TWO DAYS LATER

Sam's hand intertwines with Yemi's during the Sunday church service. Feeling someone's eyes staring at her, Yemi turns around and catches two women scowling at her before rolling their eyes. Yemi furrows her eyebrows, shaking her head at their hostility. Out of curiosity, she looks down another row and sees another woman staring at her before quickly looking away. Yemi then looks behind her, and finds the woman sitting directly behind Sam turning her nose up at her. Yemi chuckles softly, before looking up at Sam who is oblivious to what's going on. She taps his arm, and he looks down at her. Using her finger, she motions for him to lean closer.

"I can't really focus with these people giving me death stares. I'm going to wait outside for you," she whispers.

"What? Nah. That's exactly what they want. Ignore them. That's what I do." He whispers back.

"But they look at you with googly eyes. That's easy to ignore."

"Mami..."

"No, Sam. I've never seen church people act like this," she whispers, glancing around the congregation.

"Show me who they are."

"What?"

"Point to them."

"I'm not pointing. That's rude."

"Yemi..." He gives her a look, letting her know he's not playing.

She uses her head to point at the first two women, and Sam looks in their direction. When the women see Sam eyeing them, they quickly turn their face. Sam keeps his stare until they look back at him. He mouths "stop" to the women, causing them to look down in embarrassment.

"Who else?" He asks Yemi.

"Sam, forget it. It's okay. I'll just ignore them." She looks straight ahead to the pastor, shocked at Sam's reaction to the women.

He studies Yemi for a moment, and then kisses her temple before turning his focus back on the pastor. Yemi smirks to herself, low key admiring Sam defending her.

*

Immediately after service, Veronica runs into the restroom to pee. She speeds into the stall, quickly placing two seat covers on top before squatting. She smiles in relief. While peeing, she hears a couple of women walking in at the end of their conversation. "Girl, whoever she is, I need to know what she did, so I'll know how to get him when they break up." Veronica's smile fades away, knowing they are probably talking about Sam and Yemi.

"Wait, but did you see how he checked those chicks for mean-muggin' her?"

The women laugh. "Yes, girl. That just made me want him even more."

Veronica flushes the toilet. The women look back, now realizing someone is there. Their eyes buck when they see Veronica coming out of the stall.

"Hello ladies."

"...Veronica," they say in unison.

Veronica washes her hands as the women glance at each other, not sure what they should say or do next. As Veronica pulls a paper towel out of the dispenser, she looks over at them with a sly grin creeping over her face. "Isn't it great seeing my cousin so happy with his girlfriend?"

They flash a fake smile.

"And she's a really good friend of mine, too. So, they're definitely gonna last forever."

Veronica walks out, leaving the women in an awkward state. She walks straight outside to the front of the church and finds Sam and Yemi talking to Jamie and Tevin. "What's up, y'all?" She hugs Yemi, ignoring Jamie's stare.

"We good, V?" Jamie asks her.

"I'm always good. You good?"

Jamie nods and Sam chuckles. "V, you still haven't told me what happened. Jamie, what you do to my cousin?"

"It's water under the bridge, man," Jamie replies. "But Yemi, I heard you're having a housewarming party in a couple of months."

"Yeah. Are you guys gonna go?" She looks between Tevin and Jamie.

"We in there!" They say in agreement.

She nods, smiling. "Oh... Tevin, invite Will please."

"Alright. I'll tell him when I see him on Christmas."

An iPhone starts ringing, and everyone checks to see if it's theirs. Jamie's facial expression changes before he quickly puts the phone back into his pocket. "Imma head out. I'll catch y'all later."

Everyone watches Jamie leave suspiciously, before looking back at each other.

"Yo, Tevin. Does he have a girl he doesn't want us to know about or something?" Veronica inquires.

"Not that I know of..."

She shakes her head. Sam chuckles, before changing the subject. "Yemi and I are going to an all-you-can-eat brunch. Y'all rollin'?"

"You ain't gotta tell me twice," Tevin replies, before playfully bopping Veronica on her head and then running off towards the parking lot.

"You better hope I don't catch you!" Veronica yells out, running after him. Yemi giggles, taking Sam's extended hand as they walk away.

___

NEXT DAY

Yemi arrives at her work site when Sam calls her on FaceTime. "You miss me already?" She teases, grinning.

"Actually, I do. But I have a quick question."

"Yes?"

"I left my wallet in your apartment. You think I can come get your key from you, and then bring it right back after?"

"Oh yeah, that's fine. I'll send you my location."

"Alright bet. See you in a few minutes."

"Okay." She ends the call, and then sends her location in a text. She looks up and sees Kaylin approaching her.

"Hi Kaylin. I was looking for you at the office."

