Please excuse ANY errors.

October 21, 1998

~Dalvin's P.O.V~

"Man, where yo oatmeal creampie face ass at? How you gon' tell me to come up here when you not even here?" De said into the phone.

"Nigga, I'm in the fuckin' back," I said walking to the front of the place.

"Dalvin quit lyin'. You ain't at this gotdamn place." De said frowning.

How did I know that he's frowning? Because I can spot his tetherball pole body built ass anywhere and his eyebrows look more pointy than usual.

"A'ight, DAMN. You right, I'm not there. I'm actually at yo house raiding yo closet." I told him.

"You what!? Fuck you doin' raidin' MY fuckin' closet like a fuckin' raccoon? You better clean all that shit up too! You must wanna get yo ass beat." I saw him stop as he spoke.

"You ain't gon' beat shit!" I told him laughing. "You know, I always wanted to be like my big brother. I always looked up to you, so I'm lookin' for some barrettes to wear for an inspired look. All thanks to you." I said laughing then patted his shoulder.

"Man!" De turned around quickly because he doesn't really like people doing that shit. "Dalvin, stop playin' with me, damn!"

"I'm just fuckin' with you," I said laughing all hunched over. "I said I was fuckin' here. Yo ass just standin' here lookin' dumb and lost as fuck."

"I ain't seen you until now."

"Wassup negro." I shook him up.

"Wassup." He responded to me then we began to walk.

We were stopped. "Oh, shit! DeVanté and Mr. Dalvin. I love y'all music and shit. Still be bumpin' it with my girl. How y'all doin'?" A dude with his crew of three came up to us, they look older. Probably in their forty's. I'm happy that we have that influence on older people.

"Everything good, man." De nodded his head coolly.

"We good, man. We appreciate the support. How y'all doin'?" I asked them.

"We good." Another dude answered.

"Aye, what y'all niggas doin' up in here?" Unc came up to us.

"Mindin' my business is what." De chuckled.

"A'ight, bet not be tryna do some slick shit behind my niece's back. I know that for sure." Unc said exhaling his cigarette smoke from his nose.

De kissed his teeth. "Man, ain't nobody doin' that. I'm tryna spend time with my brother."

"You bet not be," Unc warned.

"If I was you, I wouldn't be talkin' to my boss like this..." De trailed off, pointing to unc.

"Aye, nigga. Don't be threatenin' me now." Unc told him, laughing and De joined in.

"I'm just fuckin' with you." De dapped him up.

"A'ight, but DAMN! Y'all niggas dressed early for Halloween and shit. Y'all both lookin' like somethin' out of Thriller!" Unc said laughing.

"Y'all gon' 'bout y'all way. Let's leave these niggas alone." Unc said to his friends.

"It was nice meeting y'all." Some of them said to us.

"Nice meeting y'all too." Me and De told them.

"I feel like I ain't seen you in a long ass time," I spoke De.

"That's because we ain't seen each other in a while, nigga." De chuckled. It's been like... What? Two weeks right? Since-"

"Since your sober date. I remember." I spoke, cutting him off.

"Yeah, that sounds about right," De replied.

"I got us a private room," I told him.

De stopped on his tracks. "A private room? Dalvin, I ain't got time for this. You ain't got a bunch of women in there, do you? You know, I'm in a whole ass relationship and her uncle is here, so ion even know wh-"

"Chill, ain't nobody in there, but us. Come on nigga and quit stoppin'." I talked as we made it closer to the door. "Oh, yeah... I forgot to mention that K-Ci and JoJo are in there too." I snapped my fingers, trying to make it seem like I just remembered that.

"Imma head out." He pointed behind him and turned around.

"Wait, they wanna apologize to you. I already got my apology. Come on, we all boys."

"They ain't seem to think so when they was sayin' all that slick shit now was they?" He asked me.

"Well, that's why they here. At least hear them out." I persuaded.

"A'ight, just as long as they ain't on bullshit." He responded agitatedly. "Wassup, Cruise." De dapped up my security guard.

"Wassup, De." Cruise replied.

We walked inside to see K-Ci resetting the billiards on the pool table. They both looked up at us. De walked in further but silently into the room.

