THE FIRST THING I NOTICE ABOUT CHARLE'S HOUSE IS the freshly painted black door. His house was a townhome in a better area, far off from the hood part of the Bronx. Everything here was straight out of my dreams. Even his car, a black Lexus was just as new looking as the rest of the neighborhood. Smooth clean sidewalks, trees which I'm sure were quite the view in spring, and almost a basketball hoop on every driveway.

"Damn what do you do that get you a house like this?" I ask stepping out of the car and reaching for my suitcase.

"Why? Are you saying that black men always do drugs or something sketchy to get a house like this?"His face is set cold and glaring at me.

I put my hands in the air. "No, I didn't mean anything like that."

He breaks out a smile. "Kiddin, chill sis. I was just playing."

I roll my eyes at him and head up the steps towards the door which felt a bit like torture. There were like a million steps I had to take before I would reach the top.

"You need help?" Charles asks me, noticing my struggle but I ignore him, taking the final step towards the black door he opens after getting the house key. 

"You're home," a petite lady says walking towards us, a huge smile in place. She had her afro in a colorful bandanna and was dressed in a long modest skirt that reached her knees. Nothing like the short skirts I would wear. My mind drifts back to what Charles said about her. A modest, Christian woman. 

"Hi, I'm Jada," she smiles at me and then squeezes me into a warm hug which I squirmed out of.

"Oh, I'm so sorry. Did I hurt you?" she asks, her eyes looking up and down my face. She's judging me, I think. That's what they all do.

"Yes a bit,"I lie. Before she can say anything else, two kids start running toward me, squeezing me into a hug. Two girls looked like identical twins, their hair in beaded braids. They looked just like Jada herself.

Charles chuckles at them. "And these the twins I told you about. Faith on the right and Grace on the left."

"We're both 6 years old and twins," one of them exclaims while the other one nods and bends my hair down to play with my braids, tugging at them.

"Girls, don't be rough with Aunt Aniyah okay? Why don't you lead her to her room instead?" Jada suggests.

"Okay," they say in unison and while the other grabs my arm, one helps me with my suitcases. Such a perfect family. Compared to me though. Jada probably thinks I'm horrible. I should leave here soon.

"Auntie here's your room", Faith I think, announces. They had placed me on the ground floor in a simple room with a  queen bed, desk, and a small walk-in closet. Still, it was bigger than my apartment back home which was the size of a living room altogether. 

"Hello, you there?", Grace, or Faith, waves her hand in my face. 

"Yeah, I guess I'm just a bit tired. I'll let you guys go and play and do your stuff," I say. They run out of the room but not before giving me another hug and closing the door. Collapsing on my bed, I couldn't help but compare myself to Charles's life. Unlike me, he obviously had a decent job and was now a Christian. All that stuff made no sense though. If there was a God why did he kill my parents? Where was that miracle? Why did he leave me, a 16-year-old to take care of myself and allow my brother to leave me? Even if he was there and I wanted to become a believer, I had done so much wrong. I lied, wore short clothing, and slept with men for money. I was nowhere near holier-art-thou Jada who obviously hated me. 

"Can I come in?" a muffled voice behind the door asks.

"Sure," I jump out of bed and open my suitcases and in the corner of my eye, I see Jada, standing in the doorway, a laundry basket in her hands and a smile on her face.

"I just wanted to let you know we are so happy to have you here. When Charles heard that you were in the hospital, he was so scared you would be gone."

Yeah right. "Oh really?".

"Listen Aniyah, I will and would never judge you. I know that right now you are in a state of loss and loneliness but I know that God can help you with whatever you're going through right now."

"Well, maybe he should have helped me earlier by preventing my parent's death. Unlike my brother, I don't believe in that God nonsense. It's all just a waste and false hope in a guy who even if he's up there doesn't care about people like me. I mean really, a prostitute like me. And if he did care, my brother would never have left me," I scoff. 

Jada's eyes only express pity which I ignore and go right back into focusing on my clothes if you could call them that. Short dresses, lingerie, see-through shirts. I can tell she's watching me, her brown eyes gazing at my stuff. I snort. 

"I believe that God used this accident to bring you back to Charles to see what he has. And I want you to know that he regrets every single day the day that he left you. When we were getting married, he searched and searched to send you an invite. He wanted to take you in and help you." A bit too late on that help.

"You are more than welcome in this family and if you want, tomorrow we'll go to church for our Sunday service. We leave at 8:30," Jada says and finally leaves the room. I head back to hanging my clothes in my closet, staring at them and comparing them to Jada's long skirt. My phone buzzes with a notification and I instantly take it out.

Boss: Are you coming to work? You are late again Ani.

