😗sorry for any mistakes

Atlanta, GA

March 12th

Wednesday

"I DON'T WANNA GO TO SCHOOL" Kennedi yelled for the 5th time and threw her shoes on the floor.

Matthias took a deep breath trying his hardest not to go get a belt. He never was whooped as a child so he never wanted to do it to his children but she was pushing him there.

He's been trying to be patient with her but she keeps screaming. He's asked her multiple times to put her shoes on but she refuses.

"Kennedi," He said simply.

"NO! I'M NOT GOING!" She yelled again.

"I'on who you yellin' at but you betta' watch it Kennedi.''His voice boomed throughout the room causing her to jump back. He was never a yeller so this shocked her.

He took another deep breath "I'm not going to tell you again to put your shoes on Nolle. Ima give you 5 minutes and when I come back, you better have them on '' He said sternly, her lip started to quiver. He left the room before he let her tears get to him.

He hated feeling like the bad guy. He didn't like yelling at his child, it hurt him more to yell at her.

He didn't have time for her little tantrums today either. She had to go to school and he had a meeting with a potential new client.

He shook the feeling of going in there and giving her what she wanted.

Matthias walked into his room to finish getting himself ready. He threw his tie on the bed, he'll put it on his car once he makes it to work.

He walked into the bathroom to see about his hair. He was going to wear his braids down but decided to put them into a man bun. Once it was to his liking, he started to brush out his bread.

He checked the time on his apple watch seeing he only had 10 minutes to get out of the house to get Kennedi to school on time. He grabbed his black suit jacket before heading out of his room.

He walked down to Kennedi's room, hoping she got her act together. He opened the door to her room, he furrowed his eyebrows confused why she wasn't in there. Her shoes were also in the same place she threw them.

He heard sounds of throwing up, he dropped everything in his hands and quickly rushed into the bathroom attached to her room.

He walked into the bathroom and saw Kennedi crying, hovering over the toilet, and throwing up at the same time.

He rushed over pulling her hair up since it was down. "It's okay" He rubbed her back.

"My tummy hurtttss" She cried.

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"Yes, just send all my work over to my at-home computer," Matthias said into his AirPods to his assistant Zev while making Kennedi some chicken noodle soup.

After she threw up everything she could, Matt got Ken cleaned up and into new Pjs. He decided not to let her go to school.

She had a 100-degree fever. It all made sense why she was screaming this morning, she was sick. She hates being sick and gets mad at everyone when she is.

There was no way he could go to work with her not feeling well. It worked out for him, his meeting was canceled before he could.

He talked to Zev for a few more to make sure business was running correctly then hung up. He put the top on the pot to let it cook a little longer.

He grabbed a warm Powerade to give to Ken and check up on her. He put his airpod into his case and then jogged up the stairs to her room.

"Mami," He said gently, walking into the room. She was curled up underneath the comforter. She peeked her head out some "Yes?"

"Sit up and drink some of this" He sat on the side of her. She did as told, he could see she was crying again. "Stop cryin', it's gonna be okay" He wiped her tears before giving her the Powerade after opening it first.

"Take little sips first Mami" He instructed, watching her do as told.

She finished drinking as much as she could. "I-I'm sorry for yelling this morning," She said lowly.

He sighed, "I'm sorry for getting loud with you too. We have to learn how to use our words in a lower tone. Remember what Dr.Miller said?" He asked

She nodded "You count to 10 first before speaking," She said. Dr. Miller isn't just Kennedi's regular therapist but also her anger management therapist.

Kennedi doesn't know how to express herself in the best way. She is only 5. If she feels as if someone isn't listening to her, she yells how she feels or just yells in general.

It was a struggling practice for both the daddy and daughter duo. But they continue to work on it.

"Right. If that doesn't work, think of 3 or 4 things that make you happy. Okay?" He smiled, and she nodded "I'll try," She said.

"That's all I ask" He kissed her forehead.

"Eww daddy I'm sick" Kennedi curled her nose up, wiping the kiss-off her head.

He playfully mugged her "Don't wipe my kisses off girl" He started tickling her causing her to start giggling.

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"Hi mommy baby, I missed youuu" Ailani picked Sarayah up and kissed her all over her face when she opened the door for her and Jabari.

"I missed you too" Rayah kissed her cheek repeatedly then wrapped her small arms around her neck.

"Y'all actin' like y'all didn't see each other this morning" They heard Jabari say. They both turned around to him, mugging them.

"You so jealous chilee" They both rolled their eyes. He shook his head walking into the house with a plastic thank you bag and Rayah's bookbag.

"Y'all act just alike" He mumbled. Lani chuckled because Rayah was really the mini her. They made the same faces, looked at people the same way, had the same attitude, and even smiled the same.

