I knock louder and louder on the door but nobody answers. Waiting in the rain at my now ex-boyfriends house, Marcus, to gather my belongings from inside his room that we once shared.  So many things run through my mind as I continue to knock and wait for him to open the door. I know he’s home, so what could he possibly be doing? I question myself, scared that I may find out why we are no longer together. I knock one last time before I twist the doorknob out of curiosity and find his front door unlocked. I enter and I see Crystal all over Marcus, and they were kissing. They were kissing in a passionate way that Marcus never bothered to do with me. My eyes start to water at what I’m seeing as I'm soaked from standing out in the rain. I swallowed the lump in my throat before walking up the stairs, gathered my things from Marcus’ room  and left quietly without saying a word or weeping in front of my ex. The moment I walk out of the house, the tears start to fall as I walk home by myself in the rain. Thinking of all the real reasons why he was going out so late, buying flowers for Crystal. It was all because he was seeing someone else while we were together. 

Everytime I planned a date, he either said that it was okay and that we would then ditch me or he would flat out cancel on me. I planned picnic dates all the time with Marcus and made boxlunch cakes as a dessert for us to have when we were done with the mini sandwiches and the fruit that I had packed. When I planned a trip to California for my birthday to go explore everything the state had to offer, he told me that he would rather go to the  trip to Vegas with Crystal, her friends, and his close friends instead of mine. That was the one that hurt me the most. I could never understand why he said or did most of those things when I was nothing but kind to him the entire time. Including the holidays, we never kissed under the mistletoe before, decorated the tree in different themes, went to my family’s thanksgiving dinner because he either didn’t want to or he would rather spend it with friends than me. He would later then give me backlash for my family wanting to know personal things that were completely out of my control. 

The question is why? Was his side relationship really that serious to lie to me and not tell me that he no longer wanted to be with me? All the things I have done for him, gave him absolutely nothing but unconditional love throughout the entire relationship and this is how he repays me. However, I'm not necessarily surprised to find out why he broke up with me. He’s lied to me before and about worse things than being with another girl on the side. As I continued to walk home in the rain, he called and texted me constantly, trying to justify his own actions and apologize to me but I wasn’t having it. I ended up blocking his number so that he could stop calling and texting me. To say that I don’t want to date someone ever again after this could be an understatement but I know I will have to at some point. For now, I will just say that I will have trust issues for a long time and put my guard up, and hopefully I won't let it down. As I was walking away, I saw a guy in a Black SUV pull up near me and told me to get in. Little did I know, that was the start of a new chapter in my life. 

I have moved on from Marcus and I feel so much better than what I did when we were dating. I found someone else that cares about me and actually listens to me. His name is Jay and he loves me more than Marcus ever did.  My ex did call me every now and then while I was trying to heal and focus on myself and be happy in the relationship that I was in. I kept him blocked from contacting me but he still found a way by using his friends phone and constantly called me and stayed trying to apologize to me. He even had his friends call or text me, stating Marcus’ explanations for him. I ended up  giving in and agreeing to meet up somewhere and talk it out with him like adults but I know to leave when I don’t feel safe or uncomfortable. 

Marcus and I met up at a little café downtown Chicago over coffee and light foods.  The conversation was going fairly well. I kept my answers short and simple, refraining from creating a scene in the cafe. I seemed so much happier and more confident this time around. It wasn’t until he had asked me if I was seeing anyone recently. I told him that I was very happy at the moment with the guy that I am currently with and I left it at that. It started to get weird when he said that he wanted me back to retry our relationship and I didn’t feel comfortable with that so I left. It felt great getting what I’ve held in for so long off of my chest, but asking for me back after years of not being together along with the toxic relationship that we had is a whole different story and problem. Marcus himself had much nerve to ask me to love him again after not even acknowledging my existence for 4 years. 

