Please excuse ANY grammatical errors.

May 12, 1995

Tia's P.O.V

"Since you've been going back and forth so much, why don't you just move to L.A?" I said into the phone while painting my toenails. 

"You know I can't do that. I have students here and some of them are relying on me and my class to keep them out of trouble. Another thing is that L.A. is expensive. People spend more on parking than anything." Taimak responded through the speaker. "I also spend a lot of time in Nepal but I don't want to live there permanently- at the moment. I may do so in the future. Who knows?" He told me.

"Eh, that's true. Honestly, that is a good reason to stay. You say L.A. is expensive, what about New York? Those apartments are small as I don't know what, but cost an arm and three legs. Might as well get a few boxes, tape them together, and live in them." I laughed and he joined in on the laughter.

"I mean... Yeah, but it's home and L.A. just isn't." He told me.

"I get you but you were LITERALLY born in Los Angeles." I pointed out.

"Yeah, but New York is the only home that I know in the states. I don't know L.A. like I know New York." 

"Me neither," I replied to him.

"When does Summer start for you?" He asked me.

"Shoo... It's already scorching here in Arizona but school ends on the 16th of this month. So that is when my summer will start." I replied.

The reason I'm in Arizona is to look for a place to film a movie. That's right, another movie starring well-known black women. The film was written by Terry Mcmillan and directed by myself. I will also be working beside Forrest Whitaker. Babyface is in charge of the soundtrack and I trust it considering how he's a good record producer and writer. Whitney, Terry and I have also toyed with the idea that the whole soundtrack would be black women. It's not official but it soon will be HOPEFULLY. We're getting there though.

"You ever wanted to visit Vienna?" He asked me.

"It's on my list of places to go." I shrugged, "Why?"

I heard what seemed to be a slap on the other end. "You are oblivious. I'm inviting you to come with me to Austria. I could show you around, and I'm sure you'd like it. It's home."

I chuckled, "I'm NOT oblivious, I just want to hear a person say exactly on their mind instead of beating around the bush. You JUST called New York home." I chuckled again.

"I also emphasized that it's the only home I know in the STATES." He laughed loudly.

"You did, my bad. What makes you want to invite me?" I raised a brow with a smirk.

"I mean, why not? I've already shown you that I'm interested in you these past few months. I've been going back and forth my whole life between the two. You've seen New York plenty of times. You said you wanted to travel the world but have never left the states. Since I know it Vienna and that part of Austria in general like the back of my hand, I'm offering to be your free tour guide."

"Ahhh, so you HAVE been listening." I cheesed. "I dig it." I hooded my head impressed. "I guess some guys do listen instead of pretending and nodding as if they know or car what you're talking about."

"Why wouldn't I?" He asked me. "Besides, that's sexist. Every man isn't the same. Some pretend while other's-," he coughed out, "ME, actually do care."

"You're right, it does. I'm sorry about that. It does sound sexist, though I will mention that I DID emphasize that I said SOME MEN." I pointed out. "Those are my many encounters with people of the opposite gender. Many pretend to listen with nonverbal responses just to get in your pants. Or that is what my male associates tell me they do to women." I explained.

"You did, you did. But you should never let your experiences make you think a certain way about a whole group of people." He paused and I nodded. "What do you say about Italy?"

"I'll get back to you on that. My friends, associates, and I are planning to do something together before I have to film since we BARELY spend time together. They may want to come and you could be all of our tour guides." I told him.

"That's fine, but if those guys get disrespectful I won't be so respectful to them as the other times."

"That's fine. I don't mind that. If they get smart, then you have every right to retaliate in the same manner they disrespected you in." I shrugged.

"Okay, I'm just letting you know. Like you said earlier, I should be more straightforward."

"Yeah, but not cocky." I laughed.

"Of course. Not cockiness, but you do have to admit that women love a bit of cockiness from a man." He suggested.

I nodded in agreement. "Yeah, but there's a thin line between cocky and arrogance. A tad bit of cockiness is sexy on a man some men overdue it causing it to be closer to arrogance."

"It IS arrogance NOT close to it." He told me.

"You're correct but ummm, I need to finish studying for finals and you're going to therapy. Yeah?" I asked.

"Yeah, it's about that time. I've been sitting in this car long enough." He laughed. "I missed about thirty minutes of my session talking to you, but it was worth it and enjoyable." He said seriously and it made me blush.

"Yeah, therapy ain't cheap. You better get in there." I laughed. "I'll talk to you some other time. Okay?"

