, get out my apartment before I call the cops on you," she said with a calm tone of voice.

Ebony just broke up with Jerome, and the man wasn't happy about it. He claimed their relationship was too real to break up over some stupid little video on social media, completely ignoring all the explanation she gave him. She felt as if she was talking to a wall; he wasn't listening to her, as usual.

By now, he was truly getting on her nerves and she needed him out of her sight as soon as possible. She wouldn't like to show her crazy side. He wasn't about to get this reaction out of her.

"Are you hearing yourself, Eb ? You're breaking up with me because of Instagram ? What kind of shit is that ? "

She groaned, fighting the urge to hit the guy. She wasn't the type to feel entitled to lay her hands on people. The only time she would allow herself to be physically violent with someone was if the situation called for self-defense or defense of a third person. Other than that, she kept her hands to herself.

"Why ? " she blurted out angrily.

It was just not making sense that he was actually trying to reason with her to not break up. As soon as he got his contract and entered the NFL, he didn't act as if he wanted to be in this relationship. Nobody outside their circle knew about them because he claimed that he wanted to keep his privacy private, but there wasn't a problem for him to be seen being inappropriate with groupies. This wasn't logical to her, or maybe she was simply losing her mind. She needed answers.

"Why what ? " He looked at her with confusion written all over his face.

"Why are you fighting me over this decision ? Why don't you want to break up ? Because last time I checked, you weren't that worried about having a girlfriend. Or maybe you're acting this way because you can't stand to be dumped ? Tell me the truth, Jerome. Be honest with me for once."

He sighed, scratching the back of his neck. She knew that his next words were going to be nothing else but lies. "Because I love you, Eb. I really do. And I don't want to lose you. Let's work this out first. I don't understand why you're jumping directly to breakup, when you didn't even give us a chance--"

"Please, shut up. I gave us a chance. I gave you so many chances. I should have left your ass behind a long time ago. But no, I stayed and tried to work this out, by myself. I tried to communicate with you, so many times, but you were never listening. All you worry about is you, you and more of you. You care about nobody else but you ! And I deserve more than this, Jerome. I actually want to be happy, and for me to reach that goal, I have to move out all type of negativity out of my life."

"I'm negative to your life ? "

"Yes ! I just said it ! Again ! Are you fucking deaf ? "

"No need to curse at me. I thought that what we had was real, but never mind then. I'm free and I can do whatever I want."

"What's new ? "

He shook his head. "You're crazy."

"Crazy ? I'm gonna show--" She interrupted herself, counting to ten in her mind. Once she calmed herself, she began talking again. "I'm not crazy. I'm not tripping. And you're trash. I know about the girl, by the way. I'm not stupid. Well, I was for staying with you for so long, but I finally saw the light."

He frowned. "What girl ? What are you talking about ? "

"The girl you cheated on me with. I found out like three months after our anniversary, " she answered, using quotations for the last word. She didn't really like to talk about anniversaries if it wasn't to celebrate years of marriage.

He looked down at his feet before raising his head and making eye contact with her. It actually seemed like he was sorry, but she wasn't buying it. She had wasted more than enough time with Jerome. He needed to get out of her life.

"Listen--"

"Please, don't." She raised her hand. "Do not bother. We weren't meant to be. Maybe one day we'll be friends, but for now we need to go our separate ways. I hope that you'll treat your next girlfriend way better. I wish you to be happy."

He stared at her, not saying a word, then finally broke his silence. "You're amazing."

She smiled. "I know." They chuckled.

"I'm sorry for everything, Ebony. Hope you'll be happy," he said with a sigh.

On that, Jerome left her apartment. Ebony closed the door and sighed in relief. She felt so good. It was the best decision she made in so long. That was the right thing to do.

She checked her watch, seeing that she'll be late to her meeting if she didn't get ready right now. So she ran to her room and did what she had to do in less than thirty minutes. She grabbed her huge bag, which contained her documents and laptop, then was out the door. She looked at the address to decide if she wanted to take the car or not. Since she felt lazy to use public transportation or call an uber, she took her car.

A bit more than thirty minutes later, she finally arrived. She got out, locked the door, then entered the building, putting in the code that she was given. Then she took the elevator to the floor she was told to go to. Once she was there, she adjusted her clothes and made sure that her makeup and hair were good.

She wasn't nervous because she already met this client. Today she was going to present him her ideas with some visuals. Depending on how her clients were, sometimes she didn't even have to go out and did those meetings through Skype or simply phone calls. Yes, that's how some people trusted her in some cases, and she never disappointed.

Except for this one client who couldn't make a decision even if his life depended on it. One moment he was agreeing with her ideas and letting her get the work done, to then say that he changed his mind. Ebony hated working with that type of clients because they wasted precious time to her and all the other people working with her. And time is money.

She went to the reception desk and asked to see Mr. Harris. Thankfully, she didn't have to wait as the receptionist let her go to his office immediately. As she recalled the instructions she was given, she walked to the office.

Stopping in front of the door, she knocked three times. Seconds later, the door opened, not revealing the person she was expecting to see. As they made eye contact, her mind went back to a few nights prior, remembering what happened in the McDonald's restaurant.

