hi icy gang 💕 as promised, here's your update. NOW STOP COMING FOR ME.

Just as quickly as the weekend came, it also went. It was now Monday morning, meaning Soleil was finding herself getting ready for her early classes. She texted Siraj the night prior, asking if he would be able to drop her off as Keia informed her that she would be leaving a little later since her first class would be canceled. Without hesitation, he agreed to do it.

He sat in the driveway, talking to his mom as he waited for Lei to come out — something that he usually did before he got his day started.

Siraj was the youngest out of his siblings, which meant he was somewhat of a mama's boy. After his dad died from colon cancer his senior year in high school, he became closer to his mother.

Their family was devastated by the loss of his dad, he was the glue that kept the family together. Before he passed, and before meeting Xahir, he considered his dad to be his best friend. He showed him the ropes to a lot, teaching him how to be a man in all aspects of life.

However, he didn't let his father's death hinder him from being great in life. Instead, his father's death only pushed him to go harder, wanting to provide for his family the same way that he did.

Even though the women in his family were successful, and were more than capable enough of providing for themselves, he still wanted to make sure that if they needed support to fall back on, he was there.

"Maj just looked so cute at his sleepover, so handsome." Tasha, Siraj's mother gushed as she swiped through the pictures he sent her of Semaj over the weekend.

"You think we should keep his hair the way it is? Mena thinks he's cute wit' his short curls." Raj chuckled, sending Raegan a good morning text back.

"I think he's cute wit' his li'l curls. Just continue getting his edges touched up, he looks just like you when your hair was grown out." Tasha slightly laughed at the last part. Raj heard as the passenger door opened, he looked over and seen Lei getting into the car with her bag.

"But a'ight ma, I'ma call you later on. I'm boutta drop Lei off," he said, as Lei strapped herself in.

"Tell miss thang she better text me back before I come over there and whoop her butt." Tasha teased, causing Lei to laugh.

"You tellin' the wrong person to tell her that, cause she doesn't text me back either." he side-eyed her.

"I'm sorry mama!" Lei spoke, pulling down the visor to check herself in the mirror.

"Mhm, I'ma let y'all go though. Y'all have a good day, okay?"

"You too, love you ma." Raj shifted the gears into reverse, backing out of the driveway.

"Love you too," Tasha said before hanging up. Raj pulled off down the street, silence falling over them in the car.

Lei pulled up the top of the corset she wore, looking over herself one last time before she closed the visor back. As Raj came to the red light, he glanced over at her, his eyes roaming over the outfit she was wearing.

"You look pretty," he said, watching her run her fingers through her wand curled hair.

She paused, as a smile grew onto her face. "Thank you," she blushed, trying to keep herself from smiling so hard, but failing miserably.

"Why are you smiling so hard?" he tilted his head, resting his arm on the middle console, still staring at her.

"Because you tell me that every time you see me. I think it's cute," she shrugged, sitting back in the seat. "You look nice today as well,"

"I mean because you look pretty every time I see you and preciate' it," he said, Lei cleared her throat and started to look out of the window, still sporting the giddy smile.

The rest of the car ride went by rather quickly, Raj was stuck in his thoughts the majority of the time. The situation from Sunday morning was still heavy on his mind, and still somewhat bothering him.

He thought more about what Ximena said, and as much as it came off insensitive at the time, she was right. Lei had put herself in a dangerous situation, had he not arrived sooner, anything was bound to happen to her.

Raj pulled into the parking lot of Lei's campus, shifting the gears. She grabbed her bag and unbuckled her seatbelt, "See you later," she half-smiled, getting out of the car.

Raj watched her, that nagging feeling tugging at the pit of his stomach. He sucked his teeth and quickly got out of the car, "Soleil!" he called out to her, resting his arms on the top of the car door and the roof.

She whipped around, giving him a confused look. "Come here," he beckoned her, she walked back over to him, clutching onto the strap of her bag.

"What's wrong?" she asked him.

"Look, I know you said it was consensual but — Lei, you gotta go get checked ma." he finally said, Lei, gaping at him in disbelief. "I didn't wanna come down too hard on you yesterday because the last thing you needed was me yelling, or jumping down your throat about the situation."

"Y-you don't believe me?" she questioned in a soft voice, slightly frowning.

"It's not that I don't believe you, it's just — you were drunk, Soleil. You may believe what you want because the truth might hurt. I just wanna make sure, I can't have you walkin' around here, and something did happen."

Lei's eyes darted around at her surroundings, as she began to think to herself. Deep down inside, she wasn't even sure if she did give consent. Even though she did remember going upstairs with Kelz, after that, everything goes blank.

She profoundly sighed, slowly nodding her head. She remained quiet, walking back around to the passenger side. She got into the car, buckling herself back in as Raj pulled out of the parking lot.

The scent of sanitation engulfed the room, tiny goosebumps forming onto Lei's arms from the frigid temperature throughout the clinic. Lei anxiously bounced her leg up and down, as she softly chewed at her bottom lip. The moment that she and Raj stepped foot into the clinic, she felt uncomfortable.

