hi boo bears! 💕🦦 don't be shy, make your presence known!

Siraj approached the passenger side of his car, resting his arms on top of the open car door and the roof. He grimaced as he saw Soleil wiping under her eyes with her knuckles, sniffling. "I thought I was ready," she croaked out, fanning her eyes.

"You don't have to rush this, baby," Siraj ensured her, crouching down in front of her, and placing his hands on her knees. He reached up to wipe her cheek as a lone tear streamed down her face. "This is never easy to do, trust me, I know..." he trailed off.

"I thought coming here with y'all would make it easier, but I can't even walk through this graveyard, knowing that my brother is buried here," Soleil cried, gesturing towards the graveyard. "He doesn't even deserve to be here,"

She wrapped her arms around Siraj, bawling her eyes out. Siraj rubbed her back up and down, swallowing hard. He wished he had the words to make her feel better, but she was right.

His best friend didn't deserve to have his life taken from him at such a young age, because of the recklessness of another person. It still angered him to this day, especially knowing that he possibly has a child on the way, a child that he would never get to see or raise.

When he found out that Soleil was going to place flowers on Xahir's grave, he decided to tag along. He hadn't been to the graveyard since the funeral, and even though Selah would be there, he knew that Soleil could use the extra emotional support.

He was glad that he did, because the moment that Soleil tried taking a step towards where Xahir was buried, she burst into tears. He stayed with Soleil at the car, while Selah, Antonio, and Kinsley were at his grave.

They went to grab lunch after they woke up a little later than usual. Siraj peeped Soleil's reserved behavior from the moment they left his house. She didn't speak much, he figured that she was tired from the festivities last night.

But once Selah reminded him that they were going to place flowers at his grave, Soleil's behavior made more sense.

"I know, baby," Siraj replied, continuing to console her. "We can come back another time when you're absolutely ready."

"Okay," Soleil sniffled, pulling away from him. Siraj reached over and grabbed a napkin from the pocket of the door, before passing it over to her. She used the napkin to wipe her face, putting her legs inside of the car.

"I'll be back, okay?" Siraj said, standing up straight. Soleil nodded as Siraj shut the door and turned around to walk over to where Xahir's grave was.

As he approached, he saw Antonio cradling Selah in his arms as she wept, Kinsley, wrapping her arms around her legs to console her.

Selah turned her head to look, hearing footsteps. She wiped her face, looking behind him. "She's not coming?" she questioned him, noticing her absence.

Siraj profoundly sighed, nodding in confirmation. "She's not ready yet and I don't want to push her, I told her we'll come back when she's absolutely ready to," he explained.

"I understand," Selah replied, pushing her hair out of her face. "Soleil deals with death a little bit harder than the rest of us."

Siraj remained quiet as his eyes read over the engraved words on the headstone. It felt like Deja Vu all over again, from when he visited his father's grave a few months ago.

He still never processed Xahir's death fully, but now that he was finally standing before his grave—a ton of emotions were overwhelming him.

"You not pose to be here, man..." Siraj muttered, slightly shaking his head. He exhaled noisily and turned around, unable to look at his best friend's headstone any longer.

Selah pulled away from Antonio, kneeling down on the ground. She kissed her fingers and then placed it on the cold headstone, a few tears continuing to stream down her face. "I hope you're at peace, Zah. I love you so much, continue to watch over us," she sniffled, standing to her feet.

They followed Siraj back to the road, Selah, Antonio and Kinsley getting into Soleil's car as Siraj got into his.

The ride back to Soleil's house was silent, Siraj snuck a few glances over at Soleil a few times, a somber expression continuing to grace her face as she stared out of the window.

Xahir shuffled a deck of cards on the table. Selah held her phone in her hand, her AirPods in her ear as she talked to Antonio about something important. Soleil rested her elbow on the table, her cheek pressed against her fist as she absentmindedly blew bubbles with the gum she chewed. She scrolled on twitter, liking every other video or picture she came across.

