His name was Dion. Tall, brown and absolutely the most handsome man I have ever met to date. His mother was from the islands and his dad was part Indian. He, too, was a beautiful older gentleman. Dion was a younger version of his dad, just taller and slimmer, but every bit his dad. Both of them captivated the ladies in the room, and even some of the men, just by entering. Neither of them had to say a word to become the center of attention. Both were always well-groomed, well-dressed, and well-mannered.

Dion knew his powers all too well. As I got to know him, I watched him at work as he handled his customers. He always made contact with each one by putting his hand on a shoulder as he spoke, always giving eye contact showing off that beautiful smile and perfect teeth. The female customers couldn't get enough of coming into the store to purchase candy. Sometimes I would watch customers come back with a friend and both would stare at him from outside of the store window pointing. Even men would be in the hallway of the mall staring at him. I swear, he was like a brown Clark Gable that Hollywood never had the privilege to meet.

At the party, however, Dion focused only on me. We sat outside on the lawn, in the night, and talked about our likes, dislikes, goals, family and more. I liked that he asked me questions such as, "what do you like to do for fun?" We promised to meet up the following day for lunch. From that next day on, for the next eight months, we were an item. On our first date, I never laughed so hard in my life. He was naturally witty. I enjoyed hanging out with him so much. My favorite thing to do with him was to go the the base and sit near the water and talk. Dion's sense of humor was outstanding. He made me laugh as he made fun of other people or pulled his pants down without warning to moon me not realizing that a crowd of people were headed towards him. He used to show up, unannounced with teddy bears, and candy. We always had the best of fun until I started noticing odd things happening.

For instance, I started missing things. A CD player, then a necklace that my mother had given to me. One day, I walked into the kitchen to find him nodding exactly like the drug addicts that I grew up around. I recognized that Heroin nod anywhere. I didn't waste any time. I gathered his things and put him out of my house. When he got himself together, he called me and begged for forgiveness. He cried stating the he knew that he was a mess, needed help, and wanted me to forgive him. By this time, I was head over heels for him, and leaving him alone proved to be more difficult than I had ever imagined.

There would be seven more breakups as I faded in and out of reality. I was in graduate school, and almost finished when I met him. My grades began to slip as he demanded my time. After dropping him off to his apartment, he slammed my car door so hard that I thought all of my windows would shatter. He couldn't understand why I wanted to take time to study for an upcoming exam. He threw my books across a room once when I was trying to study.

One day, after about the 6th break up, I looked up to see him standing in my office. I couldn't believe that he could so easily locate me at work. I sought therapy to help me break all ties with him, I had been holding on to a letter that I wrote to him explaining that I just couldn't see him anymore. He was sweet and romantic and loving, and funny and a thief, a liar, and violent all at the same time. So I got up from my desk, with the letter in hand, and walked him out of the building. I began to fear being in his presence, because I learned that he had many enemies and I assumed that DEA was watching him. I knew that if they were, I would go down with him.

As we got into the elevator (why wasn't I afraid to be in an elevator alone with him?), he pleaded with me to give him another chance. He promised that he was clean and doing better and just wanted me in his life. I didn't feel swayed. I thought about the grade of "B' that could have easily been an "A" had I not been running around with him instead of studying for my exam. He scoffed at the fact that I was working on my master's degree.

Tears fell from his eyes, but I didn't care. I knew I could do better than him, and I handed him the letter and said goodbye. I watched him as he got into a car with another woman and two little kids and drove away. She was my neighbor, who I heard he had moved in with. Poor lady, I thought.

I instructed my daughters not to open the door for him if he stopped by. They had begun to love him as much as I did. So when he did stop by, my oldest and most hard-headed daughter opened the door and let him in. He approached me and on bended-knee, he asked me to marry him as he held a ruby red diamond ring. I couldn't believe it.

"Dion? What are you doing? Why are you here? And didn't I tell you not to let this fool in my house?" I asked my daughter.

"Don't say that and don't be mad at her." Please marry me. I just want you and the girls to be in my life." Dion cried.

"No, Dion. Please leave. Go home to your new family."

"That ain't my family. I will call her right now and prove to you that I am just renting a room from her and that is all."

Dion had the audacity to call the lady and asked her to tell me that he was just a renter. He gave me the phone. I thought that if I told her what he was up to that it would prompt him to leave.

"Hello. Listen, Do you know that Dion is over here asking me to marry him with a ring?"

She was soft-spoken and seemed to be in a trance as she spoke.

"Really? What ring? What does it look like?"

After I described the ring, she stated that the ring belonged to her and that her mother had given it to her. She admitted that the two of them were, indeed, in a relationship.

I couldn't help myself. In front of Dion I said to her, "girl, you'd better run from this one." He is gonna ruin your life if you don't."

That is when I felt the punch to my face. He hit me in front of my daughters, cursed me out and left. I knew then, that if I didn't find a way to get completely away from him, there would surely be a second time.

I literally had to relocate from the area where I lived in order to find peace. I managed to successfully graduate from school, purchase a home, and live a drama-free life by leaving him in the past.

I later learned that that same lady and Dion were robbed, but only her things were stolen. I knew, without a doubt, that Dion was behind that. I had heard a similar story before when he lived with his sister. I also heard that one day he and his lady friend were sitting in her car arguing. The police came and made them step away from the car as they searched it to find bags of Heroin under the seat. Both of them were arrested. Dion managed to get a friend to bail him out of jail as he left his lady behind bars. My worst nightmare became her reality.