"Mami?"
"What is it, baby?" Jasmine asks, furrowing her eyebrows towards the nervous child who plays with her fingers.
"I was at school and Becca was talking about her new room but she doesn't sleep with her Mami." Ansley says timidly as she moves in front of Jasmine.
My eyes widen when I realize what's happening. Oh, this is going to break Jasmine's heart.
"Okay?" Jasmine says slowly.
"I was just wondering if I could have my own room. I think I'm big enough to have one. I'll keep it super clean." Ansley rushes out, pleading with her eyes.
A frown rests on Jasmine's face before she looks towards me and I couldn't help but grab her hand.
"Um, okay. Do you have another room near mine?" She asks, making my chest tighten at her sad tone. I've never heard her voice so sad before.
"Yes, the room in front of yours." I mumble, not liking being put on the spot like that.
She nods before looking towards Ansley and nodding again. Ansley's face lightens with a bright smile as she squeals and starts running in place.
"Yay! Can it be pink? I've always wanted a pink room!" Ansley exclaims, receiving a nod from Jasmine before Ansley is running out of the living room to go tell Ralph.
I cautiously watch Jasmine as she looks at the spot where Ansley was standing with a frown gracing her face.
"It's okay, mama. She's growing up." I tell her as I wrap an arm around her shoulder and pulling her closer to my body.
"Don't say that." She mumbles into my neck.
Soon enough, we're standing in Ansley's pink room with pink furniture. I got some of my men to quickly get the room done and thankfully, they were able to put up the wallpaper and build the furniture in three hours.
"Mami! This is amazing!" Ansley squeals before she runs to her bed and throws herself onto it.
"Tell Roman 'Thank you'." Jasmine tells her with a small smile.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Ansley screams, jumping off her bed to run to me before wrapping her arms around my legs.
"You're welcome, baby." I say, smiling while patting the top of her head before she's running off to her bed again.
Jasmine watches her daughter bounce slightly on the bed as if to feel his comfortable the bed is and I feel a pinch in my chest.
I know she's sad about this move because they've always slept in the same bed based off of what Jasmine told me. Ansley is growing up and Jasmine doesn't like it but she'll have to get over it because Ansley won't be five forever. It's sad but it's the hard truth.
"Okay! Bye-bye, now! I need to enjoy my room by myself!" Ansley shouts, standing in the bed while pointing to the door as her other hand waves rapidly.
I chuckle, along with Jasmine before we leave her to her room. God knows what that crazy girl is doing.
"My heart." Jasmine says, rubbing her chest while we stand in the hall.
"She'll be okay. You'll finally have your bed to yourself and that means extra time with me." I tell her, wiggling my eyebrows.
I smile, watching her head tilt back as she laughs.
———————————————————————
A anxious Jasmine bursts into my office, making me jump slightly before furrowing my eyebrows at her unruly figure. Her hair is in a messy bun as if she gripped onto it.
"He asked to meet." She tells me and I immediately get up from my desk to put her in my arms.
She wraps her arms around my neck before I easily lift her off the ground and walking back to my desk chair so that we could sit.
"Have you said anything back?" I ask softly, running my hand through her long straight hair.
She nods. "I asked when, he said that he's going away for a business trip and I need to be ready in three weeks." She mumbles.
I nod against her head before we settle into the silence. I know I'm asking a lot of her, especially when I'm going to bed her to actually go to the meeting spot by herself but the sooner this happened, the sooner everything ends.
This has gone on for too long and about time it finishes.
"Baby, we have a problem!" Ralph shouts barging into my office once again. Does he know how to knock?
"What?" Jasmine asks, looking at him with worried.
"We have a Ansley incoming in about 20 seconds so you two need to separate!" Ralph said before Jasmine is off my lap, making me look at her in confusion.
She flashes Ralph a grateful smile before sitting in the corner of the room, pulling out her phone as if she's been doing that this entire time.
"Roman!"
Ansley runs straight to me before climbing into my lap and wrapping her arms around my neck tightly.
I rub her back but keep my eyes on Jasmine as she doesn't even look at me before slipping out of the room silently with Ralph following her.
What are they doing?