When I went back home, my boyfriend Jay asked me where I was and I instantly became nervous. I never told Jay about my ex contacting me constantly from multiple numbers and asking me to meet up somewhere. While I was nervous to tell my boyfriend, I had to come clean about it because I didn’t want to lie or make him upset. I had come clean about everything and to say that Jay was heated is an understatement. He wasn’t necessarily mad at me, he was mad at the fact that I tried to handle this on my own and now my ex is going to try harder than ever to get me back. 

That was the one thing that I did not want for myself and I definitely didn’t want my current relationship to go down the drain all over my possessive and toxic ex-boyfriend. I am happy in my current relationship with Jay, he takes care of me and treats me like any girl in a relationship would want to be treated by their partner. I definitely will not be letting Marcus come back into my life and ruin it all over again. He may not think that I am not strong enough to have a comeback for him or be able to stand up to him but he is very wrong about that and he has another thing coming. Not only will he go through my boyfriend that I love dearly, but he will also have to go through me.

If I didn’t learn anything else while in the process of healing myself and getting into another relationship, it was gaining a backbone and self-respect. If I am telling the truth, that is the best thing that ever happened to me and, honestly, the best thing I could do for myself. It felt good to finally stand up for myself and to actually have some type of confidence within myself after being torn down by Marcus for years. He always made me feel insecure about every little thing that I ever had. No matter if it was a piece of clothing, makeup, perfume, my cooking, etc. I always considered Marcus to be the Alpha male type of guy throughout the duration of our relationship. I was completely blindsided by that too because he didn’t show it at first and when it did start to show, it came up in the most mysterious ways ever. Had I seen that side of him sooner or at the beginning of the relationship, I definitely would have not dated him in the first place because if there isn’t another  type of man in a relationship that I hate more, it is a guy who thinks he is superior to the female and he wants someone who acts like his mother. 

That was the one thing I most definitely was not going to do. If I am being honest here, I never did it anyway. I wasn’t one to tolerate a man who only wants me to cook, clean, take care of him, and have his children. I told him straight up from day one that I didn’t really want any children and if I just so happened to have one, it would be one child and one child only. At first, it was two children but I reduced it down to one because he seemed like the type to want me to have his baby but still want me to cook, clean, take care of him and the baby all while i’m at work and he wants to be a stay-at-home dad so he can go out with friends and to the club and whatever else guys do on their free time. 

Now here I am in a relationship with Jay who is basically my knight but I guess I should give some type of background on how we met. For starters, he saw me out in the rain that same day I went to Marcus’ house and I found him cheating on me with Crystal. Jay had offered me to stay at his place for the night and he even made me food. When I stepped foot in Jay’s home for the first time, the warmth and coziness had instantly hit my face. He had plants in the corners of his home. A big sectional couch to take up living room space. Even the masculine aroma of musk, mahogany, and teakwood could be smelled the moment the door was opened. He told me to make myself at home and to shower since I had been outside in the rain for a while at that point in time.I was drenched from standing outside in the rain with no umbrella and I would be surprised if I didn’t wake up with a cold the next day. He had made arguably my favorite dish of all time which is chicken and shrimp alfredo. We had watched Love Jones, which is a classic romance movie to watch. At that time, we were just watching it in a lighthearted way and not thinking about us becoming more after that day. That same exact night, that was the happiest I had ever been in a very very very long time. We learned a lot about each other and we also had a lot of things in common with each other. I remember that night like it was yesterday and it was really 4 years ago.

All in all, it was safe to say that from that moment on, he makes me feel like the only girl in the world. He gives me princess treatment which was something that I never had before but always dreamed of. However lately, he's been acting suspicious around me and it is making me excited but nervous at the same time. He has been asking me about marriage and kids lately and I'm nervous about that but I love Jay with all my heart. Every little girls’ dream is to get married and to have that fairytale wedding and I would love to have that with Jay but the question is…..am I ready for that?

