Keke Palmer as Katari
Lil Kim as herself
Steve Harvey as Armani (Katari's father)

🎶 That's why I need me a girl
That be true to me
Know 'bout the game
And know how it do to me 🎶

Chapter Nine

"Aaaaaaand... cut!"

That was coming from Lil Kim as she was in a studio, recording this advert on clothes that she wanted a lot of models to take part in.

She had just started a brand new clothing line with PrettyLittleThing and she wanted models to help her promote her clothes.

She was still thinking of a name for said clothing line, and one of these models was known as Katari.

Lil Kim and Katari were really close, especially how she was her producer in everything.

Modelling.

Acting.

Rapping and singing.

But just because Katari was multitalented didn't necessarily mean that she was happy with her life because she wasn't, she really needed a break.

"Good job y'all!" Lil Kim beamed, clapping her hands. "Y'all can take twenty. Then we finna come back to this studio and do things ten times better than before."

Like 27 year old DeVante really needed a girl in his life?

26 Year Old Katari really needed a boy in hers.

A lot of boys she knew had used her because she had a lot of fame, which Katari wasn't always aware of. Quite frankly, she was tired of people using her like that.

The main downside to being famous was that Katari couldn't have (easily) detected the people that genuinely wanted to be friends with her compared to those that didn't.

People pretended well.

Real situations had always exposed fake people.

That was what the studio Katari was in had looked like, and now she had just left there to go and talk to Lil Kim about something.

"Lil Kim?"

She was talking to Katari's father Armani about something, who had sometimes helped her out but other times didn't.

He needed to look after Katari's younger brother and sister at home with his wife. She couldn't always have coped by herself.

When she had seen Katari, Lil Kim had hugged her, and thank God that the two of them had a good relationship because Katari was about to break some bad news to her.

"Katari, baby! What's going on? You okay?"

She was... but she wasn't at the same time.

Katari had then realised last minute that what she needed to tell Lil Kim, she could have told her father as well, which wasn't easy for her to say at first although she had gotten there eventually.

She wanted a break.

She wanted— no needed to have a normal life.

This whole thing?

It was glitz and glamour, yes.

At the same time, it was overwhelming and Katari couldn't have always cope with everything that was more or less thrown her way.

Lil Kim had taken this amazingly— but 57 year old Armani didn't.

"Whatcha mean you want a break?"

"Armani," Lil Kim sighed, looking at him sternly then at Katari again. "Baby we have nothing against you having a break but when do you want it? You know we flying to Paris tomorrow. We going on tour."

Lil Kim held Katari's hands and Katari frowned.

That was the thing.

Katari wanted a break tomorrow.

She didn't want to fly first class plane with them, or get on a private jet.

She didn't hate them... she was more or less just tired of having so much wealth sometimes especially how not everyone in life had this opportunity.

She wanted to get on a normal plane with normal people.

"So you'd rather get a plane than a private jet?" Armani summed up. "You always seemed to be happy anytime we got a private jet or first class somewhere."

"Yes, and I'm tired of that!" Katari ranted. "Don't get me wrong y'all, I love my life. I really do. But when you have too much glitz and glamour... it gets kind of... tedious sometimes, you know? Too much of anything bad is bad for you."

Then Katari had wisely mentioned that she wanted to get married.

Armani and Amaris, aka his 55 year old wife had always wanted Katari to get married, ever since she was 25.

"How can I get married when I'm constantly stuck here, and almost all boys use me for my fame?"

Katari didn't know DeVante back then and vice versa, even if he had exactly the same problem as her.

Lil Kim and Armani had just looked at one another, not saying anything else.

Then they had both looked at Katari as if she had just committed some sort of crime.

"We have nothing against you going on break, love. Don't get us wrong, but we promised a lot of people that you'd go on tour with us in Paris tomorrow," Lil Kim had reminded her, with Armani nodding.

He had then added that maybe her break could have started after their 15 day tour, starting from Paris— and they were going to go to five countries / cities.

Paris.

Costa Rica.

Barbados.

Dubai.

California then back to San Diego again.

They had just always wanted to visit these places but they didn't have the time to.

"What if things go so well during this tour that I can't even have a break?"

"Honey, don't be selfish," Lil Kim condemned. "You'll be letting so many people down, we can't afford that."

Katari wasn't trying to be selfish.

She just wanted to have a break.

Was that so much for her to ask?

She sighed.