"Alright, later." He said then I hung up the phone.

I applaud a guy who knows that he's got things to deal with and actually goes to therapy to fix said things. He has some childhood trauma that he's dealing with. He explained to me that his parents were on and off and the things they had to witness from them. He and his sister's getting beat with things. Many people of our generation just think of getting beat as a norm but it shouldn't be. People are affected differently from those types of experiences. Then for those people to tell you they love you after or before beating you is traumatizing.

That is why I believe many black people accept abuse from their spouses, boyfriend, girlfriend, or whoever they're dating to do the same thing to them or sometimes become the abusers themselves. We are abused throughout our whole lives and accept it because we are told from a young age that it's okay for people to violate us. Yes, children should be disciplined but getting beat is not the answer. There are different ways to go about disciplining children and every child is different. What got one child in line may not work for the next child.

Elijah came into the room. "Girl, you know damn well I'm in to go to Italy!"

I scoffed at him. "We're you listening on the other end!?" I said shocked but not really.

"It was on accident! I was about to call somebody because my cell is dead." Elijah exclaimed.

"You heard that I was on it when you picked it up but STILL decided to listen to OUR conversation. I knew I heard yo heavy breathin'!" I pointed.

"Shush, I'm asthmatic!"

"Elijah..." I trailed off.

"What? Why didn't you just say yes to him?" He folded his arms and leaned on one foot.

"Because you gotta keep these dudes guessin'. I'm for SURE going AND I have a FREE tour guide. You KNOOOOWWWW that I'm going!" I laughed.

"Okay!" He laughed waving his hand at me. "Wit' cho cheap ass..." He mumbled.

"What was that?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Girl, you heard me. I said wit' cho cheap ass!" He said turning his head for each word. That caused me to burst out into laughter. "Girl, you ain't even got to be cheap no more. Treat ya'self!"

"Okay! Yes, I admit that I'm cheap but the quality of things isn't always dependent on the quantity. Most of those name-brand places use the same material as the cheaper ones, but because they're well-known people, they run up the price. It's all business, baby. My pockets aren't going to get empty because of a name. I'm trying to break the generation broke curse and pass down generational wealth." I clarified.

"Whatever you said..." He rolled his eyes. "Anyway's since you're done with the phone, let me go call my man." He said fixing to walk off.

"Hol' up, MAN!? Bro, y'all made it official?" I stood up and raised an eyebrow. "When?"

"He don't know it yet, but we ARE." He turned back around walked off.

"You better tell his behind because most men want their cake and eat it too..." I said grabbing my book then cracking it open to study.

"That's what I want." I heard him say in a joking manner.

June 18, 1995

~Taimak's P.O.V~

I was born in Los Angeles, California but Vienna, Austria is home to me because that's where I spent the most important years of my life. I lived in Vienna, Austria from age six to thirteen years old. As a child, my family traveled back and forth between Europe and New York. I even developed a cockney accent that I have now lost from being in New York. I was jived on by other New York kids because of it.

I wanted to be a dancer but New York turned me into a fighter from having to always defend myself and protect my sisters. Martial Arts is my occupation. I teach kids of different ages martial arts and prepare children and adults for martial art roles. I have several black belts. I have one in Goju Ryu Karate, Jeet Kune Do, Wing Chun, Hapkido, Jujutsu, Taekwondo, and Brazilian Jui-Jujitsu. No, they are not the same. There are different rules and styles of fighting with everything I just named.

I also make a few appearances in television shows, films, and music videos. Many people know me for The Last Dragon film, Janet Jackson's: Let's Wait Awhile music video, Debbie Allen's: Special Look video, and an episode of A Different World. I don't really do big roles anymore.

My parents have five children together. I have four whole sisters and I'm the fourth child out of the five of us. I also have half-siblings but they remained in New York so I only saw them whenever we would go back. I am the only boy, and I was the one that my sisters depended on when they didn't want to tell our father about things when they got messed with. My two oldest sisters have a different father than me and my other sisters. Their father was in prison for the majority of their lives and after he left, my mother met my father and that's how my other two siblings and I came about.

(Taimak is on the far right at the bottom. The one on the left as a boy, but for the sake of the story he has all sisters)

My parents being together was illegal due to their race. My father is a white Italian and my mother is black. My father used to be in a popular singing group and was shunned for dating a black woman. Like many people, he started singing at church. My mother worked at a theatre at the time and that's where they met.

