I leaned in closer to him to get a piece of lint out of his hair. Wow, this man smell so good. Of course, he would, he's probably at the very least dipped in gold or something. He wore an orange pullover sweater and matching pants, from his clothing line. The solid gold chain around his neck shined noticeably.

"Sorry I was getting this." I showed him the lint in my hand. His guards took a step back. They closed in on us when they saw me leaning in.

"My bad." He turned to his guards on each end of the aisle, signaling them to back up some more. They did.

"What are you doing here, don't you have someone to do this for you?" I questioned him.

"I like to pick up my own groceries." He paused, smiling, shifting his weight over to his right foot. "What, —I can't shop too?" He tilted his head to the side. I examined his cart. He looked over at mine.

"Hmm."

"What does hmm mean?" He questioned.

"Nothing, you plan on buying the entire store?"

He gazed down at his cart in front of him while chewing at the insides of his cheeks. "I don't come often. I'm restocking my pantry."

"Oh." I gave him a weak smile, then turned back to the tea. I noticed he peeked down at my ID badge for work I forgot to take off.

"I see you took my advice. You've been winning." I picked up a box of ginger tea.

"You've been keeping up." He replied, sounding impressed.

"Yes." I glanced at him.

"So you really follow sports?" He raised his eyebrows, still looking at me.

"Sure, do mainly basketball and specifically right here in my home city," I answered with little emotion, perhaps dry. I had somewhat of a stressful day, a day that should've been one of the happiest.

"Cool." He nodded, I dropped the box of tea in my cart. "Look I don't mean to pry, but are you ok?"

I gave him an arched questionable gaze and replied quickly. "What do you mean? Of course, I'm ok."

"Ok, —well, it was good seeing you." He stood awkwardly, not knowing what to do next, I assumed.

"You too." I smiled, looking into his beautiful brown eyes. He nodded, walking off pushing his cart. I noticed an audience forming.

He and his guards went on to the register and waited in line.

"Mr. Martin if you would like to skip, you can go ahead of me." I heard a lady speak loudly, standing next to a group of ladies holding up her phone, recording.

I couldn't hear what his response was, but he remained in place. From where I was standing, I could see him, but I couldn't hear everything. I was intrigued to know what Kenzo Martin was like in real life. So I pushed my cart a little closer down the aisle to the front of the store.

"Kenzo I'm a huge fan, I watch all of your games. I want to thank you for what you've been doing for our city." A man standing with his family came close to his guard but not too close to him.

He made a hand gesture to his guards, signaling that it was ok. "Thank you for your support, man. I appreciate the love." He reached his hand out for the man to shake, and he did.

"Wow, may I get a picture, my sons a huge fan as well? That would mean everything to him."

"Sure, where is he? We can take some pictures." He willingly agreed.

The man pulled his shy young son who looked to be about eight or nine from behind him and his wife.

"Hey, little man what's up?" Kenzo bent down and cheerfully spoke to the boy. "You can come closer."

The little boy took a step closer with his fingers in his mouth, nervous. Kenzo reached in, pulling his hand down and held his arms out. The boy nervously came in for a hug.

Kenzo started making conversation with him. All little man could do is a nod and shake his head the entire time. Kenzo reached in his pocket for a marker and signed his shirt. He also took some pictures with them. The boy mumbled something to him. I couldn't make it out.

"Remember to stay focused, fear will always be there. You have to learn how to be ok with it and keep going. Make sure your doing videos, go over and study them. Make high light reels and post them. Stay consistent and listen to your coach." He stared intensely into the little boys' eyes.

He nodded, then hugged Kenzo again.

"You got this," Kenzo stated lastly then stood in front of the dad to shake him and his wife's hand again. "See you at the game. I want to be able to hear you too. I might pull you out during pregame."

The family smiled and nodded repeatedly thanking him. He told one of his guards to get their information for tickets. The little boy stated he never had seats that close. Impressive.

