of the morning news and silverware clacking against plates surrounded me. I had my arms rested along the back of my booth seat, attentively watching my mom interact with Braxton. She'd ordered a light breakfast for herself, which she hadn't eaten much of, because she was focused on Braxton's meal. She was making sure his eggs didn't touch his hash browns, his waffle was cut to the perfect size, and that he was pleased.

It was taking me back to the days where that was me on the side of her while my father sat where I was. Every time we went out to eat she would arrange my food to my liking and make sure I couldn't choke on anything. It would sometimes drive my dad crazy because she would then forget that she was hungry. Most of her focus was on whether I liked my meal or not. Years later, and she was still doing it.

"Mama your food is going to be cold any minute now."

She looked over at me. "I'm sorry, I just like to make sure he's good."

"I know and he is." I set my eyes on Braxton who swayed a little from his feet swinging back and forth under the table. "He has syrup all on the corners of his mouth."

"He has an appetite out of this world. He'll eat anybody out of a house and a home." she shook her head, forking her hash browns.

"Don't all growing boys? I know I could back then."

"Back then? You finished that food as soon as the waiter sat it in front of you. That appetite is the same."

I chuckled, "I'm an athlete so I'm excused."

"Yeah, sure." she smiled at me. Her smile lingered before she rested her hand under her chin. "I'm grateful to be able to sit in front of you like this again. It really warms my heart."

"So am I. We got a second chance."

"By God's will." she pointed up. "Now I was being a little nosey yesterday and heard you say you have a girlfriend. I also heard that it was Korin."

"Yeah...." I smirked while also wondering where she was going with the topic.

There were people who refused to immediately open back to a person that broke their heart and betrayed their trust. I, however, didn't necessarily find it hard to engage in conversation with my mother. I wanted her to know everything that was going on with me so that she knows how to move. I've learned not to assume that someone knows x,y, and z, and just be upfront and open about everything I'm comfortable with sharing.

"After I ran into you guys at the hotel, I did a little digging on her because Melanie kept raving on about her being some star. I can definitely say she's evolved into herself well. I never picked her for a model because she was so shy but not anymore chile."

I laughed, thinking back to our trip. "Yeah, she's come completely from her shell. But I didn't expect model either. Activist? Yeah, she's always been blunt and opinionated."

"If you don't mind me asking, how did y'all keep together after you moved to Houston?"

"We didn't." I scratched my head. "We just only reunited a few months ago, back in June."

She reached for a napkin and wiped Braxton's mouth clean, but that didn't stop her eyebrows from rising, "Really? Felt like y'all never left huh?"

"After I felt her anger, yeah most definitely."

"At least y'all bounced back. True connections never fade no matter what happens, and I can wholeheartedly say that there's one between you two. It's loud."

"What about you and Pops?" I threw out in attempt to pick up a little information about their frequent phone calls.

"Jonas is my soulmate. There will always be something between us. Whether it be acted upon is something else. But we've never been separate before so this is new for us."

"Would you like to be with him again? I mean after all y'all are still married."

She slowly nodded, "We are...and I would like to be back with my husband but we'll see what happens. I try not to force things."

I left the conversation where it was when I took notice of the time. It was closing in on the time for me to get to the airport. Rather than sleep in and merely jump on the plane, I thought spending a little more time with my mom and brother would do us all good. Especially after things had gone so smoothly yesterday.

"Alright lil man, I'll be seeing you again. Don't forget about me." I turned to Braxton before he could climb out.

"Don't forget about me! And don't take too long to come back."

"I'll try my best." I held my fist out, and he quickly bumped his fist with mine. "Now go learn something."

He climbed out of the car and latched onto my mom's waiting hand. Due to our breakfast outing, he was late to school and had to be signed in. My mom returned relatively fast and made her way for the airport to send me off. From the tapping of her fingers and her music at a low volume, I knew she was drowning in her thoughts. I assumed it was about me going back home rather soon, but I came for one reason and that was to clear the table.

"This isn't the last time you'll see me." I touched her resting hand.

She released a sigh, "That's all I wanted to hear. I can give you a call when you cross my mind?"

"Mama yes." I chuckled.

"I'm only asking because I don't want to overstep any boundaries. We're rebuilding."

"You can call me whenever you want to talk to me. You can ask pondering questions. The wall is down."

"Understood." she nodded.

She pulled onto the curb of the airport drop-off and shifted into park. I reached into the backseat for my carry on bag before removing my seatbelt. I leaned over and gave my mom a kiss on her temple to assure her again that we were okay.

"I love you." she gave me a soft smile.

"I love you too."

With that being said, I climbed from the car and traveled inside of the airport.

