hello.

A few days had passed by, Thanksgiving now arriving. Since leaving Raj's house, Lei had been staying over at her parents house. She showed up at their doorstep with a face full of tears, completely hysterical, that it took almost an hour to calm her down and get her to tell them what had happened.

Though they agreed with Siraj and Ximena that what she did was wrong, they kept it to themselves, figuring it was best to not give her a lecture about the situation. Since being at their house, Lei didn't come out of the room much. Vanessa and Xavier took turns checking on her, but they didn't get much of a response from her.

Vanessa knocked on Lei's bedroom door, she heard her faint voice telling her to come in. She opened the door and walked in, seeing that Lei was still in bed. She walked over to the closed curtains, and snatched them open, letting the sunshine rays beam into the once dark filled room.

Soleil shot her mother an irritated look, but remained quiet as she started to squint her eyes, adjusting the light she had been avoiding for the past few days. She was drained of energy, due to the distressing cries from the previous night before. She wanted nothing more than to sulk and drown in her tears.

"Soleil, I know you're upset but don't you think it's time to come out and try to take your mind off of that situation?" Vanessa sat down on the edge of the bed next to her, Lei's dark, weary eyes piercing into her soul as she stared back at her.

Vanessa deeply sighed, getting up from the bed, finding it useless to try and get her to talk. Lei had been a complete mess since the incident. She had high hopes that Lei would have gotten better by now, but it seemed like as the days passed by, she only gotten worse.

As much as Vanessa wanted her daughter to talk to her about how she was feeling, Lei shut them out, leaving them to wonder what kind of thoughts were running through that mind of hers.

She felt hopeless as a parent, unable to comfort her child as she use to before. She reached the conclusion that she would probably have to take drastic measures, and get Lei the professional help that she desperately needed. Though she knew Lei wasn't fond of the idea of going to see a therapist, it was the only other option left in hopes of getting her daughter back on track.

"Today is Thanksgiving, all I want from you is to at least spend the day wit' your family. It might make you feel a little better, especially when you see your sister." Vanessa said, Lei furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, as Vanessa turned her attention towards the bedroom door.

Lei quickly sat up and followed Vanessa's gaze, seeing that Selah was indeed standing at her door, watching from afar. "Selah?" Lei finally spoke in a dreary voice. Selah walked into the room, a small smile on her face as she extended her arms out to embrace her sister.

Lei got out of the bed, rushing into her sister's arms, beginning to bawl her eyes out for the umpteenth time today. "It's okay Boop, I'm here." Selah comforted her, rubbing Lei's back as Lei held a tight grasp on her.

Selah and Vanessa made brief eye contact, Selah slightly nodding her head, indicating that she could leave the two girls alone. Vanessa walked out of the room, shutting the door behind her, the two girls continuing to stand in the same spot.

Selah didn't say a word, instead she let her sister continue to cry in her arms, giving her a moment to gather herself together.

After Lei had shown up on their doorstep, explaining what had happened at Siraj's house, Vanessa end up calling Selah. Though Selah didn't have plans of returning home until Christmas, and planned on spending Thanksgiving with her husband's family, she knew she had to be there for her sister.

Besides Xahir, Selah was only other person that was able to get through to Soleil. Whenever she needed a boost, or unbiased advice, Selah was the person she turned to.

Vanessa didn't go too much into detail about what had happened between Lei and Raj, but she told Selah enough that eventually made her decide to hop on a plane, leaving behind her daughter and husband to celebrate thanksgiving with his family.

When Lei was finally done, Selah wiped her tear stained cheeks with the sleeve of her shirt as they both sat down on the bed. "I hate seeing you like this, Boop." Selah grimaced, taking in her sister's disheveled appearance. She took her hands and ran them down the side of her hair, as a means to smooth out the bed hair she sported. "Tell me what happened,"

Lei let go of a shaky sigh, before she began to explain the event that unfolded a few days ago. As Selah sat and intently listened as Lei recounted back the situation to her, she shook her head, a little bit of anger arising in her.

