A Lily Among Thorns

𝙲𝙷𝙰𝙿𝚃𝙴𝚁 𝙵𝙾𝚁𝚃𝚈-𝙾𝙽𝙴

✞ C E L A I L a C R O I X ✞

"Stop moving."

"I'm tenderheadeddd," Julian complains.

"You've been doing good up until this point and I'm almost done. If you move again, this braid is gonna break off your scalp," Celai scolds.

"It already feels like that," he mumbles.

Celai ignores her childish boyfriend with an eye roll and hears him chuckle beneath her. "You're so patient," he says after he fails to crack her. "I hope you know our kids are gonna be just like this. The whining and everything."

"Thanks for the introduction," Celai says, pushing his head, letting him know she's finished.

Julian gets up and goes to the mirror to look at his freshly braided hair twisted into two big braids. "All jokes aside, I like this. It looks a whole lot better than what those other braiders did."

"I don't know why you didn't come to me the first time," Celai replies, sending a quick text back to Jayelle. It would be her late mother's birthday in a couple days and Celai can see the effects it's leaving on Jayelle already. The next few days were going to be hard.

"I wanted to surprise you," Julian says, going back to the couch and sitting beside her. "So what's the verdict?" he asks, looking at her phone.

Celai navigates to her email and a fresh email stands at the top. She doesn't look past the words 'I regret to inform you that...' She sighs. "It's official. She backed out. I'm back to one client," she mumbles.

Julian sucks his teeth. "Aw, that's alright, she just couldn't handle your amazing design skills."

She chuckles shortly. "Sure. At least I'm still blessed with the twin boys' room," she mentions. Lately, Celai's been finding the good in everything, even when the enemy takes something away. It's because she knows God could give it back tenfold and in perfect timing.

"You know what..." Julian says. He gets off the couch and goes into a bended knee position. "I'll be your next client," he declares, his arm outreached toward her.

Celai raises an eyebrow and places her hand on her wacko boyfriend's forehead. "You feelin alright, Jules?"

He grins at her touch and takes her hand and kisses it. "Never been better."

She ignores the intense monster butterflies in her stomach and instead lets out a childish giggle. At the perfect time, a knock on the door makes Julian turn his head, giving Celai the chance to get her emotions in check.

Julian stands to his feet and heads to the door. "I'm serious, Lai, I want you to redesign my apartment."

"Eventually I will," Celai responds.

Julian opens the door and to both of their surprise, Bernard is standing in the doorway. He smiles kindly at Julian before his eyes set on Celai. At the sight of her, his eyes widen. "I didn't realize you had company, is this a bad time?" he asks Julian.

"Not at all," Julian says, opening the door wider for Bernard to come in. "She's always over here."

"I can leave," Celai playfully threatens.