It was her little hero.

Thanks to the man, she got home safely. Without him, only God knew what would have happened. She was forever grateful for him because except him --and Kat of course, nobody else tried to help her.

Now that she was thinking about it, she never asked him his name.

"Hello," he greeted with a little smile in the corner of his lips, showing his dimple. No lie, dimples were a little weakness of hers. She found it just too cute. And on an already attractive man, it was like the cherry on the cake.

"Hey. Uh, is it not Mr. Harris' office ? " she asked, still shocked to see him there.

"Mr. Harris is my father. He had an emergency with a client. He has 100 percent trust in me, so he said I could take care of this," he explained with a light laugh.

She hummed. "Except if you two have exactly the same taste, I'm not too sure about this. I wouldn't like to get in trouble for that. So, I'd rather show you the visuals and then send him the ones you liked the most to see if he's one thousand percent on with it. I want my clients to get exactly what they want and for them to feel completely comfortable in their new environment. The decoration of a room can have a strong impact on the mood and I like for all my clients to feel at peace. Your father works here and so if he's not happy with the result, it might transfer in the way he handles business, " she explained, putting her stuff down and getting her presentation ready. "I'm not trying to be rude or anything with you, sir...I apologize, I didn't even ask you your name and got right into it. I'm really sorry."

He chuckled. "Oh, it's okay. I like it, you're about your business. And you can call me Chresanto."

"Chresanto ? " she repeated to make sure she had the pronunciation right. Last thing she wanted was for the man to feel disrespected every time she said his name.

"Yes. And you are ? "

"I'm Ebony Clarks, the interior designer. You can just call me Ebony. And as I was saying, I'm not trying to be rude with you, I simply like to have my clients satisfied a 100 percent. I've already experienced the whole family affair when someone lets a close family member choose the design for them and it didn't always end very well. So, since then, I've been trying to avoid this situation, for the sake of everybody."

"I completely understand."

"Great ! " She excitedly clapped her hands. She was always happy to talk about designs. They sat down and she presented her ideas, each time getting good feedback from him.

And he wasn't complimenting her work just because he thought that Ms. Clarks was one of the most beautiful women he'd ever seen in his life. He was actually truly impressed. At the end of her presentation and after asking some questions, he was lost. He didn't know what to choose.

"Can you show me the second board again, please ? I think my choice leans more towards this one, but I'm not sure."

After more minutes of reflection, he finally decided to go with the second idea, but told her to send the third one to his father as well because he might prefer this one. Seeing his hesitation, Ebony was going to do it anyways.

"Thank you so much for sparing your time. It was a pleasure to meet you." She held her hand out for a shake, which he did.

Damn, she exclaimed in her head.

His hands were as soft as clouds. Not that she ever touched a cloud in her life before, but she imagined them to feel the exact same way. She didn't want to let go and wished she could spend more time with him.

He had these very calm vibes surrounding him and they were taking in over the entire room, making her feel appeased. It was almost magic. And his voice was low, but deep and smooth. It was agreeable to hear him talk. And he had a little lisp; it wasn't too noticeable, but she found it adorable.

"You're welcome, glad to meet you as well. And thank you for helping my father, he really needed it, " he said, quickly looking around before making a little grimace.

She chuckled, nodding. "I think I made the same face when I first saw this office. It screams sad from every corner."

"Yeah, but thanks to you it won't be like this anymore. I can't wait to see the final result."

"Me too." Her favorite part in her job was to see her ideas come true. It was concretizing to see a piece of her mind in the real world, so people could see the extraordinary ideas that were in her head.

They stayed in silence for a moment, not realizing that they were still holding hands. They were admiring each other's beauty, both not wanting to go their separate ways. It was like they needed each other's presence in their lives. It was weird, but not too much because it kind of felt right.

They could have stayed this way for hours, but Ebony's phone began ringing, getting them both out of their trances.

"Oh, excuse me." She pulled her phone out, and instantly ignored the call seeing as it was Jerome. They had laid everything on the table; they had nothing else to talk about. "Leave me alone, " she mumbled, shaking her head.

"Is everything okay ? " he asked, feeling the sudden change in her attitude. She went from calm to aggravated in less than five seconds.

"Yes, yes. I'm not going to take more of your time. Thanks again and have a nice day." She grabbed her bag.

"Oh, yes, of course. Have a nice day." They politely smiled at each other before Ebony left. He continued to stare at the doorway, as if it was going to make her reappear, which didn't happen. "You're dumb as hell." he told himself, now regretting not having asked her out on a date.

"Sista ! " Ebony just had the chance to put one foot in her mother's house before her youngest sister, Paris, jumped on her and made them fall on the floor. By chance, they didn't fall too hard.

"Girl, you're too big to be jumping on me like that, " she groaned, rubbing her butt. It did hurt a little bit. Paris was the first one to stand up and after making sure that her bun was still in place, she helped her big sister. "Thanks."

"You're welcome. Give me a hug." She opened her arms widely, with a huge smile on her face. They hadn't seen each other since Christmas and Paris missed her older sister a lot.

