ᥫ᭡ KIYOMI TRUE
ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI
FEB THIRTEENTH 2024
"Your total is two sixty and seventeen cents—,"
Kiyomi kept an eye out to see what the customer would be paying with while she grabbed one of their bigger sized bags, "—card," she simply spoke out loud, picking the card option and allowing the boy to pay for his clothing choices. "This finna' be your favorite hoodie, I swear," she spoke more to herself but to him as well.
"What makes you say that?" he laughed, grabbing the bag of clothes from her hand. He purposely held it there a little longer, intrigued by her words.
"I got one similar from the same brand, mine is just a different color way plus that shit just soft as hell," she laughed as his laughter increased, "Have a good day," she said a farewell as he promised to take her word for it, exiting the building.
Back to having a slow afternoon, Kiyomi leaned against the counter top behind the cash register to release some pressure from her feet. Working here had been great, decent. One minute it's busy with up to ten people, other times it was just one or two who did some browsing with actually shopping. The men were unexpectedly fine as hell and the females were so sweet, always complimenting her.
Has she been scared ever since Semaj came in a few days ago? Scared shitless. In the middle of Niko ringing up her items, Semaj had entered the shop, all smiles. He had a fresh retwist, wearing a crisp white tee with McQueens on his feet. So damn edible, but then she remembered what he did and how he said it, causing her to tighten up and act like she didn't know who he was. She thanked Niko and told him to let A'shaun know she appreciated everything before gathering her bag and walking right out the shop.
Thankfully, he hasn't been back in since that day.
Just thinking about that situation made her sick to her stomach, once again feeling to need to switch out with Niko and head to the bathroom. "Take over, yeah? I'm not feeling too good," she looked at the boy who only looked away from his phone for a split second before nodding his ok, giving her the ok.
Wasting no time, she reached the bathroom and vomited all the food she had just ate. She hadn't had morning sickness for a while so she was just genuinely sick to her stomach at the thought of Semaj. You'd think he'd at least say something but he was nonchalant and nothing could really phase him. Not even his own seed.
Once she finished throwing up, she instantly made her way to the employee area so she could grab some gum out of her purse. "Yo', you good shorty'?" her head snapped, locking eyes with A'shaun who followed in right behind her.
"I'm good," she gave him a small smile, "Think I'm just a little uncomfortable but it might just be pregnant symptoms," she tried her best to make up a lie, but it sounded believable.
"Ah' man, baby said stop feeding me that unhealthy bullshit," he joked, remembering seeing her come back from the corner store with a pack two Twinkies and a honey bun.
She laughed, "Baby better get it together," she placed a hand under her shirt, resting it on her belly, "Mind if I step outside real quick?" she really needed to get some fresh air and clear her head.
"Ya' shift almost over, you can really go home if it's that bad," A'shaun didn't mind her leaving her, but there was really no need and plus every hour counts when you're trying to save up.
She shook her head no, "I just need fresh air, maybe stop at the boba place 'round the corner,"
"That boba shit good? Get me and Niko some too," he didn't give her time respond, not even caring she was leaving during her shift, as longs he got something back. Reaching in the deep pockets of his cargo pants, he pulled out a wad of twenty dollar bills. "It's gone be more than forty fa' all of us?"
Kiyomi smacked her lips, "I love boba, it really depend on the flavor but I'll get my favorite three drinks and we can all try them," she swatted the forty dollars he tried to give her. "It's not that expensive, I can buy this time," she didn't mind it seeing that they treated her to Starbucks via Doordash yesterday.
"Take this lil' money girl," A'shaun grabbed her hand, forcing the change into her hands. "—and don't fuck my shit up, whatever you get, I do not like mother fucking bananas so do not get nothing with that shit," he warned her.
Accepting the money even though she wasn't going to use it, she shoved it into one of her pants pockets and made sure she had her card with her. "Too damn old to be this picky," she laughed, not wanting to hear another word as she exited the employee room and made her way to the front of the store to at least see if Niko preferred any certain flavor. "Walking to get boba, want something specific?"
"Whatever you get," Niko shrugged.
"Gotcha," Kiyomi exited the shop and began making her way around the corner.
Niko and A'shaun were so different in personalities and she realized that the more she been around them two, but they were practically brothers from two different mothers. Niko had been the one training her on cashiering and was always by her side at the front when she did cashier. He had more of a laid back demeanor and probably had the most reckless mouth between them but he never had anything disrespectful to say about females unlike A'shaun. A'shaun could be heard going in and out the manager office on the phone with a female, reading her down. Hoe this, bitch that. Kiyoimi never expected from him being that around her, he was like a goofy ass older brother who already spoiled her with food, but he was a nigga at the end of day.
There has even been times where Semaj is brought up, but Kiyomi never bothered to stay too long to hear those conversations. How ironic could it be that one of their closest homeboys was Semaj?
"Can I get an order of matcha, strawberry and mango milk tea. All smalls, and add regular boba to all of them please," she explained it to her best ability and the worker seemed to understand with no problem, waiting for her to swipe her card.
As she stood to the side, she rested a hand on her belly once again. Something she found herself doing often. Apart of her wanted to fast forward a little bit, wanting to feel like little kicks and flutters and another part wanted her pregnancy to last longer than nine months, not exactly sure how everything is going to play out. Maybe she should finally move out of state, fearing the longer she lived here, the more it was an everyday risk of bumping into Semaj and him seeing her child one day.
Semaj.
He overwhelmed her mind and she hated that she allowed him to.
The drinks were ready in no time, Kiyomi thanking the lady before stuffing some napkins in her pockets and grabbing the tray of boba tea to head back to the shop. Lord knows why she thought she'd never have to see him again, not having him on any social media and deleting his number from her phone, she expected to live peacefully. Exactly what she gets for dealing with a dude like him.
