“No, Asia. I did not fuck her, and that was even before I found out she had a hand in the bullshit you went through. Why?” Knowledge retorted.
“Honestly, because I don’t trust you. Not only did your grimy ass brother do what he did, but your insecure, trifling ass fiancé was in on the shit, too. I went through all that shit—”
“Hold up. I know you’re not going to say what the fuck I think you’re going to say?” Knowledge cut her off.
“What I’m saying is we need to just stick to being parents to our daughter and that’s it.”
“That’s what we’ve been doing. You made it pretty clear that you don’t want a nigga, so next time don’t ask me where my dick has been because it has nothing to do with you,” Knowledge sneered as he got off the couch. “I’ll be here to get my daughter on Friday.”
“No need to. I’m back now, so this is her home and where she’ll be laying her head for now on,” Asia informed him.
“You serious right now?”
“Why wouldn’t I be? The last time I checked, I gave birth to her,” Asia replied.
“And the last time I checked, you didn’t even want shit to do with her ass after you had her. Now all of a sudden you wanna be supermom. Like I said, I’ll be here to get my daughter Friday. Don’t play with me.”
Sasha came into the living room with Serenity right on her heels and caught the tail end of the conversation. She looked over at Asia and could tell that she was visibly hurt but trying not to let it show. Knowledge walked over and picked up Serenity before walking out the front door without sparing Asia a second glance.
“Asia, what the hell just happened?”
Asia looked at her mom with tears rolling down her face. She couldn’t believe that Knowledge would even bring that bullshit up and use it just to hurt her.
“That man just broke my heart for the third and final time,” Asia answered as she put Wysdom in her walker and wiped her face.
She had been through enough hurt and pain in the past five months. She refused to let anyone hurt her again, including Knowledge. She was fed up and tired of being vulnerable and hurt. She was going to have to go back to that ruthless bitch she was before she even met Knowledge.
~~~~
Symir sat in his truck as he waited for Nika’s funny-acting ass to come outside. Today she had a doctor’s appointment to check on the baby. She was still on her bullshit and refused to come home. He was only going to play this little game with her a little more before he forced her ass to come home.
“Fuck this shit,” Symir said as he got out of his truck and headed inside.
As he got off the elevator and headed towards her door, he took his key out that Anika didn’t even know he had made. Before he stuck the key in the lock, he could hear voices.
“Look, Anika, I’m tired of this bullshit. It’s bad enough that you’re pregnant with this nigga baby. When I got you this condo, it was so you can be closer to me.”
“I know, Jay. But Symir would kill the both of us if he even knew I had another nigga around his daughter and this baby. I can’t tell—”
“Fuck that nigga, Nika. You already told me how he has a problem keeping his hands to himself. Either you tell him or I will,” Jay ordered.
“Tell me what?” Symir asked as he opened the door, scaring Anika damn near to death.
“M-Mir, what are you doing here?” Anika asked.
“What the fuck you mean, what am I doing here? You know exactly why I’m here, Anika. Please don’t fucking play with me right now. But what do you need to tell me?” he asked, looking from her to the same nigga that he’d caught coming out of her apartment.
“Nothing. Can we go, please?” Anika said as she grabbed her purse.
“Tell him,” Jay said.
“Jay, please don’t do this right now,” Anika begged.
“It’s now or never,” Jay said.
Symir had had enough of the back and forth shit. He wanted to know what the fuck was going on. “Since you have so much to say, why don’t you tell me whatever it is that needs to be said?”
“Symir, let’s go. We’re going to be late,” Anika said as she tried walking to the door.
“You didn’t give a fuck about being late when you had my ass sitting in the hot ass car,” Symir said to her.
“Nika, just tell him please,” Jay said.
“What, y’all fucking or something?” Symir questioned as he looked from Anika to Jay.
Anika eyes went from looking at him to looking straight at the floor. Symir had to chuckle because just a few minutes ago everyone had something to say, but now all of a sudden all you could hear was crickets.
“Ight, I got it. You can have her,” Symir said as he opened the door.
“Mir!” Anika called after him but he gave her a look that told her she better hurry up and shut the fuck up talking to him.
“So you’re not even going to hear me out? You’re just going to ask a question that I didn’t get to answer, assume what you think you know, then bounce?” Anika asked.
“You had your chance to answer if you really wanted to. If you want to be a hoe then go ahead and be one. Don’t let me stop you.”
“Wow,” Anika said.
Symir dropped the key on the floor in front of her and walked out the door. Anika glared at Jay like she wanted to punch the shit out of him. “I hope you’re happy.”
“Not really because you still didn’t tell him.”
Anika rolled her eyes and left out the door. She didn’t have time for this shit. At this point in her life, Symir could really kiss her ass. She was tired of trying to make everybody else happy. Now it was time for her to make herself happy.
Chapter Thirteen
Asia laid in her bed with her head on her mother’s chest while Sasha played in her hair. She was enjoying their time together as much as she could before Sasha left to go back home. Since she found out she was alive, Asia had felt so much better and found herself acting like that same little eight-year-old girl she was the last time she’d seen her.
“I’m filing for full custody of Wysdom,” Asia said out of nowhere.
