~Los Angeles,

•06/28 {Sunday, 11:00 A.M}

~*~ Docia ~*~

"Yemi, please stop crying...I don't like seeing you getting upset like that. Fuck him and his bullshits. Ryver and you are going to be just fine."

"No, we're not, D." She sniffed and wiped her face with a napkin, "Ryver is unhappy without his father and if my baby is not happy, I'm not either. It's hurting my heart to see him so disappointed. He doesn't deserve it. Yes, he gets himself in trouble a little bit too much sometimes, but he's not a bad person..." She broke down more and I wrapped her back into my arms, trying to console her the best I could. I hate to witness that tragedy. My best friend was an amazing woman and my nephew --even if he wasn't always easy-- was an awesome young boy, and I wanted both of them to stop worrying about that fucked man and start to enjoy a bit their lives. They had so much to achieved and so many dreams to realize; and they didn't need that bastard for doing all of that. If he didn't want to be involved, nobody could force him, so it was better to just let him go. 

But it was easier said than done. 

After all, Ryver's father was an important person in their heart. He was Yemi's first love and she fell hard, like very hard, for him. I wasn't sure, but I thought she still had strong feelings for him. And on the other hand, we have Ryver, who was a lost pre-teen and so needed a male guidance in his life. Unfortunately, Yemi's family was little and all the members she had the chance to have once in her life, died or left somewhere without leaving a trace behind them. On my part, I was in the same situation. 

I had nobody, except these two and they had nobody, except me.  

"Shh...It's okay...God is above, protecting us...Please, stop worrying so much. Ryver is smart and talented, he'll be alright." 

"You think ? "

I nodded, "I'm sure." 

"I just wanted him to find happiness, to be completely fine."

"He will be." 

I still couldn't believe what happened though. Ryver had waited all day for his father to come to get him. We wanted to organize a little get-together with his friends, but he refused since his father told him --no, promise him-- that they were going to spend the entire day together. But it unfortunately never happened. 

We set some little things in case he would change his mind anyways, but the birthday party consisted of Yemi, the birthday boy and myself. But that, wasn't one of his worries. He was just focus on this day he was going to spend with his father.

The poor boy got ready in time; he was so excited and had a lot of plans in his mind for this day to be very special. He didn't want to eat, because they were supposed to go to eat breakfast and lunch together. He didn't open the gifts we got him, because he was so happy to be able to be with his father. He stayed from eight in the morning to midnight, on the couch, waiting for his dad to come to get him and it never happened. 

Five minutes after midnight, he stood up and went in his room without a word said. We decided to give him space for two days and it was so awful to see him...mourning around like someone actually died. What wasn't the case at all. 

Well, nobody was dead, except his hopes. 

"Yes, my Ryver will be a star. And this bastard better not show up once his ''son'' will be successful, acting like he was there during all his life." She said shaking her head. 

I chuckled, "Like in the Meet The Browns movie ? " 

"Yes ! That's exactly what I was talking about ! If he does that, I hope he'll be shamed like the father in the movie." She joined me in my chuckles, wiping her tears away.

"And what if I don't become one ? " We suddenly heard. What caused us to immediately turned around to see Ryver standing there with dry tears still visible on his cheeks. His eyes were a bit puffy and red and the expression he had on his face was so despondent. 

"You will be someone, son." Yemi said opening her arms to welcome him in them. He sat between us and laid his head on her chest. We hugged him tightly as he let more tears come out. 

Sometimes, that all you need to do to feel better. Let it all out. Just cry. No needs to say words nor to encourage. Nothing. The silence sometimes can be the best comfort. 

"For now on, I only have a mother, a beautiful one at that and an incredible aunt. I don't need a father, I don't want one anymore." He exclaimed sniffing. 

I sighed, "There's cake in the refrigerator." I announced getting their full attention, "I guess y'all want some, huh ? "

They nodded their heads in unison, "Of course." 

~*~ Dorian ~*~

•06/30 {Tuesday, 9:07 A.M}

I sighed as I checked the time on my watch. I was just out of the first break of my day and I was already annoyed to be back in work. It'd been two weeks since I started working at the Children's Hospital and I was seriously growing really impatient with this job. It wasn't for me. I couldn't wait to be done with it. Plus, the fact that I had to see Herica every day wasn't helping at all. Since that day we met again, we didn't say much to each other though, but the tension between us was becoming too much.

I could tell that she was still mad at me for the way I treated her back in high school. She did tell me that she wasn't done with me back then, when I ended things between us in the cafeteria; but I never really heard from her since that day. We just said our hi's at the graduation ceremony and that was the last time I saw her until now. 

It was weird to see her all grown up now though. She was still beautiful and her booty got a bit bigger. She had no sign of time on her face. Her hair was now longer and still of the color black. But the thing that shocked me the most was the fact that she became a mother. 

Yes, a mother. 

I'm not going to lie, at first I thought that it could be my child, but she immediately got that out of my mind. The first day, I didn't have the opportunity to really observe the child's features, but with a quick look it seemed like the little girl had nothing in common with me. And when I finally had that opportunity two days later, I could see clearly that it wasn't my seed. Plus, the dates weren't coinciding.

