Nina put a few fries in her mouth at one time and took a sip from her large strawberry lemonade once she swallowed it, keeping her eyes on Samir who sat across from her while his attention was focused entirely on his phone where The Boondocks was playing.

There was clearly something wrong with him because there was a deep frown—a pout damn near—on his face and he constantly pulled at one of the blonde dreads underneath his black Louis Vuitton beanie. He hadn't said anything and he wasn't eating his food either.

"What's wrong Mir?" Nina finally asked since he wasn't going to tell her on his own.

"Nothing." He mumbled. She reached across the table to tilt his head up to make him look at her, furrowing her eyebrows in a slightly stern expression.

"What's wrong?" She asked again.

"I can't eat my food because there's salt on my fries and stuff on my burger." He signed to her, keeping his eyes on his phone although his head was now tilted upward.

Nina opened the wrapper that held his burger and pulled the top bun off, seeing that there was cheese and ketchup on it. She wrapped the burger back up and put it on the tray that held his fries, then she got up from the booth and headed to the front counter.

"Hey, I'm sorry, I asked for this burger to be plain and no salt on the fries.." Nina politely slid the tray on the counter towards the employee.

"No problem, I'll get that fixed for you. Sorry about that." The middle aged white woman took the burger and carton off fries off of the tray and walked towards the area where they made sandwiches.

Just to be on the safe side, Nina moved over a few feet so that she could be able to see the woman remake the food. She watched the lady pull the two slices of cheese off of the patty and wipe away the ketchup with her glove, then she removed it and exchanged it for a new one without washing her hands.

"Excuse me, ma'am, that's not what I meant. I want the burger completely remade—just the meat and pretzel bun, and fresh fries with no salt. Please and thank you." The use of her manners was very obviously snarky and sarcastic.

She didn't want to be a 'Karen' but that was just ridiculous. There was still a bunch of melted cheese stuck to the patty and remnants of ketchup lingered on the bun as well, and the lady still tried to wrap it back up to give to her. She could've did that herself.

"Of course." The lady's smile was just as sarcastic as Nina's tone, but she clearly knew better because she did what Nina said and remade everything the correct way.

Nina thanked her when she was given a new tray, then she walked back over to the booth where Samir was and put it down in front of him, along with some ketchup packets for his fries.

"Thank you ma." Samir said once she sat down, and she leaned over the table to kiss his cheek.

His social anxiety wouldn't allow him to confront the employee about his food being wrong, and he was glad that Nina did it on her own without him having to ask or explain why he was uncomfortable with doing so. His sister did the same thing for him because talking to strangers genuinely made him want to vomit.

"Mhm, you welcome. This must be what Mara be talkin' 'bout when she say you be throwing tantrums." She chuckled, picking up some more of fries.

"She's weird. I don't throw tantrums. I'm grown." He mumbled before taking a bite out of only the top pretzel bun.

"So what do you call it then?" Nina's head tilted to the side with a smirk.

"Nothing. I didn't even do anything and I wasn't going to bring it up either. I would've just ate at home."

"You was pouting pooh." Her smirk spread out into a smile.

"I don't pout." He stated firmly which made her laugh because he definitely did. She loved when he did it, too.

"Ok baby. Eat your food." She just shook her head at him, picking up a spicy chicken nugget.

The two of them were currently eating at the Shake Shack in the Galleria Mall for lunch after about an hour of shopping. They originally came because Samir needed to stop at his favorite craft store for more art supplies, but on the way to the storefront they walked past Victoria's Secret and Bath & Body Works, and Samir spent around $300 on Nina.

They also went to Bed, Bath & Beyond to get some more comforter sets for Samir's bed and more towels for the bathroom. Nina also picked out some small decorations for his room and the living room because it was too plain for her liking. She didn't get much since she didn't want to take over his space, but it needed a little 'reshaping'.

He didn't mind.

The only things in his bedroom was his dresser, the nightstands, a small desk and his bed. It was kind of cramped in there too, so he told Nina that she could rearrange and decorate it however she liked as long as it wasn't too colorful because that would give him constant headaches.

He spent almost five hundred dollars in that store. Nina tried to apologize and put some things back after realizing she might have went a little too overboard, but again, he didn't mind it at all. She could get and do whatever she wanted when she was with him.

"Do you want to order some different furniture? For our room?" He asked, and Nina's face lit up with a smile at how he referred to it as theirs.