"Soleil..." Xahir called to her, starting to pass the cards around. Soleil hummed in response, not bothering to look up at him. "You know I'm proud of you, right?"

"Oh brother," Soleil groaned, throwing her head back. She looked at her brother with a grin, sitting her phone down on the table. "Here you go being sentimental,"

"Hear me out," he said, side-eyeing her. Soleil nodded, gesturing her hand for him to continue. "You been through a lot these past couple of months. You were at your lowest and still continued to get out of bed, that's not easy for a lot of people. You're still overcoming a lot of fears you have, you're stepping out of your comfort zone and I couldn't be any more proud."

"When you feel like you have no one, you know you still have me, right? You for sure have Selah, even despite the distance—and you got Siraj," he told her, Soleil lowering her eyebrows in confusion.

Xahir placed the remaining deck in the center of the table. He picked up his cards as Selah did the same.

"It sucks seeing you go through shit, cause I want to hold your hand through it but I have to keep in mind you're grown. But even then, you're still my baby sister and I'll do anything to protect you." He continued on, grabbing a card from the deck. "Don't give up, you got this shit. Your future is promising as hell, and I can't wait to see the goals you accomplish later on down the road."

"I love you though, okay? Don't ever forget that," he briefly glanced at her, to make sure she was still listening.

Soleil smiled, grabbing her cards. "I love you too, Xahir," she replied. Xahir looked out of the window, a concentrated look on his face as something seemed to catch his eye. "What's wrong?"

"Get up and lock the door—Selah forgot to lock it." he kept his attention focused on the window. Soleil tipped her head to the side, staring at him with a puzzled look. Before she could open her mouth, he spoke again, this time looking at her. "Wake up and lock the door, Soleil,"

Soleil slightly jumped out of her sleep, she laid on the couch as a blanket was thrown around her that wasn't there before. Siraj sat at the end of the couch, his attention focused on the screen of her laptop that she let him use.

Selah and Antonio were on the other couch, both on their phones as Kinsley was watching Moana on the big flat-screen TV.

Soleil got up from the couch and walked towards the front door, her stomach churning as her face dropped. She saw that the door was in fact, not locked.

Siraj and Selah looked away from their devices, now focusing their attention on Soleil who continued to stare at the door with a baffled expression.

"You okay, Boop?" Selah asked her, raising an eyebrow.

Soleil reached to turn the lock on the door, before returning to the living room, now looking out of the window. She saw a man walking past her house, looking over his shoulder every few seconds.

"What's wrong, bae?" Siraj questioned her, his curiosity peaking as to why she was acting weird.

Soleil shook her head, running her hands down her face. "Nothing, just an unsettling dream," she sighed, her nerves starting to get the best of her. She grabbed her blanket and walked out of the living room, to head up the stairs.

She walked into her bedroom, shutting the door behind her. She tossed the blanket on the bed, before sitting down on the edge. "Why would you do that, Xahir? You know my nerves are bad," she spoke out loud to herself.

Soleil threw her head back, blowing out a series of short breaths to gain control of her anxiety. She rubbed her clammy hands on the fabric of her sweatpants, her eyes darting around the room as she replayed the dream over again in her mind.

Soleil flinched, lightly gasping as a knock appeared at the door. "It's open," she said, watching the door slowly open, Selah walking into the room and shutting the door behind her.

"What's the matter, Boop?" Selah sat down next to her on the bed, grabbing her hand. She took notice of the bothered look on her face.

Soleil swallowed hard, rubbing the goosebumps away on her arm, as she started to shiver a bit from the chills she was having. "The dream I had," she started to say. "I had a dream about Xahir..."

"What was it about?" Selah inquired.

