Denim packed his car outside. Asher and Jack helped him with some luggage into the car’s boot. Jack pulled Asher by the arm to put in the last box. Denim closed the boot and faced them while they both dust off their palms.

“So guys, this is not goodbye. Let’s just call this a brief vacation.”

“Uh, it’s fine, you know.” Jack smiled, touching his nose, then placed the hand on Asher. Fondling with his thick hair. “Asher here would be the next person to go on vacation.”

“What? Are you pushing me out?”

“I can’t push you out, your rent is reading so, I hope you also go for vacation.” Asher muttered jokingly.

“So what will happen if I leave?”

“Me, I’ll find a wife and you’ll be all by yourself.” Asher told Jack and exchanged a handshake with Denim.
“Good luck, bro.”

“Okay, I’ll be on my way now. Take care.”
Asher was to accompany him.

“Okay! Bye, Jack. Have your vacation!” Asher teased. Finally getting into the car with Denim.

Denim revised, back. In a swift, swerved out if the compound. Watching them leave, Jack scratched this head on a thought. He deepened a hand into his side pocket and brought out his mobile phone. His thumb slide through the phone’s screen at once. He dialed a contact, placing the phone by his right ear. Jack’s dark eyes unsteadily gazed at the Saturday’s blue sky till she picked.

“Ah, yeah.” A smile beamed out of his lips once she answered. “Hi, Rose. How are you?”

“Are you still at work?”

“Okay, so... Can we go out tonight to a fancy restaurant, just you and I?”
His smile dropped with the reply she gave. Making him scratch his head once again.

“Can we go out tomorrow?”

“Okay, it’s fine then.” Asher replied, remembering she was a church girl after all. “Bye.” He cut the call, a little disappointed, but he walked in.

Rose and Kimberly were at home, relaxing. “I thought he was better.” Kimberly stated, sipping on a glass of red wine.

“Jack is a nice guy. He’s smart and better than Denim or Asher.” Rose sighed and rolled her eyes at the idea. “He just needs to take it slow, you know. I don’t like being rushed into a relationship. It heads no where.”

“Hmmm...” Kimberly nodded in understanding, gulping down the drink in her mouth. “But you’re rushing yourself on Denim.”

Rose’s eyes pulled in a sudden frown. It made no sense. He just joined her church during the week and that was it?

“I’m just helping him find his way, as a spiritual baby.”

“Oh!”

“Yeah.”

“And you’re his spiritual mummy?”

An exasperated sigh escaped Rose’s pink lip, and her eyes widened in fury. “Kim, what are you trying to say?”

“I’m saying what I just heard, that you’re breastfeeding your spiritual baby.”

“Let me remind you, I am an Admin in church. And so it’s my duty to follow up with those that I brought in.”

“Oh, that’s good.” Kimberly remarked, drinking more wine. “What if you fall in love with him?”

“Denim?” Rose asked, frowning at her with an unusual intensity. “Never, please!”

She hissed and grappled a cup of wine from the table. “He is on his own.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, I trust you know what you’re doing.” Kimberly smiled, giving her a smiley face. “Spiritual mummy.”

“I am spiritually led.” Rose added. Her slim eyebrows raised as she focused on the glass of wine.

“Oh, thank you, Jesus!” Kimberly whispered. She ran her tiny red-polished fingers through her neck to adjust her mid-back length raven hair from disturbing her face.

Rose simply smiled and tapped her index finger on the wineglass as she held it between her fingers.

“May God forgive you.”

Rose was watching Kimberly drink, when she paused, mid swallow.

“What’s wrong?” Kimberly asked.

She rolled her eyes at Rose, reached between her lips, and suddenly pulled out a hair - long, dark brown, and straight. “This yours?” she asked, dryly.

“Shit, I knew I should have put my hair back today!” Kimberly murmured beneath her breath.

Rose’s coal black hair was bound up in a crown braid about her head. A pair of thin tendrils framed her face, but all it hid the beauty under a black beret.

Rosemary stood behind her car, packed under a flourished oak tree. She folded her arms under her breast, with a pestered look.

A bright smile spread against Denim’s lips as he walked towards where she was awaiting him, outside the church. His raven black locks glued into place like a warrior’s helmet. Tack as a tack, streams of hair pointed firm in place, ready to rock.

