It was around 8pm and Jasmine was seated at the dining table with her laptop.

The busy streets outside were filled with loud noises of vehicles echoing through the air, distant hip pop music, voices of people talking, laughing and arguing in raised voices that could leave one awake half the night. Cool breeze blew into the room through the windows brushing Jasmine's skin smoothly.
"Devil's work" by Joyner Lucas was playing through her phone when there was a knock at the door.

"Who's it?" Jasmine asked as she kept her eyes on the screen of her laptop.

"It's me." Christain replied.

Getting up slowly from the chair, she walked up to the door and opened it.

"Hey." Christain greeted with a smile as he walked in and took off his shoes.

"Hey." She gave him a smile as she closed the door. "Why didn't you use your keys?" she asked, looking at him.

"Too tired to get it out from my bag," he said with a grunt as he took off his socks and tossed it on top of his shoes.

"Anyways, how was your first day at work?" She inquired as she walked back to the table and sat down, looking at him.

"It was cool. Didn't do much today since it's my first day. But hey, I got my own desk," he told her as he dropped his bag on the floor and sat down on the couch.

"That's nice." She nodded with a smile as she turned back to her laptop.

"Is Christine home?" he asked taking out his phone from his pocket.

"Nope," she replied as she typed on the keyboard, keeping her eyes locked on the screen.

He sighed tiredly as he got up and walked up to her. Placing a hand on the chair she sat on, he leaned closer to her as he stared at the screen of her laptop.

"What are you looking at?" he asked, when he noticed a website she was going through.

"Just checking out for any job vacancy that's available," she told him, scratching her chin lightly.

He nodded as he stood straight. "Any luck yet?" he questioned.

Exhaling deeply, "None yet." She shook her head as she folded her arms, leaning back on the chair with an exhausted look on her face.

He nodded and said nothing. He hated seeing her frustrated and wished there was a way he could help her out.

"Could you order us some pizza, please," she said

He furrowed his brows."You didn't cook anything for dinner?"

"We are out of groceries," she told him
"I'll hit the mall tomorrow."

"Okay." He sighed and as he held his phone and made the order. He went back and picked up his bag and went straight to his room.

Ten minutes later, there was rattling of keys outside and then the door opened and Christine walked in.

she was dressed in a black hoodie and black baggy trouser. The only clothes she had in her closet were black hoodies, black tops, black ripped jeans and black baggy trousers. She loved the colour black. Her swollen lip had reduced and the bruises on her cheeks could be seen as a scratch.

Jasmine paused the song that was playing as she got up and walked up to Christine, folding her arms.

Kicking her sneakers off, Christine avoided Jasmine's gaze and tried to walk past her but Jasmine grabbed unto her arm gently and stopped her from walking away.

"Christine." Jasmine called her
in a soft tone.

"What do you fucking want now!" Christine groaned angrily, turning to Jasmine with an angry scrowl on her face.

"I just want us to talk,please." Jasmine pleaded softly.

"I don't have any fucking thing to say to you, so get your hands off me," Christine said in a harsh tone.

Jasmine let go of her arm and stood in front of Christine. "I just wanna talk about what happened the other night okay, please." She begged, hoping that Christine would listen to her. Ever since that night she hit Christine, they haven't said a word to each other.

Jasmine even had to sleep in the living room as she felt uneasy sleeping on the bed with Christine because she couldn't bring herself to apologize to Christine yet. But she was done holding back and decided to confront Christine about that night.

"You mean the night you fucking hit me, right?" Christine retorted angrily, clenching her fist as she glared at Jasmine with dark hateful eyes.

"Christine," Jasmine sighed deeply, placing a hand on her chest. "I am so sorry. I'm terribly sorry that I raised my hands on you. I admit i was at fault okay..I lost control, i couldn't control my anger and I made a very terrible mistake."

"Yeah you fucking did," Christine said harshly with angry eyes glaring at Jasmine.

"You're right I did, okay. I fucked up and i'm really sorry." Jasmine pleaded.

"Yeah, you fucked up." Christine pointed at Jasmine, tears forming in her eyes. "You hit me Jasmine, you fucking hit me." she raised her voice as angry tears rolled down her cheeks.
Being hit on the face by Jasmine hurts more than getting a broken nose or rip. Christine felt a pain tugging in her heart as she looked at Jasmine with tearful eyes.

"Christine." Jasmine's heart arched as she saw the tears flowing from Christine's eyes. She reached out a hand to touch Christine.

Christine saw her movement and backed away quickly. "Don't you fucking touch me!" she warned Jasmine harshly.

Jasmine drew her hand back slowly, placing both hands on her chest as she tried to hold back her tears. "You did nothing Christine, it's all my fault. Please I'm sorry, please." She choked, placing a palm over her mouth.

Christine wiped her tears with her palms, sniffing hard.

"I'm sorry Christine, please don't hate me, please. I'm so sorry." Jasmine begged, trying her best to hold herself back from touching Christine.

Christine shook her head slowly, looking at her sister with red puffy eyes.

"Please I'm sorry." Jasmine mouthed with pleading eyes.

Christine said nothing. She walked passed Jasmine and went towards her room.

Standing there alone, Jasmine walked to the couch and sat down slowly.
Tears flowed from her eyes as she gripped the hem of her sweater and sobbed quietly.

"Hey." Christain called out softly as he stood by the door. His hair was wet and a blue towel was wrapped on his waist as he just got out from the shower.

Wiping her tears away quickly, she looked his way and gave him her best smile. "Hey," Jasmine said to him.

"You alright?" He asked, walking up to her. "I was in the shower when I heard voices. What happened?" He sat down, placing a hand on her shoulder.

She chuckled weakly. "Nothing happened, we just talked that's all." She told him.

"Talked about what?" He inquired looking at her with concern in his eyes. "I just saw you crying and then when i passed through you guy's room, i heard Christine crying too."

"It's nothing really." She assured him with a smile.

"But I..." He was cut off by the light knock on the door.

"That must be the pizza guy".
She clapsed her hands, getting up and walked to the table. He got up as he followed behind her. She grabbed her purse and opened it as she brought out 20 dollars. She turned and gave him the money.

He let out a sigh as he took the money from her and walked to the door.

Her phone rang and she picked it up. "Mrs Smith," she said over the phone as she answered.

"Jasmine, how're you doing?" Mrs Smith asked over the phone.

Jasmine had catered Mrs Smith's wedding anniversary and was yet to receive her paycheck. "I'm good ma'am." Jasmine answered.
"How are you and the kids doing?"

"We are doing great. I'm sorry I haven't given you your paycheck yet. My sister's divorce case has taken a tow on me." Mrs Smith tried explaining as she chuckled tiredly.

"I understand ma'am," Jasmine said softly, nodding.

"I don't know if you'll be free to come over to the gallery tomorrow to collect it," Mrs Smith said.

"Sure, I can come by." Jasmine told her.

"That's Great. I'll text you the address then. Good night dear."

"Night ma'am," Jasmine said she ended the call.