"DeVanté." JoJo nodded at De.

"JoJo." De nodded back.

"Where's my apology?" K-Ci asked De.

"Yo apology?" De's head jerked back as he gave a low chuckle. "Nigga, what the fuck I need to apologize to you for?"

"That's what Dalvin got me here for. You apologizin' to me like you should be doin' for comin' at me the way you did. Kinda how to ass doin' now. Apologize nigga." K-Ci said to De.

"Dalvin LIED to y'all. I ain't come here to say shit. I only came here to spend time with my brother outside of work. I ain't even know y'all asses was even here until me was damn near the door." De replied.

JoJo spoke up. "He lied to y'all, not me. I knew why I was invited from the jump and that for us to hash everythang out. We boys and it's my bad for tryna make y'all look like somethin' y'all not. Well, at least not you. Now, I don't know about Dalvin!" JoJo said laughing.

"Aye, fuck you," I said laughing.

"Nahh, but for real. I shouldn't have said what I said and especially in public in front of thousands of people. Shit was wrong." JoJo apologized to De. "We good?"

"A'ight, we good nigga." De said and he and JoJo shook each other up.

"Move yo scrawny ass," Jojo said pushed K-Ci out of the way. "Let's play a game of pool."

"A'ight. Get yo ass beat like your father used to." De laughed grabbing a pool cue and stick.

"Damn, yo big ass just push me out the way, huh?" K-Ci asked JoJo. "I bet the whole place felt the impact."

"Your fat jokes are falling off." JoJo shook his head at his big brother.

"And them dry ass neck braids you got what's your brains leaking." De shot at K-Ci.

"Nigga, wasn't nobody even talkin' to yo ass," K-Ci said getting pissed.

De's neck jerked back. "Well, okay Mr. Booty Bandit. I don't like mothafuckas near my ass no way."

I burst out laughing. "Hell naww!"

"This nigga said Mr. Booty Bandit. Where Puffy and his crew? I sh'oll don't see them mothafuckas." JoJo said laughing.

"This nigga funny as hell." De chuckled. "Ion care what that nigga do as long as it ain't no sick shit and my ass he tryna get to."

"Sh'oll don't, but he tried with yo ass though." I pointed at De.

"Yeah, and he wasn't even close to being successful," De replied to me.

"Yeah, you are his type and all..." JoJo rose his eyebrows and pointed a pinky at De.

"That's why I had to stop all that drinking shit around them. Especially when I found out about the other weird shit they were doin' with other people." De shook his head. "How much we bettin'?"

"A mil?" JoJo asked.

"Nigga, you must be out yo meatball ass head to think imma bet a million on a fuckin' pool game!" De said laughing. 

"You can afford it Mr. Billionaire." JoJo chuckled. "I'm fuckin' with you."

De looked at me when the billionaire word left his mouth. "Dalvin, you tellin' people my business, now?"

"Technically, it wasn't YOUR business, it's your billionaire girlfriend's business," I replied smoothly.

"I don't give a fuck. Everybody don't need to know that shit." De said putting five hundred on the table.

"That shit was funny. I had to! We boys anyway and they missed that shit." I defended.

"Don't worry. We ain't gon' repeat it." JoJo shrugged. "She ballin' though."

"BUT I won't hesitate to ask her to borrow money." K-Ci butted in.

"I wish the fuck you would," De responded in a low and threatening voice. "Put yo five on the table, nigga." De told JoJo.

There was a knock at the door. "It's the food and drinks." I went and opened the door. I grabbed a tray from one waitress. "K-Ci get yo ass over here and grab this tray. You ain't doin' shit no ways!" I yelled over to him.

"Ain't that what they get paid for? They are waitresses." K-Ci came and grabbed the other one.

"Dumb ass nigga." I heard De say.

"Aye, fuck you De!" K-Ci yelled angrily.

"Thank you." I tipped them both and closed the door. "Will y'all shut the hell up!?" I said irritated.

"Tell that to your brother. He the one starin' shit. I wasn't even talkin' to his ugly ass." K-Ci sat the tray down on the table.

"You shut yo Bubba Gump shrimp lip ass up. Both of y'all, but especially K-Ci." De shot at us.

