Carrying three containers of cups, two pitchers of hot water and four coffee bags, Angel carefully headed towards the nearest counter while trying not to drop everything. She'd be in a world of trouble-and third degree burns-if she spilled the scorching water on herself.

She blew out a breath of relief once she made it, and returned to her previous tasks of stocking up the kitchen for the next shift's employees. She liked to make their job a little easier on them because she knew how hard it was to come in to work at six in the morning with nothing stocked.

Luckily all of the employees at HuggaMug cafe were close enough to where there were barely any problems during any of the shifts. They communicated with Angel and her Nana with respect-to which they returned-and that's how they kept everything smooth sailing.

Most of the employees had been working there for years now because there really wasn't a reason to quit. The pay was three dollars above minimum wage, they got healthcare, dental benefits, and a 401K too. The fact that management-Angel, her Nana, and her mom-were as sweet as they were was just an extra cherry on top.

Angel snapped out of her thoughts at the sound of the bells above the door ringing, letting her know that someone had just walked in. It was currently a little past five in the morning, so it was obvious who'd just come in.

"You look good in them tights mama." Roman walked in the side door to the kitchen, and she smiled, opening her arms up for a hug.

"You look so tired pooh. Do you want coffee?" She held his face after he'd kissed hers, and he shook his head no.

"I'm tryna go straight to sleep when we get home and if I drink some, I'ma be up for a few more hours." He then kissed her forehead, and she chuckled, rubbing her hand down his back.

"You think you're slick. I told you not to come up here today." She looked up at him to watch him shrug as if he didn't care. Knowing him, he really didn't.

Angel had been at his house for almost a week now, so she'd told him she would be going home today to go check on her house and give his family some personal time with him, but of course, he wasn't going for that.

Though he swore up and down that none of them cared that she stayed over, Angel felt it was selfish of her to take up his time the way that she did. He wanted to spend every waking moment with her and she thought that was unfair to the rest of his family.

Obsessed was an understatement.

"You don't run me. I run you. Now go get yo' stuff so we can go." He tapped her ass after he let her go, and she stared at him for a few seconds before turning around to go do as told.

Whatever helped him sleep at night.

Roman waited out in the dining area while Angel went to go finished stocking, and once she was finished she grabbed her bag out of her locker. She made herself a breakfast burrito before locking the kitchen up completely.

Madisyn, Terry, Ayesha, and their older cousin Jayden would be there to open the cafe back up in an hour or so. Hopefully nobody showed up before then because obviously no one would be there to serve them.

"You want some?" Angel held her burrito out to Roman, the two of them now on the way to her house to get her some more clothes.

"Nah."

"You didn't want any coffee, you don't wanna bite me, and you're off work an hour early. What's the matter dude?" She changed her voice to make it seem like it was her burrito that was talking to him after putting it directly in front of his mouth, resulting in a laugh from him and a smile from her.

Roman leaned his head forward to take a bite out of her burrito, and she wiped the chipotle sauce that dripped from the side of his mouth. When he sucked it off of her thumb, she playfully rolled her eyes, grabbing a napkin out of her bag.

"What's wrong, foreal? You okay?" She looked over at him, giving him her burrito when he gestured for another bite.

"Mhm. I'm just tired. A lil' environmentally overwhelmed.. I think that's a word to describe it."

"What do you mean?"

"I just wanna lay in the bed all day. I don't wanna be outside with no noise and I don't wanna see nobody." He tried to explain, though he couldn't pinpoint exactly what it was that was currently bothering him.

"You just started feeling like this?" She asked, and he nodded in response.

"What's bothering you the most?" She followed up with another question, trying not to prod at him but she wanted to know if there was anything she could do to help.

"My job, probably. I'm tired of being up there."

"I been working at the same hospital for six years now and I-I don't know. I'm tired of being around that kinda energy, you know? Like everybody sick or in pain, and they families be mad at the nurses for trying to help but then they be even madder when it's nothing more we can do for they people."

"The surgeons be rude as hell and the floor supervisors don't know how to do they fuckin' jobs so it's like one of us always gotta control the floors-while still doing the patients we get assigned to for that day."

"And I been feeling like it's just time for me to go, you know? But I don't know what else to do. I don't wanna fuck up the routine I been having for years just 'cause people at the hospital piss me off. I feel like that ain't a good enough reason to go."