Lani always made the joke that she was the favorite parent. Even though it wasn't a favorite, she always likes to tease Jabari. He was so flabbergasted when Rayah turned out to be more of a mommy's girl than your typical daddy girl.

"We brought you some food" Rayah smiled, Lani put her down to allow her to take her shoes off.

"Oouu what y'all bring?" She asked, walking into the kitchen where Jabari already was. "She and Bon wanted seafood so that's what we got," Jabari told her, pulling the seafood bag out.

Lani smiled brightly "Thank youu" She sat at the island.

"Can I get ready for bed?" Rayah asked while rubbing her eye "Yes, you need help?" Lani asked.

"Just with my hair" Rayah yawned, walking down the hall to her room.

Jabari chucked "She 5 going on 17 I swear"

Lani chuckled too "Please don't say that. I want her to say that small forever" She whined. Lani loved being a mom.

She didn't have the best mom and the fact that even though she didn't, she still can be the best mom she can be. To give the love she always used to want to receive as a kid out, it was beautiful.

Lani said her grace before she started to open up the food. "You just going to leave your wife in the car like this?" She questioned since Jabari was just leaning up against the counter, on his phone.

"No, I took her home before we came here. I had to talk to you 'bout somethin' " He said, putting him down.

"Oh lawd, Bari, did you cheat?" She squinted her eyes at him, waiting for him to lie.

He sucked his teeth "No, I'm a faithful man Lani. I'm not the same 20 year old" He shook his head.

"But a few months ago, you said— Hush, I'm a changed man" He cut her off, making her laugh while peeling the shrimp.

"I wanted to talk to you 'bout Matt," He said, her smile dropped.

"What about Sarayah's friend's dad?" She asked. "Oh, now he's just Rayah's friend dad?" He raised his brow, and she nodded, eating the shrimp.

"If I'm not mistaken, y'all be otp— We don't anymore, can you get to the point on why you bring him up?" She cut him off.

It was true, after that night he asked her why she hasn't given him an answer, she hasn't talked to him. He didn't send a good morning text or goodnight text. They didn't text or talk unless it was Kennedi wanting to talk to her. If they saw each other at pick up, they simply looked at each other and kept walking.

That's how it's been the past week for them. Lani didn't have a problem with it though.

"Why you playin' wit' my boy?" He asked.

"Your boy? I didn't know y'all were cool like that" She cracked open the crab leg. She didn't even know they talked.

"Yeah, we have playdates with Rayah and Ken sometimes when I have her or go out for drinks. That's not the point tho, wassup wit' you?" He asked again.

"Why won't you go on a date wit' him?"

She huffed, closing up the food, not even wanting to eat anymore "How do you know about that? And have you ever thought maybe I'm just not interested?" She rolled her eyes, getting up to wash her hands.

"He told me and yeah I did. But I also know you won't sit otp with someone if you weren't the least bit instead" He resorted, making her laugh while drying her hands off.

Lani didn't like being on the phone with someone longer than she had to. It was just something about it that always made her hang up after 5 minutes.

"You like him and we all know it so why you pushin' him away?" He asked.

She shrugged "I'm not," She said blankly and put the food into the refrigerator.

"We're best friends, right? We don't lie to each other right?" He questioned.

"Yes Bari," She sighed.

"I jus' wanna see you happy Lani. I wasn't able to do that but he can." He said sincerely.

"How do you know he can? How you know—"

"How you kno' he can't? Everybody wasn't the old me, Lani. The sooner you stop tryna hold everyone in the same picture as bad, the sooner you can find someone that makes you happy." He advised.

"You got someone that wants to try wit' you but you wouldn't let that brick wall down to see. You don't wonder why he just stopped communicating wit' you? He ain't finna chase you if you just want to be chased. Let that wall down Lani, you stop yourself from the happiness that you would but won't let yourself have" He expressed, standing up straight.

"Ima go say bye to Rayah," He said before walking out the kitchen, leaving her in her thoughts.

It wasn't that she wanted to be chased, she was just terrified honestly.

Lani had this wall up to make sure so no one would ever get in. Letting Matthias in scared her, the fact that she was letting him get close to her scared her.

She didn't want to look like a fool again or get hurt again.

But she couldn't lie and say she didn't want him either. She was conflicted.

_________________

Atlanta, GA

March 15th

Saturday

Ailani held Sarayah's hand while walking into the sushi and hibachi restaurant.

She walked up to the hostess "Hi, I had an order online for Lani" She said politely.

The hostess "Can I see your barcode please?" She asked, Lani, nodded, pulling her phone out for her to scan it.

After the hostess scanned the barcode she told her that it was going to be another 10-minute wait. She sat in the waiting area, Lani sat on the bench first before putting Rayah in her lap.

Usually, Sarayah would be with Jabari but it was his and Bonnie's wedding anniversary. Lani was glad though, she had something to do and someone to talk to.

