Part 2 of this story will be on that account ]

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𝗔𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗶 𝗞𝗮𝘆𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗲 𝗕𝗿𝗼𝘄𝗻𝗲 | 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗶

𝙷𝚘𝚞𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚗 𝚃𝚇 .

❦

"Don't let me down (Don't let me down)

Don't do me wrong (Don't do me wrong)"

..Cause I ain't got no one at all, I hummed to Brent Faiyaz while I cleaned up my living room.

"This penthouse view ain't as beautiful as you

Won't ever have time but I can make time for you

Know I used to tell lies but I would never lie to you

Shopping spree on my dime looking all kinds of new

Do you know what I like? What would you like to do?

Tell me, tell me,

I tend to yo-

My music got paused by someone calling me and I sucked my teeth before walking over to my phone.

"Yes, Aj?" I asked, answering her FaceTime call.

"Damn I can't call you anymore? It's like thattt?"

"You just cut off my music! You know how much I hate that shit so come on, what did you call for ?"

"Anywayss, I called yo rude ass to let you know that as of yesterday the studio is completely done." She smiled in the camera.

"Say sweaa." I dragged.

Since I been sort of mentally out of it for the past few weeks, I put all the responsibility in Aijah's hands when it came to the studio. I would still pop up here and there to make sure everything was coming together smoothly but for the most part I would handle all of the behind-the-scenes stuff like the website, ordering supplies that we needed, so on and so forth.

But for the most part Aijah has been responsible for the studio's progress and she hasn't disappointed at all.

One thing I admire about Aijah is her dependability and the fact that I know I can count on her to get shit done. She's goofy and she loves to party, but when it comes down to it, she's a hustler and she gets stuff done. I love that about her and that's why we click so well.

"Yess! Here, let me show you." She turned the camera around to show me our fully furnished studio.

I had already stopped by the studio two days ago but all the furniture hadn't gotten there yet so Aijah just did a quick lil' walk through of the studio on FaceTime. She showed me our new, refurbished joint-office as well as the new vanities we had installed. Then she walked out to the main entrance area where a neon sign hung above the plush sofa that read "A&A Studio" in hot pink.

"I would show you the rest but you already seen all that." She said and turned the camera back around.

"We're opening tomorrow morning right?"

"I finally hired the receptionist earlier today and we already got the rest of the hair stylists and lash techs on schedule so they know when they're coming in." She explained and I nodded approvingly.

Me and Aijah didn't wanna do a huge grand opening for our studio cause we still wanted people to be able to come in and get their lashes or hair done on the first day without all the extra people hanging around the studio.

But by now, our first day in business was looking completely booked in all of our services so there were going to be a lot of people coming in and out the studio regardless.

As I was on Face Time with Aijah I got an iMessage notification from Zion,

╭┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈╮

iMessage 2s

Im outside

Come get these bastards

╰┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈╯

"Zion just got here with Juel, Cee and Kania so i'ma talk to you later." I told Aijah.

"Imagine babysitting? You set yourself up with that one. Good luck, love you!"

"Love you too I guess." I said making her laugh before hanging up. On cue, my doorbell rung and I got up to answer it.

I opened the front door to be met with Kania who was holding Cee on her hip while holding Juel's hand who was staring at the floor shyly.

I bussed out laughing at Kania's facial expression. "You look like a teen mom."

"Bye Mari! Zion practically pushed me out the car and shoved these kids in my hands." She frowned as I continued laughing before stepping aside and letting them in.

"Keep 'em for as long as possible!" Zion yelled from his car as he backed his car out of my driveway.

"Must be gettin' some babymomma p-u-s-s-y huh?" I yelled back, not wanting to say the actual word because Cee has a bad habit of repeating everything she hears.

"'You know it!" He grinned before driving off.

I shook my head and locked the front door. I walked into the living room and Cee was sitting on the couch

with Kania while Juel sat across from them in the arm chair awkwardly.

"Tee Mar, hi!" Cee smiled and hopped off the couch to embrace me in a hug. "Hey, baby." I smiled down at her.

"Come here Ju, say hi." Nia motioned for Juel to go over to her which he hesitantly did. "It's okay Ju, you don't have to be shy." She chuckled.

"Hi." He basically whispered. "Hey Juelll." I dragged and he giggled.

One thing Juel didn't get from Soovy was his shyness. From what I've noticed at the funeral, Juel is super quiet before he gets comfortable with you. And even if he does get comfortable with you, there has to be people he knows around like his mom, his uncles, or his cousins.

"Y'all was at Duck 'nem house?" I asked Nia who nodded as I took a seat on the couch adjacent to her.

"Shaila brought Juel over there and since Zion was already bringing me and Cee over here he offered to bring Juel too and Shay said she didn't mind."

I looked down at Cee and Juel who were having a full on conversation about some random shit that I couldn't understand. "What do y'all wanna watch?" I

asked them.

"Umm.. we watch CoCo?" Cee asked, poking her bottom lip out. Ole girl is obsessed with those talking skeletons and I don't know why.

