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3

When we went to Isaiah's supermarket, I told him the same thing I told Jerome.

"Well, I will let you stay with me and my wife. She's at work right now but you will meet her tonight. She is a nurse at the hospital. I can't promise that things will be perfect but I do know it will be better than your previous lifestyle,"he assured me.

"Thank you. It means so much that you're taking me in."

"Your welcome."

********

It's been two weeks since I've been staying with Isaiah and his wife Marie and they have been good to me. They are going to enroll me in the school that Jerome attends. I am helping Isaiah at the supermarket although he and Ms. Marie insisted on it.

It's 10:00 p.m. and I was home doing nothing. It felt good having a place to call home. I had my own room. It was a large room with a lot of space. I fell in love with it the first time I saw it. I use the space to dance; I love to dance! Last week Ms.Marie took me shopping so I have enough clothes to last me. I'm so grateful that they are helping me.

I had just taken a bath and was laying down on the bed trying to think of something I could do but my mind was blank. If I had a phone, I would've played a game or something. I was very bored so I said a short prayer and was getting ready to go to bed but as I was about to close my eyes there was a knock at the door.

"Come in," I called out.

The door opened revealing a smiling Jerome. He was wearing a grey Patch Pocket Muscle Tank, a pair of Denim pants and white Jordans. I swear this dude looks cuter and sexier every time I see him. Ever since that encounter with him two weeks ago, we hadn't really had a conversation. When he came over, he was always on quiet mode when he saw me.

"I see you're already going to bed," he said with laughter in his voice.

"Yeah, I don't have a thing to do."

"I see. So, me and my bros were gonna hit up a party and I was wondering if you wanted to come with us."

"Yeah, sure."

"Okay, I'll be waiting on you downstairs while you get dressed."

He went out the door and I jumped out of the bed and headed towards the closet to get my outfit to wear. It didn't take long to find something to wear as I only had a few party clothes. I decided on a peach tight-fitting dress that reached me mid-thigh and a black flat shoes since I didn't have any high heels to wear.

I didn't know how to do my hair and it would've taken a lot of time to straighten so I just let my curls loose. Looking at my reflection in the mirror, I looked alright. I didn't have any make-up to give myself that finishing look but my face was cute so it wasn't needed.

Jerome and Isaiah were in the hall talking when I went down there. I spotted Ms. Marie in the kitchen on my way to the hall and went in so I could get her opinion.

"Hi," I said stepping closer to her back which was turned towards me. She was washing some dishes but wiped her hands on a dish cloth and turned around when I greeted her.

"Hello dear. You look beautiful, I told you that dress would fit you well." I smiled at her. She was a very beautiful woman. It felt good for such beautiful woman to tell me that I was beautiful. I can't recall anyone telling me I'm beautiful before her.

"Thank you Ms. Marie. It means so much that you think I'm pretty;I don't think anyone has ever seen that quality in me."

"Really? You are and you should embrace it. Come on, I have something that will go well with that dress." She lead the way to her room.

It was the first time I've seen inside their room although it was just a room away from my new room. To say it was a nice room would be an understatement. The room was spacious and painted white with a bathroom to the right. It featured large windows which were closed allowing the air conditioning to take over, king sized bed with fresh white sheets. She stopped in front of a dresser, opened one of the drawers and took out a small wooden box with a purple ribbon around it. Her index finger held out a silver necklace which she held up for me to see.

"It's lovely, isn't it?" She walked around and stood behind me to put the beautiful necklace around my neck.

"Thank you very much. For everything. You and Isaiah have been so good to me and I really appreciate it." A single tear rolled down my left cheek.

"Oh hunny why are you crying?" She enveloped me in a hug.

"It's happy tears," I replied laughing to reassure her that I was okay.

"Okay, go on now. My grandson is waiting on you."

We walked together to the hall where Jerome was watching the television and Isaiah was fast asleep. Looked like old man was tired.

" You ready?" Jerome asked getting off the couch.

"Yea."

He went and kissed his aunt on the cheek and we were out the door after I told her bye.

Once we were inside the car, we were both quiet. Only the low music from the radio broke the silence. There was a thick tension in the car. He affected me so much; I found him intimidating. After three minutes of looking through the window at nothing I took the chance to steal a glance at him. Worst mistake; he stared right back at me. We both looked away quickly.

"This is gonna be a long night," I thought.