😗sorry for any mistakes

Atlanta, GA

January 10th

Friday

"Joelle? That sounds so familiar" Matthias furrowed his eyebrows a little, trying to think where he heard that name from "That name jus' sounds real familiar" He said to Ru as he, and Kei all sat at the bar.

"So y'all fostering her and her baby sister?" Kei asked. They knew how much Si and Ru both wanted kids and were in the long process of adopting. Everyone was happy for them but also cautious. Some adoptive cases are messy and get even messier. They didn't want to get attached to a child and not be able to fully be able to adopt or get taken away from them.

Ru nodded while dipping his chicken wing in the ranch "Rylan she is 10 months old and Joelle is about ta' turn 7 in March. We didn't want to split them up and leave Joelle in the system. And when we first met her, man I fell in love with them little girls off-site" He shook his head.

Kei and Matt gave him a look "You kno' you can't be doin' dat right now Bro. '' Kei reminded him. Ru nodded, already knowing but he honestly couldn't help it. He adores kids, they were the most innocent and loving people to him.

"What's their story? " Matt asked, picking up a french fry from his plate and sticking it into his mouth.

Ru scoffed "Moms a crackhead, somewhea' running the streets and their dad is locked up for robbery and murder. The mom has been on crack since she was pregnant wit' Rylan. She would leave them alone and shit all types of shit. Joelle basically was watching out and taking care of Rylan, asking her teachers at school how to get money to feed her." Ru shook his head in disappointment while Matt and Kei did the same.

A lot of people didn't deserve kids and were granted with the blessings of having them. It was sad.

"Baby girl was hustling at school. Stealing snacks out of stores and selling them at school" Ru said. Kei and Matt busted out laughing.

"She is not new to this, she is true to this" Kei laughed.

Matt nodded while still laughing "Nah, why that sounds like Ken and Rayah's new friend. They stay askin' fa' money so they can buy snacks from their friend" He shook his head, remembering how his daughters scammed him out of $20 each this morning. He thought it was for a field trip until he got to work this morning and remembered it was their first week back at school from Christmas break.

"I think y'all talkin' bout the same little girl then," Kei said, looking in between them.

"Damn, I never met her tho. Ken and Rayah jus' always talking about her. Even tho Rayah didn't like her at first" He chuckled.

Ru frowned his eyebrows "Why not? Rayah doesn't even seem like the type to not like someone"

Matt sucked his teeth "I'on know what innocent little girl y'all be seein' but y'all gotta see her at home. I swear me and her get into it like every other day." He chuckled. "She wasn't havin' it when Ken tried to make a new friend that wasn't her"

"She jus' the smaller version of Lani. You got two Lani's and a mean ass, Ken. I kno' yo pockets and head be on 10" Kei laughed and Matt just shook his head.

"Them my babies tho and Ima stick beside them," He said. They all busted out laughing at his foolishness.

_________________

Matthias closed the garage before walking into the dark house. He quickly turned the alarm off and then turned it back on. He removed his shoes neatly at the door, he heard the tv in the living room so he went in there first.

He smiled when he saw Ailani fast asleep under the blanket. He guessed she was trying to stay up for him but failed. He walked over to her, leaning down to stick his finger into her mouth since it was open.

"Ouch— Ima beat yo' ass" He jumped and moved his finger after she bit him. She opened her eyes and looked around before she looked up to see him mugging her.

"Needa, learn to keep yo' fingers to yourself," She said lowly before yawning. He shook his head and sat on the edge of the sofa. "I told you not ta' wait fa' me mama" He gently rubbed her cheek, and her eyes started to slowly close.

She opened her eyes and grabbed his wrist to see the time on his watch. "Why are you home so early tho?" She asked, seeing the time was 10:30 PM.

"Cause Kei said he had ta' go home and he was out long enough" He chuckled. The plan was for Ru and Matt to take Kei out since Lyric asked them to. She said she needed a break from him breathing down her neck since that's all Keith does especially after she had Zachariah.