In days past, Marcus has contacted me countless times since the meetup we had at the cafe a few days prior. Despite the fact that I have blocked every possible number that Marcus could contact me with, he seems to figure out another way to reach me. I have reassured Jay to stay calm and to not confront Marcus about his constant contact with me. I didn’t want Jay to confront Marcus because I hated to see him upset about things, especially because he doesn’t get mad often. Once day, Marcus called me 60 times back to back, nearly seconds apart and Jay became fed up. “Babe, no. Please do not call him and ask him where he lives. It’s not going to work.”   I said as I pleaded to my boyfriend about the unnecessary arrival to my exes home. 

“What do you mean not confront him? He deserves to be confronted. It is ridiculous for you to keep reminiscing about your traumatic past with him. Just let me handle it, okay?”  He responded to my plea ever so calmly and unfazed by everything but deep down, I know that he is angry about it. After 3 minutes of my pleading back and forth, I eventually caved in and allowed him to call Marcus and from one of the several numbers he has called me with to find where he is currently to meetup. It may not seem like I wasn’t scared but in reality, I was petrified. “Baby, is this really necessary to do over text messages?” I pleaded to Jay again in a whisper-like tone as the phone was still ringing, waiting for Marcus to answer. 

“Yes baby, this is necessary to happen. You don’t know if these are  just regular phone calls. You don’t know what he wants with you and I would be a fool to let anything happen to you in my presence. You need to learn to trust the love and affection people give to you, baby. Just let me handle it.” Jay responded to my plea in the most loving way possible that makes me melt every single time he talks to me. He hangs up the phone then calls the number back again as he continues to call Marcus until he answers. He keeps me close to his side as his hands is around my waist, looking down at me as the phone continues to ring. On the fifth ring, it stops then we hear a deep voice. Jay and I look at each other and just as I was about to walk away to disengage myself from the conversation, Jay pulls me back by the waist and holds me tightly. 

“Hello, is this Marcus that I am talking to?” Jay asks in a business-like manner that has me look up at him.  “Yeah, this me. Who’s this calling me? Marcus responds with slang that I always hated and it makes me roll my eyes in irritation.  “I am Jay. Jay Valentine,  Winter’s boyfriend. May I ask why you have called my girlfriend over 60 times within the time span of five minutes?” Jay asks Marcus calmly, not wanting to show Marcus his other side too early into the conversation.  “Oh so you the dude that my ex ran to after she caught me cheating on her? What do you have that I don’t, huh?” Marcus asks in a smug- like tone that had me sighing in boredom.  “I have decorum and I actually show her that I love her. Unlike you, she trusts me more than she would ever trust with anyone else, including you. Now, if you would answer my question that would be appreciated.”  Jay  said, now getting irritated with the turn this conversation has taken.

“I don’t have to answer anything you ask me, bruh. Just cause she love you, that doesn’t mean you wont get tired of her like I did and throw her away for someone else to get your leftovers.”  Marcus said in an overconfident tone, not realizing how those words can hurt a person mentally. 

“It sounds like you have problems with me being in a perfect relationship with Winter but from what I’ve heard, when you met up with her at the cafe, you were trying to get with her and you haven’t stopped calling her since then.” Jay said, still weirdly calm and collected, not raising his voice whatsoever.  “Aye, it sounds like you want some smoke with me so if you want, we can take this conversation somewhere else.”  Marcus said, still in that conceited and smug manner with no remorse hinted in his voice whatsoever.  “That's completely fine with me. We can meet up somewhere and handle this like real men, since you still want to try and get with my girl.”  Jay said, now irritated as I gesture for him to not do that with Marcus. 

The phone line goes silent and we realize that Marcus hung up. I continue to look at Jay but I say nothing to him. He grabs my waist and holds my chin gently before kissing my forehead then looking me in my eyes. “It’s going to be okay, Winter. I can handle it like i’m supposed to and you have nothing to worry about. He isn’t the smartest person but if he was, that conversation would’ve ended a long time ago.” He said calmly and slightly irritated at the same time.  “Jay, you seriously do not know what you are getting yourself into. I do not want yo getting hurt because my ex decided to be dumb.”   I said in a mellow toned voiced because I really didn’t want him confronting Marcus. As Jay was about to say something else to me, a text message came through my phone and the text message had the address of where Marcus wanted to meet Jay. I stared at the text message for a few minutes out of disbelief for the fact that Marcus actually sent the address and was very serious about meeting Jay. 