"Remember when you visited last Christmas and we were in the kitchen, playing spades at the table?" Soleil tried jogging her memory, continuing to stare straight ahead. Selah hummed in response, nodding her head. "That's what the dream was about–but, it was so weird. Because Xahir and I were having a different conversation from the one we did have in real life."

"About what?"

Soleil instantly grabbed onto the locket necklace, tears welling up in the brim of her eyes. "About how proud of me, he was. It's like, in the dream I thought he was just telling me. But after he mentioned Siraj, I was confused. Cause Siraj and I weren't that close before and he told me that I'll always have him." Soleil explained.

"So, you think he was speaking to you through the dream?" Selah tilted her head, Soleil nodding her head in confirmation.

"He mentioned me overcoming my fears and stepping out of my comfort zone–especially after all I've been through. My thing is, everything was fine with me during that time when we were all together..." Soleil trailed off, looking down at her lap, blinking a few tears away. Soleil's lips parted slightly, as she tried to find the right words to tell Selah what happened next.

"What is it, Boop?" Selah rubbed her thumb over Soleil's hand, seeing her hesitation.

Soleil ripped her attention away from her lap, finally looking up at Selah. "After he said all of that to me, he started to look out of the window like something caught his eye. H-he told me that I needed to lock the door because you didn't lock it when you came back in from when you went to go get your charger from the car." she finally revealed, Selah slowly jerked her head back as her eyes went wide. "He told me that I needed to get up and lock the door–he told me to wake up and lock the door, Selah."

"I don't know if it's relevant but when I went to look out the window, to see if whatever Xahir was looking at was out there–I saw a man walking past the house and he kept glancing over his shoulder as if he were worried that someone was following him or if he were on edge. I don't know if Xahir saw this and was skeptical about it, which made him say that," Soleil continued on.

Selah scratched the side of her neck, trying to process what Soleil was telling her. In the past, Soleil only had one other experience like that before and it was shortly after their grandmother passed. Soleil dreamt that she was on the phone with her grandmother, who asked her to hold off on going to the park the following day as she had planned.

The next day, instead of going to the park as she had planned, she went out with her friends to the mall. Later that evening, Soleil found out there was a shooting that left one person deceased. She wanted to brush it off as a coincidence, but her grandmother's intuition never steered her wrong before in the past.

However, after that, she never had another experience like that again.

"T-that is, very unsettling..." Selah cleared her throat, a little freaked out by it. Selah was always a little skeptical when it came to those types of situations. She knew that some spirits liked to play tricks and feed off the energy of those were who grieving.

But then again, in this situation and the one from years ago, it seemed like Soleil was only being protected and watched over.

She would be a little worried if this were a recurring thing with her sister, but this was the only other time she was ever experiencing something unnerving like this.

"Yeah...it caught me off guard, especially since it was a memory of us being altogether one last time before–you know," Soleil mumbled, letting go of the locket and getting up. "Um, are we still going to go see mama and them?"

"Yeah, I was waiting until you woke up. I didn't want to disturb you," Selah replied, also getting up.

Selah went back downstairs as Soleil got ready. She wasn't in the mood to over to their parent's house but Selah wanted to see if they were finally ready to talk–especially since neither have reached out.

They both discussed how childishly their parent–or their mom had been acting in the situation. It made it no better that their dad coddled his wife, rather than holding her accountable for her actions.

Growing up, it always felt as if it were them against the children. Xavier followed behind his wife, never speaking up against her wrongdoings and siding with his own children. Vanessa played victim whenever anyone called her out, gaslighting anyone who did so.

It irritated Selah the most, given that she was the oldest and acted as more of a parent to her siblings than their own parents. Selah always felt as if she were resented by her parents a little, because she never bit her tongue and always called them out on their bullshit when no one else wanted to.

It was a part of the reason why Selah moved away to New York. Before then, Selah never had any thoughts of moving out of Florida–Daytona was her home and would always be. Yet, as the years went by, and her relationship with her parents debilitated, she felt it was best to start a new life elsewhere.