My parents were married in 1967 which was two years before interracial marriage was legal in the states. They weren't married by law but they were married by Santa Clause at a Christmas party. So technically they just had long-term partners. I remember the whole wedding, even though I was only three at the time.

As a child, I didn't want people to know that I was half white because many times, the other kids want me to choose. They didn't know I was biracial until my father came up to the school one day. Now, I fully accept that I'm biracial and don't feel the need to choose between the two races. I acknowledge both, my black and white side. It was hard due to people always being in my ear but then I just stopped listening. Right now I'm waiting on Tia and her friends to arrive in Vienna.

"Bienvenue à Vienne!" I shouted once I saw Tia and her friends.

"Well, hello there!" She beamed, walking towards me.

"How was the flight?" I asked her once she was close enough.

"First time on a private jet and it went great. It was a very comfortable ride." She responded and gave me a hug.

"Heyyy." Elijah greeted.

"Sup man, how's it going?" Jacob said to me slapping my hand.

"It's going, good man. How's everyone?" I asked.

"It's going good, man." Algee spoke.

"It's fine, where's Alessandro?" Courtney asked.

"He's working at the moment, but I'm sure he'll see you today. Well, he said he'd try to see you today." I told her.

"You got a brother?" One of her friends asked. I never saw her before so I don't know who she is.

"No, just all sisters. If you don't mind me asking, who are you? I have never seen you before." I asked.

"Megan, Megan Pete." She said holding her hand out.

"Nice to meet you." I shook her hand.

"I'm Jasmine (Jasmine Sullivan). We haven't met but we've heard a lot about you." She shook my hand next. "Courtney's my sister." She pointed.

"Thamar Noel. Nice to meet you." (Teamarrr for those who don't know.) I shook her hand. "This is my brother." She pointed to Woody.

"Jermaine Cole. Call me Jay, J.Cole, or just Cole." He told me. "Tia's my friend."

"Nice to meet you all. Hey, where's your friend Chika?" I asked Tia.

"Back home." She shrugged. "Anyway's let's get going."

"Yeah, let's roll." I said and grabbed her bags from her.

There is no bagged claim since they took a private jet. But since they landed at an airport we still had to walk through the airport and to the parking lot at the front of the airport. Austria is a pretty safe country but there is always a bad neighborhood in every city. We finally made it to the cars. You can't drive in Austria unless you have an International Driver's Permit and from what I know a few of them to have one. So we're going to the Car Rental shop.

"There are two cars. Eight in the big car and five in the other car one with me." I told them. "Now, it might be a tight squeeze with the baggage, but you'll get used to it. The drive from here to the Rental Car shop is only 45 minutes away." I popped open my trunk and put her bags in there.

"Thanks." She replied.

"This you?" Woody asked me.

I nodded. "Yeah."

"Oh, you BAWLIN' bawlin'!" Jacob exclaimed.

"I'm riding with him." Tia pointed her head at me.

"I'm riding in there with you. It's too many people in there." Cole told me.

"I'm riding with him too," Elijah said aloud. "Ya know I'm ridin' with my girl."

"I'll ride with him. Me and my sister." Woody said referring to me.

This guy Woody doesn't like me for some odd reason and now decides to speak to me and wants to ride with me. Not liking someone without a reasonable explanation is just childish, but he's still young. I'm too old to be worried about a guy that I don't even know like me. So I really don't care, I'm about to be thirty-one in like a week from now. Tia claims that he isn't usually like that and he's laid back but every time I see him there's some secret animosity towards me.

"Nuh-uh, Jax is riding with us, Woods. We need at least one security guard in the car." Tia told him. "Redd and Sniper are in the other car," Tia told him. Those are the other bodyguards who also double as personal drivers.

"That's settled. These your bags?" I asked Thamar.

"Yes." She nodded.

I grabbed her bags and loaded them up in my trunk. "Put your bags in." I told the guys. Then I went to the driver of the taxi truck and tapped on the window. He rolled it down. "Just follow us. We're going to the Rental Car Shop on the east side. It's called Tobias." I told him then walked to my car waiting for everybody to get in. After everything was situated, we were on our way. "Y'all  already exchanged y'all currency, right?" I asked them once everybody got in.

"We traded most of what we wanted before we left." He said answering for Tia and himself. "What about y'all?" Elijah said answering me then talking to Aldis, Woody, and Thamar.

"I did, did y'all?" Thamar replied.

"Nahh, I thought you do it when you get there?" Cole said to Thamar.