Jay had slowly let go of my waist then placed a kiss on my forehead before grabbing his jacket, phone, and his car keys. He headed for the door then looked back at me with a soft smile before saying “i’ll be back soon. Try not to worry too much, i’ll be fine and I will let you know when I get there”  Jay said as he blew a kiss then walked out of the door, leaving me in the living room to worry about if he will be okay and if anything extreme will happen. I pace around the living room for a while before walking into the kitchen to make hot chocolate then watching a comfort movie to pass the time and to take my mind off of the predicament that I was in between my ex and my current boyfriend. As the time passed, movie after movie and 3 hours later, Jay walked into our home untouched with a smirk on his face. I was beyond confused but thankful that he was okay. He walked towards me with his phone in hand then pressed a passionate and firm kiss to my lips like he has never been kissed before. 

“And why do you have that smirk plastered on your face?”  I asked in a teasing way but not sure if it worked.  “I can’t be happy to see my beautiful girlfriend after being gone for 3 hours?”  He responded with a comeback before kissing me again.  “No sir, what did you do to him? Much less, where did the two of you even go?”  I asked out of curiosity to find out what happened with Jay confronting Marcus.  “Let’s just say that he will be knocked out for a few hours and that he won’t mess with you anymore after this.”   He responded in a confident way then grabbed me and held me close to his body.  “Baby, you knocked him out?! What even happened while you were there with him?”  I asked in shock but not totally surprised by what he did to Marcus and Marcus deserved it anyway.  “That’s not something you need to worry about, sunshine. Just know that he won’t call you anymore. That had already been discussed during our little……meeting.”  He said, slightly brushing off the situation and swayed me back and forth in his arms. I hated how he can look so cute while talking about his girlfriend’s ex partner, it's like he wasn’t even fazed by the entire thing. Forget fazed, he should be infuriated by the entire thing but he’s not. 

“I can’t believe you knocked him out, I didn’t expect that from you. As long as you didn’t do any major damage, I guess it’s fine. He deserved it anyway”  I said in mellow tone, like I cared about the situation. I did care about the situation but I just didn’t want to see the man I loved getting hurt. “Just like you said, he was messing with my girl and we can’t have that happen, not in my presence anyway. What were you doing while I was gone?”  Jay responded then followed up with a question with that same confident smirk plastered on his face as he squeezed my waist. “While you were gone, I watched three hours worth of movies after I paced around the living room for a few minutes, praying that you didn’t get hurt by my psychotic ex….”  I said, sounding apologetic for something that wasn’t my fault.  “Awwww, you were worrying about me while I was gone? I’m here and I'm fine. Don’t sound so sad baby, nothing was your fault.”  He said as he kissed my forehead.  “I know but at times I feel like it is my fault for staying with him for as long as I did but I'm not going to stay on the topic. Let's just relax for the rest of the day.”   I said, dragging him to the couch, where I was plopped on for almost the entire day. For the rest of the day, we had Chinese food and watched comfort movies such as Minions and the Incredibles 1 and 2 while having deep conversations with each other. 

After the altercation that Jay had with Marcus, it seemed like everything was calm. Marcus wasn’t calling me from different numbers, he wasn’t texting me from different numbers, his friends weren’t calling me or texting me, etc. At first I thought that everything went back to normal and that my current relationship was no longer in jeopardy because of this silly situation. At the time, I didn’t realize exactly how entirely wrong I was in this situation and that it was only the beginning of a road of unexpected turns. One night, my phone was going off with text messages and I was too tired to get up and look at them. Unbeknownst to me, Jay had woken up in the middle of the night to look at the messages while I was snuggled next to him in bed. 