, I sat down on the edge of my bed with a towel wrapped around my waist. I reached over to the night stand for my phone to check for important notifications. The main ones were from Korin, my trainer, and manager. I responded to all of them before tossing my phone aside.

I lathered myself in lotion then pulled on the chill outfit I was going to wear for the day; grey sweatpants and a plain red tee. Afterward, I went down into the kitchen to whip up a quick break-fast for myself. It was no longer breakfast time since I slept in to catch up on sleep, but because french toast sounded good, I was going to make it.

"Cartier glasses, 20/20, got a clear view. You a man, I don't fear you. Act up, we gon' mask up, boy, I dare you." I rapped Lil Tjay while whisking my eggs.

The song played loudly from my surround-sound, blocking out any other noise taking place within close vicinity of my place. Not only was I listening to music and cooking, I'd opened all of the blinds to invite the sunlight in every room. It was obvious that I woke up in a great mood.

"Oh, let me call this nigga." I mumbled to myself when Pete crossed my mind. I hadn't heard anything from him since the night of my party.

"Give me a minute—" Pete answered, sounding like he was stressed out.

"And you're gonna answer the phone like I'm not talking to you right now!? Is that her? Give me the fucking phone." Morgan shouted in the back. There was shuffling on their end then Morgan began to speak again, "Oh hey, Giovanni. Wanna do me a favor? How about you come and get this cheating, nothing ass nigga out of my house?"

"This is my house!" Pete shouted. "And I'm not going nowhere."

"This used to be our house, but now you're getting the fuck out! How dare you sleep around on me? My nigga you must be out your fucking noggin. Gio please come get him before I rip his esophagus from his throat. I'm not trying to go to jail today."

"Gio don't come over here."

"Oh so you wanna be on the news? You stay here any longer I bet you be apart of the six o'clock report. I'll even help write it. You better leave Pete."

"Mor—"

"PETE LEAVE! I don't wanna look at you— don't touch me!" her voice cracked. "Giovanni please come and take him away from here or come get me. Please."

"I'm on the way, Morgan."

She said okay, I hung up and released a deep sigh. I did not like getting involved in other's relationship issues, but as distraught as Morgan sounded, I needed to pick Pete up. He wouldn't leave without a fight, therefore, I knew prepared myself for an argument between the two us. I also had no idea what I would be walking into now that I was off the phone. They lived a good forty-five minutes away meaning anything could take place.

I quickly put everything that I was about to use back in its place, and turned the stove off. Both my keys and wallet were already on the kitchen island, I picked them up and headed for the front door. A pair of slides were sitting near the door and I slipped them on before rushing out of the door.

I reached their home in Newark as fast as I could to see Morgan sitting inside of her car. I climbed from my car and walked to her car, tapping against the window. She raised her head revealing her wet cheeks and red eyes. She opened the door while wiping her face clear of the tears.

"He's in the house. He doesn't want to leave so can you just take me to my mom's please?"

"Let me talk to him for a minute."

She nodded and closed the car door back. I walked inside of the house to broken glass spread across the floor, picture frames no longer in squares, and a loud tv playing from what sounded like the living room. I carefully stepped over all of the glass and noticed that the thrown photos were of the two of them. It was definitely done by the hands of Morgan.

I rounded the corner and sitting on the couch with his feet placed on the table was Pete. When he looked over at me, I shook my head at him.

"Bro what are you doing?"

"I'm not leaving my house, Gio. It was pointless for you to come way out here cause I'm not going anywhere. We can either talk this out or she can be the one to go."

"Put her out when you're the one who fucked up? Just give her a few days to process the news. This isn't something you just shrug off then kiss and makeup."

"I know that bro, but why can't she process it with us both under the same roof? I'll leave her alone. I just want to be here to answer whatever questions she has, and so that she knows I want her."

"If you let her process while you both are still here, you won't see another sunrise. You know Morgan ain't got 'em all. Plus she's pregnant. Don't stress her out even more than you already have ya feel me? Just come spend a few nights at my crib and let her breathe."

He smacked his teeth and got up. While he trekked up the stairs, I went back outside to let Morgan know that he would be leaving. She had the door propped open, leg shaking as she spoke on the phone. I eased over not wanting to interrupt her call.

She looked up at me. "He still wants to stay?"

"He wants to, but he's coming with me for a few days to give you a little time to yourself."

"Thank you, Giovanni. I wouldn't have asked you to come way out here if I could get myself to stop fucking shaking or crying. I can't drive like this."

"Nah, you're good. Y'all are my people so I always got y'all." she stood up from the car and gave me a hug. "Thank care of yourself Morgan. I want you and my niece to be in good health."

"You think it's a girl?" she pulled away.