"Mommy, Why did they have fishes in that tank?" Rayah asked, pointing to the fish tank.

Lani looked at the tank "That's what you eat. They feed it to us" She joked.

Rayah dramatically gasped, putting her hands over her mouth "Really?" She started to tear up. Lani wanted to laugh at her so bad "No baby, it's just for decoration" She wiped the tears that fell.

"So they don't hurt them?" She asked, looking about at the fish tank. "No jellybean, they live a bougie lifestyle in there," She chuckled.

Rayah giggled "Period"

Rayah lightly gasped "Mommy look, there's Matt" She pointed over to the table. Lani followed the direction finger and she felt a wave of sadness when she saw him with another woman laughing.

"I see, stop pointing," She said, pushing her hand down.

Welp lost your chance Lani She said to herself while staring at them.

Meanwhile at the table, Matthias or his date Annika didn't notice someone staring at them.

"I'm serious, I never trusted dogs ever since" Annika laughed, taking a sip of her water.

"Because one dog ate your food?" He chuckled. "Absolutely, I was looking forward to eating those chicken nuggets but nooo" She shook her head.

Matthias met Annika through a client he had. She was their daughter and like any other parents in their child's business, they set them up. Matthias didn't want to be ruined and say no and he saw it as a date that couldn't hurt anyone.

Annika was also very attractive. Her brown chocolate skin glowed the right way, her beautiful smile, and her cute laugh every time she laughed.

The conversation between the two was going great, Matthias could see himself talking to her more in the future.

"So my mother tells me you have a daughter?" She asked, He nodded, taking a sip of his water. "I do, she's 5," He said putting the cup down.

"If you don't mind, can I see a picture?" She asked, He nodded, grabbing his phone from his pocket. Matthias was the type of dad that loved to show his daughter off.

He opened his phone, going to his camera roll. He clicked the album named 'Mami', he picked the picture of her he took a month ago.

"She is gorgeous. She took your whole face" She smiled looking at the picture.

Matt chuckled "She did, it's crazy sometimes," He said, putting his phone back in his pocket.

"You want more kids?" She asked. "I actually do 3 more." He smiled.

Her eyes widened "Oh my" She chuckled.

Matthias always wanted a big family growing up. It's always been his moms, dad, and sisters. Nobody else, not grandparents or aunts or cousins. He felt like with no big family, he'll start his own.

"Do you want kids?" He asked.

"No, we'll maybe 1 but that's it. My career takes up a lot of my time, going to court and all" She explained, he nodded. He almost forgot she was a lawyer.

The food came out, Matt glanced at something out of the corner of his eye. He turned his head all the way in the direction to see if he was trippin. He indeed wasn't tripping, he saw Lani smiling taking a bag from the hostess.

He laughed to himself seeing her and Rayah dancing as they walked out the door with the food.

"Matt?" He heard, snapping out his thoughts of Lani. He looked over at Annika "I'm sorry, what did you say?" He asked.

She giggled "I asked did you want any hand sanitizer" She held up the hand sanitizer.

"Oh, yea. Thank you" He said, holding out his hand.

_________________

"Thank you for tonight, I really enjoyed myself," Annika said as Matthias walked her to her apartment.

"Same" He chuckled, putting his hands in his pocket.

"You want to come in?" She smirked.

He looked her up and down, he was very tempted to "I have to go pick my daughter up from my parents" He smoothly lied. Kennedi was spending the night all weekend.

He could see the disappointment in her face "Maybe another time then" She smiled.

He nodded "We'll see" He winked, watching her literally melt right in front of him. "You have a good night Annika," He said.

"You too Matt" She kissed his cheek.

With that, they both went their separate ways. Matthias walked down to the elevator, waiting first before getting on. He pressed the parking garage button.

He blew a breath out his nose. After seeing Ailani at the restaurant earlier, that's all who thought about the rest of the evening.

He felt bad for thinking about someone else while on a date with someone that was actually wonderful.

He didn't understand it nor did he like it. He was trying to move on from Ailani, she was playing in his opinion. He was too grown to be playing games with someone else that he thinks just wants to be chased.

Annika seemed to be what he needed, someone that knew what she wanted. But she wasn't Ailani.

He thought cutting her off would be best but now he didn't think so much.

He missed her....

___________________________________

HEEEEEEYYYYYYYYY

Okay before y'all do to much on Kennedi, I was y'all to remember that no child is perfect. No child is always sweet, especially with the trauma she went through.

Not they stop talking😖 BREAKIN MY HEARRRTTT

Jabari's advice to Lani?

I don't care what y'all say, I like Jabari. He a good babydaddy lmao.

Matthias is datingggg👀

New character Annika👀? New girlfriend 👀?

170 votes for update!!

BYEEEE UNTIL MY NEXT UPDATEEE🦋