"So what in your got damn mind made you think you were ready?" Karla interrogated Kiara about her decision from the other night she had with Khari after their date as the two girls drove to brunch. They haven't really spent time with one another and Kiara really missed her sister from another mister and she had so much to catch up on. First being her moment with Khari.

"A bitch was in a mood."

"Well, you can be in one but just think wisely. I'm not saying Khari isn't a good person for you but you two have only been together for a good 3-4 weeks. Not only that, you just had an encounter with the man who attempted to sexually assault you. I just want you to be sure and safe mama." Karla told Kiara as they came to a red light.

"I understand. But we didn't do anything, he teased the hell out of me but he said no. I'm happy he did, because honestly I don't think I was fully ready and he knew it." Kiara told her.

"That's nice, the taking things slow part not the teasing. That's some evil shit, we don't like that." Karla said causing Kiara to chuckle.

"But anyway, can you come to my eye doctor appointment with me tomorrow? I finally get results from my last appointment." Kiara asked Karla as the two stopped at a red light.

"I can't, I have to cater for this wedding and I can't afford for these workers to mess anything up. Some rookie placed the parfaits by the heater at the last event and made them melt, Kiki when I tell you I was pissed, girl." Karla vented.

"It's fine. I'll probably ask Troy or someone." Kiki said as they continued their drive to the restaurant. She was way passed nervous for her appointment because Kiara didn't have the best eye sight in her family and friends due to her suffering from a visual impairment she was diagnosed with about 3 years ago and sometimes it brought her down, but this appointment was to find out if her condition got any worse. Only people that knew were Troy and his family plus her Granny. Her condition was called Stargardt and it was hereditary, so it was passed down from her lovely parents but she assumed that they didn't even know about it because it was never brought up by her mother or her granny. Thankfully her condition wasn't too bad to where she wasn't able to drive or where she had to tell employers, which she was happy about. She didn't want to inform Khari because she didn't want people to feel sympathetic for her, especially Khari. It was a struggle for everyday but she learned how to cope and work through it.

After an hour of her girl's day with Karla, Kiara headed back to her apartment and relaxed the rest of the night. For the past week she was back and forth from her home to Khari's and she loved being around Khari but she was happy to be finally in her own space again. She looked over her room and realized her space wasn't the best and she could do a whole lot better. She stood from her bed and began to straighten up her living space, next she looked over at her computer and began to do some school work so she wouldn't fall behind again.

After 3 hours of doing school work she decided to relax and watch some Netflix. While binging The Vampire Diaries she got an incoming call from her mom.

"Hello?" Kiara answered keeping her attention onto the television in her bedroom.

"How are you doing? I haven't heard from you." Shivani asked.

"I'm good." Kiara shrugged. Her and Shivani weren't fully on good terms but Kiara was cordial with her birth giver and would talk to her here and there.

"Ok, that's good, your birthday is coming up in a few days? Have any plans?" Shivani asked trying to build conversation.

"Not as of right now, me and my boyfriend.." Kiara said as she caught herself next quickly regretting it.

"Boyfriend? Aww who is he? Is he nice? I hope he's nice. Tell me about him? How long have you two been seeing each other?" Shivani bombarded Kiara with questions.

"Yes, he's nice and for a couple of weeks. Is there anything you need? I'm currently catching up on my show." Kiara asked becoming annoyed.

"No, was just checking up on you." Shivani's tone switched as she realized that her daughter didn't want to be bothered with her right now and Shivani felt bad because it was her fault as to why Kiara didn't want to be bothered with her. The phone grew silent next causing Shivani to clear her throat and speak. "Well I'll leave you to your alone time, sorry for disturbing you." Shivani apologized which made Kiara feel a little bad.

"Wait." Kiara stopped her before she could hang up the phone. Kiara knew her mother wanted to build a relationship with her and honestly Kiara wanted to do the same and she couldn't do so if she ignored her. "I have an eye doctors appointment tomorrow, would you like to accompany me? It's a pretty big moment for me." Kiara asked.

"Yes. I would love to. What time is your appointment?" Shivani agreed as her tone changed into happier tone.

"2:40. I'll send you my address and you can pick me up or meet me there, your pick." Kiara shrugged.

"I can pick you up, I have a meeting in the city tomorrow morning so I can get you." Shivani informed Kiara. The two ended their call and went with their day. As Kiara began to go back to her show she got another call, this time coming from Khari. She answered showing her face causing a smile to appear across Khari's.

"Hey." He beamed at the sight of her face. Her satin bonnet sat full on the top of her head as Kiara stuffed her face with junk food.

"Hi." Kiara said with a mouth full of popcorn causing Khari to shake his head at how comfortable she was around him. He enjoyed it honestly. He was happy that she was okay with being herself around him.

"What you doing?" He asked as he lied down on the hotel bed.

"Watching Netflix, hows Philly?" Kiara asked. Khari and his father had some business things to handle in Philly for the day and thankfully they'd be back tomorrow evening, for Kiara that was good because she left her laptop at his apartment and she needed to edit some things for work.

