As Nina carefully lined her lips with matte brown liquid lipstick, she pondered to herself on whether or not she wanted to go to Starbucks. She planned to just rest inside today to recharge after last night's outing, but she desperately needed some coffee or tea or something. The migraine that she had was out of this world.

She was sure that the overwhelming headache was the aftermath of the fact that she may or may not have gotten a little too drunk last night. She hadn't had that much fun in such a long time though, she didn't regret it at all. Zyriah and even some new friends Nina made definitely made sure she had a ball.

The ball was having her this morning though.

Now back at home—or what would be her temporary home for the next two months—she'd just showered and was now doing a simple makeup look because she hated leaving the house with a bare face. To accompany her individual lash extensions, she filled in her brows and finished up her lip combo.

She didn't bother retouching up her previous pin curls since she would only be going to Starbucks and to Walmart, and the loose wavy look was actually kind of cute.

Luckily, both Starbucks and Walmart were right up the street, so it didn't take too long to get there. There was a T-Mobile nearby as well, and she had half a mind to stop there and change her number because Tyler had been blowing her phone up since she left from numbers she didn't even recognize.

Anyway, for it to be a Saturday morning, the drive thru line at Starbucks was unusually long. It was currently just a few minutes past 11, which was typically around the time where the morning rush died down, so it was surprising to see that the line still reached the street.

She assumed that everyone decided to go through the drive thru today because of the rain. She wasn't afraid of a little water though, so as soon as the opportunity presented itself, she swerved out of the line and into a parking spot.

Pulling on her hood, she got out of the car and did a light jog to the double doors of the entrance. The bells jingled above her as she strolled in, and she was relieved to see that there was barely a line inside.

"Hey I'm so sorry, I hope this isn't weird," A girl approached her with slight urgency just as she finished ordering, causing her eyebrows to come together in a concerned frown.

"My little brother has this thing where he draws faces that he likes, like, not to be weird or anything he's just—like, not all there like the typical person, if you know what I mean? Sorry this shit is coming out worse than I thought," She paused again to start over, while Nina's frown remained.

"I'm not sure if you have somewhere to be or not, but I'll literally pay you if you could just stay for a few minutes until he finishes the drawing 'cause he wants to give it to you but he's super shy. I promise this not no weird first 48 shit, he just rarely gets the courage to actually approach people, so I try to help where I can, you know? He doesn't even know that I came over here."

Nina looked down at the two fifty dollar bills that the younger woman was holding out for her to grab, then she trailed her eyes back to her face, now mildly confused, and also still a bit concerned.

"You just want me to sit down for a minute?" Nina asked to clarify.

"Please? He's a really good artist, I swear. He normally just throws the picture away when he's done but he told me he wanted to give it to you. He got nervous though and went to the bathroom to calm himself down, and I'm already having one of those days—I just can't deal with a tantrum from him right now." She was practically begging at this point.

Well, it wasn't like she had anything important to do anyway, and the rain was now coming down harder than before as if it was a sign for her to just stay for a bit to let the little boy give her the drawing. Besides, the sister seemed stressed out already, and Nina wasn't about to pass up the free hundred dollars she was offering.

If this was a ruse like the ones unsub's used on Criminal Minds, Nina would've definitely been kidnapped. Oh well though. It was free money! Plus, this was a public establishment. What could go wrong?

"Ok." She agreed, taking the money that was being handed to her.

"Oh my god, thank you so much!" The girl seemed to be at ease now that Nina would stay, and Nina just nodded in response.

The girl walked away and Nina approached the front counter when her name was called to get her order, then she went to sit at a random table that faced the window where she could watch the rain.

Her order consisted of two ham and cheese croissants and a cinnamon dolce latte with vanilla sweet cream and five shots of expresso roast blend. She occupied herself with her phone, scrolling through the scam likely jobs on indeed.

Because of the open set up of Starbucks dine in area, she could see the table that the woman sat at and she was sure that she could see her as well. So when another person approached the table, Nina's eyebrows furrowed slightly when that person sat down and grabbed a pencil.

He looked up and happened to meet her gaze, then immediately looked away when he realized that she was already looking at him.

This couldn't have been the 'little' brother that girl was talking about. This was a grown man. There was no way that this was the 'little' brother that could throw a 'tantrum'. Then she remembered the girl saying that he wasn't all there, and that caused Nina's judgmental thoughts to cease.

He looked all there, though—well, whatever that meant.

The man stood at around 5'10 or possibly taller, but that could've been from the tan colored Timberland boots he wore. He paired the shoes with gray washed jeans and a hoodie that matched his shoes. The hood was pulled over his head, but Nina could still see his black and blonde dreads.

