Chapter 1: New Job.

    "Did you remember to get the cake on your way back?" I ask Jane and she gives me an eye roll "yes I did, I left it in the living room" she answered grudgingly.

" I really don't know why you have to put in so much effort for a Man like Ezekiel, he obviously doesn't deserve it" Jane said to me sounding really serious and I smile.

Jane Cameron is one of the prettiest girls I have met, she is mixed race just like I am, her mom is an African - American and her dad is Italian but for me, it's the other way around, while my dad is African - American my mom is Italian.

  Jane is my best friend and flat/roommate, we met when we were both 12, my family had to moved to a new place because my mom was transferred and Jane was our next door neighbor , she helped me make friends, one time she stood up for me when I was bullied at school and since then we've being inseparable. After college 2 years ago we moved into this one bedroom flat together, since we had shared a flat together in college and were used to each other, it made sense that we also live together after college to save cost.

Jane is an secretary in a business firm just like myself but we both have side careers in order to earn extra cash and make ends meet since our jobs do not pay well, while Jane is a make up artist I am into event planning.

 My best friend has always being very supportive of everything I do but not on my choice of a boyfriend, I really don't get why she doesn't like Ezekiel. I feel she just misunderstands him most of the times, in the past we use to have fights about it but now I have come to understand that she is just looking out for me.

   "Come on Jane, Ezekiel just got a new job in the most reputable company in the country at least be happy for him" I told her as I packed the food I cooked into a lunch box.

"I am happy for him but not just happy that you go out of your way for him and in return he treats you badly, for example he asked you to make so much food for his party and he didn't give you a dime for it, you deserve better Katy remember you don't owe anything anymore. " Jane said and I smiled. " You know I am doing this for him because I love him, remember he has made sacrifices for me too, plus Ezekiel treats me okay and now that he has a really good job he will treat me better I said and rushed out of the Kitchen before Jane begins her lecture, I need to shower and get dressed.

  My name is Katherine Miller, my friends call me Katy, my Dad left us when I was seven(7) so I was raised by just my loving mother. Jane was the only person in my life after mom until I met Ezekiel Jacobs.

  I met Ezekiel Jones while I was in college he was a senior, he liked me and tried making me his girlfriend but I never paid him any attention because I didn't want any distraction from my studies plus I thought he would eventually stop just like the other guys but he didn't so we slowly became friends. He finally got my attention when he came through for me during one of my toughest times.

In year two (2) mom got really ill and she needed to undergo a surgery the hospital bills were so much that we almost sold everything we had, thankfully Jane's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Cameron helped us a lot with the bill even if they didn't have too much.

As a result of this I was behind on the payment of my fees, without the fees I couldn't sit for the year's exam. All the money we had was used for mom's surgery, since she was still recovering I didn't want to worry her with talks about my fees, I kept it to myself and decided to take the year off.

Three days to the final year's exam, I received an email from the school confirming my fees payment, I was soo shocked, I didn't pay my fees so what was this email about?" I asked myself.

I decided to go to the school's administrator because I was confused, when I got there I discovered that Ezekiel was the one who paid my fees for me, I was a bit upset with him and also thankful to him. I met with him and thanked him, since I was uncomfortable with accepting his money, we agreed that I would pay him back. We became friends after this incident and after a while I fell in love with him and we finally started dating in his final year.

   "The blue or the red, which one looks better on me?" I asked Jane who was laying on the bed while scrolling through her phone.

   'None " Jane answered after looking at my two most favorite gowns and went back to looking scrolling through her phone.

   " Ohh come on Jane, these are my best dresses" I said pouting, I expected this from Jane though, she always does this whenever I ask for her opinion on what to wear when going to see Ezekiel. "You are not the problem my darling, neither are the clothes the problem but the problem is whom you are going to see wearing the dress" Jane said with a playful smile.

   "Can you be nice just for today? ,I am going to be meeting most of Ezekiel's friends and sister at the party tonight, as my best friend I know you won't want me looking a mess for that right?" I tell Jane trying to convince her. "Argghhhh! whatever, Just wear the blue dress" Jane said and walked into the bathroom to shower and I laughed "thanks sweetie I know you love me the most" I say after her and she shuts the door aggressively.

  "What are you doing wearing that, aren't you going for the party?" I ask Jane was busy changing into her pajamas.

  "I told you I wasn't interested in anything that Involves Ezekiel, moreover I am really tired I need to catch up on my favorite series on Netflix and sleep well against work tomorrow." Jane said as she proceeded to lay on the bed and boot her laptop. "Really? I thought best friends go everywhere together. No worries then I can't even argue with you" I say as I curl my hair and I hear her laugh.

