Chapter 8 #2
Trell came behind me and patted my back hard, then he told me to pull myself together.
Never had I felt so seen or heard in my life.
Jokingly, I had told Harmoni that when I was older, I wanted a shop called Black Tie Fadez, and I would run that when I was no longer in the streets.
That would be how I occupied my time when I was no longer hustling.
Once I made it to the door, Dimeo and my aunt Tanka were standing front and center, waiting for me to cut the ribbon.
There was a cameraman taking pictures, and I posed with my woman, family, and friends before cutting the ribbon.
Inside, I saw that the place was nice as hell.
Trell seemed to be just as excited as I was; he kept dapping me up.
My booth was the biggest, and it had my name on the wall above the mirror in gold letters.
Moni told me that she had hired barbers and for me to introduce myself to them as the owner.
She said that I could hire the rest of my crew myself, and I smiled. I kissed her lips and held her face.
I could honestly say that this is one of the biggest days of my life.
Moni was really about to get this ring tonight.
As I walked over to the other barber stations to introduce myself, I saw that they had on their business shirts with my company name on them.
As I got to the second barber, I laughed and gave him a hug.
It was Drew who had cut my hair earlier.
“This yo’ shit, bro? That’s huge! Congratulations. When Harmoni interviewed me and told me her vision for her man’s barbershop, I knew I wanted to be part of this. May God bless your business, and I’m grateful to be part of it,” he said as we shook hands before I continued to make my rounds.
I told him that he was my new permanent barber for sure now.
The vibe was everything, and I was beyond thankful for this moment.
Moni had a fire ass DJ and catering. She made an announcement that we would be doing ten free haircuts, and my barbers were already on it.
I mingled with family and friends, then I went over to look at my barber’s work.
My girl had really done her thang. All those niggas seemed to be talented. I nodded my head in approval.
Dimeo was going live and telling her followers to pull up.
She also gave them my IG and told them to follow me.
My cousin had made me an IG for my business as soon as I cut the ribbon.
She knew how to market and bring the city out, so I listened to her on the business end.
I knew she and Moni wouldn’t steer me wrong when it came to building clientele.
Everything in my shop was perfect and well set up.
My girl had even bought all the barbers the best clippers on the market right now.
I couldn’t lie; she had done her big one on this.
I grabbed Harmoni’s hand and pulled her to the center of the floor with me.
“Thank you all for being here. I know that I had spoken to most of you all over the phone with plans of seeing y’all tonight anyway, but nobody told me about this surprise.
I’m beyond thankful to have this beautiful lady as my woman.
She went above and beyond. There is no way I can thank you enough, Harmoni.
If you allow me, I want to spend every day for the rest of my life showing you how much you mean to me.
You and my son are the best things to have ever happened to me, and I don’t want to go another day without knowing if you will be my forever.
I’m going to always protect, love, and do right by you.
You motivate me to do better, and you make a nigga see life on a whole different spectrum.
I want to give you the world. Harmoni, will you marry me?
” I said as I got down on one knee and pulled the box out of my pocket.
Harmoni grabbed her cheek in shock.
Ciara walked up behind her and nudged her forward toward me. Tears were flowing down Harmoni’s face as everyone clapped and awaited her answer. She left me hanging for so long that I started getting nervous.
“I was in a bad place when I met you, but you were so kind and patient with me. I prayed for you, not knowing that God would send you so soon. Every day since I met you has been amazing, minus you trying to kill me, but that’s another story for another day.
I can’t imagine my life without you, and I would love nothing more than to be Mrs. Thomas. So, YES! I will marry you!” she cried.
I lifted her off the ground, and without being too rough, I gave her a long, deep, passionate kiss.
Everyone congratulated us as I hugged and kissed my woman.
From my peripheral, I saw Trell approach Ciara and ask to speak with her.
Harmoni broke away from me and made an announcement that it was time for me to open my gifts.
I walked over to the table, and everyone waited to see what I had gotten.
Dimeo begged me to open her gift first; I just knew that she had outdone herself.
When I grabbed the bag from Dimeo’s hand, it was a black gift bag with another bag inside it.
The bag that I pulled out was a green Rolex bag.
When I took it out, I gave her a look to let her know that it better not be what I thought it was.
She smiled at me as I continued to open my gift.
Once I got the box out of the bag and opened it, I almost fainted!
She bought me a bust-down Rollie with gold trim.
The diamonds were dancing so hard that I regretted not having my shades on.
Everyone was in awe of the Rollie. I gave my cousin a big ass hug.
Harmoni wanted me to open her gift next.
It was a large Gucci shopping bag. She was always on point when it came to fashion, so I knew that whatever she bought me was going to be fly.
When I grabbed the bag from her hands, it was kind of heavy.
On top was a Gucci sweater that matched the one I had just bought her a few weeks ago.
Under the sweater was some gift paper. Once I lifted the paper, the bag was full of stacks of money.
I put the bag on the ground in front of me, then took two of the stacks out and put them up to my ear.
I put them back in the bag and flipped through all of them.
“You’re twenty-eight, so it’s only right that I give you twenty-eight racks to put into your business,” she said as she kissed my lips.
Just as I thought my night couldn’t get any better.
Trell told me to come outside, so he could give me my gift.
Everyone rushed outside to see what Trell had gotten me.
When we got out there, we all watched as an all-black Slingshot pulled up to the curb.
The slingshot had custom leather seats and was nice as hell.
“I know that’s not mine! Hell nah, bro! I know you ain’t cash out like that!” I exclaimed.
“Hell yeah. You deserve it, but you must don’t see who driving that muthafucka. Go get yo’ keys from yo’ pops,” Trell said.
I bent down, looked into the face of my father, and tears instantly fell.
I had not seen this man since I was ten years old when he went to jail on murder and drug charges.
My pops was always a good father to me, but when he got jammed up, he cut ties so I wouldn’t have to see him like that.
I always wanted my pops in my life, but as I got older, I realized he was right.
There wasn’t shit he could do for me behind bars.
Although I wanted that love and relationship, I stopped trying once I knew how he really felt about it.
My dad got out of my new ride, then rushed over and grabbed me in a tight hug.
Everyone cheered as we embraced. We couldn’t let go of each other.
Harmoni was patting my back as I held onto my father.
I didn’t know what the future held, but I knew that this new chapter of my life was about to be filled with nothing but love.
It could only go up from here. In year twenty-eight, I was going to be strictly on some Boss Mane shit.