Roman was an intern for the Harlem Hospital Center for the duration of Samaiya's pregnancy, and then he got a position at his current job in the city, which is where he'd been for the last seven years with the same exact schedule every week.

He had a two hundred thousand dollar yearly salary from just this job alone, and his real estate earnings brought in a few million dollars per year as well. He and his family would still be set for years to come if he did decide to quit, but money didn't really play a huge factor in why he'd stayed at this job as long as he had.

If he were to resign as a registered nurse, he feared that he might fall back into the ropes of the street life he lived before he'd gotten this job. Fast money had always been something that he loved, and without the hospital job to distract him, he knew it wouldn't be long before he made that his next source of income.

At times he felt dumb for even thinking that way since he'd come so far that there was no reason to go back, but his mind had a way of convincing him to believe otherwise. He just didn't want to fail himself or his girls. They deserved more.

It took him a while to rant about all of that to Angel-and by while, he didn't end up finishing until they had already stopped by her house to grab her some clothes and were now parked in his garage.

"You don't give yourself enough credit. You're not the same person you used to be Roman." Angel rubbed his hand that rested in her lap, her body now turned sideways so that she could see him better.

"You won't be a failure for doing something that will help your mental health. If you're tired, then that's just it. You don't have to find any excuses or reasons to justify that. And you definitely don't need to think of the worse possible outcomes as the result of you doing that 'something'."

"Give yourself a break. And, don't worry about finding a distraction. That's why you have me. I'll do all of the distracting." She intertwined her fingers with his, chuckling at her obvious joke.

Roman reached over to wrap his hand around her neck, pulling her upper-body over the center console so that he could give her a kiss. It caught her off guard, but nonetheless, she kissed him back.

"I love you. I don't know what I would do if you wasn't here to listen to me talk about bullshit all the time." He laid his forehead against hers, and she smiled, wrapping her arms around him in a hug.

"It is not bullshit and I love your whole life. Now, pick me up and carry me in the house please." She climbed out of her seat to be in his lap, causing him to smile too.

He grabbed her bag out of the backseat, and hoisted her up further onto his torso before getting out of his truck. The house was quiet, as usual, as they walked inside, and of course they were greeted by the dogs.

Angel remained in his arms as they headed upstairs to his bedroom, and the whole time, her smile never left her face. She knew that Roman's body was tired from his long day at work, but he still carried her because he knew that it made her happy. She loved him so much.

That wasn't anything unusual for Roman though. He was so selfless and would put everybody else above himself like it was nothing. He'd always felt like the people he loved were his purpose-not a job, nothing religious or spiritual, nothing regarding health or any of that. His family was his only purpose.

Angel thought that was perfect. He was perfect.

"Boo, girl. Damn." He bucked at her through the bathroom that they now stood in; fresh out of the shower together.

"Boy I can look at you. Don't do that." She mushed his head forward while walking behind him, and he laughed, following her out.

"Lay down. I'll do it for you." She took the plastic jar of coconut oil out of his hand which caused him to raise an eyebrow to question her.

"What is this, some sexual advance to get me to fuck you?" He smirked as he was pushed to lay on his back, letting Angel climb on top of him.

"No. But, if it comes to that, then I wouldn't necessarily mind." She lathered some in on her hands, and he chuckled, making himself comfortable against his pillows.

Angel pulled his arm into her lap, rubbing the coconut oil into his skin. Every part on his body was so muscular, Angel didn't understand how. He rarely ever went to the gym. His well-built body had to be genetic or something.

She rubbed it in on his chest and his stomach too, fascinated with all the tattoos she passed by. There were so many; she'd tried to count them one time before a nap but ended up super tired by the time she got the 32nd one.

Now done with the top half of his body, she positioned herself between his legs so that she could rub some on his thighs-which were one of the only places he didn't have any tattoos, excluding his butt-he even had his calves and his knees covered in ink. It was crazy.

"All done. You look so moisturized now, which is saying something because you'd be surprised how many people don't use lotion at all-nonetheless body oil." She put the plastic jar on his nightstand, and then climbed back on top of him so that she could lay with him.

"You gone let me do you?" He asked while wrapping his arms around her small waist, and she smiled. She was about to respond, but then the sound of her phone ringing interrupted her train of thought.

Reaching over to grab it from the nightstand, she pulled it off of the charger to see her Nana's contact flashing across the screen. Normally she ignored calls this early in the morning, but her Nana rarely ever called because she didn't know how to work her phone, so she figured this was important.