Though Lei was wrong in the situation, she wasn't all too pleased with how Ximena handled the issue. She never cared to talk to Ximena before, as she always thought she was a little fake.

Ximena had tried a few times to befriend her, but Selah saw through her bullshit, especially when it came to women messing with Siraj — as if she didn't want anyone else to have him, when they had broken up.

Selah grabbed both of Lei's hands, tightening her lips for a brief second. "Soleil, I'm going to be completely honest wit' you mama." Selah started to say, shifting a little. "You were wrong for what you did, I know it wasn't intentional, but you have to understand it from a parent's perspective. I can totally understand their frustration and they had every right to be upset — however, it could've been handled much more better."

"One, Raj was wrong for making you catch an Uber while it was pouring out, he didn't even offer to take you home and make sure that you were safe at least. Two, I kinda feel like Ximena has been waiting on that opportunity for you to fuck up, because that means she can try to manipulate the situation to her advantage. Get Siraj to stop dealing wit' you and focus back on their dysfunctional ass relationship." Selah continued on.

"Everyone who knows you, knows that you would throw yourself in front of a train, if it meant saving a child. While I do understand that they're the parents and what they say goes, I still think it's a little unfair to try and sever your relationship with Maj because he genuinely loves you and you're probably one of the very few adults he trust."

Lei nodded in agreement, wiping away the tears that had began falling again. "He actually started crying and called out for me as I was leaving, I wanted to hug him but Ximena kept him away." she sniffled, a wave of sadness rushing over her again as she thought back to that moment.

"I'm so sorry, Boop." Selah slightly pouted, gently squeezing her hands. "I know you never meant for any of this to happen — have you reached out to him since?"

Lei nodded in response, "He hasn't texted or called me back. There's a part of me that wants to leave it alone and give him space, because I know he's still mad..." she trailed off, looking down at her hands that were still entangled with Selah's. "But I don't want to do that, because I don't also want him to feel like I don't care about the situation or care about fixing this."

Selah gently grabbed her chin, making her look up at her as she shook her head. "You know he wouldn't think that Soleil, Siraj is a very understanding person. But at the same time, he maybe just need time to get his mind right — after all, you're the last person he expected this from." she tried assuring her.

Lei let go of a sigh, the brim of her eyes welling up with tears again as she let go of Selah's hands. She got up from the bed, beginning to slowly pace.

"Boop...I know this is deeper than you're leading on. Tell me what's really going on, please." Selah stressed, taking noticing of her fidgety behavior.

"It's just..." Lei paused for a moment, "Siraj has been helping me through this, he's been my person of peace. What am I gonna do if he decides not to talk to me anymore?" she pushed her hair out of her face.

"Soleil...do you think — do you think that you may have a problem?" Selah asked her, the burning question that had been floating through her mind since she got the call from their mom.

Lei stopped in the middle of the room, avoiding eye contact with her. "I'm not an addict, Selah. I don't pop pills to escape, I-I just, I don't know." she shrugged, walking back over to the bed. "I take them when I'm physically hurting,"

"So what do you do to escape when you're mentally hurting?"

"...Be wit' Siraj," she mumbled, dropping her hands into her lap.

"Well, do you think it's time to find another alternative? Maybe talk to someone about what you're feeling?"

"Selah, you know I never been comfortable wit' talkin' to someone I don't know about my personal issues." Lei scoffed, wiping her face with the back of her hand.

"And I know that Soleil, but you're grieving, you're hurting. This is still fresh, we're all trying to find a way to cope, which we have — but we want to make sure that you've found a way as well, something that isn't destructive or unhealthy. We care about you, and seeing how this situation has messed wit' you, it has us thinking that maybe you need another way to vent." Selah suggested, grabbing her hand again.

Soleil threw her head back, heavily sighing. She continued to blink rapidly, to keep more tears from falling. "I really miss him," Lei croaked, before bursting into tears. Selah grabbed her into a consoling embrace, her eyes now burning with tears as well.

"I do too," Selah's voice cracked.

