Stubborn

Chapter Fourteen

Everything was moving fast pace for Melanie. She had been having secret studio sessions with Shawn lately, and she refused to tell anyone. She didn't want anyone to know that she had actually decided to take him up on the offer of being a singer. Because of her secrecy, this left her with still having to juggle her normal life. Jermaine had been a wonderful help with the whole process. He came over practically every night. When he didn't show up, he made sure to call Julian on FaceTime to have a small chat with him. The boys were bonding ad Melanie felt as though she was in a happy space.

Of course, many would say that she couldn't truly be happy without having the solid foundation of having to deal with her mother. It had been almost two months since she last spoke to her mother. Mel knew that Jermaine was taking Julian over her mother's house so that they could bond, and she didn't have a problem with that. It was hard for Melanie to open her mouth and actually apologize for something. In her stubborn mind, she wasn't in the wrong. Her mother knew that she didn't want Jermaine near Julian at that moment, but she decided against everything else to simply go ahead and do it anyways.

Melanie knew that morally, she was wrong for the woman that gave birth to her, but too many times Mariah hid behind that very excuse. She could degrade Melanie and her dreams, and if Melanie dared to defend herself - she got the "I'm your mother" excuse.

Yawning as she flipped through some papers, she looked up to see Corey entering her office. He was wearing a dark blue suit with a white tie for the day. Melanie smiled, acknowledging his presence.

"Sup?" Melanie asked.

"I should be asking you the exact same thing," Corey said as he sat down. He took it upon himself to grab one of the Hershey's kisses that she kept in a small glass candy jar.

Melanie put the papers down and looked at him before asking, "What do you mean?"

"I notice everything, Mel. Something is going on."

Melanie shrugged her shoulders. "Just adjusting to actually having help, I guess."

"Oh, so you and Jermaine are cool?"

Melanie gave a faint smile and nodded. "Yeah. We're cool." She thought about it a bit and shrugged. "It's nothing special. He bonds with his son, we talk about what's going on with Ju, and he leaves." That was clearly a lie, because she had been recently sexual active with Jermaine.

"That's good. Glad you actually gave him the time of day."

Once again, Melanie shrugged her shoulders. She wasn't in the mood to discuss her personal life. "I gotta go, Corey. We'll talk later? I gotta go pick Ju up and take him to get his haircut."

"This early?" Corey asked, looking at the Cartier watch on his wrist.

Melanie chuckled softly, "Yeah. I made the appointment too late. This was only time he had that wasn't early in the morning."

"Jermaine can't take him?"

Mel paused in putting her things up. "I don't need Jermaine to do everything. I did raise Julian alone for two years. I can take the boy to get a haircut."

Melanie wasn't trying to be rude, but she truly didn't see anything wrong with her going to get the boy a haircut. Melanie ended up leaving Corey sitting in her office. He had the ability to lock it up, so she didn't mind.

After taking Julian to get his haircut, the two decided to stop and pick up food at Chick-Fil-A. Pulling up in her driveway, she couldn't help but notice that Jermaine was sitting in his car waiting on her. She hadn't talked to him all day so it was a surprise to see him in her driveway.

Melanie got out of her car, and he did the same. "Why are you here?" Mel asked as she grabbed her purse and closed her car door. She opened the back seat and looked at him. She could hear Julian calling out for him, but she could feel that something wasn't right.

"I need your help, Mel." Melanie turned around to fully face him and looked at him. "With?"

Jermaine went to his car and helped a little girl out of the car. She noticed the girl from Target and knew that it was the child that he shared with Ashley. "I'm not getting in any of that," Melanie immediately told him.

Jermaine shook his head, "Mel, please," he pleaded.

Melanie continued shaking her head. "Your child, your problem. You and Ashley fix that mess. I'm not in it."

"You don't even know what I need!"

"I don't care!" Melanie yelled back at him. "You want me to help you with the child that you had from cheating on me? Where is the logic?"

"She's been abused, Melanie!" Jermaine yelled in the middle of her talking. Mel stopped and looked at him. Jermaine pulled the girl's shirt up in the back and plain as day there were bruises all up and down her back.