  "What company did you say Ezekiel got employed too again" I hear Jane ask, "Russo Invest and industries" I said and she yelled "Girlll, you mean the fucking Russo Investment and Industries that has Russo Adriano the finest man on this planet as it's C.E.O?"

   "I think so darling but I have no idea who the CEO is" , I said while observing my makeup to make sure it is perfect. "Oh my lordddd Katy how can anyone not know Mr. Russo, you really are something else .I heard they pay the staffs there in millions, how did someone like Ezekiel get a job there?" Jane asked and I laughed.

  "How do I look?" I ask Jane as I stand in front of the full length mirror to observe my outfit. I was putting on a flared sky blue gown which I paired with silver heels and accessories, I wanted a simple dinner look since it was a dinner party

"Girl you know you always look extremely beautiful in anything you wear." She said as she fixes my lip gloss and I laughed , Jane had an habit of always praising me to the stars, she believes I'm the prettiest girl alive.

  I got a notification that my ride was here so I put on perfume, picked up my purse and my cell phone" I will be off now, my ride is here. I left some pasta in the freezer for you, you can heat it up when you are ready to eat, I will see you later okay? " I said and gave her a hug.

"Okay momma" she replied and we both laughed as I left the room and headed to the kitchen, I placed all the thermos containing the food I made for everyone in a big delivery bag, I also placed the lunch box in it, zipped it and headed out with the bag. I had made spaghetti and meat ball for everyone but I made pasta with chopped Kale Salad and Toasted Breadcrumbs specially for Ezekiel which I placed in the lunch box because it's one of his favorite.

  In about 30 minutes I arrived at my boyfriend's place, since I didn't have the keys to his place I ranged the door bell, he mentioned that he wasn't home yet but his sister was at his place.

Not long after I rang the doorbell, a pretty young in her 20s opened the door "Hi, I am Ezekiel's girlfriend" before I could mention my name "ohh you must be Valerie, I am Ezekiel's younger sister Danielle, please come on" she said immediately.

She probably got my name mixed up I thought and smiled "ohh no not Valerie but Katherine" I told her with a smile as I walked in.

  I noticed a confused expression on her face but it faded away really quickly so I didn't think much about it "so sorry Ezekiel mentioned you a few times but I never paid attention so I got your name wrong." Danielle said.

  " It's fine Danielle , it happens to the best of us" I said as I removed the food thermos from the delivery bag and placed them on the counter top while I placed the food flask in the fridge.

"You can call me Danny, everyone calls me that plus whatever it is that is in those smells delicious" she said pointing at the food Thermos and I laughed.

"It's Spaghetti and meatballs for the dinner, you can have some before everyone gets here" I told her and she smiled " I knew immediately I saw you that you are sweet" Danny said as she helped herself with some spaghetti.

  Myself and Danny clicked really well so we conversed a lot while she ate, "Did anyone ever tell you that your cooking is amazing?" she asked after eating with a satisfied smile on her face and I laughed. "Yeah people say I cook well, but I feel it's not as good as everyone paints it to be" I said and she laughed.

 "Honest, Katy your cooking is amazing, you should start a restaurant, it will quickly get a 5 start because the owner is stunning" Danny said and I couldn't help but laugh again.

  "I am beginning to suspect that you and my best friend attend the same praising group" I said and we both laughed. We talked a lot before a few of Ezekiel's friends started coming in for the dinner.

  At 7:00pm ish Ezekiel got back home with a girl and we started the dinner, it was a really fun gathering, it felt really nice because I got to meet a few of Ezekiel's friends .

Everyone kept praising the food, well everyone except, a girl who arrived with Ezekiel, her face was really familiar and it took a while before I remembered I had seen a few of her pictures on Ezekiel's phone and also met her in his apartment once, he introduced her to me as his cousin. I could tell that she didn't like me but I couldn't be bothered since she was just his cousin.

  At 9pm the dinner ended and everyone started to take their leave, Ezekiel left to drop his cousin so I began to clean up, Danielle volunteered to help me out, so in about 15 minutes we were done cleaning.

  It was already 30 minutes since Ezekiel went to drop his cousin but he wasn't back so I called him, he picked up and asked me to go back home because he won't be able to make it back home that night. He explained that his friend was just involved in an accident and he was in the hospital with him.

  After ending the call, I told Danny what he said so she doesn't stay up waiting for him and ordered an Uber. When my ride arrived I took the empty food thermos in the delivery bag, said my good bye to Danielle and left.

Myself and Ezekiel didn't have time to talk today that was why I wanted to wait for him, "I hope he is not too troubled and that his friend gets better" , I thought on my way home.