PARADOX

PDX30

January 5th 2023
Dallas, Texas
2:24 pm

Amina fell deep into her thoughts as she swept the floors of her suite. After seeing her layers, her clients immediately began to request the same hairstyle. Which meant her shears were being put to use, having her sweep more fallen hair than usual. Jill Scott's "Comes to light" played lowly in the background, which ironically fit her mood.

A knock on her opened door caught her attention, she looked up to see Pharaoh standing in the frame of her door. "You ate yet?" He questioned.

Amina shook her head no, "What you planning on getting?" She questioned as she dumped the dust pan's debris into the trash. Within the past couple of days the two began to eat lunch together. A side of Ro's marketing for his photography was taking photos at local restaurants, occasionally he'd review the food as well for his instagram page that he had pretty good traction on thanks to a few of his videos reaching Twitter.

"This soul food spot I found yesterday." He replied. Soul food always sounded good to her, so she was down. "Alright—just get me whatever you're getting." Amina spoke as she grabbed her phone and sat in her waiting area.

"Bet...you gon' do the video with me?" He questioned. Amina slightly twisted her face up before chuckling, "Oh, I don't know about that—I'm best behind the camera." She replied as she stuck a piece of her hair behind her ear.

Ro chuckled, "C'mon Amina." He spoke, "I'll think about it while you're gone." Amina replied. She looked down at her phone and noticed it was ringing with a call from Melo, the two reconciled on New Year's Eve when he texted her happy new year. She continued her conversation with Ro and made a mental note to call Melo back in a second.

"Alright and you drinking sweet tea, right?" He questioned, "Yeah, but if they have red Kool aid, I'll do that." Amina replied. Pharaoh nodded his head before stepping out of the doorframe and leaving the building. Meanwhile, Amina grabbed her phone out of her lap and pressed the missed call notification to call Melo back. A few rings in, he answered the call.

"Wassup." He greeted, "Nothing...at work." Amina replied as she toyed with her thumb ring that read blessed on it.

"My in law told me she scheduled an appointment with you." Melo announced, Amina lightly smiled. "Yeah, she comes tomorrow." She replied.

"She good people, I think y'all gon' mesh." Melo replied. Amina didn't doubt that Allure was good people, especially after the short interactions they had at her home last month. "What you doing?" Amina questioned, changing the subject.

"I just left a meeting...I'm finna see if I can get me a fade real quick." Melo explained, Amina nodded her head as if he could see her. Melo was always in and out of meetings, since his job required it. Being an angel investor meant he was always listening to people's business plans and deciding on if he wanted to fund the business in exchange for equity.

"What's the business plan?" Amina questioned. She was always curious to hear the ideas people came up with. Some were smart and some were...creative to say the least. "A drive through beauty supply store." Melo replied.

"That's nice—you should invest in it, I know for a fact it would go crazy in the right location." Amina replied. "I know—I'm definitely leaning towards it." Melo spoke.

"I don't think it would take long to get customers either." Amina spoke as she held her hand out in front of her, it was definitely time to stop at the nail shop. She planned on inviting Chalyn out for a little nail date sometime this week. "What color should I get on my nails?" Amina questioned as she eyed her other hand, a few moments passed before she realized that he hadn't replied.