“Hey!” Denim gave her a warm hug, and she pushed him away at once. Disgusted by this presence.

“What’s the problem?”

“Listen, Mr! I am not your babysitter, okay? Next time you ask me to wait for you for 10 minutes, mean it!” she pointed a finger at him with jutted Jaws.

“But it’s just 15 minutes. I was just trying to-” Denim tried to explain, but she cut him off.

“Let me ask you a question! Do you come to church to flirt with that choir girl? Because I saw it!”

“No.” Denim replied. His eyebrows drawn together in a glare and his narrow lips tightened.

“You were tailing her. And you even attended today’s fellowship because you knew she was there!” Rose growled the words at him. The throbbing veins in her neck were visible enough that something was itching under her shoes.

“Come on, Rose. You’re just guessing.”

“Guessing? Denim, people are noticing it and the next time this happens again?” Rose rolled her eyes at him. “You’re on your own!”

She jumped into the car and banged its door on his face. Denim took a while to watch her. It makes no sense why she was acting out.

Earlier that day, Denim had to meet her at home, so they came to church together in her car. Thinking about all the effort made so far, it wasn’t adding up. Denim stared blankly at the surrounding and she vividly opened the door. Standing up to him again.

“Are you going to drive my car or I just drive myself home?”

Denim hissed, mumbling something underneath his breath. It pissed him out the way she acts, especially when she sees him with any other lady at the church. For some reasons, Denim does not enter a taxi, else, he might just take a taxi home. With a burning gaze, he walked to the driver’s seat and drove her home.

While walking towards the bus station, a black car suddenly pulled up in front of Kimberly. She knew little about car brands, but it was a Chevrolet Camaro.

The windows were tinted, so she could not recognize who it was inside. The driver’s window pulled down, and it was someone she least expected.

“Hello Kimberly.”Jack said with a calm smile.

“Hi, Jack.” she replied softly, returning the smile.

“Where are you going?”

“Home.” She pointed eastward.

“Hop in, I’ll drop you off.”

Jack was, well, different from all others. He was handsome, not perhaps in the conventional sense, but he had that appearance which could make him stand out in the crowd. As an Irish American, his skin was fair, almost pale white and his unfathomable, chocolate brown eyes contrasted exceptionally with his light toned face.

“Thank you.” Her smile widened as she walked to the other side of his car. She took the passenger’s seat and closed the door. “Thank you so much.”

“You’re welcome. So, how are you doing?” He asked, starting the car engines and zooming into the busy road.

“I’m fine, thank you.”

“Good.” Jack replied briefly. “I was at your place an hour ago. Rose wasn’t in.”

Kimberly’s smile dropped at once, replaced by a little scowl. “Really? Didn’t you call her?”

“Yeah, I did, but Rose seems so busy. She hardly pick my calls these days. That kept me worried. I had to check on her myself.”

“Uh...” Kimberly muttered, thinking about his words. Was she avoiding Jack to stay with Denim? She knew Rose preferred Jack. “Did you two decide to date?”

Jack’s eyes were as deep and expressive, where you could get lost if you stared long enough. His face had that faraway look in it, which cannot be described in words. His smile, which reached up to his eyes and wrinkled them, flaunted his modesty and humility. Often, you could see a hint of pain in his eyes sparkling, which disappeared as suddenly as it emerged. “Well, not with words.”

“Oh...” She faked a smile, knowing why she’d been avoiding him.

“Denim is now a member of the church.” His eyes dropped to the ground and then squinted, trying to connect the dot. ‘No wonder Denim left the house...’

Jack's eyes lost focus and the corners of his lips pulled down, disillusioned. Suddenly, his car started skipping from the ground as if gravels and broken bottles were scattered, pricking its tires. Jack drove at full speed, and Kimberly begged him to slow down. Meanwhile, he had lost the brakes. The more Jack tried to stop the vehicle, the faster it went. It was as if they were dreaming or part of a movie being shot.

“No, Jack! Stop the car!” Kimberly held herself back on the sleeky lathered seats. She swallowed hard when she realized it was reality.

The car screeched in zig-zags with no break and control.

‘Craasssh!’