Unbeknownst to Nina, Samir was now wide awake and was currently enjoying the feeling of her leaving light kisses all over his face and neck while he 'slept' beside her. He woke up around ten minutes ago, but knew she'd been kissing him for the last half hour or so.

The kisses were really soft because she didn't want to wake him up since he had to go to work today. It was going on four in the morning and she wanted to love on him before he left for his eight hour shift plus an additional two hours of rush hour traffic and the hour it took to drive there, totaling 11 hours give or take.

She loved spending the weekends with him and the two of them always dreaded when Monday morning rolled around. Unlike the previous two weekends though, Nina wasn't going home to stay. She wasn't about to wait an entire week to see him again. She wanted to wake up to him every morning and lay in his arms at the end of every day.

Tyler texted her a few minutes ago to ask if she could just come home so that they could talk about the elephant in the room, and she knew he was about to kiss the ground she walked on and give her a sob story to get her to stay with him since it was now confirmed that there was another man in the picture.

Her plan was to hear him out just because she unfortunately loved him enough to where she at least wanted to give him closure—or head in the direction of it, but she didn't have any intentions on staying. She was tired of putting her happiness second to his. For once in her life, she wanted to put herself first.

Samir made her the happiest. He put her on a pedestal that she didn't even put herself on and there was no way she would settle for a man who couldn't give her that after five years of her putting her all into him.

It took Samir less than two months to do that. And although they were moving quite fast, Nina didn't regret anything. Even if this doesn't end up lasting as long as they hope, she would forever be grateful to have experienced him. He was her person in this moment and that's all that mattered for now.

"You can stop pretending to be sleep now Mir." Nina said after asking a sip from the bottle of cold Simply Orange juice on the nightstand.

"Smcht. How'd you know?" His eyes opened with a smack of his lips, making her smile.

"You're a natural pouter. Your bottom lip too big—it stick out real far, especially when you sleep. But you try to hide it when you're awake." She flicked it with her fingers, and he smacked his lips again before raising up from the bed.

Nina was glad that he woke up a little earlier than usual. She had about a half hour to spend with him before he had to get ready for work. He hadn't even left yet and she already couldn't wait for him to come back home.

"What you was thinking about ma?" He asked from the bathroom, putting charcoal toothpaste on his electric toothbrush.

"You."

"What about me?" He clarified.

"Does it matter? Get you some business boy." 

"You are my business." He waited until he spit the toothpaste out to talk, and Nina's cheeks raised with a smile.

"I don't wanna go back home." She told him with a light chuckle, watching him grab the black rag hanging from the hook near the mirror.

"Then don't. You can stay here."

"I can't keep wearing your clothes Mir." She referred to his boxers that she currently wore as shorts—and they were too tight on her because he was so much smaller than she was.

"You can pack a suitcase and then come back? I'll get you an Uber if he doesn't give you your keys." He turned out the light in the bathroom before getting back in bed with her, pulling her leg to rest over his hipbone while he laid on his side.

"A whole suitcase?" She smiled.

"Yeah. I keep telling you that you can stay here with me. I'll make space in my closet for you. And you can bring your makeup and stuff and put it in my bathroom." He told her as if it was as simple as that.

"You so sweet stink." She leaned her head forward for a kiss, and he returned it before pulling back to say something else.

"I'm serious though." He stared at her with a small frown on his face. "I'll call off today and we can go get your stuff. That way he won't be able to tell you no."

"I'm scared." She mumbled, realizing that he was being sincere.

"Of what mama?" His tone softened.

"I don't want anything to go wrong. You're basically asking me to move in with you but that's usually when things go bad.."

"You won't know that unless you give it a chance—and give me a chance. You have to stop living in fear Nina. You keep stopping yourself from doing what makes you happy, for what?" He tilted her head up as soon as she tried to hide her face, knowing that she was getting emotional.

"I'm sorry. I don't mean to make you cry. I just—I don't want you over there Tinkerbell. I want you here with me; you don't have to worry about being hurt over here." He kissed her lips after wiping away her tears.

Nina didn't say anything for a while and Samir didn't make her because he knew that there was nothing more she hated than crying, so he gave her a few minutes to regather herself before she finally said something.

"I can't believe I love you this much. You really mean everything to me Mir." The way she stared at him as if he wasn't real made him smile.

"I love you. You my baby. I want you happy all the time." He said back.

"Stoppp ittt." She covered his face as soon as her eyes watered again; she wore her feelings on her sleeve so easily with him. She loved and hated it at the same time.