She laughed softly "Lyric gon' cuss y'all out for lettin' him too"

"You kno' Ken and Rayah's friend Joelle is who Ru and Si are trying to adopt," He said, pushing her up so he could slide in where she was laying her head.

"I knew when Si told me, the name sounded familiar. I hope they are able to adopt. Si told me the dad won't sign over his rights" She said, laying her head on his lap.

Matthias scrunched up his face "What? Nigga is in jail for life. He minds as well sign them over" He said.

"Exactly but they are in the process of being foster parents first so hopefully when it's time for them to adopt, he will sign his rights over," She said while looking at the tv as Girlfriends played.

"Oh, and I'm never going to be a housewife. Just to put that out there" She said and he started laughing.

"You've always been a housewife, mama" He chuckled.

"Okay, but at least I was able to go to work and come home to do it. Staying at home all day was killing me, I damn near deep cleaned the whole house plus the girl's rooms. I almost told Bari that he couldn't get them this weekend so they could keep me company" She ranted and he just laughed at her.

"Bubba, it's not funny. I'on knows how some women do it" She chuckled and he started to rub her ass.

"Why didn't you tell me to come home early to keep you company?" He asked, looking down at her face. She shrugged "I didn't know if you would honestly. And you need to go out with the boys sometimes. You are always up under me" She joked.

"No, I'm not"

"Recently yes you have been. You go to work, come home and cuddle with me or the girls which is fine but you have a personal life too" She said and turned her head to look at him. He stared down at her, admiring her.

She noticed him staring and puckered up her lips for a kiss. He leaned down and pecked her lips three times.

"I love youu" She cooed.

"I love you more mama"

_________________

Atlanta, GA

January 11th

Saturday

Ailani frowned in her sleep when she heard yelling. She slowly opened her eyes as the sun beamed on her while she was on the couch. She and Matthias had been cuddling, watching old-school movies, and eating junk food.

Last she remembered was them falling asleep on the couch and he was happy, not yelling.

"Y'all had no right ta' tell her that shit Brook! If I wanted her to know that, I would have told her" She heard Matthias yell. She huffed, throwing the cover from over her body and sitting up. She just wanted to go back to cuddling with her man, now he is mad.

Which might last for the rest of the day depending on what he was mad about.

She got up from the couch, grabbed the cover, and wrapped it around her body. She dragged her feet on the floor, following the sound of his voice.

"It doesn't matter! Fuck you gon' round telling my business for?"

Lani frowned, walking into the office seeing pacing back and forth with the phone to his ear and a very angry look on his face.

"Fuck off my phone, y'all lame as hell for that shit," He said and hung up the phone. Lani rubbed the sleep out of her eyes "Why are you yellin' at them?" She asked softly, walking over to him.

He just looked at her and shook his head, making her pout. She felt like he was mad at her but she didn't do anything wrong. At least she didn't think.

She watched him go into a few drawers at his desk and he pulled out a vanilla folder "Bubba? Whatever I did, I'm sorry" She fiddled with her locket around her neck. She had a very bad attitude but Matthias's attitude was honestly worse than hers. And she didn't want to be on the other side of it.

He walked in front of her and gave her the vanilla folder "What is this? Did you get a marriage certificate without telling me?" She joked, not opening the folder and hoping to make him smile but it didn't work.

"It's DNA results to prove that Kennedi is my daughter," He said plainly. She furrowed her eyebrows, giving him back that folder "I don't need to see that." She said.

He sucked his teeth "I kno' they big mouth asses told you and you saying you weren't questioning it?" He eyed her.

"For a split second it did" She admitted and he scoffed "But that was only for a second and didn't mean anything. I was wrong for thinking it for even a second and I'm sorry about that" She said truthfully.

Lani didn't understand why they would tell him that she knew, she honestly wasn't going to address it. She was going to give him the benefit of the doubt for lying and just never speak on it. Since she knew him, he's never lied to her so she guessed it had to be a really good reason why he lied.

