As I looked out my bedroom window, the birds flew past every once in a while singing one of their made-up songs. The sun lit up every inch of wet grass, exposing the bugs that walked across them. 

The door creaked open and he walked in with a tray, balancing flowers on top of it as the kids followed behind him and bumped into one another.

I shot up from the bed and rushed to grab my robe. "I slept late! I am so sorry you had to make breakfast. I'll go do the-"

He hushed me as he continued slowly walking toward me, signaling for me to sit. "It's your birthday, relax. Me and the twins got everything. Isn’t that right?" He turned to them as they cheered.

I smiled softly as he placed the tray onto my lap. The pancakes laid on a plate in the middle of the tray with strawberries and bananas, creating a smiling face as the scrambled eggs surrounded them for the hair.

"Thank you so much! You honestly didn't have to," I said, grabbing the utensils and napkins from his hands.

"You're right, but they planned this whole day for you. I wasn't going to let their creativity go to waste." He leaned down and kissed my forehead. "Happy birthday Viviana," he mumbled into my skin.

The kids scooted themselves in between us as he laughed and backed away. They grinned widely with missing teeth, reached their arms into the sky, and screamed, "Happy birthday Mommy!"

I grabbed each of their hands and kissed them. "I love you two so much! Thank you."

As I petted back their curls and watched as their green eyes lit up, he clasped his hands together loudly. "Alright you two, let's give your mom some space to eat while we set up the next thing." He winked. 

They giggled and rushed out of the room.

He placed a hand on my cheek and leaned down, kissing me lightly. "I love you," he whispered before leaving the room.

My eyes fluttered open to reveal a dark room. I looked around to see that I was sitting up in my bed, holding onto a book as if it was the tray he passed me. I placed the book onto the nightstand and stood up, stretching as I did so.

I guess not every dream I have with him in it is a nightmare.

Walking to the bathroom, the light from the kitchen shone into the hallway, grabbing my attention. I crept toward the end of the hall to hear pans crash to the floor. I stopped and waited for the sound of them rising off of the ground to move into the dining room. They began to mumble to themselves as they turned on the sink. I slid behind them and grabbed a knife from the block on the opposite side, making sure I always stayed behind them.

"Who are you?" I asked.

They jumped, dropping the pans into the sink. As they slowly turned, their face blurred just like his. I raised the knife and tightened my grip on it.

They quickly raised their hands into the air. "V, it's me! Put the knife down," they screamed. Their voice sounded as if all the men I knew had combined into one.

"How'd you get in?" I took a step toward them.

"You opened the door for me, remember?"

I rubbed my eyes roughly and tried to think back to the middle of the night, but I couldn't. The night seemed as though it never happened. When my eyes opened, DJ stood in front of me with beads of sweat forming on his forehead and glossy eyes.

I put the knife back into the block and sighed. "I don't remember letting you in. How long have you been here?"

"I've been in the guest room for a couple hours. I'm not surprised you don't remember, you seemed to be half-asleep. You even called me babe." He turned off the sink and began shaking the water off of the pans.

"Did I say or do anything else?" I leaned onto the counter and watched as he placed the semi-dry pans onto the stove.

He turned on the stove and poured the contents inside the bowl into one of the pans. "Well, you mumbled a lot and then said that you were going to get ready for a birthday party. I told you there was none and helped you back into bed because you were swaying."

The sound of my alarm leaked out of my room. I scratched the back of my head and went to turn it off. 

What was I dreaming about when I opened the door? Why can't I remember it?

"DJ," I called out to him as I made my way back to the kitchen from the room.

"Yeah?" He peered from the kitchen, wiping his hands onto his apron.

I turned on the dining room light and stared at his confused look. "What are you doing here in the first place?"

His eyes searched the room as his mouth gaped open. "It's… uh, I just wanted to check on you."

My eyebrows knitted together. "In the middle of the night when you could have easily done that at work?"

He replied slowly, "Yes?" 