"Man, whatever." I threw my hand at him. "I ordered us some wings, potato skins, and drinks," I told them.

"Thanks, Dalvin," JoJo looked at me, taking his turn in the pool game.

"Yeah, thanks," De said. "What you get me to drink?"

"A virgin drink, since that is what you've become. A born again virgin." I laughed loudly.

"How is that goin' for you?" JoJo asked.

"Gotdamn it Dalvin! You can't keep shit to yourself!" De flicked his head towards me.

"Let's just say that's payback for you callin' me that ugly nigga from Forrest Gump a few minutes ago. Besides, that shit was funny when you said it. I been told them that." I said to De.

"That's the problem, you keep tellin' shit. It was personal." De leaned on his pool stick.

"I ain't mean to tell them that though. That shit slipped out one day." I told him.

K-Ci spat out his drink. "The fuck is this!? I was expecting some type of liquor."

"I was just gettin' to that. We all got virgin drinks because I do t need nobody gettin' riled up and wanting to fight." I looked at them all. "K-Ci, you already be on ten and liquor will just send you into somethin' else and I do t want nobody to kick yo ass."

"Aman to that shit!" De said laughing.

"Ain't nobody scared of yo punk ass DeVanté!" K-Ci said walking up to De.

De stood up straight, towering over K-Ci. De looked down at him, waiting to see what he was going to do. I looked between them sizing each other down. I quickly got in between them.

"Woah, y'all niggas chill. De, I know you got a lot of uh- tension built up, but lighten the fuck up. A'ight." I joked trying to make light of the situation.

"Am I supposed to be intimidated by yo lil scrawny ass? I think the fuck not." De told K-Ci with an amused look on his face.

K-Ci gave an arrogant response in return. "You should be."

"Nobody should be scared of nobody. We homeboys. This too shall pass." I told them both.

I guess you could call me the peacemaker of the group. I try to keep us all together. As you can see the most stubborn one of us all is K-Ci, then it's De coming in second place. JoJo? He has his times just like me, but I usually end up apologizing if I did do something wrong, leaving it alone if it wasn't too serious, or talking it out as grown people should. That's why I'm always part of the equation.

"Have a chicken wing," I told them.

"You ain't gotta tell me once," JoJo said walking over to the table. "Y'all do whatever the fuck y'all tryna do and imma sit down here and eat."

"We ain't even finish our game." De looked at JoJo.

JoJo shrugged his shoulders. "So? That game still gon' be there, but the food on the other hand..."

"Ain't gon' be there in seven-point six seconds once you lay hands in it big fella," K-Ci told his brother.

"And. I'm not finna let this good looking food get cold, so y'all gon' 'head. Y'all trippin'." JoJo waved us all off and began eating.

K-Ci backed away from De. "Get my fuckin' nerves."

"I think we ALL can agree that you get on EVERYBODY nerves, but I don't wanna bring nobody else in somethin' that now just between me and you," De said turning around.

"So, what you been up to K-Ci?" Dalvin asked K-Ci, changing the subject.

"Work. Touring, interviews, promotions, and recording music." K-Ci told him.

"I mean other than work?" I asked.

JoJo started singing Notorious B.I.G song. "Party and bullshit and party and bullshit-"

All of us joined in. "And party and bullshit- and party and bullshit and party and bullshit-"

"That used to be the shit." De laughed.

"I still listen to it," I admitted.

"Because you still do a lot of partying and bullshit and party and bullshit and party and bullshit." De pushed the back of his hand into my chest.

"Alright, Mr. Holier Than Thou. What you been doin' besides Tia? Oops, my bad I forgot you ain't had sex in like three dog years." I said then burst out laughing.

K-Ci laughed the loudest out of the three of them. We know he always has to be extra. "That's why he is so mad at me. Don't get mad at me because you ain't gettin' none."

"That's where you wrong. I'm mad at you because I'm mad at you. Simple." De shrugged his shoulders at K-Ci.

"Nahh, you mad because you ain't gettin' no pussy!" K-Ci said laughing.

"K-Ci, shut the fuck up. You don't even know what you talkin' about." DeVanté shook his head at K-Ci.