"Guh." Juel groaned and I pursed my lips to the side to avoid laughing. Yea this is definitely Soovy's son.

"Cee you watch that movie literally everyday. Choose something else." Nia said and she huffed.

"What about Toy Story?" I asked. Juel and Cee both nodded quickly.

"Here you can play it while I get the food." I told Nia, handing her the remote. She nodded and I got up and walked into the kitchen.

I heated up some Pizza Rolls and opened my cabinet to get out some chips and cosmic brownies. I went in my fridge and got fruit cups, Sprite for me and Nia, and apple juice for the kids. After I was done getting all the food I walked back into the living room and dimmed the lights in the process.

"Damn, so you feedin' feedin' us huh?" Nia asked, taking the food out my hands.

"Girl gon' somewhere! Acting like you don't get fed at home."

"I lowkey don't. Malaya ass barely knows how to boil an egg but now that she's in San Antonio my dad be straight starving us." She shook her head, eating one

of the pizza rolls.

"Hold on, you said that lady can't boil an egg? So what the fuck does her daughter eat?"

"Probably cheese like the rat she is." Nia shrugged and I laughed so hard Cee turned around to see if I was okay.

"You're going to hell man."

I set the pizza rolls, chips, and juice in front of Cee and Juel who had gotten comfortable on the floor next to the couch with some pillows.

I went into the closet in the hallway and got out a fur throw blanket. I handed it to Cee who spread the blanket out across her lap and made sure both her and Juel were completely covered.

"Tank you, Tee Mar." Cee smiled up at me.

"Tank you." Juel muttered, slightly smiling at me. His shyness was soo cute to me. The complete opposite of Soovy's loud ass.

We got comfortable in our seats and started the movie. Me and Nia were just dragging the characters the whole time while Cee and Juel watched the movie attentively.

"You know Mari, in all seriousness, I really like you for my brother." Nia smiled, making me smile as well. "Aw, that actually means a lot."

"I'm being so serious. I never seen him this sprung before. Like even when he talks about you, he be trying to hide his smile and stuff. He's a simp for you."

"He either be coming to my daddy for advice or every time someone asks him about you he gets so jittery and starts grinning. I've never seen him like that before." She chuckled.

"But in all honesty y'all really are good for each other, I love yall together. Unlike his last bum."

"Okay so what exactly happened with her 'cause I remember Samiron briefly telling me about her a while ago but I never got the full story.."

"I'm not one to tell peoples business.. howeverrrr you and my big bro are damn near in love soo let me tell you." Kania said as she sat up on the couch.

"Basically he got with ole girl a little after our momma died and he was in a rough place. He had stopped playing basketball, lost all his scholarships, and just started getting heavy into the streets. He was at an all time low. Shit, he barely even talked to us when he was at home. Anyways, he met ole girl at a party, her name was Lyric, and I guess they just hit it off." She shrugged.

Something about my nigga having exes doesn't sit right with me..

"So basically him and Lyric started getting real close. He would bring her to the house all the time. Lyric basically fell in love with him immediately 'cause she had been wanting Samiron but our whole household could tell that he was using her as a distraction at first. He didn't even seem that interested in her, especially in public. It was lowkey embarrassing to

watch."

"After a few months of just keeping her around for show, he admitted to us that he felt like he actually started to fall in love with her but we were all confused because he used to be cheating on her. Right when he admitted to being in love with her, Lyric had just found out that he had cheated on her before. So she got some niggas to set him up and he got shot and almost died. What affected him the most is one of his best friends at the time, Dru, helped Lyric set him up.."

"To make matters even worse she came back a few months after setting him up and told Mir she was pregnant. Now me and you both know Samiron can literally hold a grudge 'till the end of time but when it came to Lyric he pushed the whole set-up thing to the side temporarily because he was still in love with her and now she was his babymomma. Come to find out she wasn't even pregnant by him, she was pregnant by Dru and she made Mir think he was gonna be dad for damn near half of her pregnancy."

"God damn.. so we both have fucked up exes.." I sighed, making Nia laugh.

"But that's why i'm excited to see that he's genuinely happy with you because after Lyric he never got serious with anyone again. He admitted he was wrong for cheating he just didn't understand why she had to go as far as damn near killing him and then making him believe he was going to be a dad when she knew it wasn't his baby the whole time."

I shook my head. "That's fucked up. I mean he's fucked up for cheating on her fasho, but she didn't have to damn near kill him AND lie about carrying his seed."

"Right! I'm just glad he moved on 'cause he was fucked up over that bitch for a long time." Nia shook her head before shifting her attention back towards the tv.

Juel got up off the floor and walked over to where I was sitting on the couch. Cee was too indulged in the movie to notice him move. Surprisingly, he got on the couch and cuddled right next to me.

"Mama say you daddy's fren?" He looked up at me with eyes basically identical to Soovy's.

"Yea, I'm your daddy's friend." I smiled.

