KAREEEM'S POV

"Why am I here again?"I lamented shifting the heavy bags in my hands.

"Because you're a loving small brother who eats all my food thus have no option but to accompany me grocery shopping."Jamila replied with a gleeful smile.

"This is child abuse."I complained some more.

"Yeah sure you big baby, sue me."Jamila retorted.

Every two weeks Jamila went grocery shopping in the city main market and once in a while she managed to rope me into accompanying her. When I did, she used me to carry all her loads and of course to pay because she always bought so much more than she had budgeted for.

But I didn't mind as much, Jamila took care of me and Nuru so when I could I liked talking care of her.

"You're lucky I love you otherwise...."I trailed off grumbling to myself.

We stopped at a stall selling tomatoes and I was glad I could put the bags down to take a rest. It took Jamila ten minutes to choose tomatoes yet for me they all looked the same, red and juicy.

"Where do you expect to put all those?"I asked eyeing the four kilograms of tomatoes she had bought.

"Stop whining already, I'll carry these. We're almost done anyway, two more stops and we can go home."Jamila informed me.

"Thank the Lord."I exclaimed dramatically.

I picked up the bags I'd abandoned and followed her through the crowded open space market. I tried to dodge as many people as I could but with my height, build and the bags I was carrying I ended up running into a few people. The next place we stopped at was to buy onions and as usual I set my bags down and proceeded to wait for Jamila to make her purchase.

I retrieved my phone from my pocket to check the time and was surprised to see we had spent almost two hours in the market. It felt longer than that with all the stops we had made. Jamila was lucky it was my day off because those two hours were very precious to me. I could have used them to do something useful like change the engine oil in my cars. I definitely should remember to do that soon, it had been a while since I did.

A familiar voice caught my attention amongst the crowd and before I had the chance to confirm who it was someone crashed into me making stumble forward.

"Shit, I'm so sorry."Diana's unmistakable voice apologized once I'd managed to stabilize myself.

I turned around to face the gorgeous beauty who always managed to take my breath away anytime my eyes landed on her.

"It's okay beautiful, feel free to run into me anytime."I replied.

"Kareem? Kareem! Oh my God, hi. I'm sorry I didn't see you there. Salome has me carrying all these heavy brags and I lost my footing."She explained.

"It's okay and welcome to the club, Jamila made me her personal mule today."I replied.

"I was wondering why you would be here today of all days."She replied with a smile struggling with the bags she was carrying.

"Those look heavy, why don't you put them down for a second."I suggested.

She took my advice and put the bags down looking relived to finally get a chance to take a break.

"Wow, I can actually feel my arms now."Diana cried with a laugh as she stretched her arms.

"You don't like shopping do you?"I asked her with a laugh.

"Actually I do as long as I'm not being used like a wheelbarrow. I'll definitely be feeling the pain in my arms tomorrow."Diana replied.

I wanted to apologize again but my words would do nothing for her. She had previously told me that she accompanied Jamila for shopping sometimes but I didn't expect to actually run into her. It was a nice surprise though since we hadn't seen each other for more than a week. We talked and texted a lot but I had been working on a really huge project at work thus we had been unable to meet up.

"How've you been?"I asked to pass the time.

"I've been okay, the bookcafe is doing well but today was a slow day so we decided to do some shopping. Actually it's more like Salome is doing the shopping and I'm hauling around all the bags."She replied with a sad smile.

She did look a little tired and sweaty but to me she was still beautiful. For the first time since I met Diana she was wearing something other than a dress or a skirt besides that time I gave her my sisters clothes after our unplanned sleep over. She was in a black tank top tucked into beige cargo pants and white puma sneakers. Before I could comment on it someone interrupted me.

"Diana, I thought I'd lost you. Don't run off like that again. Oh hi Kareem, Kareem?"Salome rushed out.

She was heaving and looking very worried.

"Hi Salome."I replied with a smile.

"You didn't lose me and I'm not a child so I didn't run off. You're the one tbag went off to God knows where."Diana replied.

"So sorry about that, I saw mangoes and its not their season yet so I had to grab some before they sold out."Salome apologized.

"It's fine, Kareem kept me company."Diana said.

"That's good, I didn't peg you for a shopping kind of guy Kareem."Salome commented.

"Hi ladies and no he's not a fan of shopping, I made him come. "Jamila replied on my behalf joining the conversation.

She hugged the two ladies so we were all caught up.

"Are you guys done shopping?"Jamila asked.

"No, we've got to buy some more stuff."Salome replied.

"Great neither are we, let's finish up together and we can give you guys a ride back, that's if you didn't bring your own car."Jamila suggested.

"No we didn't and that would be very nice of you, let's go Dee."Salome declared at the same time my sister snapped her fingers at me.

"Why do I feel like these two will become best friends?"Diana whispered picking up her bags with a huff.

"Birds of a feather."I replied picking up my own bags.

We followed the two chatty birds around for another hour as they finished shopping. Diana and I were tired but we were tired together so we derived strength from that. By the end of it all everyone had a shopping bag in hand as we carried them all to my car.

"Putting those down feels so good."Diana sighed in relief as I helped put her bags in the trunk.

"Okay ladies, time to head home."I declared after all bags were in the trunk.

"Why don't we go for lunch first?"Jamila suggested completely ignoring my statement.

"That would be great, I'm famished."Salome agreed with her.

"Great let's go."Jamila declared.

"It's like we're not even here."Diana expressed.