"Sex is good, but damn! That's all you think about." JoJo shook his head.

"Not the one with kids all over the world talkin'?" I asked. "So anyways... How's life, De?"

"My life is exactly the same as when I saw you the last time, Dalvin." De response was very lackluster.

"You know, you piss me off," K-Ci told De.

"I'm well aware and I'm fine with that because every time you step in the room, your presence seems to have that same effect on everyone." De chuckled.

"I'm sick of yo shit." K-Ci pointed at DeVanté.

"Y'all stop arguing then start back a few minutes later. Let it the fuck go!" I told them while JoJo just sat there eating some wings, watching them go back and forth. "Y'all both mad, but are both being immature as fuck."

"I'm just matching K-Ci's energy," De replied, pointing to K-Ci.

"So you stoop to his level? No offense K-Ci." Dalvin said speaking to K-Ci.

"My level? He came in here with bullshit." K-Ci frowned.

"Imma admit that I did come in here with bullshit, BECAUSE I knew you would be on it too. It's a known fact that sometimes people match the energy people give them. Soon as I came in, your first words were, where my apology, like damn! If you wouldn't have said that shit then just MAYBE I wouldn't be actin' how I'm actin'. It was your choice of words and delivery like always." De explained to K-Ci.

"Whatever nigga. I'm not tryna hear that." K-Ci waved him off.

"K-Ci, all you have to do is apologize. That's it, that's all. Somethin' you don't ever do, but THIS time I wanna hear you say that shit and explain why you sorry." De pointed to K-Ci as he spoke.

"Aman! He hate that shit. Haven't heard it since we moved out of mama's house. Even then she had to tell yo ass to apologize to me and Tiffany." JoJo made it known.

"See, yo brother even agree." DeVanté laughed. "That's a shame."

"JoJo ALWAYS agree with you." K-Ci came up as his only defense.

"You not just stand there and act like I'm some follower or some shit. I got a mind of my own and I agree with whoever right. Don't pin that bullshit on me." JoJo said getting upset at his brother.

"I call it how I see it." K-Ci shrugged his scrawny shoulders.

"I call BULLSHIT!" JoJo threw his bone into his pile, then stood up.

"See? This is EXACTLY why we don't need liquor in our system. There's already a lot of tension in here. Lighten up! I brought everybody here to squash this bullshit NOT add onto it." I said standing between them. "If y'all wanna fight, fight me." I hit my chest.

"Quick! Somebody hold me back before I beat this nigga ass!" JoJo yelled and DeVanté held onto his arms.

"It's not worth it, man!" DeVanté said talking him down.

"You ain't bad! You ain't nothin'!" I yelled as K-Ci held me back then let me go. "Aye, don't let go of my arms, I said hold me back, nigga!" I turned my head to him.

"I think this the part where the dancin' niggas come outta nowhere," DeVanté told us.

"Shit, I can pop out from under the pool table and De can jump down from it. Lanky ass might hit the ceiling though." K-Ci joked as the door opened, revealing Sir Cruise.

"Everything good in here?" Cruise asked.

"Yeah, we good man," I answered. Cruise nodded and closed the door. "Listen, I still will fuck y'all up," I muttered

"A'ight Janet. Ms. Jackson if ya nasty. Uglass!" DeVanté laughed out.

"Look better than yo goose neck ass. Yo shit bob when you walk." I told him.

"Now that you mentioned it, he does!" JoJo said laughing.

"A'ight, I shouldn't said what I said and put y'all reputation on the line," K-Ci spoke up being mature for the first time in a long time towards us. "We straight?"

"Nigga, ion know about you, but I love pussy." DeVanté chuckled. "We straight!" DeVanté and K-Ci dapped each other up.

"Celebrate good times come on!" I shouted

"Shut yo singin' ass up!" K-Ci and DeVanté said in sync.

October 31, 1998

~Yasir's P.O.V~

I have a court date in a few months. Actually, it's in January. I guess it's pushed so far back because the guy I beat up and his lawyer is trying to find other shit on me. That incident is my only time in jail, before then I've never been in trouble with the law. I mean, I got a few tickets a few times, but never was jailed for it.