“Is that what you really want to do?” Sasha asked.
Asia hesitated for a second before answering. “Yes, actually it is. Knowledge has been a liar and sneaky since day one. The way he talked to me the other day just let me know that he ain’t shit and as far as I’m concerned, I don’t trust him. He might try to keep my baby from me and I already been gone from her long enough so I refuse to let that happen.”
“How do you think he is going to feel about this?” Sasha asked. “He has been taking care of her for the past five months.”
“But that wasn’t in my control. If things wouldn’t have went down like they did, I would have been here raising and taking care of my own daughter. He gets no brownie points from me for doing what he’s supposed to do. Plus, I don’t care how he feels, I’m tired of looking out for other people’s feelings. It’s all about Asia, Symare and Wysdom now. To hell with everybody else,” Asia spat.
“He’s coming to get her today, so what are you going to say?”
“I’m going to tell him just like I told you.”
Asia was fed up with Knowledge’s shit. Since she had been home, she had a completely different outlook on things. She wasn’t in love with nor did she love Knowledge anymore. Or that’s what she kept telling herself. She was hurt that everything she went through was because of someone else’s actions.
Chelsea was mad because her man couldn’t be faithful, Linx was mad because Symir beat his ass and Anika owed him some money, Cordae was mad because his daddy was a bitch just like he was. With all of that, she had to pay for somebody else’s actions and she wasn’t feeling it. Since Symir had already taken care of Cordae and Linx, she made a vow to take care of Chelsea, even if she had to die trying.
“Yo, A!” they heard from downstairs.
Asia knew it couldn’t be anybody but Khyree because she h
ad changed her locks as soon as she came home and the only people with a key were her, Crystal, Sasha, and Khyree.
“What could he possibly want?” she said out loud as she got out of the bed.
When she got downstairs, Khyree was standing there with a stupid look on his face.
“What can I do for you?” she asked.
“What you cook?” he asked.
“Huh?” Asia asked, like she had heard him wrong.
“What did you cook? If you say ‘nothing,’ that means you’re going to go cook me something, right?” he asked.
“Khy, I know you did not bring your black ass all the way here just for me to cook?”
“Come on Asia, please? A nigga is hungry as hell,” Khyree begged.
“With all the females you got, you couldn’t go to them and have one of them cook?” she asked with her hand on her hip.
“You know I don’t eat nobody cooking but yours and Mama Crystal. Well, Mama Sasha has been added to the list, but that’s beside the point. Are you cooking or what?” he asked again.
“I’ll cook,” Sasha said as she came down the stairs.
“See, thanks, Ma. Your daughter act like she don’t care if I die of starvation.”
“Whatever. That life insurance policy I took out on you would be nice right about now,” she laughed.
“Aw, seriously? That’s how you feel?” Khyree asked as he swooped Asia up in his arms.
“Khy, put me down!” Asia squealed.
“Nope. You want me to die so you can get some money,” Khyree said as he hit her on the butt real hard and pinched it.
“Ouch! Mommy, help!” Asia yelled.
“Sorry, Lady Love. I’m out of this one,” Sasha laughed as she headed for the kitchen.
Khyree threw Asia on the couch and started tickling her. Asia was laughing so hard that she had tears rolling down her face.
“Stop before you make me pee on myself!”
“Say sorry,” Khyree said as he continued to tickle her.
“SORRY!” she yelled as she laughed.
“That’s what I thought,” Khyree said as he let her up.
Asia had to take a minute to get herself together and wipe the tears from her face. She looked up at Khyree with a glare and he just laughed at her.
“How is anybody supposed to take a nap with all that noise?” Symare asked with a mean mug on his face.
Asia was so busy laughing that she forgot that Symare and Wysdom were supposed to be taking naps.
“My bad, lil dude. I told your mama to stop playing, but you know she don’t listen,” Khyree said right before Asia threw one of the pillows on the couch at him.
“Did I wake your sister up?” Asia asked.
“I don’t know. Probably.”
Asia went up the stairs to check on Wysdom. When she got in the room, Wysdom had pulled herself up and was standing on the side of her crib with her thumb in her mouth. When she looked up and saw Asia walking in the room, she smiled, squealed and reached her arms out for her. Asia smiled and kissed Wysdom all over her face. Her baby was seven months old and looking more and more like her daddy.
“What’s up, mama baby?” Asia asked as she put Wysdom on the changing bed so she could change her diaper.
While Asia changed her, Wysdom was talking in her baby gibberish, holding a full conversation with her mom. Asia smiled and asked her questions and laughed like she really understood what her daughter was trying to say. When Asia went back downstairs with Wysdom on her hip, she smelled food cooking and heard voices coming from the kitchen.
“Khy, come here!” she called out as she sat on the couch with Wysdom on her lap.
“What’s up?” he asked.
“You know you’re my best friend, right?” Asia asked.
“I’m flattered,” Khyree said as he grabbed his heart.
“Anyways,” Asia playfully rolled her eyes. “I need some advice on something that has been on my mind for a few days.”
“I’m all ears, baby,” he said, taking Wysdom from her.