"Yeah but I know you're hungry and I am too so let's go eat."I said taking her hand.

Diana didn't protest, just squeezed her fingers against mine following me. Physical contact with Diana was minimal but it was appropriate since we hadn't known each other for so long. As sexy as she was, I wanted to take my time with her. No need to rush into things when I knew we were going the distance. There would be time for everything I wanted to do with and to her.

Jamila and Salome chose a small restaurant next to the market and seeing as it was a busy day it was hard to find seats but we managed. We all ordered white fried rice and beef stew since their menu was limited.

Jamila and Salome were talking about their kids so I decided to engage Diana in our own conversation.

"What are you doing later?"I asked her.

"Probably going back to the cafe, closing up and heading home early. I'm not in the mood for being there for long after the day I've had."Diana expressed.

"What if I suggested an alternative?"I offered.

"Which is?"

"Ditching these two and going off to have some fun of our own."I replied.

"Interest piqued, tell me more."Diana replied with a smile.

"Eat fast and I'll tell you on the way."I replied to which Diana just replied by digging into her food.

Ten minutes later we were done and already getting up.

"Jamila do you have your driving license with you?"I asked my sister.

"Yeah of course, why?"She replied.

"Here are the car keys, don't scratch it and make sure Salome gets back safe."I replied giving her the keys.

"Where are you two running off to?"Salome asked.

"Away from you two."Diana replied with a grin.

We didn't say anything further, just walked out of there hand in hand.

"You know what I could go for right now?"Diana asked as soon as we were outside in the scorching city heat.

"What?"

"Cold delicious ice cream."Diana replied.

"I know just the place, let's go."I said taking her hand and leading her away.

It was a five minute walk to the ice cream shop.

"How did you discover this place?"Diana asked as we sat down to enjoy the ice cream we had ordered.

She went for chocolate ice cream while I choose cookie and cream.

"Jamila of course, she used to work here before she decided to go out on her own and make sweets."I replied.

"Wow, that must have been really scary for her but last we talked she told me her business is doing better thanks to you, so I'm happy for her."Diana expressed.

"Yeah well, you helped too."I added.

Diana just smiled at me before savouring some more ice cream.

After the ten minutes it took us to finish our ice cream we left the ice cream shop.

"Where to next?"Diana asked me as we roamed around.

We didn't have my car so I couldn't take her for a drive. I also had to think of something that would be fun for her.

"Have you ever been to the National Archives?"I asked her.

"They are open to the public?"Diana inquired looking surprised.

"I'll take that as a no, let's go."I declared pulling her with me.

It took us twenty minutes with all the busy foot traffic to get to where we were going. The National Archives was just an old building that kept records of literally everything. Diana liked books so I hoped that old records of Kenyan history would interest her.

There wasn't even a line when we got there. I paid the fee that was required and we got in.

"It's practically deserted."Diana whispered because of how quiet the whole place was.

"Yeah, I don't think people are interested in coming to a place like this especially on a week day."I whispered back.

Diana nodded as we proceeded to walk around the vast space.

"It's so huge and ancient, I feel like I'm walking back in time."Diana commented.

I completely agreed with her. There were barely people around and everything in there including the infrastructure of the building and was very old.

"You know I've always wanted to come here but I didn't know that it was open to the public so I never bothered."Diana explained.

"I've never been here either even though I knew people were allowed in. It's not exactly my thing."I said.

"Well thank you for bringing me here even if it's not your thing."Diana appreciated with a warm smile.

"I'm here with you, that makes it all worth it."I replied smiling making Diana blush.

Diana was simple yet so intricate at the same time. She enjoyed the simple things in life yet she was raised in a wealthy family. I was raised in wealth too so I'd never lacked anything but our upbringings were very different. While Diana was raised like a princess surrounded by a loving family, I was raised by a dictator father who always wanted everything to be perfect and a submissive mother who played the role of a perfect wife. Their marriage had been loveless and that of convenience. I rebelled a lot thus why I had been kicked out. It didn't bother me though, it made me the man I was and I was proud of who I had become.

"You still with me?"Diana asked jabbing her elbow lightly into my side.

I smiled sadly looking down at her"Yeah just thinking about my parents."

"You never talk about them."Diana pointed out.

"And for good reason, they aren't present in my life but I'll tell you about them one day."I told her.

"It's okay, we have time."Diana said making me even more grateful for her understanding heart.

I really was lucky that she was willing to give me a chance.

By the time we were done with the tour it was approaching dusk so I ordered an uber that would take us home. We were at the city center so it arrived within minutes.

"What are you doing next weekend?"I asked Diana while in the uber headed to her place.

"I've got no plans in mind as of now, why?"She replied.

"Well I've got tickets to the Masinga Drag festivals and I was wondering if you would accompany me."I answered.

"What?!Really? I would love to."Diana replied excitedly without even having to think about it.

"Perfect, I'll text you all the details before then."I said happy that she had said yes.

"I went once with my brothers but I was really young and don't remember much except that I had fun."Diana added.

"Well you'll have much more fun with me."I assured her.

"Great, I can't wait."She replied grinning at me.

A few minutes later we arrived at her apartment building. I couldn't make the uber wait for me so Diana just hugged me goodbye and got out of the car.

She had said yes to the drag festivals and I couldn't wait to share that experience with her. It would be awesome.

🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻

Sorry for the filler but there's promise of an exciting chapter to come. I can feel it.

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