I've been staying in a hotel room since that incident. It's not something I'm used to. I really just want to get back into Ashari's good graces. We still argue, but she's not a bitter person that keeps me away from my kids. Although, if it was the other way around and she did what I did, I wouldn't even allow my kids to be around her. That's just me being honest.

I went downstairs via the elevator and walked outside. The weather in Atlanta is so warm compared to what I was used to around this time. Northwest Indiana would be twenty to thirty degrees around this time, sometimes less. I saw Ashari's car pull up and I walked up to her car. She got out of the car and went to the back of the other side of the car. I opened the door where Asiri is.

"Daddy!" Masir screamed, startling Asiri from her sleep. She started crying.

"Shhh." I handed her her bottle snatched it from me. I looked at Ashari. "Can we talk?" I asked her.

"No, I'm in a rush." She unstrapped Masir.

"It'll be quick." I pleaded.

"I don't have time for quick." She picked up Masir. "Mama loves you." She gave Masir a quick kiss and walked him to me. "Go to Daddy. Hey, mama. I love you." She kissed Asiri then looked up at me. "I didn't have time to put them back on their costumes, but it's in the bag. They ate about two hours ago, so they might be hungry in a few more hours. Bye, babies."

Ashari gave the kids another quick kiss, handed me their bag, went around to the driver's side, got in the car, and sped off, leaving me standing there with the kids. I sighed, put their bag on my shoulder, then grabbed Masir's hand.

"Daddy?" Masir called out.

"What?" I looked down at him.

"I wan' go home."

"This is home for now. Come on. Did you like trick-or-treating with mommy?" I asked him as we walked inside the hotel.

"Candy and Spi'man." He nodded.

"Yeah, you get candy."

We made our way to the elevator and to my hotel room. It's a shame that we can't spend my daughter's first Halloween together. They have to go twice instead of with both of their parents. I sat the car seat down on the floor once we made it inside of my room. I unstrapped Asiri from her car seat and sat her on the bed.

"Damn, you stank!" I said aloud when I got a whiff of her. "I need to change yo diaper."

I changed her diaper and made Masir sit on the toilet until he used it. While he did that I put Asiri on her costume.

"Yo mama got you the RIGHT costume, a skunk." I placed her on the floor and threw her diaper in the trash. "You done in there?" I asked Masir.

"I shitty." Masir nodded and I burst out laughing because this shit is funny.

I quickly stopped myself. "What I tell you about cussin', boy?" I said changing my whole demeanor.

"But I shitty." He frowned.

"I know, but don't say that," I told him. "It's a bad word. Say boo-boo, doo-doo, poop. Anything but what you just said. Okay?"

"K."

After cleaning him up, I put him on his Spiderman costume and we left. I drove all the way to my sister's house because she and my parents want to see them in their costumes and we're going to beg for candy in a neighborhood near her. That's where the good candy is and they're more prone to giving out more candy. I miss having a whole family. I really fucked up bad and I regret everything I did to Ashari.

Things weren't as green as I expected them to be on the other side. In fact, the other side is nowhere near green. I'm depressed as fuck, but my kids are the reason I keep doing what I need to do. I pulled through the gates without the guards giving me a hard time. I parked and my mama, sister, and Daryl came outside with cameras. My mama opened the door on Masir's side and Tia went to Asiri's side.

"Look at my grandbabies!" My mama gasped dramatically.

"TT, ganny, poppa!" Masir said excited to see them as ALWAYS. Why? Because they give him his way.

"Hi, babies!" Tia cooed at Asiri. "Can I take her out? I want pictures of them together."

"As long as you can put her back in," I replied.

Tia unstrapped her from her car seat and took her out. I unstrapped my own seatbelt and got out of the car. "Yo face paint looks nice." I complimented Daryl.

"Nigga, you know DAMN well this my face. Stop playin' with me, Yasir." He said with Masir in his arms. "Tell yo daddy to shut up," Daryl said pointing to me.

"You bet' not," I warned Masir because he look like he was about to fix his mouth to actually say it.

"Go 'head. He can't get to you. I got you." Daryl said laughing.

"He knows better." I chuckled and Masir laughed maniacally.

"Muahahahaha!" Sound like it came from the pits of hell.