"He's supposed to be here, Selah. Why did they have to take him from us?" Lei continued to sob, her emotions overwhelming her as she had been holding in her feelings since the funeral.

"Because some people have no regards for other people's lives, not caring if they're taking that person away from their family. There are a lot of selfish people in the world," Selah bitterly spat, still carrying ill feelings towards the drunk driver who caused their brother's demise.

"It was my fault," Lei cried, Selah pulled away from the embrace, sporting a confused look.

"No it wasn't, Soleil—"

"I was taking too long, Selah! Had we left much earlier, he would still be alive! He died because of me—"

"Soleil, that was not your fault! Don't blame yourself for that, you know Xahir wouldn't blame you for this! The only one who is at fault is the person who got behind the wheel drunken that night!" Selah lightly shook her by the arms, her heart shattering a little, now aware that her sister had been blaming herself. "H-have you been blaming yourself for this the whole time?"

"It's why I don't take so long getting ready anymore, because I don't want anything to happen to someone because I was taking my time." Lei confessed. While many believed that Soleil was simply just still grieving over Xahir's death, what many didn't know was that she carried guilt. It was apart of the reason why she suffered from insomnia.

"Soleil..." Selah grimaced, pulling her into another hug. "I'm so sorry Boop, none of this is your fault. Who knows, that could've still happened even if you didn't take long." she tried assuring her.

Lei didn't utter another word, as she continued crying in Selah's arms. A few teardrops fell from Selah's eyes, as she fell deep into her thoughts about the new revelation. While their family had been dealing with their own lives and coping in their own way, Soleil had been falling into a deep depression that was claiming her sanity.

And the only real escape that Lei had on a day to day basis, was being around Siraj. Now that they were apart, it caused her to finally breakdown altogether.

Siraj leaned back into the plastic garden chair, shaking his head as he sat and listened to his uncles bicker over the game of dominoes they were playing at the table. His family had came together like they usually did for Thanksgiving every year.

They were still waiting for the food to be finished, so until then, everyone occupied themselves in different parts of the house. Majority of the women inside, while the men were either outside in the backyard or in the front of the house.

"See this why I don't like playin' wit' y'all niggas, always cheating and shit." One of Siraj's uncles, Samuel, slammed the domino down onto the table as the rest of them started laughing and clowning him.

"Man you the only one that complains every game we play, it ain't our fault, you suck." Samuel's brother, Andrew began to tease him.

Siraj felt a tap on his arm, causing him to look away and behind him, seeing that it was his cousin, Kanaan. "Oh shit, what's up nigga?" Raj slapped hands with him, getting up from the chair. "I was wondering when yo' ass was gone show face,"

"Yea' I just got off," Kanaan told him, as they started to walk back inside, passing through the kitchen where some of the women were. "What's up wit' chu though? I see ya' business thriving and shit, I'm proud as hell."

"Preciate it man, that's all it's been honestly. Just working hard so I can provide for my son, ain't none else to tell." Raj shrugged as they walked outside to the front driveway where the rest of his cousins were, along with a few girls he didn't recognize.

"Oh word? I feel it. Speaking of, where li'l man at?" Kanaan asked him, as they approached the rest of their cousins.

Raj leaned against the car, adjusting the dad cap on his head. "Shit, he wit' his mama. She pose to be stopping by a li'l later on so he can see the rest of his fam over here." he said. Kanaan simply nodded in understanding, pulling out his phone. "Where Erin?" he questioned him, referring to his girlfriend at of ten years.

"She at work, she got off in a few hours. I'ma meet her at her folks house,"

"Damn, why the fuck they got y'all working on Thanksgiving man? Pose to be a day you spend wit' yo' fam." Raj scoffed, shaking his head in disappointment. He was glad he had the luxury of being able to take off holidays since he ran his own business.

He couldn't imagine making his employees working on special holidays that were meant to be spent with family. Family was extremely important to him, and he hated that when he did work for other people before, they simply didn't care or understand, as long as profits were being made.