She had been to the doctor's office previously a few weeks before, only for a standard check-up and to voice her concerns about her insomnia.

Knots formed in the pit of her stomach, to now end up back at the doctors office under completely different circumstances.

Raj ripped his attention away from his phone, after texting his team and letting them know he would be a little late. He could see the visible look of angst on Lei's face.

He grimaced and sat up straight, slipping his phone back into his pocket, before he held his hand out. She looked down at it, then up at him before placing her hand in his.

Lei focused on the ticking of the clock on the wall, the 'brief moment' that the nurse said the doctor was supposed to be in, was beginning to feel like an eternity, the longer she counted the minutes.

She felt as Raj's thumb caressed over the side of hers, breaking her out of her trance, he gazed at her with worried eyes.

In the midst of the pair staring at one another, the doctor finally knocked, walking into the room. It was an older woman, her 4C hair neatly brushed and pulled back by a headband, complimenting her oval, shaped face.

She greeted the pair with a warm, ravishing smile, a radiant glow glitzing off of her cheekbones as she shut the door behind her. "Good morning," she chirped in a joyous tone, she walked over to the sink in the room and began to wash her hands.

Soleil let go of Siraj's hand, now resting both of her clasped hands in her lap, the thumping of her heartbeat echoing throughout her ears. "Morning," she replied back.

The doctor grabbed a few sheets of the paper towels and dried off her hands, before approaching Soleil with a hand extended out to shake. "I'm Dr. Murray, you're Soleil?" she asked as Lei shook her hand and nodded her head in confirmation. "Did I pronounce your name correctly?"

"Yes ma'am," Lei replied, rubbing her clammy hands onto her jeans.

"Good," Dr. Murray smiled, taking a seat in the round rolling chair. "So what brings you in today, Soleil?" she crossed one leg over the other, giving Soleil her full undivided attention.

Lei swallowed hard, squeezing her hands together as she felt her mouth go dry. Her eyes darted around the room, as she tried to find the words to say.

Dr. Murray took notice of her behavior, quickly uncrossing her legs. She cleared her throat and leaned forward. "Do you mind stepping out of the room for a moment?" she turned towards Siraj.

He nodded his head and got up, starting to head towards the door until Lei swiftly grabbed his hand. "Um, c-can he stay?" Lei's eyes darted between him and the doctor.

"Of course," she nodded her head, "I just want you to be comfortable as possible. I know it's a little uncomfortable and harder to speak on certain topics while there's a man present."

Lei pushed her hair out of her face, her other hand still intertwined with Raj's. She took a deep sigh, shifting on the bed. "I went to a party this past weekend, a-and I may have been...um," she paused, becoming overwhelmed.

Dr. Murray stood to her feet and gently grabbed Lei's free hand. "It's okay, you don't have to speak any further if you don't want to," she assured her, staring at her with soft eyes. "We'll run a few tests — what you're doing is very courageous and I'm glad you're taking the first few steps. This is never an easy process, but I assure you, we'll do everything we can to make this go as smoothly as possible. Okay?"

Lei nodded her head once again, letting go of a shaky breath.

"Okay, do you mind if I look over you?" Dr. Murray grabbed the stethoscope from around her neck, putting them into her ears.

"That's fine,"

Dr. Murray placed the end piece of the stethoscope against Lei's chest, beginning to listen to her heartbeat.

The next hour consisted of Lei and the nurses in and out of the room, as they ran a few tests on Soleil, checking to see if she had been exposed to any STDs or had been roofied.

Throughout the process, Raj hadn't let go of her hand not once — except for when she went to the restroom to give urine. Though she was nervous about her results, Raj assured her that whatever happened, he would be there.

While drowning in her thoughts, Lei felt a little guilty about ducking Raj before. Despite her going back on her word, he still found himself showing up for her when she needed him the most.

She knew that he only meant good when he insisted she'd come to the clinic. As much as she wanted to push that disconcerting night to the back of her mind, she would have probably died inside if she found out any other way if something did happen to her.

Also, she knew for a fact that her brother probably would've reacted the same way — after he beat Elias and Kelz to a pulp first.

However, she was taken aback yesterday when Raj did react the way he did when Elias showed up. It was rare to see him riled up, as she only seen him that way twice before. He was usually more laid back, and only came out of character if someone put their hands on him or someone he cared about.

Otherwise, Raj sat back and would watch how the situation play out. De-escalating the situation if he needed to, since Xahir was mostly a hothead — especially when it came to his sisters.

There was a knock on the door, followed by Dr. Murray and a nurse returning with a few papers in her hands. They shut the door behind them, Lei's stomach beginning to do twists and turns all over again, the wait agonizing.

"Good news, so we weren't able to find traces of any drugs in your system, also, all of your tests came back negative for any STDs or STIs." Dr. Murray informed her, Lei letting go a huge sigh of relief.

"Thank God," she mumbled to herself, her nerves finally calming down.

"This is the paperwork explaining what we've talked about today, also copies of the tests we ran today. I do want you to schedule a follow up appointment with your primary physician, okay?" Dr. Murray explained, as the nurse passed the papers over to Lei. "Do you have any other questions for me today?"