"Don't be mad" She frowned when he took the folder back "It was just for a slight second and didn't mean or change anything—"

"I'm not mad at you mama" He sighed, putting the folder back in the drawer. She let out a breath of relief "But we do need to talk" He said.

She immediately shook her head no " We don't. Don't feel forced to talk about it if you don't want to talk about it" She said as he grabbed her hand and led her over to the sofa.

"I was gonna have to tell you one day" He sat down and she straddled his lap before rubbing the back of his neck. "Take your time" She mumbled.

She watched him take a deep breath before speaking "Me and her, we've been together since my senior year in house school. We were the 'Couple goals' shit or whatever people called it. We were prom king and queen and homecoming king and queen. Just that couple I guess." He shrugged. Lani fought the urge to roll her eyes.

She always and will continue to not like anyone that had him before her. She felt like God did her dirty by not putting him in her life when she was in high school. But he was most likely a senior in high school when she was a freshman so it wouldn't have worked anyway.

"We got accepted in the same college and we still continued our relationship than like a year into college I caught her cheating wit' my roommate," He said and her eyes widened. "So I beat his ass and cussed her ass out, my momma almost fought her because they kinda saw her as family and shit. I left her cause at the time, fuck I look like staying with her?" He shook his head.

"Then like a few weeks later she told me she was pregnant. I wasn't thinking foreal and the way I grew up is like parents all in one household. So we got back together, I didn't want Ken growing up in a broken house because I didn't. My dumbest mistake." He scoffed.

"She was like 5 months pregnant and I was just gettin' out of a lecture and going to see her like I always did. I stopped by the sto' and bought ha' her favorite snacks that she was craving and some other shit. I had the key to her dorm since she gave it to me and as soon as I walked in, she and the same roommate I caught her with the last time was fuckin' in her bed"

"Damn" Lani mumbled.

"I was so pissed but more at myself cause why did I even let myself go through some bullshit like that again. She said she was only doing it because she didn't know which one of us was the father. Shit was embarrassing, as hell. I tried to defend her ta' my folks and explain it was just a mistake just dumb as hell" He shook his head.

"I didn't lie, she was jealous of me but that wasn't the reason we broke up. I didn't say nothin' cause that's embarrassing as hell—"

"It's not embarrassing, you can't control what other people do bubba," She said softly.

"No, it's embarrassing I went back. Here you are with this empowering shit, you left when someone cheated on you. I stayed and that's embarrassing, I didn't even love her. I was just being dumb"

"Everyone is has been dumb for someone at least once," She said. He started giving her that look causing her to laugh. "I'm serious, I stayed with someone after they cheated on me before. Just dumb" She shrugged.

"I remember it like it was yesterday. I was in 7th grade and it was this boy named Darryl" She shook her head and Matthias busted out laughing.

"Really? 7th grade Lani?" He laughed, "Shhh, let me tell the story" She chuckled, he just nodded trying to hold his laugh in.

"I thought I was so in love wit' him mad. Everyone wanted him man but guess who he wanted? Me. Mannneee I thought I was that girl. Boom we were dating or whatever then like 2 months into our relationship, he was cheating. Like a dummy, I forgave him cause he said he love me and I like yeah, I love you too bae, just don't do it again" She explained.

"Then boom, like 4 months later, I caught him kissing another bitch at the bus stop" She fake started to cry. Matthias chuckled "Damn baby, he did you wrong. Whatchu do?" He rubbed her back trying to fake comfort her.

"I fought both of them cause what? Then like a week later, we got back together when I came back from being suspended because he told me that was his sister and it was a small peck on the lips" She covered her mouth. "It was like an endless cycle, he would cheat and I would fight the girls then take him back when he apologized until we got to 9th grade and I finally cheated back with Bari and he ain' like that. They fought and we broke up forever" She chuckled.

"Not you cheated back" He laughed and she nodded.