"It's optional, it doesn't matter just as long as you do it." I told him as I turned on my blinkers. "Now buckle up. I don't like tickets and I'm not trying to get one." I told them once I saw the taxi driver waved his hand at me.

Many of you are wondering, what is an older guy like myself want with someone who is twenty-three years old. I'm only seven years and some months older than she is. That's not THAT much older. I didn't know of her age until I saw her in the restaurant on her birthday. The people at her table were pretty loud and I overheard them. I thought she was at least twenty-five. She doesn't look older or anything, but it's the way she carries herself. Tia is younger than my little sister but that's fine because she's well above the age of being legal, and she's very capable of making rational decisions for herself.

The first time that I saw her was during the Malcolm X Movie Premiere back in '92. She was only twenty at the time but I was in a relationship at the time and also wasn't interested in her until I saw her again last year in '94. Every conversation we had was always longer than the last and most were brief. We officially met at a hair show that my mother participated in. We sat next to each other and chit-chatted. There we had a chance to talk more than we ever did and she got me. I really like her and I was immediately interested in her in a different kind of way after that encounter.

Every encounter Tia and I had was either in New York and two in Los Angeles. It was the second time she had been to L.A. but the first time she was able to slightly enjoy herself and not worry too much about business. I recommended some spots but she never was able to hit up those spots because it was back to business after that from what she has recently told me.

"Here we are," I announced about forty-five minutes later, pulling up to the place.

"The cars here look so different." Tia finally spoke after forty-five minutes of her being silent on the passenger side. The others spoke to each other in the back while had had the music on a low to medium level during the whole ride.

"Well, yeah... It differed from country to country. I know you have never been to France but I'll still use that as an example. In France, the cars are smaller and boxier looking. In the U.S.A the cars are large and come in different sizes."

She nodded at me. "I got you. Thanks for the ride." She told me and got out of the car.

"No problem." I got out of the car as well, I am their tour guide for the stay. We walked around the car lot for a bit until we were where the big trucks were.

"You think you can drive something this big?" Tia asked turned her head to me.

"I can drive anything. The question is can you drive this big thing?" I asked her laughing.

"I'm almost positive that I can." She told me.

"Well, almost positive ain't all the way there." I chuckled.

She nodded, "Okay, y'all okay with this? It can fit us all and then some." Tia asked her friends. There were different types of yeahs. "Okay then, we'll get this one." Tobias just stayed silent for some reason unknown. "How do you say it in German?" Tia asked me.

"Wir wollen dieses, wie viel ist es? Wo ist der Preis?" (Translation: We want this one: how much is it? Where is the price?) Jax asked him.

"Y'all, he speaks English," I said laughing with Tobias. "That's why we came to this one. This is Tobias and I know him."

"Sorry, I didn't know you were speaking to me." Tobias said in a German accent. "Your stay is two weeks?" He asked her and she nodded. If you're wondering how he knew, it's because I told him. Tobias is what I consider to be a friend or an around-the-way friend. He's an older guy in his mid-fifties. "That will be €1948.77." He said looking at his calculator. That's is $2000 and some odd

"O-" Tia started.

"C'mon man, how about you lower it to say about €1600." I asked him. "We're cool right?"

"We are but that's too low. €348 too low." Tobias told me. I know it was too low but you start off too low and then make your way up until there is a decision made.

"€1650." I told him.

"Still too low. How about €1899.77?" He asked me.

"€1777.77?" I asked him shaking my head.

He exhaled loudly. "€1800, final offer Guarriello."

"Deal." I shook his hand. "Thanks man."

"Thanks!" Tia told him with wide eyes and took out her money.

"You need help?" I asked Tia.

"Nope, I may not know much of the main language but I learned the currency. I know it by heart. Ya girl ain't trying to get scammed." She laughed.

"Aman to that! Some Austrian's will trick you into giving them more." I told her.

When she finished paying, I drove the truck around to the front where my car and the taxi guy was. A few of her friends and a bodyguard stayed in the taxi because they didn't trust him. I wouldn't either though. After they paid the driver, and loaded up their bags in the big truck. Together, they had a bunch of bags and it took up more room than expected. Because of that, two people had to ride with me.

"I need the address." I told Tia who was on the passenger side of my car.

She pulled it out. "Here you go. Thanks for getting that guy to lower the price."

"You're welcome." I took a look at the address. "Ahh, you took my advice with the area. It's the safest area here." I said and pulled off.