"I missed you too, big head." They hugged tightly, rocking from side to side.

"Y'all ridiculous, " their mother commented, passing by them on her way to the kitchen.

"Hello to you too, mother," Eb greeted her, still hugging Paris.

A minute went by before they pulled away and followed Sanaa in the kitchen. Of course, they weren't expecting their mother to be cooking a good meal, knowing how the woman hated cooking. Their grandmother taught her, but she'd rather pay for somebody else to do it for her.

"Glad to see you here, daughter. I thought you forgot about us for a minute. How've you been, my big baby ? " They hugged too as Sanaa placed a soft kiss on her eldest's forehead.

Ebony's close family was mainly women and they were all very close to each other. Her uncle Jake was the only man, and it could be a bit difficult to be in this position sometimes. He had to be careful with his every move and any wrong word misplaced in a conversation would get him in a lot of trouble.

Even though Ebony grew up without having friends until she met Katlego in college, she didn't care that much because she had her sisters and cousin in her life. But with their age difference, she did sometimes wish she made friends, mainly when she turned eighteen. Her cousin Deka was only two years younger, but it still made an important difference. At least back then.

Now that they were twenty-five and twenty-three, it didn't matter that much. It was the same situation with her little sister Lyona, who was twenty-two. Paris, being the baby, was nineteen and she couldn't hang out with them everywhere just yet.

"I've been living life," she simply answered.

"Are you still messing around with this jackass ? " Her mother had never really been fond of Jerome, which should have been a sign to take into consideration. Mothers know best.

"Oh, please say no. As I already told you, sis, he's not at your level." Paris put her two pieces in.

"Well, get the champagne because I broke up with this asshole, yesterday."

Sanaa raised her hand in the air. "Praise the Lord ! She finally saw the light ! Thank you, Jesus God you're so good ! Oh, yes ! "

"Hallelujah ! " Paris screamed as they started milly rocking.

Eb rolled her eyes at them, then chuckled. They'd been begging her to put an end to this relationship for the longest. She didn't even tell them what was going on in details in this relationship, but they could all sense the bullshit a mile away.

She couldn't help but laugh a little as she remembered the hell they gave him when she first introduced Jerome to the family. They made it their mission to let him know that he wasn't welcomed. Uncle Jake even had the guns out. It was crazy.

Now, she wondered why she stayed with him with all those red flags. "I guess I stopped being stupid, " she said, feeling a bit ashamed. What was going on through her head all this time ?

"Aw, baby. You're not stupid. You have a big heart, you're always seeing the good side in people and you always give multiple chances to people, even when they don't deserve it. And I guess, you were in love and blinded by your feelings."

She shook her head. "That's the thing though, ma. I wasn't in love. Yes, I had feelings for him and they weren't little, but I wasn't like crazy about him. I just wanted my very first serious relationship to work. I didn't want it to be a failure."

"Were you scared to be alone ? " Sanaa asked as she got one of her prep meals out of the refrigerator. Since she was a sportive and a professional coach, it was important for her to take care of her body.

Sanaa Clarks was a strong black queen and a role model to many, mostly her three daughters. She was a beautiful forty-eight-year-old woman, who didn't look her age at all. Confident, dynamic, athletic, smart, funny, feisty, charismatic, she was what you called a superwoman.

Ebony and her sisters had a lot of admiration for their mother. When they were younger and you asked them what they wanted to be as adults, they were all answering mama. She meant everything to them, and Sanaa felt the exact same about her daughters. They were her reason to live. She was going so hard with everything that she was doing, to show them that they could do anything they wanted as long as they were determined and willing to work hard for it. And as a black woman, she taught them from a young age that they had to prove themselves even more in a world where a lot of people weren't too much of a fan of their race.

"I don't know, maybe I was but unconsciously. You think that's why I held on for so long ? "

"Yes, it might be the reason. Many people stay in a relationship so they can say that they have somebody in their lives. But the truth is that if you're not happy with your partner but completely miserable, you will feel alone and that ain't right. I think that's the worst you could feel in a relationship."

"Facts," Paris said, nodding her head as she looked for some snacks.

"True. But I'm glad I got out of this before really becoming miserable. I was about to go down this road, but I got saved."

"Amen. I want you girls to have something I didn't get to have, and it's true love. I don't mean to say that y'all need a man in your lives because this is not a necessity, but I would love to see you married with some kids, and successful careers, of course."

"Oh, wow ! It seems like a lot, mama. I'm just nineteen."

"I didn't say to do it all right now, miss." She narrowed her eyes at her youngest.

Eb checked the time on her phone, then looked around. "Where's Li-Li at ? We have our appointment in an hour and half, we need to go now. I don't like to rush. I already did it yesterday and it was enough for the week."

"Dee is still coming ? "

"Yes, she's meeting us there."

"Well, last time I saw her, Kenneth was taking pictures of her for her IG, in the background, " Paris informed her, opening her Skittles.

"Oh, the joy of having a photographer as a boyfriend. I'm gonna get her and when we're back here, you better be ready to go young girl." She made her way to the backyard, quickly noticing that a whole photoshoot was occurring.