That morning when I woke up, Jay was no longer next to me but the smell of breakfast food had hit my nose when I was fully awake. I had gotten up from bed and walked into the kitchen, I was greeted to see Jay fully clothed like he was going out with friends or something. I walked up behind him and laid my head on his back as he continued to cook breakfast.  “Good morning, baby……”   I said still sounding tired but content with the position I was in.  “Good morning sleepyhead. It's almost 12 pm, you must have been really tired.”  Jay responded in almost a teasing like manner about me being tired and sleeping in late.  “I was tired, almost a little too tired for my liking. Where are you going? you look comfortable like you are going to the mall or something.”   I said, sounding suspicious of his whereabouts considering that my phone was going off all last night and the last time he dressed so comfortably was when he had the altercation with Marcus that knocked him out. 

“Just know that I have to meet up with someone who clearly didn’t learn his lesson from the previous time we saw each other. If he didn’t learn the last time, he will definitely learn today. But don’t you worry about that sunshine, I got everything under control just like the last time.”  Jay said with an overconfident tone in his voice and a smirk painted on his lips as he squeezed my waist with just enough firmness. Jay had finished cooking breakfast and placed food on the plate that was on the counter. He had poured orange juice in a glass for me then sat me down on one of the chairs that accompany the dining room table. Jay then grabbed his keys and his phone before planting a soft kiss on my lips before telling me that he will be back later if everything goes according to plan and to not worry about his safety, knowing that will always be my main concern when it comes down to him. 

About an hour and a half later, Jay had come back looking the same way he left. However, one thing I didn’t notice right away was his hands were red but it was a dark red. His return wasn’t a quiet one either. Jay had taken a deep breath in then proceeded to exhale with a long sigh. “Hi baby. What happened to your hands, is everything okay?” I said, sounding concerned as to why it looked like he had dried blood on his hands.  “Hi love. Yes, everything is okay and there's nothing for you to be worried about. Everything is under control.”  Jay said as he quickly dismissed the topic then tried to go into the bedroom  but I wasn’t letting it go.  “Jay……come back here. What happened? It’s my part as a girlfriend to be concerned. You can tell me anything, it’s okay.”  I said, with the same concerned tone that I had when he walked into our shared home. 

                                                        Jay’s POV…..

Well, I got caught now. I don’t want to lie to her but I also don’t want her to worry about me. Last night, that psychotic dude Marcus was trying to threaten and blackmail her. Luckily, she was in a deep sleep to not know that I saw all the messages that he sent her and he wanted to meet up with me again. Winter doesn’t deserve all the constant trauma that her ex is trying to cause her. Winter and I’s relationship is a beautiful one and I will never let anyone take that for granted. I needed to tell her everything that happened. She doesn’t deserve to be lied to again since she is so fragile. I take a deep breath, preparing myself to tell Winter everything that happened with the altercation between Marcus and I again. “Winter, baby……sit on the couch for me and listen to everything I have to say, okay?” I said, sounding as calm as I possibly could be at a time like this.  “Okay…..you’re scaring me, Jay. what happened?”  Winter said, still concerned and worried about me.   “It's okay Winter, there's nothing to be worried about but I’m going to say this. Just listen to me and hear me out, okay?”  I said, trying to reassure her worry about me but definitely not dismissing it. I grabbed her hands gently and didn’t say anything for a few seconds to gather what I was about to say to her about her psychotic ex-boyfriend, Marcus. “Winter, while you were sleeping your phone kept going off with text messages from Marcus. He was threatening you and trying to blackmail you into doing some crazy things to get back with him. I had woken up and seen all of the messages he sent and some were involving me. I didn’t want you to worry but he wanted me to meet up with him again, so I did and lets just say that if he didn’t learn his lesson the first time, he sure did learn it now and I did it all to pro-”

                                                             Winter’s POV……

I shut Jay up with a kiss to his lips because I didn’t need to hear the rest of the story. “Thank you. You didn’t have to do that for me but you did anyway and that’s why I love you. You stayed patient with me when I was done healing and to this day, even 4 years later, you still are very patient with me. The kiss wasn’t much but it was something.”  I answered genuinely and tears threatened to fall from my eyes.  “Winter, I'm always going to be here for you no matter what the situation is and that’s a promise….”  Jay said with a smile painted across his lips as he showed off his pearly white teeth.  