"For real though, I wasn't asking you. I was telling you what we gon' do." He pulled her forward to kiss her forehead, and she nodded as he wiped her tears again.

"Thank you so much. You are my baby." She rubbed over his chiseled jaw, repeating his previous statement. He puckered his lips out to hers, and she smiled as he pulled her on top of him after sharing a few small kisses.

Samir's right hand rubbed mindlessly at the inside of Nina's thigh, which soothed him more than it did her, if not equally. It was second nature for his hand to go to her leg as soon as they got in the car together.

The two of them were currently on the way to the house Nina shared with her husband, Tyler, and her heart was pounding through her chest because she knew that he was there and not at work like he was supposed to be. He'd been begging her all morning to come home so that they could talk.

He wasn't aware that she would be bringing Samir, though.

She needed him there with her. If he hadn't tagged along, Nina knew she would allow Tyler to manipulate her into staying with him. She wasn't strong enough on her own; Samir made up for the strength that she lacked. She was so much stronger with him on her side. He uplifted her in more ways than one.

Within due time, Nina hoped that she could be strong without any help. She wanted to be able to support herself without needing to depend on anyone else; and she hoped that happened sooner rather than later..

Although she appreciated Samir for everything he did and loved him more than life, she didn't want to put the same dependency on him that she had on Tyler. She already felt like a burden as it was, no matter how much Samir denied that being the case.

"Stop all that thinking. Talk to me." Samir patted the area that his hand rested against, and Nina reached down to rub his arm.

"Flashbacks from this morning. Nothing serious." She lied with a smile; though he really did knock her box out the frame a few hours ago.

"Liar." He pulled into her neighborhood, and Nina rolled her eyes at how well he knew her.

"You got this ma. And I got you." His hand left her thigh to intertwine his fingers with hers, and her closed-lip smile returned.

"Let me know if I gotta come in." He kissed the back of her hand before leaning over to open her door from the inside so that she didn't have to do it herself.

"I will. Thanks stinky." She kissed both of his cheeks and then stepped out of the SUV, closing the door behind her.

She put her hands into the front pocket of Samir's hoodie that she wore, walking up the stone pathway to her house. It seemed like the weight of her body grew heavier with each step she took, making it hard for her to approach the front door, unsure of what was waiting for her on the other side.

Nina opened the door as silently as possible and shut it the same way once she was in. The house was mostly quiet and was the same way she left it on Friday, with the only sound being the Full House theme song playing from their bedroom.

The door to their room opened before she could even get to it, and Tyler stood there as if he didn't recognize his own wife—and Nina honestly couldn't blame him because she felt the same way when she found out about him and their surrogate, Britney.

"Are y—are you home to stay?" He asked with hesitance, standing in the doorway.

"No." Was all that she said, and his eyes lowered to her playing with the scrunchie around her wrist; a nervous 'tick' of hers that was introduced to her by her therapist to replace the urge to cut herself.

"I just c—Nina, why? I thought we were fixing t—,"

"There was nothing left to fix Tyler. It hasn't been for a while, even before you and Brit. I've been saying for months that this isn't what it used to be a few years ago. It never will be." She walked past him to get to their closet, grabbing the same empty suitcases she packed when she left the first time.

"So, you're just going to give up on us? Just like that?" Nina could hear the genuine sadness in his tone.

"It isn't 'just like that'. I've been trying for so long Tyler—begging you to just do right for me. I've been trying. You didn't start until you got caught; until you realized you were close to losing me. You waited too late." She pulled the hangers holding her clothes off of the hook, stuffing them into the large suitcase.

"I'm sorry Nina. Please don't leave. Just let me try one more time, I mean I—I've been trying since I messed up. I thought I was doing better."

"You waited too late.." She repeated in a quieter tone, putting the shoes that she used the most into the second suitcase. She stuffed all but two of her purses in it as well, and she hung those two of the handle of the suitcase.

"All I want is for you to let me leave. I don't need any money, I don't want the house, I don't need the car. I just want to go. Please don't fight me on this Ty. I'm so tired.." She added, practically begging.

It went silent between them as Nina moved on to the bathroom, packing all of her makeup and hygiene products into a pink duffle bag. She even threw in her favorite body towel because there was no way she would leave that behind.

Next, she grabbed her Von Dutch overnight bag and filled it with underwear and lounge wear from the front dresser. The last things she grabbed were her iPad, the scrapbook from her nightstand, her Apple Watch, and her jewelry chest.

