2 WEEKS LATER

Sam wakes up disoriented, drenching in sweat. A few moments later, he reaches for his phone on the night stand and sees it's 4:25am. He also notices a voicemail alert from an unknown number, but ignores it. He looks over to the side of him where the bed is empty, and then immediately looks under the bathroom door. It's pitch black. He picks up his phone and calls Yemi.

He hears her phone vibrating on the other nightstand, so he ends the call. He stands up and leaves the room on a search and finds Yemi sitting on the couch using his laptop.

"What are you doing?"

Yemi's eyes are glued to the screen. "I'm looking up the classes we talked about." She turns around and does a double-take at the sight of Sam. "Oh wow. Are you okay?"

"Yeah. Why are you up so early?" Sam inquires while Yemi speed-walks to the kitchen, grabbing a few paper towels.

"I woke up and couldn't go back to sleep." She returns to Sam, and starts to wipe the sweat off his chest. Sam quickly snatches the paper towels from her.

"I got it," he tells her in a dismissive tone.

Yemi is shocked at his attitude, and mean-mugs him.

"What?"

"You don't want me touching you, now?"

"I didn't mean it like that, ma. I just don't want you wiping off my sweat."

"You act like I'm not all in your sweat when you're on top of me."

Sam smirks. "It's not this bad, though. I'm mad sweaty, right now."

"Did you have a bad dream?"

Sam nods. "About my mother."

"You wanna talk about it?"

He shakes his head, but then thinks about it. "...Did you ever have any fucked up dreams after your mom left?"

"Yeah. In one of them, I witnessed her getting attacked. But I couldn't run up to help her. It was like an invisible bubble was there or something. No matter how hard I tried to run up to her, I kept bouncing backwards. It was the worse feeling ever."

Sam squints at her, wishing there was something he could do to take away her pain that she masks so well. "...You said it was your mom's cousins that were there, right?"

"Yeah."

"How did you find out they were lying to you about who did it?"

"I overhead them talking about what really happened. They left the person's name out, so I barged into the room and demanded them to tell me who it was. But they made it seem like I was hearing things and that I was going crazy."

Sam curls his lip in disgust. "What's their names?"

Yemi gives him the side-eye, knowing exactly why he's probing.

"Why're you looking at me like that?"

"Why do you want their names?"

"Just wanna know."

"Sam..."

"What's their names, Yemi?"

"I'm not going to tell you. I don't want you getting into any more trouble."

He stares at her for a moment, deep in thought. "...Imma go take a shower. You're gonna be done with that when I'm out?" He asks, nodding at the laptop.

"Yes, Sam." She gently bites the bottom of her lip. "I'll be in the bed waiting for you by the time you get out."

Sam strokes her chin, and then kisses her forehead. He turns to walk away, but then quickly turns back around. "Happy Valentine's Day."

She grins. "Awe, baby. Happy Valentine's Day. You know you're my very first Valentine, right.?"

"Your ex didn't do anything for you?"

"Nope. We were already broken up."

"...I'm still shocked he left you like that."

Yemi shrugs. Sam steps up to her and cups her face.

"I hope you know that I will never leave you. Your problems are my problems now. Whatever you go through, Imma be right there with you. Just like how you showed up for me when I was crying like a big ass baby."

She chuckles. "Thank you. And I hope you know you have me for life. But I really don't have a choice since you made me sign that contract." She smirks.

"As long as you know that shit."

Yemi sucks her teeth at his sarcastic response before pecking him on the lips. Sam pulls her closer to him and deepens their kiss.

When they eventually come up for air, Sam looks deep into her eyes. "I have something special planned for you in a few hours. I think you'll like it."

"I'm sure I will. I love everything you do for me."

Sam kisses her one more time before Yemi watches him walk to his bedroom, smiling like she's the luckiest woman in the world.

*

Sam glances at his phone on his way into the bathroom. He turns the shower on and removes his boxer briefs on the way back into his adjoined bedroom. He picks up the phone and presses play on the visual voicemail, tossing his underwear in the hamper.

"Sam, I'm embarrassed to tell you this, but I'm in jail and I don't have Stephen's number memorized. Can you please call him? Tell him I didn't do anything wrong. Damn... I sound like those inmates that say they're not guilty but know damn well they did that shit. Fuck yo. I don't even know what jail I'm in and they won't tell me. Fuckers. I know I'm not too far from that bar that's near my mom's grave. Hopefully that helps. Love you. Bye."

Sam plops down on the bed and takes a deep breath. "I can't believe this shit." He calls Stephen.

"What're you doing up this early? Ain't it like 5am over there?" Stephen asks him.

"Almost. But listen... V is in jail, right now."

"What?!"

"She's locked up. Somewhere near Aunt Dawn's grave."

"First she disappears, now she's getting arrested? What is going on with her? She probably did something stupid, too."

"Yo. I don't know what the fuck she did. Just get her the fuck out of there," Sam tells him in a very agitated tone. He then ends the call, not allowing Stephen to say anything else. "He's on some bullshit."

___

LATER

Sam and Yemi are having a private lunch on top of one of the tallest buildings in Downtown Los Angeles. The city's skyline and the dozens of roses surrounding their table are a beautiful sight to see. Sam sends off a text before looking over at Yemi who is eating her food and admiring their view.

"I can't believe we're all the way up here. This is amazing. How did you pull this off, babe?"

"I know someone who knows someone."

She chuckles. "Sounds about right."

"How's the food?"

"Oh my gosh. Everything is scrumptious. The chef really outdid himself."

"Good. You know what else is scrumptious?"

Yemi smirks at him mimicking her. "What?"

"You in that skirt. If the chef wasn't around, I would devour that kitty right now."

Yemi blushes before putting her fork down and walking over to him on the other side of the table. She sits on his lap and kisses his face, speaking in between each peck.

"I. Want. You. Right. Now." Her lips travel down to his neck as she sticks one of her hands into his pants. A sound of a plane approaching interrupts them. They look up, and Yemi sees the small aircraft starting to spell out some words.

"Oh shoot. I've never seen one of those in real life, only on TV."

Sam watches her intensely as she focuses on the skywriting through the plane's exhaust system.

"Oh my gosh, babe, are you looking?"

"Mm-hmm," he tells her. But the only thing he's staring at is her beaming face.

"Whoever that message is meant for, needs to be up here to see it. I'm sure it doesn't look this dope on the street." She starts to read out the almost complete sentence. "I... Love... You... So... Much... Yemi." She gasps, her hands covering her mouth in shock.

"Mamas..."

Yemi finally looks down at him, and a tear falls down her cheek. Sam wipes it, gently, with his thumb.

"You complete me, ma. And I will always love you."

Tears of joy are now streaming down her face. Hearing him confess his love for her is giving her chills and butterflies at the same time. She throws her arms around his neck. "It feels so good to hear you say that. I love you, so much, Sammie. You mean the world to me."

He rubs her back, kissing on her neck and collarbone.

"Can we ask the chef to pack up the rest of the food? I wanna go home and make love to you," Yemi says sweetly to him.

Sam smiles and picks her up, snaking her legs around his waist. "Your wish is my command." He smacks her butt, and then carries her towards the rooftop door.