"No baby. I told you I don't wanna change it too much since it's y—,"

"But you can. I'm giving you permission to. 'Cause it's ours now." He stopped her from saying that it was only his room.

"You so sweet stinky."

"So you do want to order something?" He asked again.

"Sure. What's my budget?" She agreed just to give him a peace of mind.

"There isn't one."

"Okay..you know I'm not going anywhere right?" She said as more of a statement of assurance rather than a question, causing his head to lift to look at her again.

"You don't have to change your space to fit me just to get me to stay. I'm not going no where. We can keep it how you like it. It doesn't bother me Mir." She told him, watching his hand raise to pull at his hair again. He hated how well she knew him.

"I just want you to be comfortable." He spoke softly.

"I am baby." She sounded sincere, so Samir removed his hand from his hair, stopping himself from overthinking.

"Okay.. I still want you to redecorate though." He concluded, and a smile graced her face as she playfully rolled her eyes.

Nina's phone was against her ear but she wasn't listening to the person on the other end of it. Instead, her attention was on the focused and slightly distracted expression on Samir's face. It was unreal how this man was so handsome doing literally anything.

He was trying to get his lines perfectly straight on the hyper realistic drawing of Nina's left eye but he couldn't multitask with that and listening to Veronica—Tyler's mother—attempting to plead her son's case on the phone with Nina. He hated their whole family and didn't even know them from a can of paint.

The only reason Nina answered the phone was in case it was an emergency or to be made aware if something happened with Veronica's health since she genuinely cared about her, but she didn't know that Veronica called just because Tyler went and told her everything that had happened in the last few weeks.

She would've just hung up but she actually liked Veronica. She didn't want to disrespect her because Veronica had never done that to her.

"He's a good man, honey. That's all I'm saying. You know he loves you more than—whomever you're with, no disrespect to him.. but you are a married woman. I just think you two should at least try to work it out before you decide to leave." The sound of Veronica's breathing machine could be heard in her background.

"With all due respect, ma," Nina started, countering Veronica's statement where she said no disrespect towards Samir.

"I've been trying to 'work it out' with Tyler for the last two years. I am the only one who's been trying; I offered to take him to therapy with me, pick up marriage counseling, I've changed everything about myself to make him happy, I do as I'm told as his wife even if I don't agree with it—and plenty more. I've been trying."

"And again, with all due respect to you but not to him, Ty is not a good man. Your son has raped me enough times to where I can count on both hands, he forces me to do things that he knows I don't like or want to do, and he praises my father knowing what he's done to me. And I still put up with him for this long."

Samir's head turned to look at her as she continued talking, furrowing his eyebrows together to form a mug as his resting expression.

He knew that Tyler had raped her more than once, but more than five times?! He just couldn't understand how someone could do that to a person they claimed to love—or any person at all, for that matter. It was frustrating to think about because Nina was so sweet. Why would he do that to her?

"Honey.. why didn't you tell me?" Veronica sounded surprised and defeated at the same time.

"Because as his wife, I never wanted to taint his image—even to you. The same way you are with Dave, knowing what he's done to you. I've seen the bruises on you ma.. you never say anything to your sons because you don't want to believe that your own husband could do that to you. I felt the same way about Ty."

"It's only so much we can take though. And it took the man that I'm with now to show me that I am strong enough to put myself first—to put my own happiness first. I shouldn't have to sacrifice that for someone who doesn't love me the way that he should. I've tried for so long but I'm not doing it anymore ma. I won't apologize for it either."

The line went quiet for a few seconds, and Nina did feel bad when she heard Veronica sniff as if she was crying, but again, she wouldn't apologize. The truth hurts but that's just life.

"Well, I'm sorry my love. I didn't know about any of that. You are right—you deserve to be happy. I apologize if you feel like I stepped out of place by asking you to be with him again, I really didn't know.. I'm going to let you go now. I am always just one call away hun." Veronica spoke again.

"Thank you. I appreciate that." Nina paused for a moment before continuing. "You deserve the same thing. The doctor only gave you a few more months ma; don't spend your last days unhappy. There's a lot out there for you even if you can't see it. I love you."

"..I love you very much sweet girl. More than you will ever know." Her voice was terribly saddening, and Nina had to stop herself from crying at the hurt behind it.

Samir let go of his pencil and walked over to where Nina was laying in the oversized beanbag in the corner of his art room, pulling her to stand up with him so that he could give her a hug. She laid her head against his chest while his hand comfortingly rubbed up and down her back.