Reluctantly, she had then agreed that yes, her break would have started after their tour, going to a restaurant during her break by herself.

Normally she would have gone with her friends, maybe even Lil Kim and Armani themselves, however not today.

She really needed some time to think.

Because McDonald's was the closest restaurant to her, that was where she had gone.

Katari had a voucher for a McChicken Sandwich and medium fries but despite this, a lot of people had known who she was and she didn't want to bring any attention to herself.

She was wearing sunglasses and a cap, with one of the waiters taking her order.

Apparently?

McDonald's had now sold fortune cookies, for the whole month.

They had known from some demographics that people had normally come to this branch of McDonald's whenever they had a bad day.

So they had decided to make some fortune cookies, which were free of charge for Katari.

She had kindly gotten forced to remove her disguise.

But were normally 20 cents— if they didn't make dollars then it didn't make sense.

As Katari's food came, she couldn't have helped opening the fortune cookie, wondering what false hope it was going to give her.

DeVante had read the last part out and he sighed.

As Katari had opened her fortune cookie from miles away, DeVante had coincidentally opened the same one, and right now he was at K-Ci's house for his engagement party.

The fortune cookie meant that DeVante and Katari would have gotten married or they would have gotten into a happy relationship.

Not necessarily to each other but still.

The chances of that happening was like twenty to fifty thousand though.

"Don't worry, DeVante, she'll come around eventually," his sister Aaliyah had comforted him, sitting down right next to him right in front of a table.

Patting his back at the same time.

She too had listened to the fortune cookie that DeVante had just read out, along with K-Ci as well.

"Yeah, man. Don't sweat. You still got time."

"Easy for you to say," DeVante had commented, slightly annoyed. "Aaliyah, you've still got time. You're twenty one. And K-Ci, for God sake. You're getting married and this literally is your engagement party. Y'all have no idea how I feel."

He didn't leave where he was sitting because there was nowhere for him to go, but DeVante here was sick and tired of everyone being in a relationship apart from him.

K-Ci barely had any time with Jodeci since this engagement party had started.

People had expected him to be with his fiancé 24/7 at this party, but K-Ci didn't want to do that. He wanted to hang out with DeVante.

"Dammit, why can't I be in one of those perfect relationships?!" He whined. "Like I don't know... like Severin and Serayah?"

Severin and Serayah?

Perfect?

Helllll noooo!

In DeVante's defence, he didn't exactly know that Severin's credit card had gotten declined in front of hundreds of people.

He was too busy brooding about why he didn't have a girlfriend or a wife yet.

"Nah, bro. Their relationship ain't perfect. Read this," Aaliyah had said to him.

She had then handed DeVante and K-Ci her phone, and she had shown them the headlines.

AIN'T NO PIECE OF MIND
WHEN YOUR CREDIT CARD'S DECLINED

Severin and Serayah, aka America's #1 'couple goals' lies of a perfect relationship on Instagram eventually catch up to them.

Then they explained everything.

"Damn. And you'd think they had it all on Instagram," K-Ci lamented.

DeVante had then reminded him that he didn't even follow them on Instagram, with K-Ci just explaining that he was reading part of what the news report had said.

"Have they broken up?"

"If they haven't, then they'd probably separate later," DeVante had replied to his sister's statement, then he turned to K-Ci. "Speaking of separation, K-Ci, I really need to talk to you about something."

K-Ci said go ahead but then because Aaliyah was there, it was kind of awkward.

DeVante had sighed.

"In private. Sorry, Aaliyah."

She nodded.

Then she hugged K-Ci and vice versa.

Then she had done the same thing to DeVante, before kissing him on the cheek.

Then she told her younger sister Estelle to wait up and not eat the chocolate from the white chocolate fountain without her.

When the two of them were in private because Aaliyah had gone, K-Ci couldn't have helped but to stare at DeVante, wondering what was up with him and why he wanted to talked to him in private.

"DeVante, you okay?"

"Actually, come to think of it, what I need to tell you requires the whole of Jodeci and not just you instead. Sorry K."

K-Ci didn't reply for a while, kind of getting suspicious but he didn't say anything.

I hope he ain't bailing on me or nothing last minute, 'cause that would suck.

"Aight, if that's the case, then imma hit up Dalvin and Jojo and we can talk about this properly and privately. Is that what you want?"

He nodded.

So K-Ci called them and they talked privately.

How their conversation went?

Like this.