"No, but thank you." Lei half smiled, hopping down from the bed. Raj opened the door for her, letting her step out first.

Raj and Lei made it back to his car, he would occasionally sneak glances over at her, as she was occupied on her phone.

He didn't know what her thoughts or feelings were at the moment, but he was glad himself that the process went smoothly and nothing had happened to her.

Deep down he still hoped that even though she was inebriated, and not drugged, she was able to give consent. She mentioned that she did remember going upstairs with Kelz, he would just chalk up her lack of memory afterwards to being intoxicated.

He hoped that nothing else would come up in the situation and that they could just put the bad night behind them. He would hate to go to jail behind a guy trying to score brownie points for his boys.

The rest of the car ride went by without a hitch, Lei still hadn't spoken a word, her attention still fixed on her phone. For some reason, he felt as if she was a little upset with him, for dragging her to the clinic for no reason now that they knew everything was fine with her.

When the car finally came to a halt, Lei hearing Raj shift the gears, she glanced up from her phone and saw that they were back on her campus. She unfastened her seatbelt and grabbed her bag, much to his surprise, Lei leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.

"Thanks, see you later." the corners of her mouth curling up into a small smile. She got out of the car, not giving him the chance to reply. He watched as she made it a little distance onto campus before he pulled off.

Lei adjusted the strap of her bag on her shoulder as she walked out of her last class for the day. Unfortunately, the last class she had was the class Kelz was also in. She could feel his intense gaze on her throughout the lecture, but she pretended to be occupied with her work, even though she very much couldn't concentrate.

Between his stares, and also Elias eyeballing her whenever they crossed paths on campus, she was starting to become slightly annoyed with the whole situation.

No one had approached her or even brought up the party, which put her at ease a little.

As she pushed the heavy glass doors forward to walk out of the building, she heard a familiar voice call out her name. She ignored it and continued towards the parking lot where Raj was waiting for her.

She made it a few feet away from the building before she felt a hand gently grab her arm, causing her to snatch away and stop in her tracks. She looked up at Kelz with a mug, as he looked down at her with a concerned expression.

"Hey, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to disturb you," he quickly threw his hands up, taking a step back to put a little distance between them. "Look, I just wanted to apologize about the other night at the party. I didn't mean to become aggressive wit' you." he apologized, giving her a sympathetic look.

"It is what it is," Lei casually shrugged, turning to continue her walk. She abruptly stopped after something else crossed her mind, she turned back around to face Kelz. "By the way, saying 'I thought we were having a good time' to a drunk girl, gives off predator vibes."

Kelz seemed to be taken aback and opened his mouth to speak, however, Lei turned around and walked away, not giving him the chance to respond.

Lei pulled at the top of her corset, deeply sighing as she made the walk across campus to the parking lot. Like usual, Raj's car was parked by the sidewalk. She pulled on the car door handle, opening the door and got into the car.

"Hey," she spoke, shutting the door as she got settled into the seat. She reached her hand back to grab the seatbelt to fasten herself in, she glanced back into the backseat and saw that Maj was sleeping.

"What's up?" Raj responded, pulling off. "You straight?" he raised an eyebrow, eyeing her closely.

"Yea, why?" she tried holding back a slight smile, stretching her legs out in front of her.

"Just checkin', any of them niggas tried messing wit' you?" he reached over to adjust the A/C, noticing she was rubbing her arms. "You anemic or some?"

"Yea? How'd you know?" her smile growing wider, as she stared at the side of his face, taking note of the small tattoo behind his ear. "And yes, Kelz approached me right before I came to your car."

"Every time you get in the car, you go to rubbing your arms like it's cold, and really? What'd he say?"

"He wanted to apologize for what happened at the party, I told him it is what it is." she shrugged, turning her head to look out of the window. "I just wanna put that night behind me,"

Siraj decided to leave the conversation at that, not wanting to make her uncomfortable. From the corner of his eye, he could see that her leg began to bounce up and down, the light taps of her nails could be heard over the revving engine as they drove down the road.

"What's the matter, Lei?"

"I don't wanna go home," she told him, still fiddling her thumbs as she looked down at them.

"Where do you wanna go?"

"...wit' you." she spoke sheepishly, slightly annoyed with herself that she even made such a request. She didn't want to be alone, while Keia and Joziah were still at campus. Also, even though she wasn't afraid of Elias, she didn't want to be bothered by him if he decided to show up.

"If it's okay—"

"Alright," Raj answered, not thinking twice about it. Lei looked at him, taken aback just a little by his lack of hesitation. He peeked over at her, feeling the intense stare that was getting, a sly grin growing onto his face. "What? You thought I was gone say no?"

"Well, yes actually. It's your place of business so, you know." Lei cleared her throat, shifting in the seat. She heard him hum, turning on his left blinker to merge onto the interstate.

Lei hadn't been to Raj's business before, but she was familiar with how his layout was, since her brother was there helping him majority of the time, and wanted her to know in case she needed to get to him.

She never found a reason to visit, but she wasn't in no mood to be alone. She found being in Raj's presence comforting, especially since he was always gentle with her.