He went on to check out, a little after he left. It took him a while to leave with all the fans piling into the store. I finished my shopping and went over to the checkout. Everybody was still raving about seeing Kenzo. I simply smiled to myself.

I can't believe I ran into him again. He seems nice, so I can honestly say now I'm proud to be a fan. Even Ms. Wanda down at Darby's can't stop talking about him. He gave her five thousand dollars in an envelope. I also saw his interview where he talked about how Ms. Wanda and I inspired him. That was sweet.

I went to load up my car, I got in and fastened my seat belt. My drive home, I couldn't help but think about what had my attention earlier before running into Kenzo.

|Flashback|

"Are you sure he's coming? We need to go ahead and get started Diri." My dad spoke.

"He said he was, I texted him, and he hasn't responded. Let me try calling him again." I tried calling Nelson once again, no answer. I have my family standing in the room waiting for Nelson, waiting to go on with the sonogram. We could possibly see what we're having.

"Let's go ahead and get started. It's already been thirty minutes." I said to the doctor.

I wasn't even all that happy anymore about sharing this moment with everyone. I just want to getaway. My dad and Nelson had a really heated discussion about two weeks ago. It had gotten so bad. My brother had to hold my dad back.

My brother called after the altercation telling me about the whole thing. Nelson texted this morning saying he was going to make it to the appointment today. Now I can't get in touch with him. I was nervous all day working up the courage to finally face him, for nothing. I hadn't seen him since our last encounter that led me to get pregnant.

I just want to get this day over with.

Doctor Jansen went on to do the ultrasound Everything with the baby was perfect and on schedule.

"Do you still want me to tell you the gender?"

I stared at Dr. Jansen for a moment, a tear slowly trickled down my cheek. I just wanted one thing to go right with Nelson and I. Which is us being good parents. He's not present for the baby at all. I told him about my last appointment before this, and of course he didn't show up. Even though I said, I wasn't going to tell him. I did try to be the bigger person.

My twin brother Julian Jr. came over and hugged me. I cried hard into his arms. My parents and sisters looked on sympathetically.

"We can reschedule for another day; you don't have to do this today."

I broke away from my brother after a few more moments to get myself together. "I want to know."

"You sure?" The doctor asked.

I nodded, wiping my face. "Yes, I have my family here, and I'm not going to let anybody spoiled this for me."

Everyone kept their gaze on me, concerned.

"Seriously, I want to know." I smiled, reassuring them.

"Alright." My brother went back to stand by my sisters in the corner, and my parents walked closer to me. He pulled out his phone to record. I pretended not to see it.

"Ok." Dr. Jansen moves the transducer around a little to get to the baby's bottoms.

"Alright, you're having a—" He zoomed in and clicked some pictures.

"Girl." He sang out, smiling at me.

I gasped covering my mouth as more tears formed, happy tears. Squeals and handclaps filled the room.

"Wooooo. I told you Liha. I knew twin was having a girl. I should've made a bet." My brother said to my big sis' Maliha. She playfully shoved him, both ecstatic about the news.

"Our first granddaughter, I can't believe it." My mom said to my grinning daddy.

|flashback over|

I made it to my condo building, taking a moment sitting in the car. I looked down at my still small baby bump, rubbing it.

"No matter what, baby girl, you got me. You will always be loved."

I leaned my head back against the headrest with my eyes closed, taking a deep breath. "We got this."

I finally got out of my car. I popped the trunk, bringing my bags inside. I didn't have a lot so one trip would do it.

I made it up to my condo, struggling to get my keys while holding my bags. I finally succeeded. Thinking, Next time I'll wait for Charlotte to go shopping.

I got everything in and put away. "Mommy worked up an appetite."

I had some leftover food from earlier in the fridge. My family and I went to a lovely bistro for lunch earlier to celebrate baby girl. I figured I'd go ahead and finish it off to hold me over until dinner.

After bussing that down, I found myself drifting off at the dinner table. I cleaned my mess then went over to the couch to get comfortable.

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