Obviously she wouldn't be able to take everything at one time, but she definitely made sure to take as much as possible in case she wasn't able to come back.

Surprisingly, he didn't put up much of a fight. He did shed a few tears, but he didn't physically attempt to stop her. What he did next shocked her the most though.

"I—uh..I just want you to know that I'll never be able to let you go. I'm nothing without you.. and when you're ready to give me another chance, I'll be waiting on you. It doesn't matter how long it takes." He held out her card that was linked to his account and the keys to her 2022 Mercedes Benz AMG GLE-Class that was parked in the driveway.

Nina was about to thank him but stopped herself when both of their heads turned to see Samir approaching the door to take the bags away from her, and an immediate frown graced Tyler's face.

"You brought him to my house? Are you staying with him Nina?" He wished he could take the keys and the card back but they were already in her hand and he refused to take them from her in fear of Samir becoming physical with him again.

This whole time he thought she'd been with Zyriah. He didn't know that she and Samir were seriously a thing. He assumed it was her way of getting back at him or something; was she living with him now?!

"Watch out." Samir stopped him from grabbing Nina's arm when she tried to walk off, pushing it away from her with a bit of force to let him know that wasn't the route he should take right now.

"Nina?" He frowned as if he couldn't believe this, and she didn't bother to turn around to look at him.

She put her the two duffel bags in Samir's backseat and he put the suitcases in his trunk, glancing back at Tyler once more. He flashed a taunting smile before leaning down to plant a surface kiss on Nina's lips, and she playfully rolled her eyes at how he was showing off.

Nina pulled out a tray of sweet cornbread muffins from out of the oven, and she pulled the thick mitten off after placing it on the counter. She could see the homemade glaze glisten on the top of each muffin, and the edges were browned to perfection.

She was in the middle of brushing one last coating of the glaze over the muffins when her favorite pair of arms slid around her waist, and a smile replaced her resting expression when he left a kiss on her cheek.

"Good morning to you too." She chuckled, though it was currently pushing nine at night.

"Wassup ma? What you doing?" It was obvious what she was doing but this was her first time cooking for him so he was a bit surprised.

"Nothing too special; I was just craving some real food so I made dinner. You hungry?" She suspected that he was after waking up from a three hour nap. They'd skipped lunch too.

"Mhm. It smells good. What's all in there?" He pointed to the foil pan of beans. He normally loved beans but it looked like more than just beans were in the pan.

"Baked beans, brown sugar, mustard, barbecue sauce, ground beef, diced bell peppers and onion, garlic powder and black pepper. Never had it?" She turned to look at him, watching him shake his head in displeasure.

"It's good stink. You'll like it, I promise. I made ribs, baked macaroni, and greens too." She pointed to the other pans on the counter.

"Move. I'll make your plate. Go sit down." She swatted his hands away when he reached for a compartment paper plate with the built in dividers.

Just as he headed toward the living room, Samara walked in the front door with her boyfriend right behind her. Nina was glad that she made more than enough for the original three-person serving she planned for.

"Sistaaa, girl it smell good as fuuuckk!" Samara approached her for a hug, and Nina hugged her back with a smile on her face.

"Y'all came just in time. It's still hot." She gave Samara's boyfriend, Tristan, a side hug next.

"Good 'cause I'm starving. I'm 'bouta shower real quick first though.. what about dessert? You made that?" Her head tilted to the side.

"Fat ass." Tristan shook his head at her, then ducked just in time to miss her slapping the back of his neck.

"I did." Nina laughed. "The cheesecake should be ready by the time you finish eating."

"Oh my god, my favorite. Get the fuck on Tristan." The two of them bickered on their way to Samara's bedroom, and Nina smiled as she went back to making Samir's plate.

She poured him a cup of watermelon and tropical punch mixed Kool Aid, then carried that and the plate to the living room where Friday After Next was playing on the flat screen TV.

The way he already had one of the personal table trays set up in front of him made her shake her head at his eagerness as she sat the plate and cup down on top of it. Then, she sat down next to him, letting him pull her feet in his lap.

"I told you." She said after watching him take the tiniest bite of the baked beans, which was followed up by a way bigger bite, meaning that he liked it.

"Be quiet." He signed with his hand since his mouth was full of food, and she smiled with a roll of her eyes.

I actually don't have it in me to make this a long book yall I'm so sorry (not really). I literally have 29 completed books I don't know how y'all not tired of me. The endings of my books deadass be so repetitive 😂 y'all will be fine fr w this lil short story ✌️✌️✌️