                                            Timeskip 5 months later  + Jay’s POV……

Since that day when I told Winter that her ex-boyfriend Marcus was trying to blackmail her, our relationship had grown closer. Honestly, if she didn’t drive me crazy before in the best way possible, she sure did now. The way she drives me crazy only makes me fall deeper in love with her. She makes me want to marry her right here and right now if I could. Speaking of marriage, I have been trying to send her hints about it but she still wasn’t quite catching on. Instead of dropping hints and action speak louder than words, I decided to plan a proposal on the beach with the help of her family and some of my friends. I had her friends distract her for the day to take her to get her nails done with her favorite nail tech, I paid for her to get her hair done, and I bought her a satin dress from the house of CB that she always wanted. I wanted this day to be special for her. In the meantime as she was out for the day, I headed towards the beach where my friends and her family was helping me set up the proposal. There were flower petals in white and baby pink spread out on the sand, candles that surrounded the flower petals, and a big heart covered in flower petals with a sign in the middle that said “Will You Marry Me?”. 

Later on in the day, when Winter's friends dropped her off back at home from her day out, she was already in the shower when I walked into the bedroom. I went to our shared closet, I pulled out the dress I had bought her and placed it on the bed with heels to match. I then pulled out a simple but sleek all black suit with my favorite timepiece watch to add a pop of accent. By the time I was done setting out Winter and I’s outfits for the night, she suddenly came out of the bathroom with her towel wrapped around her that covered her body.  “Hey baby, how was your day?”  I asked, the same way I always do when I’m gone for long periods of time.  “It was good, baby. My friends took me out to get my nails done and my hair done. The best part was that it was all paid for!”  Winter said all giggly and bubbly as she told me how her day was. Man, she is so adorable when she gets all excited. I can’t wait for her to be my wife and stay by my side forever now.  “That’s good baby. I hope I booked the rights things for you when I paid for everything about a week ago…”  I said with a slight smirk starting to come across my lips when I mentioned that I paid for all of her services.  “Baby, was you who paid for it?! You didn’t have to do that and you did book the right things.”  Winter said, sounding genuinely surprised about the things she had done today.  “That’s good and that’s all that matters. Now start getting ready were going out for dinner tonight.”  I said with the same smirk still plastered on my face as I walked towards the bathroom to take a shower. 

For dinner, I took her to a five star restaurant and I reserved the upper floor just for Winter and I. Our night consisted of good laughs and good conversations as always. Once we were done and I paid for the bill at the restaurant, Winter and I started to head towards the beach that had to be about 45 minutes away from the restaurant. When we had gotten there, I had told her to take off her heels because she won’t need them for this.  “Baby, why are we here at the beach?”  Winter asked, sounding concerned.  “Don’t worry about it, just take off your heels. I promise you will not need them.”  I said, reassuring that nothing bad was about to happen but I also couldn’t ruin the surprise for her. Once Winter had taken off her shoes and we had both gotten out of the car, we started walking towards the surprise that I had for her. When we had approached it, she started to slow down her walking and cling onto me. 

We had gotten in front of the heart and I grabbed her hands gently to hold them because it made this moment even more intimate than before. “Winter, the day I met you in the rain I knew you were something special. You made my home more lively, you cared for me like no one else, even when you were at your darkest point in life four years ago. That day when I defended you from Marcus and told you about all the things he would have done, our relationship had grown closer and I fell deeper in love with more and more by the second.”  I said with so much emotion that I was holding back tears.  “Winter, I love you more than you could ever know and I will always stay by your side….

                                           “Winter…..Will You Marry Me?” 

                                               THE END……. TO BE CONTINUED