"I did. I didn't want to go to a bad neighborhood in a foreign country. I don't know the people here so your advice is the only advice that I could take." She told me.

"True. Jax, where did you learn to speak German?" I said looking into my rearview mirror.

"I was stationed in Germany for a few years and picked up on the language." He responded.

"When did you serve?"

"I went straight out of high school. I ain't have nothing else planned and felt like that was my only option. Luckily I wasn't out on the field though. I was still trained like I would be in the field. I was in the engineering field and was trained for it. I was too small at the time to go to the field." He told me.

"I never knew that." Tia turned to him.

"Like The Notorious B.I.G said, if you don't know how ya know." He rapped. "Yeah, I did that though."

"That interesting. Did you interact with people who went out to the field?" I asked Jax another question.

"Of course, I witnessed a lot of shit. It was a bunch of crazy motherfuckers there. Some was already a little crazy and being out on the field messed them up more. I witnessed a bunch of crazy shit." He shook his head. "I'm glad that I was too skinny then because I probably would've been fucked up in the head like those guys."

"Probably..." I trailed off. "You went to a community school?"

"It's crazy how they only target the urban community schools though." I told him.

"I agree. I mean, you BARELY see those kids from private schools going into the army because it was the only option left. Most of the people in the urban community are already traumatized and being out on the field makes them even worse. The hood is like a battlefield already with people constantly getting killed and you being the witness and sometime the ONLY witness. Not to mention the other traumas." Tia explained.

"You're right, but you also have to point the fingers at the people head of the school corp. They are getting paid for them to go into the school and teach kids about going to the army. Then they give you this glamorized version of it." I told her.

"Correct, but I also never stopped pointing the finger at them. Another things is that they say they have all these benefits but I see more than half of there veterans homeless on the streets. Then most of them are walking around with PTSD. They don't really care about you afterwards other than financially SOMETIMES. Many of us need therapy already and are in denial." Tia said looking at me.

"They basically push people on the edge, off the cliff." I told her.

"Yeah, the benefits are good but is limited AND ain't worth none of the trauma you go through." Jax told us.

We had small talk all the way to our destination. It was mostly me and Jax talking though, while Tia looked out the window at the new scenery. Her talking about the recruiting of urban kids was the last words she spoke.

"You good?" I asked her but she wasn't paying attention. "Tia?" I called out.

"Huh?" She turned to me.

"We been screaming' your name for 15 minutes. You didn't hear?" I said laughing.

"Y'all did not." She said laughing. "I'm sorry, I was just caught up with the scenery."

"I figured." I told her with a smile. "Beautiful init?" I asked her.

"Mhmm." She mumbled.

"I want to show you where I grew up one of these days. Just me and you. It's more diverse than where we were previously and where you're staying. It's actually in close proximity of where you guys are staying. About twenty-five minutes away." I told her.

"Just me and you?" She repeated.

"Yeah." I replied.

"AND one of my guards." She clarified.

"Oh, yeah. Of course." I nodded.

Tia has told me about some things that happened when she traveled alone. She hasn't said that she doesn't feel safe without a bodyguard but what she tells me brought me to the conclusion that she doesn't feel safe, but I don't blame her one bit, especially big it's a place that you have little to no knowledge about.

"Here we are." I said putting the car in park.

"This house looks beautiful. Yes, it does. The crazy thing about it is that I've never seen it before." I chuckled.

"Hmmm, what was that about you saying that you know Vienna like the back of your hand?" Tia tapped her chin.

"Touché, BUT this looks to be new or remodeled. I know this street to the tea but this house is unfamiliar to my brain. I haven't been this way in a while now." I explained.

"Ahh, okay..." She looked at me from the corners of her eyes.

I clicked my tongue at her. "Don't give me that..." I said playing along.

"Alright, I'm ready to look around." She smiled at me then turned to face the window.

I reached over and popped the door open for her. "Let's go." I then opened my door and stepped outside.

"I bet I beat you to the front door!" Tia said then ran off and I took off after her.

"You cheated! You had a head start!" I said laughing once I was near her. "That's not fair."

Tia shrugged her shoulders with a smirk. "Sometimes life isn't fair." Then she knocked.

The door opened a few seconds later. Her friends came walking towards the house. "Hello, Mrs. Andrew's?" The lady asked Tia.

"Ms. Andrew's." Tia corrected.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Andrew's. Come in." She said with a thick German accent.

"You are?" Tia asked before walking in.