"It's chilling, I'm ready to come back though, these cheesesteaks not really all that in my opinion." Khari shrugged causing Kiara to laugh. She never been to Philly or out of the state of New York at that. Everything she needed was here, her family, her friends, her career, she never felt the need to travel to another state. If she was to ever travel anywhere It would be across the world to Paris or Egypt or something like that.

"Well I heard they were good, I've never had one though." Kiara told Khari.

"Well, maybe I went to the wrong place. But next time we can both get one together, from a different place." Khari chucked. "I miss you mama." Khari pouted.

"It's only been a day." Kiara laughed.

"Exactly, that's too damn long." Khari laughed. The two continued their conversation until one of them fell asleep, which in this case was Kiara. Khari screenshot her and sent it to her phone before hanging the phone up.

-

It was now the next day and Kiara was up and ready for her appointment. She waited in her living room until Shivani called her . As she sat on her couch she texted Troy and Karla.

🙄💙

🤞🏾💕

🙄💙

🤞🏾💕: shut yo ass up!

Kiara shook her head at her friends and continued to text them until she got a call from Shivani saying she was outside. As Kiara walked down to front of her apartment building all she could think about is what if Shivani had her condition or Shivani would look at Kiara differently. She just didn't want her to pity her. As Kiara approached the car she got in and the two said hello and began heading to the appointment.

"So, what kind of appointment is this again?" Shivani asked

"Eye appointment." Kiara told her as she types away on her phone as she texted the owner of a building in Brooklyn who owned a an old photography studio. She was still on the lookout for a studio to book her own clients.

"Oh that's nice. Why is it so important? You said last night that it was an important appointment. Are you getting something new?" Shivani asked as they came to a stop at a red light.

"I get my results to know if my eyes are getting better or worse." Kiara said. She knew she was gonna have to tell Shivani eventually but she just wanted to keep it short with her.

"Worse? Do you need glasses?" Shivani asked as she began to drive once the light turned green.

"No. We can discuss this with the doctor." Kiara told her as the car began to grow silent.

After another 20 minutes the two arrived at the doctors office and Kiara was sitting in the examination room. She went through with all of her test, that she seriously hated. There was one test where she had to keep her eye open and look at this red dot as the doctor took pictures and the flash was basically blinding, which she found ironic because eye doctors always said to not stare into bright, blinding lights. She just thought it was pretty contradicting.

"Hey, so I'm back with what you've been waiting so anxiously for. Oh, sorry ma'am, I'm doctor Persaud and you are?" Kiara's doctor said entering the room. Throughout the day she's just been seeing nurses so Shivani was still pretty confused on what was going on and why they were doing so many test on her child.

"I'm Shivani Palet, Kiara's biological mother." Shivani told the doctor as she shook his head.

"Oh! Nice to finally meet you. Did Kiara tell you about her condition?"

"Condition? No." Shivani asked as she glanced over at Kiara then back at the doctor.

"Kiki, do you wanna tell her or should I?" Her doctor asked.

"Go ahead." Kiara said giving her doctor permission.

"So, Kiara here, has an eye condition called Stargardt. Stargardt disease is a genetic eye disorder that causes progressive vision loss. It affects the macula, an area of the retina responsible for sharp, central vision. Vision loss is due to abnormal accumulation of a fatty yellow pigment, medical term would be lipofuscin, in the cells within the macula." Doctor Persaud informed Shivani. "So all those test you saw us doing on her were to check if her vision got worse or if she stayed stagnant."

"Genetic?" Shivani asked. "As far as I'm concerned, I don't have any eye disorders."

"You may not but that is why I was going to ask if we could draw some of your blood to see if it's from you or her father. Do you have any contact with him?"

"No, Me and her father separated way before Kiara was born." Shivani said.

"That's fine, if your results come back negative then we'll know where it came from. But Kiara I have your results and luckily you are stagnant, you've been doing great these last 3 years and I wish you the best. If you have any concerns just let me know."

"Will do." Kiara said before she shook her doctors hand and he walked out.

"Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

"I wanted you to hear it from a real doctor and I didn't want you to look at me differently." Kiara shrugged as she stood from the chair and gathered her things.

"I wouldn't have looked at you differently. I couldn't, if there's a chance I may have it, I wouldn't look at you differently." Shivani told her.

The two walked out of the appointment and Shivani made her appointment to get the blood work done and they headed back. They grabbed some food and had a long discussion about Kiara's experience with her visual impairment. Shivani advised her to tell Khari, not just for a relationship purpose but for a business purpose in case if Kiara's vision eventually did get worse Khari and the company would know how to handle it so they could all help her in the work place.

Shivani dropped Kiara back off home and headed home. As Kiara walked up her hallway she saw Khari standing at the door with her laptop in hand and duffel bag hanging on his shoulder.

"I'm home!" He said excitedly casing Kiata to laugh and hug him tightly. The two walked in and got situated.

Kiara didn't know how she was going to tell him that she was visually impaired but she knew she was dreading it.

💕😂💕