"Hell yeah. I was young and didn't know much about maturity so I had to get my lick back. And I did. But I would never do it again cause I got cheated on again" She said, then looked into his eyes.

"But again, everyone is dumb for someone at least once in life. It happens. You were young and in love" She shrugged.

He scoffed "Love? No, I wasn't."

"Come on now Bubba. You saying out of all the years, you didn't love her? Even before the cheating?" She said looking at him weirdly. She found that kinda impossible for him not to have loved her Cora at a point in time.

"I didn't. My folks always told me you can't love everyone, people just don't deserve it. I cared 'bout her but Love is a strong feeling. I take that shit way too seriously to just be saying it. I love someone I see forever with and I never saw that wit' her. I knew we would end one day and that is why I didn't love her" He expressed.

"But you loved me within only a few months" Lani mumbled.

"I did. I see forever with you. Before I met you, Ken was a whole different child. Angry, sad. Then you and Rayah came and changed all of that. Making her happy and giving her that mother figure along with caring for me even before we started dating made me love you, without me even knowing it" He expressed, Lani felt her heart swell up while looking at him.

"Thank you for being my perfect stranger," She said softly. He furrowed his eyebrows a little "Perfect Stranger?" He asked.

She nodded "You know the song by Kem? I can't stop loving you? That song is about us" She giggled "People always tell you to stay away from strangers but you were my perfect stranger" She smiled.

He just stared at her before grabbing her back by the neck and crashing their lips together. Lani wrapped her arms around his neck as they shared a passionate kiss.

_________________

"Thank you kind sirr" Ailani smiled after Matthias tied up her laces to her Skates.

"Mama, why are we here if you don't like skating?" He chuckled, helping her balance so she wouldn't fall when she won't fall.

"Becauseee, this date is about youu" She cooed, holding onto him tightly when she almost slipped. Ailani was a fan of skating mainly because she didn't know how and would always bust her ass.

But when they were at his parents' house, she saw an old picture of him skating in his teen years. She wanted to take him on a date since he always would take her on one and he finally agreed to it. He was letting her pay and all without putting the money back into her account too.

"Baby" He laughed when she wouldn't let her grip off of him go. "We could've done something else. You wanna go?" He asked about to sit back down again.

"No, I watched Atl. I got this. Just don't let me go" She smiled, as they started to move their way to the skating rink. She was going to be new new today, they didn't come to Cascade for no reason. Surprisingly, it wasn't as packed as it usually would be.

"Aight focus on me. I'm not gonna let you go but don't do anything else" He said, skating backward slowly while still holding onto her hand. She sucked her teeth "How I'ma focus on you? What if I fall? Bubba, I don't wanna fall" She whined, squeezing his hands while people skated around them.

He tried not to laugh. "You're not gonna fall if you don't say nothin' 'bout fallin," He said and she straight-faced him.

"I needa go get the child helper like I do for Ken?" He raised his eyebrow. She mugged him and rolled her eyes "No, I'm a big girl" She huffed.

"Mhm, be a good girl too" He smirked, she stopped skating and looked at him "Stop it" She laughed with him.

"Don't look down at yo' feet. Look at me" He instructed. She shook her head no "No, you make me nervous then I'ma really fall" She said, barely moving now.

"Anahi," He said in a stern tone. She immediately looked up and almost called him something but kept it to herself.

"Focus on my mama. I gotcha " He smiled slightly, and she nodded, focusing on his eyes while he slowly dragged them around.

🎶I am in the wilderness

You are in the music🎶

Lovers Rock by Sade started to play in the rink.

"Bubba— It's aight. I gotchu' " He chuckled, moving behind her. He held one of her hands with his other hand on her waist. They swayed their feet to the music.

Lani had the biggest smile on her face as they vibe to the song and moved in sync.

___________________________________

HEEEEEEYYYYYYYYYYYY

Thoughts or Opinions?

Matthias reason for lying?