Me: I think I may need to take a break. I'm somewhere right now

Boss: Listen okay. I'm sending you and address of a senator who wants to meet you 

Me: I can't okay? I'll be back hopefully next week.

Boss: I can't keep doing this Ani. You can't bail on me like that

Me: If I can I'll be back next week but until then tell the senator to wait!

Boss: Fine. One week but that's it. 

I throw my phone onto the bed frustrated. The guy was so annoying sometimes.  I swore on my life that I would get myself together, I would leave my job, and go somewhere else. Get a stable regular job if I could. Maybe go to college. I allow my mind to drift away to what my perfect life would have to be. I would go and maybe even start that fashion business I wanted. I would live in a fantastic apartment with a beautiful baby boy or girl. The perfect guy. Right now though, my life felt the complete opposite. Just imperfect.

XXXX
The next morning my phone woke me up with my alarm only for me to realize that I had pressed the snooze button way too many times and it was now 10:27. I rub my face to wake myself up and head towards the guest bathroom to shower and to start to get ready and to wake me up. The house was quiet since Charles and his family had left for church and the peace was just what I needed. My chest was feeling strangely sore these past few days with the feeling of nausea. I bet it's the hospital. They always did add strange things. After a hot shower and brushing my teeth, I redid my edges and put my braids in a high bun before leaving the room and heading for the kitchen. They left me a bowl of cereal which I couldn't eat due to the feeling of vomiting. Just as I was going to sit down and go on my phone, I hear the front door opening, and Charles and his family are coming in. Yay me.

"Hey Ani, how are you feeling?" Charles asks, placing his keys on the island.

I shrug. "Tired I guess."

He nods and Jada comes into the room with Twin #1 and Twin #2. Just who I wanted to see. 

"Hey, Aniyah. How'd you sleep last night?" Jada's smiling at me with a goofy grin on her face. I shrug and Charles leaves the room to God knows where while Jada started grabbing food from the fridge.

"You wanna help? I'm making brunch right now?" she asks, holding up a bowl and a knife. I shrug again. 

"Sure," I say and put my phone down to go over and help.

"You can start cutting up fruit for the fruit salad on the island," she points to the pile of fruit she had placed. I start grabbing the knife and cutting and we stay in silence until she decides to start talking which is the last thing I want to do right now.

"Sorry about the cereal. We usually eat light before church and then we have a huge brunch."

"It's okay. I wasn't hungry anyways," I reply while trying to cut up strawberries, popping one in my mouth and going right back into cutting. It continues on in silence before Jada decides to talk. Again.

"So considering that you'll be staying here I think I should be able to get to know you. Who are you as a person."

Well, let's see here. I have dead parents and a brother who left me and whose house I'm staying in. I didn't go to college and I sleep with others for money although my boss gets most of it. And my favorite color is navy blue.

I snort. "There isn't anything good about me as a person. Trust me."

She turns to face me, her eyes filled with pity. I hated pity. "Aniyah, there is something good in every person. Don't talk about yourself like that."

Says holier-art-thou. "Why don't you tell me about you instead?"

Jada stays quiet for a bit before answering. "Here's an idea. I'll ask you something and you ask me something. What's that game called again?"

"20 questions? And aren't we a bit too old for that?"

She gives me a look. "No one is too old for 20 questions. I'll go first. Favorite color?"

This was dumb. Then again so was my life. "Navy blue. How'd you meet Charles?"

"I'll give you the short story unless you want the long one?"

I shrug. "You choose."

"I met him at church where I work as an usher but it's only on Sundays. After church, I noticed he came with no one so we started talking. He ended up coming to Christ and getting baptized a few months later and soon we dated and got married and now we have Faith and Grace. Favorite childhood memory?"

My mind goes back to 7-year-old me dressing up in Mom's clothes. "I used to dress up and steal my Mom's clothes and wear them around the house thinking I was a designer."

"Was she nice, your Mom?"

My eyes tear a bit which I wipe away. Handing her the bowl of fruit salad and focusing more on the dishes in the sink. "She was. She was more than nice."

In the corner of my eye, I notice her staring at me intently with pity in her eyes.  I ignore her and instead finish washing the plates with more force now as memories of Mom and Dad came flooding back into my brain. I finish washing and I'm about to walk away when Jada grabs ahold of my wrist.

"I'm so sorry for being insensitive like that. It wasn't something I should have asked. Will you please forgive me?" she asks. I look down at her to see her eyes pleading and her face filled with guilt.

"I don't care" And then I storm off.

So that was a long chapter...... sorry about that and yes there will be drama happening soon.

What do we think of Jada? 

And what do we think of Charles's new life? 

Will Aniyah go back to her home and job again and leave her brother? 

See y'all in chapter 3 and remember to vote and comment on this story! :)