"Hola mami. Todo bien?" She asked if everything was okay in Spanish, causing Roman's eyebrows to immediately furrow.

"Sí, quiero decir, además del hecho de que me caí tratando de llegar al baño." Roman could hear her grandmother's voice as clear as day, and didn't hide how surprised he was to hear them speaking full-on Spanish together.

- Yes, I mean, besides the fact that I fell trying to get to the restroom.

"Caíste?! Nana, quién está en casa contigo? Donde esta mama?" Angel stood up from the bed, a concerned expression struck across her face.

- You fell?! Nana, who's at home with you? Where's mama?

Roman watched her walk to the dresser to grab herself some clothes, all the while his frown never left his face. They'd been dating for two months now and she'd never spoke any Spanish around him. Unlike most people who were bilingual, Angel didn't carry the accent while speaking English either, so it was news to him to hear her speaking the language.

It rolled off her tongue so nicely too, as if she was a native Spanish speaker; which would be a complete surprise to Roman if she was. He knew it wasn't a big deal, but how come she hadn't told him about this? Hearing her grandmother speaking the language too, he knew that it was a huge possibility that she wasn't born in America.

Now that he thought about it, he had never picked up on the fact that Angel didn't have an upstate accent either. She didn't sound like she was from New York, but Roman had always passed it off as nothing more than a coincidence due to how soft and polite she naturally sounded.

As he continued to think further, he realized that there was so much he didn't know about his own girlfriend. He'd told her damn near every detail of his life, but random facts and constant conversations about his own life and things she wanted to know about him was all she ever talked about, really.

"Everything good?" He asked her after she'd gotten off of the phone, now plugging it back up on her charger.

"Yeah, I think. She tripped and hit her head by the couch 'cause she was trying to help my mommy bring groceries in and she called to tell me that the paramedics were over to check on her.." Angel tightened her towel around her body while walking towards his dresser.

"You need me to take you over there to see wassup?"

"No-well, not yet. If they have to take her to the hospital then yes, but one of the guys told my mommy that she'll be fine, she just needs to rest now." She rubbed a stick of aluminum-free deodorant under her arms at the same time that she yawned.

"I didn't know you spoke Spanish." Unsure of how to address his previous thoughts, Roman started with what caused him to start thinking about it in the first place.

Angel turned around with a playful smile on her face, "Obviously. As an English speaker, why would I speak Spanish to you?"

"Whatever, smart ass. You got any other secret talents you wanna tell me about?" He pulled her closer to him by her arm, so she wrapped them around his neck.

"Is that to be taken sexual? Because if so, no. Not really. I am just a pillow princess type of girl." She shrugged, a smile placing on her face once he laughed.

"Ain't nothing wrong with that. You know I'ma handle you regardless," His hands slid to be on the back of her thighs as he paused, getting back on track.

"What I mean is, we don't talk enough about you. We always talking about me and what's going on over here. Like, Spanish, Angel? I don't even know where you from mama." He looked up at her, and her expression softened a bit.

"Aw. Why do you sound so sad? It's nothing to know about me Roman. I'm Puerto Rican and my Spanish is nothing important." She chuckled, making herself comfortable in his lap.

"You was born over there?" He asked, and she nodded her head.

"I wouldn't call it 'over there' because Puerto Rico is still a U.S. territory, but yes. My grandpa flew most of the family to New York with almost all of the money he had saved because California was too expensive, and then him and my Nana opened the cafe to give our family jobs since it was hard to get them back then."

"My life isn't as exciting as yours so that's probably why you feel like that, but you can always ask me stuff and I'll answer for you. I'm pretty boring though." She rubbed the back of his neck while his arms rested around her waist.

"Don't be sad, okay?" Her hand trailed to be on one side of his face while she softly kissed the other, her eyes never leaving his.

Angel was the sweetest person he knew. Everything about her was just so pure and gentle; being around her was literally so welcoming. There had never been a place or person that he'd fit more than how he felt when he was with her.

For a while, he tried to convince himself that there was no way he could be in love this soon, but with Angel, he just couldn't help himself. She was everything he had ever wanted but had never directly asked for.

At times he was afraid that maybe he wasn't doing as good of a job at being boyfriend like how she did as his girlfriend; the current situation of not even knowing that she spoke Spanish, for example. Then she'd give him a kiss or tell him that she loved him and all of his worries would fade.

He loved the way she made him feel.

Sigh