SHE

|thirty|

"Come on Marjae, you know the drill" Mercy said as she walked into her daughter's room. But to her surprise, Marjae was already awake and was making her bed. "Aw look at my baby, come on chicken little" Mercy held her hand out for Marjae to grab. She had already gotten Zion since his room was closer to Mercy's.

They all went to the bathroom and Mercy did their normal morning routine. She wanted to speed it up a little because she still had to pack their clothes for their stay at Viv's house. They were staying until Thursday and then it was Mercy's turn. Mercy felt like she hasn't really been around her kids so she plans to do some things with them during the weekend.

After the morning routine, the kids were all dressed and ready. Mercy sent them downstairs to eat and watch TV. They don't need much supervision considering they know how to act.

Mercy got herself ready in a white and black plaid two piece crop top, a pair of light blue denim jeans and a pair of red Old Skool Vans. The kids were dressed in similar outfits, but different plaid colors.

After getting herself ready, she quickly put the kids overnight bags together, going over the items many times to ensure she didn't forget anything. The one thing she couldn't stand is when people sent their kids to other people's houses without the things the kids needed.

Fifteen minutes later, everything was set and they were ready to go. It didn't take long to get the kids checked in and where they needed to be but it took a little longer to tell the people who was going to be picking them up.

When she was finished with the kids, she headed to the salon and she was the one who had to open it today since she had the earliest appointment. Mercy was fixing up the salon and making sure everything was working properly, before she heard the salon door open.

Turning around, she was faced with Anthony. Mercy became angry but masked it. He looked at her liked he missed her and Mercy could tell, but she doesn't care. She misses him too but the way he was acting last night, has changed her whole perception of him.

"Here's your phone" He said as he got up close to her and handed it to her. She took a few steps back to create space between them and he closed the space again. Mercy sighed and gave up. "What do you want?" He didn't respond he just stared at her.

She snapped her fingers in his face and tried to get a reaction. He just grabbed her hands and put them down at her sides. Mercy was confused. She tried to walk around him but he kept her in her place. "My guy, fuck do you want?"

"Was that really your final answer?"

"Are you going to continue to ask me this question to get me to change my answer? Anthony baby I told you I was not ready yet. I really wasn't and I'm still not. I've been depending on someone to be there to help me for so long. I just want to be independent-" He interrupted her.

"I'm not trying to take that away from you, I just want to be with you" Mercy sighed, he was wearing her down and he knew that. He knew that if he continued to pummel her with these same questions and show her that he's willing to be there for her that she would give in.

"And I want to be with you but just not right now. I've never been on my own. I mean yeah I have King, but he's only helping financially and two days out of a 14 day rotation. What happened to the Anthony a couple of weeks ago that was alright with our arrangement? Where is he at? The one that understood where I was coming from? Because this-" She motioned to him. "-is not the Anthony I grew to care for"