"Right, they don't give a fuck. I tried taking off for this week, but my shit got rejected. I wasn't even tripping because a lot of people requested the week off too, but I requested for Christmas week off, I'm not coming in whether they approve or deny it. I been working the whole year and ain't use my PTO, I'm tryna use that shit up before the new year cause it don't rollover." Kanaan explained, Raj shooting him a funny look as a thought ran across his mind.

"Wait, so you worked on yo' birthday?" he raised an eyebrow, as Kanaan nodded in response. "Man hell nah, don't be slaving for them folks. Cause push come to shove, them folks gone replace yo' ass the first chance they get if some was to happen to yo' ass. Don't be overworking yo' self man,"

"Shit you ain't gotta tell me, I done watched them muhfuckas' let go of folks who done worked there for almost thirty years with no type of remorse,"

"See," Raj continued shaking his head, watching as a few of his cousins came over to where him and Kanaan were standing.

"Cuzo!" Deonte exclaimed, a cheesy grin on his face. "Where Mena at?"

"At her folks house, I hope." Raj replied.

"Y'all still together?"

"Hell nah, he wit' the other fine ass girl." Their other cousin, Duke started smirking, as Deonte looked at Siraj with an amused expression.

"What other fine ass girl?"

"I don't know her name, but he be posting her on his IG story," Duke told him, playfully hitting Raj's arm.

"That's Soleil, Xahir's sister." Raj said, not wanting to dive too deep into their relationship as it wasn't their business to know.

But also, not wanting to think about the situation that happened a few days ago. He was still upset about what happened, his expectations of Soleil were way too high, and for her to pull what she did was like a slap in the face to him.

Though he knew it wasn't intentional, he still couldn't respect the fact that she chose to do it while she was watching his son.

The time that they had been hanging out together, he didn't know that she was using pills for the pain that she had been dealing with.

"Oh shit, I ain't know Zah had a sister," Deonte replied, checking his phone as it vibrated from receiving a text message.

"Yea, he got two. But we just be kickin' it, I be making sure she straight and shit." Raj cleared his throat, turning to the right of him as they all heard a car come to a stop on the side of the road near the house. He recognized the car as Ximena's, making him sport a puzzled expression. "The fuck," he mumbled to himself, beginning to walk down the driveway.

"I thought you wasn't coming until later on," Raj said, as he approached the car, Ximena getting Maj from out of the backseat.

"Daddy!" Maj exclaimed, reaching for him.

"What's good li'l man?" Raj picked him up, a huge smile on his face.

"I was, but my cousin flew down and she wanted to go pop out somewhere. So I figured, I'd drop him off a li'l earlier." Ximena explained.

"Oh,"

"Hey Raji!" They both heard someone yell his name from across the street. They both turned to look, seeing it was a girl that they had went to high school with, that also happened to be the daughter of his mom's neighbor.

"What's good, Zari? Ain't seen you in a li'l minute, how yo' moms?" Raj greeted her as she finally made it across the street, giving him a side hug.

"Hi Semaj! Oh my gosh, you've gotten so big and handsome," Zari cooed, waving at him. "She good, she's at the house wit' the rest of my family."

"Oh okay, I'ma pop over there in a li'l. Gone speak to my moms, she'll be happy to see you." he said, she nodded and walked past them, still not acknowledging Ximena. Ximena poked the side of her cheek with her tongue, watching as she walked away up the driveway. The two girls fell out with each other after Ximena gotten a little more popularity in high school -- especially once she started to date Siraj.

Once Zari was far enough away, Ximena spoke up. "She's rude as hell," she rolled her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Well, what do you expect? You stopped talkin' to her, what she needa speak to you for if you never made an effort to talk to her all these years?" Raj shrugged, putting Semaj down.

"I guess," Ximena waved him off, holding her arms out for Semaj. "Come here baby, gimme kiss. Mommy's boutta go,"

She planted multiple kisses on Maj's face, before letting him go. "Be good for daddy, I'll call you later on before you go to bed." she waved to him, as he held Raj's hand.