"Mrs. Wägner." She moved aside.

I saw Tia's body shake and heard her gasp as she stepped in. "You okay?" I asked her.

"I'm fine, he scared the mess out of me." Tia pointed to the side if her.

"I was finna say, girl, what the hell wrong wit' chu." Elijah laughed stepping in.

"I'm sorry, I'm Mr. Wägner." He held out his hand.

Elijah looked at Tia just standing there and shook the man's hand. "Elijah."

"Hello, Mr. Wägner it's nice to meet you." Tia greeted instead.

"Okay, here are your keys. We made extra keys since there will be many of you staying here. We're going to get our your hairs." Mr. Wäagner hands them the keys and walks out the door.

"Enjoy your stay." Mrs. Wägner said then left with her husband.

"Wait, Me. Wägner. Can I ask you a question?" Tia halted their steps.

"Yes, of course." He replied.

"Where is the master bedroom?" She asked sweetly.

"It's upstairs, straight down the right hallway." Mrs. Wägner responded. Elijah and Tia looked at each other.

"Thank you, have a nice day!" Tia said running up the stairs and Elijah running behind her.

"What is that about?" I asked nobody in particular.

"They want the biggest room." Courtney told me then took off running as well.

"Week, we should get the bags." I told the guys.

"Y'all go, I want the room nets to Courtney." Algee ran up the stairs.

"Okay..." I mumbled. The other three women just walked off and began looking around.

Woody looked at me. "Let's go y'all."

"Aye, Gee." Cole called out once we were all at the cars.

"Yeah." Algee responded.

"You need to talk to yo brother. He actin' desperate as hell. That's not cool bruhh. He makin' the men look bad." Cole chuckled.

"I already did, but he don't listen." Algee said laughing.

"He was all up on shorty all day. Don't no women want a man doin' allat shit. That's the reason she keep ignorin' the nigga. I don't know y'all that we'll but I know y'all well enough to know." Cole stated.

"Nigga, what?" Woody's eyes furrowed.

"You heard what I said, nigga. I'm an Aquarius, nigga. I know a lot about you before you speak. And Woody, you not no better. Open to mouth more. I see you..." Cole looked at Woody, then me, then back at Woody. "Closed mouths don't get fed. You see him." He motioned towards me. I chuckled at Cole.

Now, just let me mention again that I'm thirty. I catch everything and I caught his little gesture. Now I know why this nigga don't like my ass. It's because I'm aiming for what he wants and he knew first. He's mad because I showed interest in both physical and verbal gestures that he can't get close to like I am.

"I guess he still young and learnin'." Cole told Algee.

"Y'all are all still young and learning." I chuckled.

"Is that so?" Cole asked me. "Why don't you teach us what we still need to learn, old man?" He punched me playfully in the chest.

"Old? I'm not old, I'm only thirty. Besides, I can't teach y'all. When you're young, you don't listen, no matter how much advice people give to you, or no matter how many people give you advice. You gotta trip and fall on your face to want to know and learn how to tie your shoes." I told them and closed my trunk.

"How about if I wanna just let my laces hang?" Algee pointed at his feet.

"Hanging laces swing back and forth. Those the types that no matter what will keep doing the same things. Going back and forth." I chuckled moving my finger back and forth.

"Who're you? Some philosopher or some shit?" Cole joked. "You out that in no better form." He told me. "You cool as hell." He patted my back.

"What yo old ass want with a twenty-three-year-old?" Woody asked me.

"The funny thing is that I asked myself that same question time and time again. Only this time I don't feel the need to answer." I said and picked up some of the bags and dragged two to the house.

I heard a bunch laughing behind me. "That was good!" Algee said once he got in.

"Yeah," I said and went upstairs to the room Mrs. Wägner said was the master bedroom. I knocked on the door.

Author's Note: I have been writing but wanted to release more than one chapter. This chapter was SUPER long so I cut some of it out and put it in the next chapter. It was like seven thousand and some odd words on this chapter. How do y'all like Taimak? Has your narrative of him changed due to his point of view or is it the same as it was? How do you feel about the almost eight year difference between Taimak and Tia? Another things I wanted y'all to know is that Tia's friends and associates are not famous. They're in college for non-related professions.

Word Count: 5,830

Please feel free to like and comment. Feedback gives motivation, and motivation urges me to continue to write.

Thank you all for taking the time out of your day to read another chapter of this story. Thank you for staying despite the slacking.💚🖤❤💜💙💛