RULES AND ROSES II

VI

Don's POV
I sat up in the bed to make sure I heard her right. "What" I said confused and heartbroken. "I'm in love with someone else Don" she said. I could tell she felt bad for telling me. "I'm sorry Don. I'll always love you, you gave me my biggest blessings. I'll always be thankful for our time together and I'll always be here for you. But... I fell in love with someone else". She says.

I slowly got up from the bed and took a deep breath. I felt my heart shatter in a million pieces. I never thought I'd hear her say that. No matter what we go through, I always thought we would end up together. She's the love of my life. I walk over to Elias and kiss him a few times. "I'll be by tomorrow" I say lowly.

Nicki's POV
It broke my heart to tell Don the truth. I was in love with Omari and it wasn't fair for me to string Don along. "I love you Don" I say as he walks towards the door. He nods and walks out.

A hour later I hear a knock at the door. I was breast feeding Elias but I tell whoever it is to come in. "Heyyy booo" Ari says as she peaks her head around the door. "Hey girl" I say. She walks over to us and looks down at Elias. She rubs his hair and kisses the top of his head. "He's so precious pooh" she says.

We sit and talk for a while. While we were catching up, there was another knock at the door. "Come in" I yell. Omari walks in with a giant bouquet of roses. I smile big as I watch him walk towards me. "Hey" I say. "Hey babe. I just want to say I'm sorry I left. I thought maybe I should give y'all a minute. And I shouldn't have been fighting" he says and looks down. I reach out to him and pull him into a kiss. "Gimme my nephew. I'll let y'all have some privacy" Ari says with a wink. She grabs Elias and walks to the other side of the room.

He sits at the side of the bed and caresses my face. I take his hand and kiss it. "You are so beautiful" he says to me. I giggle and blush. "Can I ask you something" he asks. I nod. "Will you be my girlfriend" he asks nervously. A smile spread across my face. "I would love to be your girlfriend baby" I say. He grabs my face and kisses all over it. I giggle and he pecks my lips a few times.

"I love you girl" he says looking into my eyes. "I love you too Omari" I say.

A few weeks later
Adjusting to life with two kids hasn't been easy but Don has been a tremendous help. He's the best dad to our kids I could ever ask for. But I could tell things were different between us. The vibe was off. He barely talked to me unless it was about the kids.

Me and Omari were doing amazing. This man was a dream come true. He treated me like a queen. I saw a future in him. Kairi has met him and she already loves him. She talks about him all the time.

Today I wanted to go into my nail shop and see how things are going. I needed a little break from the kids. Don came and picked them up. "Hey Don" I say as he puts Elias' clothes on. "Wassup" he says not looking at me. "How you been" I ask. "I'm straight" he says. "Don when are we going to stop this. Why can't things go back to normal" I ask. He finally looked over at me.

"I think things are just fine. You tripping" he says. I sigh and let it go. I didn't want to argue. I walk over to the kids and kiss them goodbye. I push up on my tip toes and kiss Don on the cheek. He shakes his head and leaves.

At the nail salon
"Heyyy Pooh" Ari says. She's been running things for me while I've been dealing with everything. She's keeps the employees in check and the customers happy. I notice we had a new nail tech working on a client. She was pretty. I walked over to her and say "hey you're new here right" I say. She smiles and nods. "Yea, I'm Brooke. Nice to meet you" she says. I smile and walk to the back.

"So me and some of the girls want to go out tonight. You trying to go" Ari asks. I roll my eyes. "I don't know. I'm kinda tired" I say. She smacks her lips. "Come on. It's gonna be fun" she says. "Can I bring my man" I ask. She straight faces me and I bust out laughing. "I'm just playing. Alright imma go" I said.