Must Be Fate [COMPLETE]

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"Who is it?" I hear my mother's voice yell through the front door.

"It's your favorite person in the world" I reply cheerfully.

The door swings open and my mother falls into my arms immediately crying.

"Oh my God!" She says squeezing the life from me. "Andrew, our baby's home!" She yells into the house not letting me go.

"I missed you guys so much," I tell my mom as tears begin to stream down my face.

We break from our embrace wiping our faces from the emotional greeting.

"Mom," I take a step back. "This is Malik, Malik this is my mom, Shannon." I introduce them.

"Hello," Malik reaches his hand out and my mom opens her arms instead.
"We're huggers." My mom tells him motioning him in.

He leans down and hugs her smiling.

I hear my dad coming from behind us I turn around and run into his arms. "Dad!!!"

"Hey tiny," he says kissing me on the head. "Why didn't you tell us you were coming?"

I blush at my dad's embarrassing nickname for me. I'm the short one in my family. My father is 6'3 and my mother is 5'7.

"It was really last minute," I confess. I turn around to introduce my dad to Malik, "Dad, this is Malik, Malik, this is my dad, Andrew."

I step back anxiously for them to shake hands. My father walks up to Malik, and now I truly see how tall Malik is, he's even taller than my dad. 6'6 maybe?

They shake hands and then embrace in a half hug and relief sweeps over me. My father don't like anybody.

"How tall are you man?" My dad asks stepping back and looking him over.

"6'7, sir," Malik responds smiling.

"You play any ball?"

"I used to in high school and college," Malik tells him.

"Well, you aight with me." My dad pats Malik on the back. "I played a little ball back in the day before tiny was born."

My mom and dad met in college. My mom was a freshman and my dad was a 4th-year student. She was pregnant with me her sophomore year, but my dad took care of her so she could continue school after she had me. They got married after she graduated.

"I was cooking dinner, but I don't think we'll have enough." My mother tells us.

"If you don't mind, I'd like to take you guys out for dinner," Malik tells them.

"Oh no, sweetie, you're our guest." My mother tries to object.

"Please, it's the least I can do since we showed up so unannounced." He tells her.

"Well, If we leave now we can make happy hour." My mom laughs.

The mention of liquor makes me queasy after last night's shenanigans so I won't be drinking tonight.

We sit in the steakhouse restaurant across from my parents. To my surprise, everyone is hitting it off just fine.

"So what do you do for a living Malik?" My father asks after some small talk. Of course, my father wants to know more about the man his daughter brought home.

"My brother and I run a private equity firm that was founded by my father."

"Do you now?" My mother says with wide eyes.

"Yes, and Sharice will be working with me starting Monday, as our new Chief security officer." He informs them.

"Well, congratulations tiny. Look at you in the big leagues. I'm proud of you." My father says. "You watch my baby's back over there, Malik. I know how ruthless male-dominated industries can be." He tells us.

"Trust me, I know. Being one of the few black-owned private equity firms has not been easy, but I've got good people around me. They keep me grounded." Malik looks at me.

My mother speaks "Malik, how old are you, if you don't mind me asking?"

He looks at me and I look at my dad, then nod for him to go ahead.

"I'll be 35 on the 20th." He discloses proudly.

My father looks at me and speaks, "I haven't seen my baby this happy in a long time, so as long as you treat her right, we'll have no problems."

"I promise to keep her smiling every day."

I'm sure you will.