Asia explained to Khyree what had happened, from the conversation she’d had with Knowledge to the thoughts of her wanting full custody of Wysdom. She even told him how she had been feeling like she couldn’t trust anybody since she had been back and her feeling as if she had to pay for everyone else’s wrong doings.
“Damn, A. That’s a lot to take in,” Khyree said when she was done.
“You think? Imagine how I feel holding all that in.”
“Well, you feeling as if you can’t trust anyone is normal. I mean, look at everything you went through in the past five months. But do you really think that Knowledge, your brother and Nika wanted for you to go through all that? You know for a fact that Symir was looking for Cordae and Linx before they even got a chance to get at you.”
Asia knew what he was saying was true. She knew they would never intentionally let or want her to get hurt. She had been blocking and dodging their calls until she could get her mind right and think straight.
“I hear you. So what do you think about the other thing?” she asked.
“Honestly, A, I don’t know what to think because you know as well as I do that you and Knowledge’s relationship has been dysfunctional since the beginning. One minute y’all cool and then the next, you’re not. But do you really want to keep that man from his daughter?” Khyree asked.
“I’m not trying to keep Wysdom from him. I just don’t want him to keep her from me. He basically told me I didn’t want to be a mother to her when she was born so why try to be one now. Nobody knows how I felt when my baby was born prematurely. I had so many thoughts running through my mind and I was depressed to the point where I didn’t even want to get out of the bed. But for him to throw that up in my face was definitely a low blow,” Asia explained.
“I understand that. Believe me, I do. You two just need to sit down and discuss what you’re going to do concerning Wysdom. You have to think real good about this because not only will what you do affect you, but it will also affect baby girl in a major way.”
Asia heard him. She heard him very clearly, but she had already made up in her mind about what she was going to do.
Chapter Fourteen
Anika paced her living room pissed off. Sasha had been at Symir’s house for two weeks now and every time she called him to see when he was bringing her home, he would send her calls straight to voicemail. She was tired of playing this game with Symir. She may have played when it came to a lot of things, but her child wasn’t one of them.
This nigga must want me to kill him, she thought as there was a knock at the door. Already knowing who it was, she snatched the door open.
“You use your key any other time,” she spat.
“Whoa, okay. What’s wrong with you?” Jay asked as he sat on the couch.
“Symir still won’t answer his phone. I don’t care about him being mad at me. Hell, it’s not the first time. But the fact that he won’t let me see my daughter is where I draw the fucking line.”
Jay was about to say something but another knock at the door stopped him in his tracks. Anika looked at him with a confused expression before opening her door.
“Asia?” she asked, shocked.
“Is now a bad time?” Asia asked.
“No, come in. I’m just shocked to see you, that’s all. I didn’t even know you knew where I lived,” Anika said as she stepped to the side to let Asia in.
“Like I didn’t even know you and my brother weren’t together anymore.” Asia shook her head.
This wasn’t the first time that Anika and Symir had broken up, so Asia didn’t think it was a big deal. That was, until Mama Crystal told her about Symir putting Anika in the hospital and her finding out she was pregnant. Due to her shutting everyone out, she had no idea that all this was going on. Anika was the first person she came to see so that she could hear her side of the story before going over to her brother’s house and chewing him out.
Asia looked up
and noticed Anika had company; a fine ass man as company, might she add.
“Hello,” Asia spoke, looking from the man to Anika.
“How you doing?” Jay asked.
“Sit down, Asia, and let me explain everything,” Anika sighed.
When Anika got done telling Asia everything, Asia was heated. She had never been so mad at her brother in her life. She felt where he was coming from, but the fact that he was putting her niece in the middle of it didn’t sit right with her. Hearing what Anika was going through and the emotions that she felt due to not seeing her daughter was making her rethink her decision to file for full custody of Wysdom.
“So you’re telling me that you haven’t seen or spoken to your daughter in over two weeks?” Asia asked.
“Yes.” Anika nodded her head. “I even called to tell him that the doctor found out I’m further along than he initially thought, so I’m actually six months pregnant instead of five. Also, I have preeclampsia which is making this pregnancy so hard for me,” Anika cried.
“Oh, hell no. Let’s go,” Asia said as she jumped off the couch.
“What we’re we going?” Anika asked as she dried her tears.
“We’re going to see your daughter and that nigga is going to sit his ass down and listen to what you have to say. The both of you,” Asia said as she looked from Anika to Jay.
“Asia, I don’t—“
“Let’s go, Anika! This foolishness has been going on for too damn long. I’m back and it’s time to get this family back in order.”
Anika didn’t know how to feel as Asia pulled up to Symir’s house. All she wanted to do was get her daughter and go home. She didn’t care if she didn’t even have to look Symir in his face, that would actually make all this easier for her. She was happy that she could talk Asia into letting Jay stay where he was at because she knew for a fact Symir would have shot him where he stood.
“Let’s go,” Asia said as she turned her car off.
Anika followed her as they walked up to the house and Asia used her key to let them in. When they walked in the house, Sasha was on the couch, playing with one of her dolls and watching a movie. When she looked up to see her mommy and auntie standing there, she took off running.
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