Khia

Sitting here in bible study listening to the pastor talk about God's love and how it should manifest in us, i had to reflect on my life to see if I was showing God's love. I opened my dusty bible and tried to follow along with what he was talking about. After bible study, the pastor called Santiago over and they started talking and I sat in a nearby pew waiting until they were done. A girl with caramel skin tone and natural wavy Hair sat next to me.

"Hey I'm Simone",she said putting her hand out for me to shake. I entertained her and shook it just to be nice.

"Hi I'm Khia",i said introducing myself.

"How did you like your first bible study?"

"I thought it was cool."

"Will we be seeing you again?"

"Probably",i said laughing cause I knew Santiago would always drag me to go with him.

"That's awesome. I love your purse by the way. Where'd you get it from?",she said randomly.

"I honestly don't know. It was actually a gift."

"Oh okay. It's nice though."

"Thank you",i smiled and said.

"Your welcome. I guess I'll see you Sunday ?"

"Yea that's the plan",i said laughing. She waved and I waved back at her and watch as she left.

"You makin new friends already?",I jumped when Santiago scared me from behind.

"Don't do that",i said hitting him on the arm. He took my hand and walked me out.

"And FYI we're not friends. She just came to talk to me."

"looks like a potential friend to me. She's cool."

"Y'all dated or somethin?"

"Nah. She's not my type",he said laughing and opening the car door open for me.

"What's your type? Cause she's not ugly to me."

"You Tryna set me up or somethin?",he said with a smirk.

"You said she's cool. I just wanted to know how you know she's cool."

"I haven't heard nothing negative of her so I guess she's cool."

"Yea ok."

"I love it when you get jealous for no reason."

I looked at him and laughed cause ain't nobody jealous over here. He's just full of himself. He drove and stopped by a familiar building.

"I'm gonna handle somethin real quick. You wanna come with me?"

"Yeah",i said unbuckling my seatbelt.

As we walked toward the building, a guy held the door open for us and dapped Santiago up.

"Aye Mr. jones still here right?"

"Yeah. He's about to be gone for the day so hopefully you catch him before he leaves."

"Ight thanks. Good lookin out, Marcus",tiago said. Marcus smiled at me and salute Santiago on his way out.

We took a elevator to the 5th floor of the tall building and went to the end of a hallway. Santiago knocked on a door and a tall slim Caucasian man with blonde hair opened the door.

"Mr. Rodriguez. Your not the schedule for today are you?",he said.

"No sir. I just came by to get my last two pay stubs for this month."

"Oh okay. Come on in",he said and let us in.

"Are you here to get yours as well?",he said to me. I was so confused.

"No sir. She's with me",Santiago said with a chuckle.

"Oh okay. She's pretty."

"She's the Girl i had with me at the awards ceremony we had months ago."

"Ohhh okay. I remember. She wasn't your girl back then was she?"

"No sir. Now she is",Santiago said logging into his computer. I stood behind him and rested my arm on his shoulders.

"Dang I was going to shoot my shot",his boss said causing us to laugh. After Santiago was done printing out his pay stubs, we said bye to his boss and was on our way to the car. All this running around had me a little confused. Something was up and Santiago wasn't telling me. On the ride to his house, his parents weren't home and it was getting really dark out. It was 8:45 when we pulled up. He unlocked the door and let me into his house. Turning on the lights, he sat on the couch and picked up a letter on the table. He looked at it and seemed so concentrated on it.

"What's that?",I asked.

"Immigration papers."

"What they said?"

"It's a list of things I need to have before they can have a look at the documents of my family in DR."

"Is that a good thing or no?"

"Not necessarily. The restaurant's under construction and I'm still not the owner yet."

"You haven't told your dad yet?"

"Nah. Now's not the right time."

"So when is it gonna be the right time?",I said crossing my arms.

"I don't know but not now babe",he said tossing the letter next to him on the couch and running his hand through his face in frustration. I knew he was under a lot of stress and I wish I could've done something to help.

"What if we got married... then they could include my income along with yours." Santiago looked at me and smirked.

"I'm not even bout to entertain that idea."

"Why?"

"Cause we actually gotta get married and have proof of it on paper babe. We can't just fake it & say we married."

"Okay so why don't we? The courthouse is right down the street babe",I said sitting next to him.

"No I don't want you involved in this. And I'm not about to marry you under these conditions."

"Do you not want to marry me? What was all that 'forever' talk in DR? Was that fake?",I asked concerned.

"No that was all real. I want this to be a forever thing. But not under these conditions. I'm not doin that babe and that idea is not up for debate",he said caressing the side of my face.

"Well it was a good one."

"I know. It was but not one I'm gonna entertain. You deserve better",he said and kissed me.