"Mama say he not come' back but I miss him. You find him pwease?" He frowned. I felt a pit form in my stomach and my eyes got glossier.

"Your daddy's always watching over you so it's okay. Just because you don't see him doesn't mean he's not there." I told Juel while I fought the strong urge building up inside me to start crying.

"Oh okay, Tee Mar." He nodded.

"JuJu come befo I eat last pizza woll." Cee said, making Juel hop off the couch and return to his seat next to her. She broke the pizza roll in half and gave him one piece.

"I miss Soovy." Kania muttered, putting her head on my shoulder.

"Same." I sighed, looking down at Juel who was giggling with Cee at the movie.

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𝙷𝚘𝚞𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚗 𝚃𝚇 ; A&A Studio

| 91°

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"Everything looks so good!" Aijah cheesed as we looked around the studio that was bustling with people.

It was our first day open and every one of our hair stylists and lash techs were booked all day so me and Aijah took this as an opportunity to see how they really engaged with clients.

We'd been open since 9am and it was currently past 12pm and so far all of our employees seemed to be doing good considering me and Aijah spent weeks going through people to make sure we hired the best of the best. My only concern was our receptionist..

"Monie! What are you doing?" I whisper-yelled at our receptionist as she batted her eyelashes at some random nigga who I could've sworn walked in here with his girl.

That's all she's been doing. She's really over here nigga-shopping on her first day at work.

"Ohh! My bad, boss." She giggled and threw her hands up in defense, trying to look innocent but failing.

The nigga huffed irritably and walked back to his girlfriend's chair knowing I just fucked up his chance to cheat. Yea, he ain't shit.

"She's pissin me off." Aijah huffed and looked away from her.

"I know. Just give her a few days. If she keeps this up then shes getting the boot." I told her.

"Got you. Hold up, don't you have an appointment at 12:30?" Aijah asked prompting me to glance over at the digital clock on the wall that read, 12:26pm.

"Uhh, let me ask Monie real quick." I rushed over to the front desk.

"Monie, don't I have someone coming in for me at 12:30?" I leaned over the desk. She checked the booking website on the computer.

"Yea but they canceled an hour ago."

"And you didn't tell me this because..?" I dragged on.

"Oops, my bad girl!" She chuckled, making me turn around and roll my eyes.

Aijah caught notice of the interaction and shook her head as I made my way into our joint office.

Shorty is really pissing me off and i'm trying so hard to not fire her and give her the benefit of the doubt because I literally just hired her but she's making it real hard.

I plopped down on the fur desk chair and leaned my head back and stared at the ceiling, relaxing my tense shoulder and neck muscles. I've been moving around on my feet since 7am and I still have a good 10 hours left before I lock up and go home. It's only the first day and a bitch is already exhausted. I don't know how I'm gonna keep doing this.

I was snapped out of my thoughts by a knock at the office door which was already cracked halfway open. I turned to see Samiron standing there smiling at me with a bouquet of red and white roses in his hand.

"Aww! Are these for mee?" I cheesed and damn near jumped up out of the chair.

"Naw, they're for the cashier at the Chipotle down the street from y'all." He sarcastically remarked, making me suck my teeth. We can never have a nice moment.

"Anywaysss, thank you! These are so pretty." I smiled, taking the bouquet out of his hands and admiring it.

"You're welcome. It's just to say congratulations on the studio and shit. This lil' bit nice." He nodded.

I knew he was gonna like the outcome of the studio regardless of what I did because that's just how he is. But something about his approval just makes it that much more rewarding for me.

"Aw, well that's sweet. Thank you again." I wrapped one arm around his neck and got on my toes to peck his lips a few times. Samiron being Samiron had to drag out the kiss by wrapping one of his hands around my neck and the other gripping my ass as he stuck his tongue into my mouth—ultimately causing my lil' pecks to turn into us sloppily tonguing each other down in me and Aijah's office.

"Let's stop before I have you bent over this desk." He mumbled against my lips. Shit, I wouldn't mind.

"That's you. You're nasty." I chuckled and unwrapped my arm from his neck.

"You love it." He smirked, making me go mute. Yes, yes I do.

He chuckled at my puzzled facial expression. "How's everything going so far?" He asked, slouching down on the small white sofa while I sat back down on desk chair with the roses in my lap.

"It's going smooth so far. Everyone knows what they're supposed to be doing and they're doing it so I have no complaints." I shrugged. He chuckled and nodded.

"You on yo big boy shit now that you're the boss huh?" He smirked. He knows I like being in charge which is why I never worked at someone's studio. Owning a studio of my own was always the goal for me.

"Sholl is." I smiled.

"That's wassup. I'm happy for you on some real shit. Yoy worked for this and you deserve it." He looked around the office approvingly. I tried containing my smile but failed miserably.

"This gon' be you once you stop running in the god damn street-"

"Well it was nice talking to you! I'm gonna fuck with you later, baby." He rushed, pecking my forehead, and walking out of the office before I could say anything else.

I shook my head and placed the bouquet on my desk, making a mental note to put them in some water later.