"Hey, now. I done told you about that creepy stuff." Daryl told Masir then looked back to me. "Shit is creepy as hell. Especially when he spends the night and he does that late at night when EVERYBODY supposed to be sleep."

"Tell me about it," I replied.

"Mama, can you take our pictures?" Tia asked.

"Nahh." My mama said sarcastically, grabbing Tia's camera from her.

"Thanks. Dad can you put Masir down, so we can take the pictures?" Tia waved him over.

Daryl put Masir down and he ran up to Tia. "Hi, TT!"

"Hi, Masir." Tia squatted and he jumped right into her free arm.

"See? I Spi'man!" Masir told her full of excitement.

"Yeah, I see. You're Spiderman." She smiled.

"Yah!" Masir shouted.

"Let's take a picture. Can you pose like Spiderman?" Tia asked him.

Masir held out two fingers instead of three. His index and middle fingers and bent his wrist like Spiderman. That's all he knows how to do. It's hard for many kids that age to do that for some strange reason.

"Cheese!" They both smiled. Tia had to tickle Asiri for her to crack a smile.

The cameras flashed a few times. Tia was about to stand up. "Wait, let me take some on mines."

"What are you wearin'?" I asked my sister.

"Clothes, that same as you." She chuckled.

"You dressed up for Halloween? I thought you didn't celebrate this? You look like Catwoman." I told her.

"I'm Storm. I thought it was Satan's birthdate, but it was a myth so..." Tia shrugged, standing back up.

"Show him the hair. Matter of fact, take that off yo head and show him your white fro." My mother told Tia.

Tia snatched the bonnet off her head. "I forgot I had this on. I was trying to make sure this hair wax stuff didn't get on my furniture." She picked her hair out with the pick that was in her head.

"That's tight." I complimented. "Yo hair grew since I saw it last."

"It did. Thanks." Tia turned away from me and to our mother. "Mama, can you retake our pictures?" Tia asked.

"Yeah." Our mother replied with a nod.

They started back taking pictures, so I turned back to Daryl.

"Daryl, you might as well scoot on in and show that scary face you got. Jeeper Creepers would want no eyes after seeing you!" I joked.

"You first, except yours can't wipe off. You stuck like that FOREVA!" Daryl said laughing.

"Aye, now. That's still my son." My mother said laughing.

"You goin' to a party or somethin'?" I asked Tia.

"Nope, I was actually wondering if I could go trick or treating with you and the kids. I was supposed to go with Ashari earlier but had some work to tend to. You mind?" Tia asked me.

What a surprise! Does my sister actually want to hang out with me? "I don't care." I shrugged.

"Yay or nay? I don't care means everything and nothing." Tia laughed.

"Yeah, I don't mind," I replied. "You wearin' that? You sure you won't bust yo face? BECAUSE we doing a lot of walkin'."

"We'll be out for how long? Two or three hours? I've been in taller heels for longer periods." Tia told me.

"Well, okay," I replied. "Just remember that we gon' be dealin' with Masir and a baby."

"I know, Yasir." She sighed loudly then playfully rolled her eyes at me.

"Well, I'm about to head back to the crib and rest. I'm tired and had a pretty busy day." My mother told us. "You ready Daryl?"

"Yeah." He nodded.

They hugged us and the kids then got into the golf cart. Daryl drove away.

"Bye!" Masir yelled at them from my arms.

"Bye!" They yelled back.

We strapped my kids in and got in the car. Tia sat in the passenger seat. I was definitely expecting her to sit between the kids. I guess not. We put on our seatbelts and we were off like a dirty shirt.

"I'm going to the mall first," I revealed.

"That's fine with me," Tia replied just above a whisper.

"So..." I trailed off. It's awkward when it's awkwardness between family, especially siblings.

"Yasir, you don't have to force a conversation with me. It's fine." Tia turned to me.

"I just don't want it to be weird between us like it has been for the longest. We blood, but act like water when we around each other." I told her.

"Mhm." She nodded.

"You still pissed about me tellin' mama about everything?" I quickly glanced at her then back at the road. "I apologized."

"No... You didn't. You never apologized. You don't apologize about anything."

"I do and sometimes apologies go without say." I shrugged.

