Chapter 9

I traced circles on Michael's chest as he slept soundly on his side of the bed. He had tiny white spots on his chest and neck that I was very curious about. I'm so nervous to ask him about it though because he has so much on his plate right now. Maybe that was what that letter from the doctor was about. I should have checked it out...

Michael turned toward me, held me tight in his arms and kissed my forehead, "Hey, baby." He smiled.

"Hey..." I forced a smile.

"I love you so much..." He kissed me again.

"I love you more." I smiled wholeheartedly this time.

He smiled and pulled me on top of him, "Did you miss me?"

"Very much so." I blushed.

"I missed you more. Do you know what it's like to not have you for five months to make love to ?"

"Oh, I completely understand." I kissed his neck.

"It was horrible." He covered his face with his hands.

I took his hands from his face, "Tell me all about it, baby..."

"I mean, when I left, that good lovin' we had had me smiling for, like, a week, but then not having you for so long just... Ugh."

"I completely understand." I laughed.

"And you know it was only Marlon and I that were going though it. Everyone else..." He stopped.

"'Everyone else...' what?" I asked him.

"Nothing..." He looked away from me.

"You've said too much now?" He ignored me. "Everyone else cheated, huh?" Once again he ignored me. "Michael, don't you go ignoring me now. We all know what goes on when you all go on tour. We're not stupid."

"I'm not ignoring you... Jermaine has really been getting into it though."

"He was cheating on Hazel?" I gasped.

"Look, don't go and tell Hazel. In due time, he will tell her. No one should have their nose all in another persons relationship."

"I don't have my nose all in their relationship..."

"Just don't say anything."

"I don't know how I feel about that, Michael. If she knew that you were cheating on me, I would want her to tell me." I sat up.

"Of course you would, but Hazel is different. Jermaine has done so much to her that I wouldn't think that she could handle much more..."

"Oh my..." I shook my head.

"But enough about them..." Michael pulled me down toward him. "Let them sort out their issues. You and I have 5 months of lovin' to make up on..."

(Michael's P.O.V.)

I kissed Shayla's forehead and slowly made my way out of our bed. I pulled on a pair of boxers, grabbed my envelope and went downstairs. I've been waiting on this for a while and I didn't necessarily want Shayla to know that anything was wrong with me. Although, I know she's seen it all over my skin, I just don't know what I would tell her.

I went into my office and shut and locked the door. As I sat down, I began to open the envelope. Over the course of the tour, I've been wearing a glove to cover the spots on my hand and infinite amounts of makeup on my neck and chest. Thank God for Karen. As I read over the contents of the diagnosis, one sentence really seemed to catch my eye: All of these symptoms are a sign of the skin disease called Vitiligo... A disease? I sat back in my chair, shocked. Besides wearing a ton of makeup, what am I supposed to do? Is it curable? I picked up the phone and called Doctor Klein. He had to tell me that this was curable one way or another.

"Doctor Arnold Klein's office, this is Deborah speaking, how may I help you?" Debbie, Arnold's receptionist answered.

"Hey, Debbie. It's Michael. Is Doctor Klein in?"

"Oh, hi, Michael! Yes, he is in. I'll put you over to him right now."

"Thank you." I waited. First, my hair catches on fire, and now vitiligo. Could life get any better at this point?