The Reclaimed Princess

In the Beginning

The Summer

Imani lived life as your typical local. A recent college graduate with major perspectives. She described her life as extraordinarily simple. She loved it, because her perception of a minimalistic lifestyle kept her mind at ease. With a tumultuous time in the past few years and a small identity crisis she was ready to face young adulthood. The city she lived in was a major city but yet so wide in geographical dimension it was enough space to feel the peace of solitude. It was not as small and silent as the town she was raised in, in Illinois but - she liked the busy lifestyle of major cities. Graduating from a University in Miami she understood that too much attention is dangerous. But spending the past few years back at home in Orlando she was having trouble deciding if she wanted to move back to the major beach city.

Orlando was truly a beautiful city. Very clean, kind people, and gossip does not last too long. Families stick together and friends usually share characteristics no matter where they are from. It is a beautiful sense of unity and love for the young people. Personally Imani was very different. Growing up she was more artistic, emotional, and intelligent than her peers. Far too smart and sweet to view herself as having more aptitude or deserving of a better life. To finish her degree she moved back home with her parents and struggled to truly uncover the pain that she had gone through from childhood to adulthood. It was time to grieve due to the lack of comfort she was given. An opportunity to make amends with herself and her own dishonesty. Never feeling beautiful, intelligent, or devout enough to be graced with the gift of life. As she dived deeper into this feeling she also had to discover why she felt like this. After a year of self reflection, therapy, and a combination of natural and pharmaceutical assistance she finally came to a place where she felt decently stable. By August of her 23rd solar return she even began to feel beautiful. Happiness was embedded into her mood and self acceptance had become far more easy. She moved into a new apartment with her sister and began her first full time job as a Paralegal in a small boutique law firm.

Imani was over excited to work in downtown Orlando. She had come up with an easy to follow daily routine that would prove her work ethic and intelligence to be incomparable but also strengthen her self confidence. Work began at 8:30 AM. Imani was up and out of bed by 5:30 every morning. Shower, simple work dress, coffee, packed lunch, and out of the house by 6:45-7:00 A.M. It took about 35 minutes to drive to work by taking the back roads and she needed 15 minutes to stop for coffee. She would arrive to work right after 8:00 AM making her about 20 minutes early every day. She loved it, it was a bullet proof routine. She worked quietly so as to not be a disturbance and worked very hard to keep up with the workload. Not every day was easy but everyday she slowly became a better adult.

The Summer came to a slow burning beautiful close and mid-September rolled in. Tired of spending her weekends watching her younger brother's football games she decided it was time to date again. She went online and began swiping. Mostly all left, but while she was at work she had a great pool of people because of the Downtown dating quality of men. Doctors, Lawyers, Engineers, STEM men, Business men. It was great. The conversations with them were brief and catastrophically interesting. Very awkward but it helped Imani to come out of her shell. That was until she crossed paths with Hussein. He went by his last name. They had a short and sweet message and they agreed to drinks on a Thursday evening. There was a beautiful rooftop bar, the night was around 71 degrees. Not sweaty at all. You could absolutely wear anything and it was perfect if you wanted to feel the heat of a first date. She went to work Thursday morning and sat down with a good friend.

"Please convince me not to go on a date with this man." Imani said pretty blunt.

"Let me see him." her friend replied

Imani shows a picture. Her friend smiled

"Please, go on a date with him."

"But what if I want to kiss him?"

"Absolutely kiss him!"

"What about this hurricane that's coming next week?"

"Who cares? Go on the date! Have you confirmed your going?"

"No...."

"Text him!"

Imani swallows her anxiety and texts Hussein that she is still available to go on a date. He sends back a heart and they confirm the time and location.

Later that Evening

5 PM rolls around and Imani confirms she is getting ready, although she suggested a 6 PM meet up she tells Hussein it would probably be around 7 PM that she makes it. He says it's fine and he will gladly wait. 7:30 PM, Imani texts Hussein that she is leaving. By the time Imani finally leaves the house the sun has begun to go down. Hussein texts Imani and says that he is waiting in the lobby for her. She calls back and tells him that she is 20 minutes away. He laughs and tells her that it's all okay as she re-iterating how sorry she is, making her sound extremely nervous. Making him aware that she doesn't date much. Surprising him a bit because she's so beautiful and young but he was okay with her shyness. She arrives by 8 PM. As soon as she walks in she does a nice slow turn in her beautiful Louis Vuitton Red Bottom heels she saved up for her graduation gift and finds Husein sitting there waiting eagerly. At eye contact he quickly gets up and briskly walks across. He says hello and hugs her very tightly. It surprised her a bit because there was no hesitation. She takes a nice deep breath in and he smells clean and manly. Their bodies fit perfectly together. He felt strong when he held her. They let go and he takes a nice long look at her. He smiles and says "Mmm we're matching." Imani looks sheepishly, "I'm sorry, I don't think we match. I am wearing a black shirt with a beige and black skirt." She smiles, being very proud of her outfit choice. Hussein caresses her back and says "Well look at me, I am wearing a black and beige shirt and black pants."

Imani nods and they head over to the elevator. As they step inside everyone looks at them and gives them room to step in. Hussein has a very sweet smile on his face. A princess feeling came over Imani and she feels that Hussein could cater to her whimsical demands that she usually does not have. Like he wanted to really impress her. Although she was a bit tired from a long week she was excited, deeply. Right away she felt like her "dating" period was over and Hussein may be the one. Especially her type. A few years older, taller, beautiful smile, a little nerdy. But most importantly he let her lead the conversation, he was comfortable not talking. Imani loved to be the one talking because her brain moves ten million miles a minute. Keeping all those thoughts inside makes her anxious. But most importantly, Hussein looked at Imani as if he truly thought she was beautiful. They had hardly spoken but they both felt like they were friends already. Many reasons to hate eachother but ten times more reasons not to live without each other. They find their way to the roof and find a beautiful love sofa to sit and introduce themselves. Hussein just stares at Imani, and Imani begins talking naturally. Rolling her eyes, smiling, blushing, speaking fast and then slow and then fast again. Checking her phone to reply to some work emails. That was what turned Hussein on to another degree. Watching her face while she replied to her boss made him shiver a bit. He wanted to read her email, he wanted her to email him, he wanted to be her boss. This little "hold on let me reply to my boss he's still working on a case right now." was dangerous for him to hear. He said "of course," and silently watched her. In his very smart and sharp Virgo personality he began to plan how to get Imani home. They had known each other for 8 minutes at this point.