"That only works with small situations. That is something big. Something deep and personal." Tia placed her hand on her chest. "It's fine."

"It ain't. We still don't act like siblings. More like distant blood who only see each other during family reunions. When we were younger, we had some type of relationship even though we weren't close then, but that's better than what's been happening lately." I said to her. "Lately as in the last two years."

"We do, but that's just the way it is."

"It don't gotta be. It's only two of us. We all the siblings we'll ever have." I frowned.

"While that's true, you're often draining to me BOTH physically and mentally." Tia signed. "Don't turn it around and say that I said I hate you either. I love you. You're my brother, but you're also draining. Which is why I only greet you most times and stay silent the rest of the time we aren't talking about my niece or nephew. The problems we have are reoccurring."

I nodded. "I know."

"Well, if you know better, you do better. So you must not know. I don't expect you to change, especially at the age you are now. I've learned to accept a lot of things. That's one of them." She expressed.

I sighed. "How's you and ol' dude?"

"Donald?" My sister asked.

"Yeah... Him." I nodded.

"We're fine." She answered briefly.

"That's good." I nodded. "I'm just trying to get back in the good graces of Ashari. I want my family back."

Tia chuckled. "That's not gon' happen."

"Why not?" I glanced at her from the corner of my eyes.

"Ashari is on a self-discovery and self-recovery journey. Once you make it deep enough into that journey, ain't NO doubling back. You lost her, accept it and just try to be cordial instead of trying to get back with her." Tia explained to me. "You need to go down the same journey and deal with your demons. You were always busy chasing women when you weren't comfortable with yourself."

"I'm not gay." I frowned at her because that's how interpreted it.

"I didn't say that. I mean, you were always too focused on the wrong things. You were always looking for a woman to fix you instead of putting in the effort of fixing yourself. I told you this before. Then when your heart ends up broken, it's ALWAYS the woman's fault. In any situation, you point fingers at others instead of looking deep within. I stead of finding the root of the problem and acknowledging your faults."

"I acknowledge that I broke my family apart," I told her.

"That's great, but also acknowledge that your family was never whole to begin with. You weren't whole and nor was Ashari. Y'all both were broken. There should be two wholes that share one whole. Then there's less of a chance of things going wrong. Y'all were two broken souls with unresolved personal issues. You claim you don't have any, but you do. Y'all built love on the trauma you bother experienced. When you build a boat on water the pieces of the boat will sink down to the ocean and the boat will never be complete. I'm no relationship expert, so you can either take what I said with a grain of salt or a gallon of syrup."

"But I love Ashari."

"Love don't hurt people the way you hurt her. Now, I'm not sure of the severity of the situation, but I could tell you hurt her. She was done before you even told her goodbye. I saw it for myself, but like many times I just minded my business. You can't keep acting like you do. You got kids now that will mimick everything they see you do. Masir already does it." She pointed her thumb to the back seat.

Ashari told me the same thing the night everything went down. I laughed, but not at what she said. "What's so funny?" Tia asked me.

"Everybody, dump out ye pillowcases!" I told her laughing.

Tia automatically laughed. "Oh, wow. Those were definitely the days."

Our aunt's and mother used to have us all dump out our candy on the floor in our own spaces so our candy would get mixed together. To check for tainted candy and to-

"Yeah, they used to take all the good candy and the big candy bars from our pillowcases, for themselves. Our chocolate bar. Reese's, Butterfingers, Twix, Baby Ruth, Hershey, all that!" I told her laughing. "Leaving us with Dots candy, Milk duds, and all that shit that's hard to chew and get stuck in our teeth. Dots nasty as hell!"

"I used to hate when they did that! We had them lil bitty small candy bars that's so small you can eat it in one bite, but you wanna savor and pretend like it's something bigger. All those hours of hustling and carrying those heavy ol' pillowcases. Then got mad when we started dragging the pillowcases. They had us out at midnight still begging for candy and stuff." She said through her laughter.

"Hell, yeah. Feet was hurting like a motha. Legs all sore and shit. That shit wasn't fun no more after a while of walking. We would walk HELLA miles through snow and shit, begging for candy." I told her.