I rolled my eyes and went to the bathroom to shower. "You're not off the hook, you know? I know you're lying about something," I yelled before turning on the shower.

After getting ready for work, we sat at the table and began to eat the omelets and home fries he made.

"Can I drive with you to work?" He asked randomly, breaking the silence.

"Sure. How'd you even get here if you don't own a car?" I asked, cutting a piece of my food.

"Easy!" He grinned. "Jen drove me."

"So late at night?"

He shrugged. "We were together already so I asked her to drop me off."

I stabbed the fork into the egg and leaned back into the chair. "You two were together… in the middle of the night?"

"Yeah, we were just" -he looked up from his food and noticed my demeanor- "Wait, wait, not like that!"

I shrugged, sitting up and grabbing my fork. "I didn't say anything. That's your business." I placed the food into my mouth.

"You gave me a look. Seemed like you actually cared,” he mumbled as he checked his phone. He rolled his eyes and stuffed it back into his pocket. "Time to head to work."

When breakfast was cleaned up, we put on our coats and went down to my car. He threw himself into the passenger seat with a loud huff. As I turned on the car, I noticed him typing on his phone.

"You okay there?" I chuckled.

"I'm just fine."

"Well, since you’re 'just fine', why don't you tell me about why you felt the need to check up on me at my place?"

The car grew quiet as I drove toward the office. After a couple minutes, I checked if the road was clear and slammed on the brakes. His head banged into the headrest and he groaned.

"What do you know, DJ?" I asked sternly, turning toward him.

His eyes searched mine as he gulped roughly. "I think there are some things you shouldn't know."

"Bullshit!"

"Seriously, V, don't worry yourself with it."

"I don't have the energy to decode what you're saying. Tell me what you know or you can walk to work." 

As soon as I unlocked the car, he opened the door and began walking. I slowly drove near him and opened my window. "You've got to be kidding me?! You're really going to walk about twenty minutes and be late to work rather than tell me the truth?"

"Like I said, there are things you shouldn't know. You just have to trust me."

I sighed deeply and stopped the car. "Get in."

He glared at me and continued walking. "Nope. I know if I do you won't let this down."

"Fine! I won't ask about that. Just get in and I'll ask about something else, something we've spoken about before."

He stopped and looked around before getting into the car. "What's your question?"

I started driving toward the office once again as I gathered my words together. I need to ask this carefully. I need a question that will give me an answer no matter what he says.

"A long time ago, you mentioned that everyone has a memory string but, the day of Noel's incident, I found out that no one knows what that is. Why am I the only one with it?"

"That’s so weird. I don’t know anything about that," he replied slowly.

I began to laugh hysterically. "You’re such a bad liar, so you do know something! C’mon, DJ, give me something to work with please. Anything that helps me make sense of the nightmares and dreams I have."

"Dreams?!" He screamed. "You've been having dreams?"

"Yes! My kids are in them sometimes, but mostly it's just a man with a blurred face."

He took out his phone and began typing as I pulled into the parking lot of the office building.

"Who are you calling?"

"I'm not calling anyone. I'm checking something."

"Checking something? How? The only people who can…" I slowed down the car as I pulled into a parking spot. "DJ, are you-"

"Meet me at the café for lunch. If you're having dreams, we need to talk about a couple things in private and that café has been practically empty ever since that day. I have some things to take care of inside. See you then," he quickly said before giving me a hug and rushing out the car.

I put the car in park and sat there, dumbfounded.

Everyone's phone only has two functions: adding numbers and making calls.The only people who have other functions are those working directly for the boss, like Jen and Dontae. There's no way he could have been "checking something" without calling someone. Is he the boss? I have to get a hold of his phone. That will tell me everything I need to know. 

There's so much to unpack this chapter, why did I do this to myself?

Anyway, sorry for the inconsistent updates! We're at a weird part of the book where a lot is coming back and a lot of new information is coming in. I want these chapters to be perfect so expect slower updates.

Till next time✌💕