"You did good ma. I'm proud of you." He told her.

"I feel so bad for her Mir." She sniffed.

"I know. You did your part by telling her that she can be strong, too, though. There's not much else you can do. She has to want it just like you did."

"Yeah..thank you stink. For always knowing what to say." She tilted her head back to look up at him, and he smiled before leaning down to kiss her forehead.

"You're welcome. Is this a bad time to ask if we can take a nap? I can't focus on my picture. I think it's 'cause I'm tired." He rubbed the back of his neck and then rolled his eyes once she laughed.

"Hush. Don't do it." He walked away from her before she could say anything, making her laugh harder. He knew that she was about to talk to him in a baby voice because she swore he was a kid. He needed daily naps and although he wouldn't admit it, he indeed did throw tantrums. He may or may not be spoiled as well. He wouldn't admit that either.

"The little baby ready for a nappp?" She smiled as he removed his shirt once they made it to his bedroom, and he rolled his eyes again.

"You annoying." He shook his head but had to fight the smile that was growing.

"Am I? Look at you." She laughed once more at how eager he was to get in the bed, now wearing only his boxers.

"Shut up man. Take that off and come on." He turned the ceiling fan on and the light off, and Nina chuckled before doing as told.

"You really have a whole routine every time you go to sleep. It's crazy." She got in the bed first while he untied his black out curtains, letting them fall over the window to make the room dark.

"And you don't complain 'cause we be sleeping good, huh ma?"

"Good as fuck." She smiled, wrapping her arms around him once he climbed into her embrace, going underneath the covers together to escape the cold.

"I said to take this off." Samir then reached behind her to unclip her bra, tossing it to the side once he removed it.

"You just love you some titties huh?" Her laughter returned as he laid his face directly in her cleavage after kissing the same spot.

"Yes." He answered bluntly. She only smiled in response and then put her attention on her phone while he rubbed lightly over her breasts to put himself to sleep.

Nina scrolled briefly through her notifications tab, seeing that they were still the same as they'd been for the last two days, ever since she posted those videos of her and Samir at the club. People she didn't know, in her business as usual. She couldn't believe so many outsiders assumed they had the audacity to question anything she did.

It was more than upsetting even though she didn't want to admit that. She hadn't been called a whore this many times since living with her parents.

The part that made her mad was how she was still protecting Tyler's image after all this time. He was no longer defending her like how he was a couple of weeks ago—not that she needed it or anything—and people were tarnishing her name like crazy without knowing the whole story.

She hated that she felt the need to explain herself to strangers but there was just so many of them running with a narrative that was far from the truth. If only they knew what she'd been through and put up with for that man over the last five years.

"Give it to me." Samir tiredly mumbled while taking her phone out of her hand, putting it behind him to where she couldn't reach it.

"I'm so irritated Mir. I hate this shit." She tucked herself back underneath the covers with him after sighing.

"You don't need to worry about that. What do you want to do for your birthday?" He changed the subject, making Nina smile as she did what he said and put her mind on something else.

"I didn't even realize it was around the corner like that."

"I did. I have something planned but I'm scared you won't like it and I'll be embarrassed. Then I'd have to kill you.." He held a yikes expression on his face while she laughed with a roll of her eyes.

"Naw baby you ain't gotta do all that. I'm okay with doing anything as long as I'm with you." She chuckled, leaning forward to kiss his lips.

"Okay good. Now a different question, what do you want for your birthday?" He really wasn't a great gift giver so he needed a direct answer.

"I don't really n—,"

"I didn't ask that." He cut her off, making her eyes playfully roll again.

"There's not much that I don't already have. So I don't even know. I like purses and sandals. Jewelry. Ummm, wigs, of course. Oh, I've been wanting one of those newer iPads—the yellow one. 'Cause mine old." She shrugged.

"Ok.. I can do that. And I'm going to make you a cake, too. Those heart shaped ones." He hadn't been in the bakery in a good minute because he spent all of his free time with Nina now. He didn't mind it and neither did his father. He wanted to be the one who made her birthday cake though.

"You know I've actually been craving some of y'all cake since Samara brought me that small one the other day. I can't wait. What you gone put on there? Dirty thirty?" She tilted her head to the side with a smile on her face.

"No. 'Happy birthday miss good pussy'." He said carelessly, then matched her smile when she damn near fell out from laughing.

I want to marry Caesar from planet of the apes