"Yeah, I didn't feel like waiting for you. How do you wanna switch off today?"

"...Kaylin, please don't change up on me."

"Why would I do that?"

"You know what? Forget it. I'm not going to do this with you." She turns away from him. He watches her for a moment, before grabbing her elbow, gently.

"Wait. Are you still coming on Christmas?"

"Oh umm... No. I'll be traveling."

"With the boyfriend?"

She nods, shyly.

"It's all good. But what about the party? Did you figure out a date?"

"Oh yeah. Umm... Can you please tell your mom, that my friend is going to organize it? It's going to be after the holidays."

He nods before they're engulfed in an awkward silence.

"I guess I can tell you the same thing, Yemi."

"What do you mean?"

"You told me not to change up on you. The same goes for you. But it looks like I'm too late for that."

Yemi's shoulders drop, feeling bad for disappointing him. Kaylin turns away. "Kaylin..." He ignores her.

*

30 MINUTES LATER

Kaylin is loading construction materials when he sees Yemi getting approached by Sam. He inadvertently stops his work, scowling at the couple.

"Hi baby," Yemi greets Sam, pulling her keys out of her pocket. He steals a peck on her lips as Yemi hands him her key ring. She smiles. "I wish I can kiss you all day."

"I don't think you can handle me all day," he winks at her. She blushes, running her finger across his covered abdomen. "Is that Kaylin back there?" He nods behind her in Kaylin's direction.

"Sam..." She warns, not looking behind her.

"He's looking at us all jealous and shit." He smirks.

Yemi smacks his arm playfully. "Stop babe. I'll see you when you come back."

"Alright, ma." He looks up and down at her clothes, and then laughs before walking away.

"You're not funny Sam."

He looks back at her, smiling. She shakes her head before blowing him a kiss.

___

Briana walks out of the shelter and into the gated parking lot. She reaches an empty parking spot, and looks around confused. She thinks hard for a moment before reality hits... "Oh hell no."

She runs back into the shelter, and into the Director's office. A woman in her 40's looks up from her paperwork in response to Briana busting in. "What kind of security do you have, when someone can easily steal my damn car?!"

"Excuse me?" The director is baffled at Briana's accusation.

"One of these bitches in here stole my damn car. I need to get to work, and somebody needs to take me right now."

"Okay, I understand you're upset, but you-"

"-I don't wanna hear that bullshit." She turns around, pacing. "I'm gonna kill Yemi for getting me caught up in here."

A security guard rushes into the office in response to the yelling. He looks between both women, ending at the Director. "Is everything alright?"

"Does it sound like everything is alright?" Briana fires back at him.

"Timothy, can you please take her to the security cameras to find out what happened to her car?"

"Sure thing, Mrs. Basowa." He leaves out with Briana on his tail.

On their way to the security room, Briana mean-mugs everyone she walks past, making sure they feel her wrath.

Timothy opens the door, enters, and then pulls up the recorded footage.

"Whoever did this is gonna wish she never fucked with my shit."

Timothy rewinds the footage until he sees someone going from one car to another. "Is this your car right here?"

Briana leans in and sees Jonathon at her car. She gasps. "He found me."

Timothy rewinds it more. "It looks like he was parked outside the lot. He waited for a car to pull in, and then he sped up behind it."

"Shit. Shit, shit, shit."

"I think you owe Mrs. Basowa an apology."

"No one asked you," she scolds before rushing out.

"She's gonna lose a whole lot more with that attitude," he states to himself.

___

LATER

Yemi drags herself up the stairs to her apartment, exhausted from working a double shift. She unlocks her front door, and enters the dark living room. She closes the door behind her, while turning the light switch up. When she turns to face her apartment, her eyes widen, gasping loudly with her hands flying to her chest.

She drops down slowly, kneeling down onto the floor. Her phone rings, but her body is frozen. After the first set of rings stop, it starts again. She finally snaps out of her trance, and quickly looks for the phone. She looks on the screen and sees Sam FaceTiming her. She accepts the video call, but is lost for words.

"Mamas..." He chuckles at how speechless she is. "I hope you don't mind me doing that for you."

She places one hand over her cheek, glancing at all the new furniture. She stares down at the rug, then back at Sam.

"Is it too much?"

She shakes her head, before fanning her face.

"That's the rug you wanted, right?"

She nods.

"Imma come over."

She nods again.

"I'll be there in 15."

"-Sam..."

"What's up ma?"

She closes her eyes briefly, and then looks back at him with lust in her eyes. "When you get here, I'm going to make you feel the best you've ever felt."

He licks his bottom lip. In a really low tone of voice he tells her, "When you open the door, don't have any clothes on."

She smiles, seductively, before Sam ends the call.