With Xahir now gone, she pondered on the idea of moving for the sake of her sister. Though Soleil was grown and could handle being on her own, the thought of her sister dealing with her trauma and depression by herself was troubling for Selah.

When she found out that her parents hadn't been by in weeks to check on Soleil, rather instead sending the neighbors, she was livid. She understood that they lived about thirty minutes away from the house, but to go weeks without checking in on their child just didn't make any sense to her.

Once Soleil was finished getting ready, they bid Siraj and Antonio goodbye as they would stay behind and continue to wait for Ximena to drop Semaj off for his playdate with Kinsley.

Soleil was glad that they wouldn't be there when Ximena arrive, as she wasn't in the mood to talk to her either. She wasn't sure exactly what Ximena had to talk to her about–but she had a feeling it was in regard to the one-sided beef that she had with her.

She found it humorous that Ximena claimed she had no beef with her, when Selah finally confronted her. They all knew Ximena's feelings toward Soleil only changed because she realized that Soleil would risk her life for their son.

It was sad that, that's what it took for Ximena to drop the petty feud. She knew that eventually, she would have to talk to the girl, and when they did, she hoped Ximena had an apology lined up in the process.

Soleil didn't know that Selah was going to confront her, or even their parents. Soleil wasn't a confrontational person and her siblings were aware of it. Even though she could handle her own, her siblings had always come to her defense, not giving her the chance to.

Despite the three all being protective of each other, Selah or Xahir didn't tolerate anyone messing with their baby sister.

"I wish you didn't have to leave," Soleil profoundly sighed, leaning her head against the passenger window.

"I know," Selah replied, briefly looking over at her. "I have thoughts of moving back. The week I've been down here, I kind of realized that we need each other–more than we think. Even though I have friends, and I have Antonio's family–it's nothing like being with you."

Soleil lifted her head from the window, glancing over at her sister. "Do you think Antonio would want to move here?" she asked her.

Selah shrugged, perching her lips. "He's asked me a few times after Xahir passed, told me if I wanted to move back then we can. It's just...I know you don't want to stay in Florida your whole life. So, I keep that in mind whenever I'm thinking of moving back," she explained, slowing down the car as she approached a four-way.

"I understand and you're right, I still don't know where I want to go," Soleil responded, fiddling with the strings of her hoodie.

"Have you ever told Siraj, that you want to move?"

"I haven't. It's just really conflicting because I don't want to live here after I graduate, Selah. Then again, I know moving is out of the question for Siraj because of his son. Plus I wouldn't want him to anyway, he already laid down the foundation for his business." Soleil said.

For the past few months, Soleil had been trying to figure out how to tell Siraj of her future plans. He had asked her at the beginning of their friendship, what her plans were after she was done with college. She told him she didn't know because truthfully she didn't.

However, she knew for sure that whatever she planned to do wouldn't be in Florida.

"True, but I feel like you should still talk to him about it. You'll never know how the conversation might turn out, but also, if it turns out that he isn't trying to hear you out–then you do what makes you happy. My advice to you is, don't put your dreams on hold for anyone–not a man, your parents, or friends. If he really loves you then he'll compromise." Selah preached to her, wanting her sister to avoid the same mistake she made when she was her age.

"I fucked up when I was around your age, putting my dreams on hold for Rashawn. I could be much further in my career had I taken the first opportunity to get out of Florida, but me being naive and so in love–I put a man before my goals. Which would later backfire on me and have me looking like a dumbass–just please, don't make the same mistake I did, sis," Selah continued on, thinking back to the situation with her ex-boyfriend.

After she had broken up with Rashawn, she went to New York for a few months on an internship. That's when she met Antonio, and as silly as she thought it was then, it was love at first sight.

They hit it off instantly, going out and being with each other almost every day. When she told Antonio that she was from Florida and would probably be returning once her internship ended, he made it his mission to make her, his.