"Right! Then I was so small and had to walk at the pace of they grown or near grown behinds. Snow getting in our boots and stuff. Then the pillowcases got all heavy." She shook her head.

"It seemed to ALWAYS snow on Halloween too. Cold as fuck out there!" I told her laughing and paying attention to the road. "Sucking the snot from our nose because we ain't never bring tissue. Either that or by the time we made it home, he had a coat/ jacket sleeve full of snot."

"For real. Remember, we used to go to the mall and the only thing the people handed out was those dirty peppermints? They stopped takin' us there and had us walking the streets." Tia told me.

"Don't nobody want that bullshit. That's Christmas stuff anyways." I told her laughing. "Shit could be easily tampered with 'cause the twisted ends of them."

"Candy would last us for a long time too." Tia chuckled. "You remember when that one house have out dollar pieces? Boy, we thought we were rich. REAL money was rare for us. Shiny GOLD coins." She laughed.

"Mama and nem made us trade that too and gave us the paper dollars. Other times they would keep it." I chuckled. "Man, we used to be poor as hell." I shook my head.

"And didn't even know it at the time. We still had fun though. Especially mama! She made fun for us. She was the fun aunt. We'd play games for Mr.Freezers."

"Then at the end and the winner was revealed-

"EVERYBODY got one!" We said together laughing.

"Even if they did lose. We fell for it EVERY SINGLE TIME." Tia shook her head laughing. "My favorite was the candy throw. You keep what you catch."

"Mines was IT and Freeze because I was always the fastest."

"You were one of the oldest most times unless our other cousins came over. Longer legs equal a longer distance." She told me. "You remember when our grass got SO long that it was taller than me? Couldn't afford a lawnmower. Mama made a game out of that. Talking about some whoever can pull the most out get a Mr. Freeze. Some of y'all older ones had scissors while us younger ones use our hands. We had a snake infestation there too. We didn't even think about it though."

"I used to like when it was summer and we had water fights with the water balloons and super soakers. Then, that neighborhood was safe enough for us to stay outside at night. We used to lay down a blanket and all of us would lie down on it and look at the stars. Sometimes we played IT in the dark."

"Oooh, I LOVED that too. We were some nasty kids. Playing with maggots and stuff." Tia's face scrunched up. "Worms, cricket, grasshoppers, frogs, toads, and snakes for the older one's were cool. BUT we too maggot from the dumpster and smashed them in the dirt or mud-"

"Talking about some damn tacos! Using those giant leaves as the shell." I shuddered at the thought.

"I'm still disgusted just talking about that. What were we thinking?" My sister laughed loudly. "We made a lot of fun for ourselves too. Remember that one Fourth of July when we built a while fort out of Oodles of Noodles boxes, bricks, bags, and other trash?" Tia laughed. "Granny yelled at us to pick it up."

"Yeah, we used the bricks to hold down the cardboard Oodles of Noodles boxes and stuff. Everybody thought we were all a perfect family living in peace and harmony. Little did they know about all the bad shit that occurred." I glanced at her.

"Yeah... But, there's a lesson with every experience. Some unfortunately don't ever get to the lesson and continue to experience it. We had a lot of fun though back then even with all the bull we witnessed and been through. We still here. Thank you, God!" She smiled.

"Thank you, God," I repeated.

I pulled up to the mall. We unstrapped the kids and I put them in a stroller. I took Masir out once we got inside because he was so eager to walk. The lines here aren't long, then I saw why when we walked closer. Tia looked at me. Peppermints!

"Oh, hell naw! We goin' to the houses." I said turning the stroller around.

"Thank you." Tia told the couple with the wack-ass old church people candy. They look my age giving out this bullshit. "Rude." My sister laughed.

"You call it rude, but I call it being honest," I told her.

Author's Note: At least Tia and Yasir didn't argue too much. They laughed and had a good time reminiscing on their childhood. Things weren't all bad. There were good times and bad times. Heal the bad ones and cherish the good ones.

Word Count: 6,690
Please don't forget to like the chapter and the ones to come if you enjoy this book. Also, feel free to leave a comment.

❤️Thanks for the support that you've been giving me. I'm very appreciative. WOW, we're REALLY on book two!❤️