He had a small but obvious frown placed upon his plump lips as he scribbled on a piece of paper, which Nina assumed was supposed to be the drawing of her. He was either very mad or just very concentrated. Regardless, he still looked 'all there', and he wasn't 'little' at all.

Nina watched as the girl she spoke to a while ago nudged his shoulder, seemingly gesturing him in Nina's direction. She couldn't read her lips but the man wasn't responding at all. He only frowned. Then, out of nowhere, he got up and walked towards Nina's table.

She kept her curious eyes on him the whole time, and he didn't even say anything as he sat down in the chair in front of her. He just put the piece of paper down on the table and went back to scribbling like before.

The scent of the cologne he wore was familiar to her because she'd bought the same Yves Saint Laurent cologne for Tyler, but he never wore it because he claimed it wasn't his style. It smelled like Heaven to Nina though.

"I don't mean to be rude, but are you deaf?" Nina signed to him in ASL, wondering if that was the reason why he hadn't spoken a single word since she laid eyes on him. It was a long shot, but might've been the case.

The man seemed either surprised or confused by the movements of her hand, and his eyebrows furrowed together even more. Then, he replied, but with his hands like she had.

"No. I'm just not a fan of talking. Are you deaf?" He signed back, and Nina let out a genuine laugh at the obvious sarcasm in his question. He cracked a smile too, but attempted to hide it by letting his dreads fall in his face.

"No. I majored in communications in college. I had to take 3 foreign language courses." She verbally told him.

"How old are you?" He signed, taking notice of the past tense of her sentence; meaning that she'd either already graduated from college or possibly dropped out.

"I'm 29." She said, and his eyebrows lost the previous tension they once held to raise in shock, making a smile replace her expression.

"I look young, yeah?" She asked, and he wasted no time to nod his head.

"Y—you're still really pretty though.. That's why I wanted to draw you.." His voice was soft as he finally spoke up, and the nervousness in his tone put a smile on Nina's face.

"Thank you. I appreciate that." Her smile remained as she glanced down at the piece of paper on the table.

"Oh my god. That looks just like me!" She took the piece of paper from him, and his frown returned within a millisecond.

"It's not done yet." He took it back, and actually talked again this time, but with a quieter voice; so quiet that it was almost inaudible.

"Really? What else do you need to add?" What else could be added? That was already her whole face! And what really shocked her was the fact that he managed to do that so quickly; she'd only been in Starbucks for around twenty minutes.

"Stuff." He signed to her before picking up his pencil again.

"Well it looks really good..." She paused to say his name, then realized she didn't know it. "What's your name?"

"Samir." He mumbled very lowly again.

"I'm Nina. How old are you, Samir?" She asked out of pure curiosity.

"24." He answered, and she nodded, glancing over at his sister who still sat at the same table. The girl mouthed 'thank you so much' with prayer hands, making Nina nod again.

"Who's that girl that's looking at you at that table?" Nina then asked, just to continue to conversation.

"My sister, Samara. She told me she talked to you. I don't have a girlfriend." He signed to her, and she rose an eyebrow since that topic hadn't even crossed her mind.

"You're married?" He signed next, and her perked eyebrow dropped down into a frown; how in the hell did he know that?

Then, he used the tip of his pencil to point to the fourth finger on her left hand where the print of both her wedding ring and her engagement ring still obviously remained.

"I am." She confirmed.

Samir didn't respond, and instead went back to focusing on the portrait. He tilted the pencil on its side to shade in her hair some more, keeping the strokes of the lead very light so that it wouldn't come out too dark.

Then within seconds, he stood up and walked out of the front doors without another word. His movement was sort of rushed and seemingly irritated, which confused Nina because she didn't remember saying or doing anything wrong.

His sister was right behind him, rushing out of the door like the building was on fire or something.

"Weird.." She mumbled to herself, pulling her second croissant out of the small bag it was in. That sucked though, she would've framed that drawing of herself. It was perfect.

Anyway, after she finished up with her food, Nina took the rest of her grande sized cinnamon dolce latte with her to her car, and started the short drive to Walmart. And by short, it was literally less than three minutes away.

Once she grabbed a cart, she opened the notes file with the list of groceries she'd be buying on her phone and headed to the produce section since it was closest to the entrance.

Suddenly, Nina's feet became glued to the floor beneath her and her eyes locked in on the display of yellow bananas sitting in a black basket. She tried to talk herself out of crying, but the bottom of her eyes pooled with tears before she could stop them.

It was so crazy how grief worked, especially over people who were still alive. Here she was, crying in Walmart over bananas because they were always the first things she grabbed when she went grocery shopping because Tyler loved them. He used them in his daily breakfast protein shakes and ate them throughout the day as a snack as well.

Personally, she hated bananas. They were too mushy and distasteful for her to enjoy but she'd never been to Walmart without making sure to grab some for her husband.

