Forever Yours

| Ten |

Naomi

It's been two months since Yomi and Jalen had been married. She recently found out that she was two months pregnant around their wedding date. "Dr. Johnson, what's my next steps after today?" She asked, slowly pulling her shirt down. "Well the nurses will help you set your next appointment and provide you with prenatal vitamins. Don't look so nervous, we'll take great care of you." She smiled.

Naomi nodded and left to the nurses desk to receive all the information she needed for the upcoming weeks.

She hopped in her car and cried for a little. She felt like she wasn't ready to be called a mommy, and she definitely didn't know if her husband was ready to be somebody's daddy. After pulling herself together, she called the only person who could help her.

As usual, Lani picked up by the third ring. "Hey Yomi! Wassup sis?" She answered. "Hey Lani, are you free right now?" She tried to mask her voice. "Oh no what's wrong? I'm at the house alone right now. I'll pull out the cheesecake now." She said making Naomi smile. "I'm on my way." She spoke before hanging up and driving off.

When she arrived to her best friend's house, she sat in the car for a couple of minutes. How do I even tell her I'm pregnant? I don't even like the word pregnant. Just come right out and say it. She's your sister she will understand. The thoughts flowed through her mind.

She mustered up enough courage to get out of her car and walk into the complex building. She made her way up the elevator and which each step closer, she gained bravery. When she made her way to Lani's door, she paused, knocked three times, and waited. "Hey Yomi! What's going on?" Lani said opening the door and giving her a comforting hug. She took her slides off and sat on the couch.  "Lani, you're going to be an auntie." She tried to smile. "Yay!!! Wait no yay? What's wrong? Does Jalen not want any kids right now?" She frowned seeing tears roll down Yomi's face. "I don't know Lani. I'm scared, I'm not ready. Hell, I didn't even know i was pregnant until today, and I'm four months." She sighed.

"Ahh okay. Yomi look. You and Jalen both have the financial stability, he loves you with his all, and y'all have what it takes. Don't assume that Jalen is gonna be upset, he may be feeling like he's carrying the baby." She giggled making Yomi smile. "You're gonna be great and you have a great support system of me, KP, your husband, your father... you're gonna get all the help we can give you okay?" Lani added. "Thank you." Yomi hugged her. "You're welcome. Call me after you tell him." Lani smiled.

Ailani was always the only person who could ever help Naomi and she was always grateful for it.

After chatting about their lives for a couple of hours, Naomi decided to stop stalling and get home to Jalen.

She decided that she would stop to Walgreens to get some copies made in order to creatively tell him the news. She thought since he was a creative man, he'd get it. Also, Naomi truly hated the word pregnant so she wanted to say it without saying it.

By the time she got home, her husband wasn't there so she grabbed their scrapbook of firsts off the coffee table, and started to paste the actual sonogram pictures in it, complete with stickers and drawings. Letting her creativity flow, started to make her more excited than she would have wanted to admit.

After about 30 minutes, she flipped to the front and coincidentally he walked in.

"Hey baby how was work?" She smiled as she looked up at him, causing her to show all thirty-two of his teeth. "Hey beautiful. It was good, how was your day?" He naturally answered sitting next to her and getting comfortable. "It was good, I was just looking through our "Firsts" scrapbook. Wanna look with me?" She asked and he nodded, pulling her closer to him.

The scrapbook had dates like the first date, first kiss, first I love you, first trip, and anything's that was important to them. As she got to the last page, her stomach turned a bit. She hesitated and he grabbed the book from her, immediately turning the page.

Everything seemed to happen in slow motion; Jalen grew a wide smile on his face, closed the book, and hugged Yomi, causing her to fall back on the couch.

He kissed all over her face, making her giggle. "I thought I loved you on our wedding day, but I love you a thousand times over today. My beautiful babygirl is having my baby." He wiped the tears off her face. "Thank you." He added before kissing her.

Kofi

KP was stuck at his office late, waiting on his father to show up. He just wanted to get home and rest, but Kwesi kept him waiting as usual.

He checked his phone, hoping to see Lani's name in the notifications but there were none. She has been a little distant since they left Jamaica, and Kofi didn't want to crowd her space. He knew she would come around soon. Just as he put his phone down, hours father walked in. "Good evening son." He smiled as Kofi stood up to hug him. "Good evening pops." Kofi smiled back.

"I needed to talk to you about some things regarding some of the other business. I know you went to Jamaica last week to see Max, and I'm not too happy about that. Also, I wanted to tell you that I need you to come to the house to introduce us to the woman that's been keeping your head on straight lately." He said sternly sitting down.

"Sorry dad. I tried talking to you, but you weren't trying to solve anything." He sighed not even wanting to get into the situation with Lani.

"I've been setting up some other businesses for you and your sister to run. I made them into the both of your true career interests so that the both of you would do good at them. You will have full creative control of your own fashion business and your sister will be doing her marketing thing at another place. I will be there to help with paperwork behind the scenes for her and your mother will be taking care of some things for you. This will make you both richer, and I intend on leaving the dealings in Jamaica behind." He smiled causing Kofi to feel relief but he knew this was a start of a landslide.

"Now tell me about this girlfriend of yours." He smiled.

Ailani

Sitting in a bubble bath, Ailani sipped on some wine, playing a mixed playlist of Ari Lennox, Lauryn Hill, and SZA for a night of relaxation. She often thought about her and Kofi, and where they stood. They hadn't talked much since their Jamaica trip two months ago and she was trying to push him away.

He would always watch and like her posts, but she just couldn't find any words to say.

"I. Been. Smokin'. Purple haaaazee ooh. All to forget about you." She sang along to Ari. Those lyrics never told one lie about the past month. After his revelation, she wasn't sure if she wanted to be as invested as her emotions made her say. No matter how hard she tried to act like Kofi didn't matter, he did. He definitely mattered to her.

As she poured another glass, she thought about calling. Then she changed her mind. She thought about texting, and still changed her mind.

And I try, and I try, and I try, and I try. I try.
But I'm havin' the worst luck on Tinder.
Ooh, why'd you have to be a big pretender?
I try, and I try, and I try, and I try. I try.
To give you something good cause I know you would give it to me too.

She listened and cling to every word. "I'll text." She spoke to herself, grabbing her phone.

To: KP ❤️
I miss you. Come over so we can talk. Pls?

She waited a few minutes and she exited out as soon as the three dots popped up. Soon, her phone vibrated.

From: KP ❤️
I miss u 2. See you in 1hr.

She smiled to herself and went to get herself ready for company.