Walking back up to the shop, the front doors were closed, but they stiller open, something the boys usually did when they both decided to chill in the back.Pretty sure they could see her through the cameras, she turned and gave it a nice flick of her middle finger before smiling sweetly and entering. "I hope ya'll like these drinks—"
Stopping abruptly, she realized they were indeed not in the managers office which was weird. Usually when they had down time, they would chill in Niko's and watch the cameras for customers. Deciding to try the employee room, she could instantly hear multiple voices.
"—ya'll can try the matcha but that one is mine. Ya'll decide who gets mango and who gets strawberry," she didn't even bother to look at who else they had been talking to or didn't even care that she interrupted what they were talking about. She just sat they tray of drinks on the center table and made her way to her belongings.
It had to be Semaj, she was just too scared to make direct eye contact.
"Where my change at?"
Kiyomi pulled the untouched money from her pants, "Told you I was buying," gaining some courage, she turned her attention to A'shaun who sat right next to Semaj, his hand reached out, waiting for his money back.
He smacked his lips, "Man, you hard headed as hell," he really didn't expect her to buy them anything seeing she was new. He assumed if she was looking for a job, she needed money but she did come into work putting that shit on every now and then so he really didn't know.
"Cause' I happily offered to buy ya'll boba, I'm hard headed," she laughed, shaking her head. "Hurry up and try mines before I drink all them," they were her top three drinks and she was not only feeding one but two people now so she didn't mind.
"Don't drag me in this shit," Niko reached for the mango drink, "What's this black shit in it?" His eyebrows furrowed but he still took a sip, everyone watching the boba quickly shoot up the straw and obviously hit the back of his throat, "Ah' hell nah,"
Everybody including Semaj bursted into laughter, "Goofy," he commented, his raspy low voice damn near making her faint.
Kiyomi knew she had to get out of here before she exploded, but she had about forty minutes left to her shift. "Chew it, it's good," she grabbed her drink, almost rushing to leave the room but trying not to look too eager.
"Wait, lemme' try ya' shit," A'shaun stopped her right in her tracks.
Kiyomi contemplated acting like she couldn't hear him, but out the the kindness in her heart, she turned back around and reached passed Semaj to hand him her tea. "Don't wash back in my shit either," she joked, watching his take his own straw and enter it in her drink.
He smacked his lips, making a face at her, "Cut it out,"
He took a sip, pulled away and took an even longer sip, "Mhm, this shit good as fuck,"
"Shaun!" Kiyomi smacked her lips, not giving a fuck about stepping on Semaj's shoes to snatch her drink away from A'shaun. "My drink," she pouted, stirring the drink to see how much a really drank.
"Ah' shit, don't tell me you finna' cry," A'shaun watched her set the drink on the table, her arms now resting by her side loosely. "I fa' got how pregnant women get, ah' shit," he was slightly panicked which made Kiyomi muffle out a little laughter. There was definitely tears in her eyes but the smile on her face said other wise.
"That was small," she was crying but not over her matcha drink. She was just overwhelmed right now and couldn't contain her tears no matter how hard she tried, A'shaun just set it off by gulping her tea.
"You really crying?" Niko tried to muffled his laugh.
"Got shorty' stepping on my shoes and shit," Semaj leaned down to see the damage, luckily nothing there.
So bad she wanted to roll her eyes and walk out. "My fault," she took a step more towards Niko, picking up the strawberry drink in the process. "You can have that one, I'll drink strawberry for today,"
"I'm sorry, I'll buy ya' one tomorrow morning," he sated, snatching the green tea drink and happily drinking it. "The big one,"
She gave him a tight lipped smile, "Thanks," she sarcastically said, going back to herb belonging so she could take A'shaun up on his offer and leave, "I'm about to head out, somebody need to watch the front," she reminded them, hoping they didn't forget they were on the clock just because Semaj was here.
"I thought you said ya' sister was up there shopping?"
"She said she was coming in after me," Kiyomi could hear the raspy voice creeping behind her as she finished clocking out and made her way to the front of the store, "Nobody was in here when you came?"
For a second she thought he was talking to one of the boys but she felt eyes on her, "I didn't see nobody," she answered dryly and proven right, they entered the main area where nobody monitored the store. Thankfully there was no one here.
"Stupid," A'shaun shook his head, "Moms woulda been on yo' ass for that," they must've did things like this often.
"Yo' ass nigga, you tha' damn manager," Semaj smacked his lips, pulling out his phone and exited the shop, probably calling his sister to see what the problem was.
"See ya'll tomorrow," Kiyomi called out, not really wanting to be around for Saniyah to see her. Bad enough she had to deal with seeing her baby father. Saniyah was the sweetest, don't get her wrong but she knew she was an auntie and she also knew Kiyomi didn't have much family. Kiyomi just didn't want her child to have to physically see Semaj period. That was probably his dying wish anyway.
"Be safe," Niko called out for both boys making her throw an awkward thumbs up as the cold air hit her face. She didn't even realize how warm it was inside the shop. Making her way to the nearby parking lot, she mentally thanked god for the employee parking and unlocked her car as she approached the vehicle.
Getting inside, she locked her doors and patiently waited for her phone to connect. Jesus. Working here was going to be eventful, but it's not like she planned on being here too long. All she needed was the extra money. Finally connecting, Jazmine Sullivan began playing through her car speakers, tempting her to turn it up and just vibe to release whatever energy she was feeling, but knowing Semaj was probably in this same parking lot, she wasted no time in swerving out the spot, grateful for the camera on her car that allowed her to back into any space.