"When is dinner going to be ready? My tummy keeps talking to me." Ansley says, pulling back to rub her stomach as it makes a loud sound. "See!" She exclaims, making me chuckle.
"How about we go down there and tell them to start cooking. It'll probably take twenty minutes but we can snack on something until it's done." I tell her, standing with her in my arms.
"Can we watch Disney also?" She asks, giving me her best puppy eyes, knowing I can't resist them.
"Yes, baby."
———————————————————————
"Shit! You almost made me have a heart attack." Jasmine huffs, holding her chest as she shuts the door behind her and walks further into her room.
"What was that about?" I ask from my spot on her bed.
Her leaving with Ralph is still bothering me and she was acting all distant at dinner. Well not really distant but she wouldn't return any of my touches.
Is this what it's like to overthink? If so, this fucking sucks because all I want to do is hold her and she won't let me.
"What was what about?" She asks, looking at me weirdly as she walks towards her bathroom before I get up to follow her.
She grabs a towel from the closet by her shower before moving in front of her sink to remove her jewelry. I stand behind her, sliding my hands around her waist until they rest on her stomach but her body tenses, making me pull away.
"Have I done something?" I ask, looking at her through the mirror.
"No." She scoffs, focusing on the necklace on her neck. "Why?"
"You keep tensing when I touch you." I say, furrowing my eyebrows. I don't know how to act. Normally when she's in front of me like this, I would look at her ass but I can't even do that without a heavy feeling weighing on my chest.
"What am I to you?" She asks, suddenly turning around to look at me with a stern expression.
"What do you mean?" I ask, rubbing the back of neck to force my head down so I could avoid her gaze.
"I'm a mother, Ansley will always come first to me so if you don't like that then you can go find someone else who can handle your attention." She tells me, making my face scrunch up.
Is she serious right now? Everything that I've said has gone in one ear and out the other. She must've not comprehended anything that I have been telling her.
"I know Ansley comes first, I wouldn't expect anything less but what does she have to do with us?" I ask, watching as she sighs and turns back towards the sink to organize the jewelry that she took off.
"If this makes her upset, I'm done." She says without looking anywhere other than her jewelry.
"I figured." I scoff before grabbing her hips so she'd look at me. "Is this why you're acting like this?" I ask, letting my eyes soak in the strange expression on her face.
"I don't know how she'll react. I mean, what are we even doing? This is a mess and we're acting like teenagers, hiding to have a make out sesh. She'll have expectations and I know you're not ready for that so I-"
"I never said that I wasn't ready for that. Don't put words into my mouth. You never asked me. If you're having doubts about me then I want you to tell me, we can't figure anything out if we don't communicate." I tell her sternly.
"So than tell me because right now, I have no clue what you're trying to gain from this." She huffs, wrapping her arms around her body as if to comfort herself.
"I'm not trying to gain anything. I'm prepared for everything I'm bringing onto myself. I'll be whatever you allow me to be; a boyfriend, a father-figure, your best friend. I'm prepared for it all."
Once again, I'm shocked by my own honesty. I understand that she has doubts. She takes care of a persons life, that's all she's ever known to do but she needs to know that it's perfectly normal for her to have her own life too. Especially since she was robbed of it for majority of her life.
"Do you remember what I told you?" I ask as she gives me a speechless nod, making me smile slightly.
"You can deny it all you want but I'll still be right here, worrying about you, holding you as close as I can." I repeat my words from a couple days ago.
Her face and body finally melts into my touch as she takes a deep breathe, letting all of her worries melt away for now.
"Now tell me what you want from me because I'll be happy with anything you want, mama." I say, softening my face to encourage her into telling me.
"I want you to be mine." She whispers, making me smile before I peck her lips gently.
"As what?" I tease slightly.
"A boyfriend, a father-figure to Ansley, my best friend." She mumbles, pursing her lips to stop her smile from showing but I couldn't help but widen my own smile. Hearing those exact words that I wanted to hear sounds like heaven falling from her mouth.
"We'll talk to Ansley about it tomorrow and she can set her own pace for us as we set our own pace." I tell her, watching as she smiles and nods, pushing her body further into mine as she rises onto the tips of her toes to kiss me.
I'll keep repeating myself until she finally understands that all I want is her and Ansley.