"It is a girl, and I need her middle name to be Giavanni."

"I'm happy someone else thinks it's a girl. Pete—" a frowned took over her face and she was crying again. "I'm sorry."

"No, you're good."

"I just can't believe he would do this to me. An affair, Gio. A fucking affair after he begged me to stay so we could fix whatever has been going on with us. If he knew this wasn't what he wanted why didn't he just let us end on good terms instead of this."

"That's something you'll have to ask him—"

"I tried. He just looked at me with that stupid face of his."

The front door closed which made us both turn in the direction of the house. Pete had a duffle bag in his hand, ready to go. He and Morgan looked at one another but she scoffed, pushed her car door closed and tried to bypass him into the house. He stepped in front of her.

"Don't say a word to me or I'll snuff you." she gritted.

He deeply sighed with dropped his head. She walked around him and made sure to slam the door behind her. I gave him a pat on the shoulder before climbing in the driver's seat of my car.

I was more than sure he was in no mood to talk about the way Morgan found out about he and Eliana. But I wandered whether she knew exactly who it was or just the fact that he was cheating. There were plenty of questions that I wanted to ask, but I would let that wait until tomorrow or later tonight when he's less tense.

of a Lyft, I swiped through the recent videos in my phone in search for a clip of me at the Q&A after the panel. The police brutality panel I was invited to be apart of had taken place this morning in San Diego, and it was such a success. However, I jumped on the first flight out as soon as it was over, landing me right back in New York at ten p.m.

"Hi, so during the panel you made a comment about your father whom we know was a police officer. Where do you think he would stand in this day of age concerning police brutality?"

"We all know people can do the unexpected, but based around everything I knew about my father and the kind of man I knew him to be, he would stayed on the job. He would have wanted to be the person to fix the issue from inside where the root lies. He died on the job for being the humanitarian that he was so there is no doubt that he would be disgusted with the actions of his fellow blues." I spoke into the microphone.

"Even though they've all claimed to have been scared for their lives?" she followed up.

"There are people afraid for their lives every second of the day, Black people to be specific, every immigrant in this country. Yet we're not out here unlawfully murdering the compliant and unarmed merely because we're permitted to point a gun. I'm more than sure my father was afraid while trying to talk that man out of shooting him and taking off, but he did it. It wasn't the Black man with the automatic that killed him. It was his very own team because they came around the corner and reacted without analyzing anything. Not to mention, they also lacked aim."

I pointed in the crowd and a man began to speak, "Sorry for your loss, Ms. Alexander."

"Thank you."

"At the last panel you attended, you said the training technique needed to be reevaluated. Are there any specifics or ideas that you may have come up with?"

"Thank you for asking this question! Yes, I have composed a few ideas that I think would help the officers evaluate a situation. My father kept this black book that he would write in everyday after work explaining how he analyzed and reacted to each call he received that day. My brother is also a police officer so I'm also up to date with the new system. Any department heads seeking change and willing to work with me on this, give me a call."

The clip came to an end on that note. I opened my Instagram app and posted it to my page to share with those who missed out. My feed refreshed after it was upload, giving me a new set of photos to view. I scrolled down until I saw a photo of Giovanni.

To no surprise, Chazmon was in the comments being his usual goofy self: Aw, give me ten minutes bro. I liked his comment then went back to like the picture itself. I exited the app just as the car turned into the complex of my destination. He drove up to the entrance doors and unlocked the doors for me. I thanked him, grabbed my carry on bag and purse then climbed out.

I entered the building and went up to the top floor by elevator. It pinged before the doors spread apart letting me out. I stepped off only to be met by Giovanni leaned against his doorframe with crossed arms and a smirk. I threw my bead back and stomped my feet, upset that my plan to pop up on him had been ruined.

"How did you know I was here?" I whined, walking up to him.

"I set find my friends to tell me when you make it home, and you should've been home by now so I checked your location."

"You're so annoying."

"Maybe you can catch me lacking another time." he pulled me to him for a kiss.

"I should be petty and stop sharing my location with you." I went around him and walked down the foyer.

"That's you get kidnapped and nobody know where you are."

"Don't say that." I looked back at him with stretched eyes.

He shrugged. "I'm just saying."

"Is that my friend, Korin? Friend where you been?" the voice of Chazmon boomed from the living room.

I did a miniature jog into the living room and sitting on the couch was Chad and Pete. I walked over to Chazmon and gave him dap as I did every other time we were around one another. Over the past few weeks, I was able to get to know him thru both Gio and Brit, and I found him to be one of the sweetest and most outgoing person I've met. He wore his happiness well and he didn't mind shining it onto people around him. I understood why Brit was in love with him.