Almost everything Nina did revolved around him and the life they'd built over the past five years. How was she supposed to start over from scratch? How was she supposed to just forget him? How was she supposed to move forward without the man she was planning to spend the rest of her life with?

It seemed impossible.

Since childhood, she was shown by her mother to always put her all into a man even if that meant leaving nothing for herself. That's why Nina had no foundation outside of Tyler. She depended on him for everything, and in a way, he depended on her as well.

Clearly she wasn't as dependable as she thought because he'd somehow found comfort in another woman; a woman that Nina introduced him to.

Moments later, Nina found herself back in her car with no groceries to accompany her, bawling her eyes out.

She just didn't know how to deal with this. Five years with this man and never once had she questioned his loyalty to her because she trusted him; possibly a little too much. She wondered if there were any others she didn't know about.

This situation took her back to when she was a young girl, questioning herself on why she wasn't good enough for her parents to love her; or what she could've done better to prove to them that she was more than worthy of their love and affection.

It just wasn't fair. Why couldn't she ever be good enough for anyone? Hell, she wasn't even good enough for herself. That's what saddened her most.

Where was the starting point to change that?

Although she didn't have the answer to that, she had a feeling that she knew someone who did.

A little less than an hour later, Nina used her hand to gently dust off the Bible held by the standing angel built on the side of the tall, black granite headstone in Glenwood Cemetery. The decorative headstone honored Nina's maternal grandfather, Earl Brown; the only person who never failed to make sure Nina knew just how loved she was.

She hated that her grandfather couldn't live forever, or at least long enough to be repaid for all he'd done. She also hated that he had to die so cruelly, at the hands of another man who wouldn't know love if it hit him in the face.

"I'm so sorry papa. I said I wouldn't cry the next time I came to see you but I can't help it. I'm hurting bad, pop.." She sniffed, sitting back against the headstone that reached her mid torso if she stood up straight.

Nina could hardly get a word out as she sat there, but she knew that both her grandfather and God were listening to her heart and mind, or at least she hoped so. She hoped they could feel what she felt, and would guide her in the right direction to bettering herself.

"Papa you know I hate asking for signs and stuff. I want you to tell me exactly what I need to hear, or, or what I need to do? Anything..please?" She sniffed, lying her head against the granite stone.

"Nina! Quit all that damn playing, girl! You know my back goin' out nie'." Earl said with a small laugh as his granddaughter jumped on his back, wrapping her arms around his neck from behind.

"Papa hold me 'for I fall!" She laughed as well, then screamed with joy as he began to run as fast as he could towards her bedroom—which wasn't that fast since he was pushing seventy.

"Papa!" She burst into a fit of bellyaching laughter after being thrown on the bed, being attacked by his tickling fingers seconds later.

"Oh it's okay when you wanna play, but you want me to stop when it's my turn?" He snickered childishly as Nina hit at his hand to get him to stop since she was laughing way too hard to talk.

"Alright now, settle down missy." He lifted her to sit up once she started to cough from choking on her laughter.

"Papa I almost died!" She exclaimed when she finally caught her breath.

"You doing just fine girl."

"Well that's why I said almost, duhhh." Nina rolled her neck.

"C'mon here child. Let's get you something to eat, huh?" He picked her up with a smile, carefully setting her down on her own two feet.

"Can we get McDonald's today papa? Please?" She asked, watching him grab her LED light up shoes from the closet.

"Sure honey. Anything you want." He said, causing a small smile to take over her face.

"Papa, sometimes I wish you were my dad. I wish I could only live with you all the time and not just on the weekends.." Nina's previously energetic and joyful voice turned to a mumble of sadness.

"I know, sweet girl. I'm working on making that happen for you, you hear?" He rubbed her arm with assurance, then brought her in for a hug when she pouted, signaling that she would start crying soon.

"Have faith that things will eventually work out, alright? Rose Kennedy once said 'Birds sing after a storm; why shouldn't people feel as free to delight in whatever sunlight remains to them?'."

"'free to delight in whatever sunlight remains to them?'..." Nina mumbled along with him, and her pout transformed into another smile once he wiped her tears away.

"There's always sunlight in the distance for a special girl like you, Nina. Sometimes it will take a while to see it, but it's there, and it's waiting on you. You are a child of God. He will always find a way for you, you hear me? Even when the days are cloudy, He will lead you to that sunlight." Earl kissed her forehead, and her eyes fluttered closed for a moment.

Nina began to cry harder than before as the shadow casted by the tall red oak tree above her grandfather's grave was lifted, replaced by the afternoon sun shining brightly on the headstone, as if it was the sign she'd just asked for.

"I love you so much papa."

Lol (non threatening btw)