"Good morning ! "

"Hey. How are you this morning ? "

"Feel a little nauseous, but I'm fine. What about you ? "

"A little tired, but I'm fine too. Someone already came here to clean ? " 

I had two co-workers that were cleaning the same floors as me and we were supposed to work together, but they both had an attitude for some reason and so we were never communicating with each other. They were going on their side and I was by myself on mine. But this was causing a little problem though. Since we weren't talking, I never knew which rooms had already been cleaned by them, so I had to go everywhere to make sure we missed nothing or else the three of us were going to be in trouble with Mrs.Pedroza, the head of the service. I had three strokes to fucked up and at the third one, she will call my P.O to report me and I'll be back in prison, what I didn't want to happen. 

"No. Nobody came. Do you need me to get out ?"

"Uh, yes. It's better since I'm gonna use chemical products and I don't want to take a risk and affect your immune system." 

Aria was Herica's seven years old daughter and she had been diagnosed with leukemia six months ago. She was a pretty little girl with a bubble personality, long curly dark brown hair, a light skin tone complexion, dark brown eyes and she had a very radiant smile that melt my heart every time she was smiling at me. Her sickness wasn't preventing her to enjoy her life and to be in a good mood for most of time, what I admired a lot. Other people would be complaining and whining all the time about this, but not her. She was strong and full of hopes. 

She was my little hero.

She was hospitalized here since five weeks and was waiting to get her bone marrow transplant. Actually, the reason she was in the hospital in the first place was because she passed out while her and Herica were in the car going to do some medical tests five weeks ago. Turned out that she actually went into a coma and she woke up after one week. They gave her one week to get better and then for the past three weeks they were getting her and her parents ready for the transplant. It took all this time due to all the testing they had to do and plus her parents hesitated to go through with it several times, so they had to change the date a lot. I could understand though because with this transplant Aria could be put at high risks of infection, sepsis --that is a whole-body inflammatory response to an infection-- and sepsis shock --that can cause multiple organ dysfunction syndrome and death.  

Yes, we kind of became friends with lil' Aria. 

She nodded slowly getting out of the bed, "I'm going to wait for my mother in front of the door." She made two steps before they started shaking. 

I instantly attended by carrying her back on her bed, "Are you okay ? Do you want me to call-"

"No, I'm fine. I-I-I just have a headache an-" She gasped and threw up. Fortunately with my reflexes, I moved at time and didn't get dirty. Once she finished to throw up, she coughed as she began to cry. 

I felt so bad that I couldn't do more than helping her wiping her mouth and give her some water. She was feeling weak like this since Friday now, "I'm going to get your mom and then I'll clean. I'm coming back." I told her and she nodded. 

I walked out of her room and went towards the elevator where I sometimes saw Herica standing there and looking out the window in deep thoughts. I was lucky and found her just right there. I slightly tapped her shoulder, making her turned around. When she realized it was me, she raised her eyebrow and folded her arms, clearly giving me an attitude. After all these years, it was ridiculous of her to hold a grudge like that against me. I was young, wild and sometimes dumb. Plus, it's not like I forced her to do things with me. She was free to tell me no and walk away, but she didn't and decided to mess around with me. I understood she was angry at that time, because I started to lead her on a bit --and I was sorry; but now we were both adults and she had to move on from the past.

"What do you want ? " She asked with rage in her voice.

"It's Aria." 

She instantly got in mommy mode as she ran to her daughter's room. I followed behind and when I entered in, there was this tall white man presented by Aria's side. Actually, she was hugging his waist while sobbing. And him was stroking her hair with one hand and shaking his head at Herica at the same time, like she'd done something...like it was her fault that it was occurring. 

"Your daughter needs you and y-"

"Charles, please, don't start. I was just-"

"I don't care what you were doing, you should've been here ! " He cut her off.

She smacked her teeth as her hands formed into firm fists, "And what about you, huh ? Where were you at ? I call-"

"Please, stop arguing ! " Aria interrupted them crying even more. 

They both went silent shooting dead glares at each other. I sighed and decided to go since it wasn't my business. I was hoping that my lil' homie will be good though. They got some nerves to argue like that when their daughter was going through the hardest time of her life. I rolled my eyes as that thought went through my mind and started pushing my cleaning cart outside of the room. 

"Can't you not see we're busy here ?! Come clean this room later ! " 

I frowned wondering who this man was talking to. I looked around to make sure there wasn't someone else and snorted shaking my head and trying my very hardest to not go and punch him in the face. It wasn't the day to test me. In fact, it was never the day. And he got me fucked me up if he thought he could talk to me any kind of way. He thought wrong if he thought that I was just going to let him walk all on me like I was some carpet. I knew Mrs.Pedroza said that we had to always be respectful with the patients and their families, but I wasn't about to tolerate that. 

"Excuse the f-" I cut myself off when I made eye contact with the little Aria. I took a deep breath and simply left the room in silence. They were already making it more insupportable than it already was and she didn't need me to add fuel to the fire. 

But this man won't be as lucky in the middle of the streets if he ever crosses the boundaries again. 

"Mr.Willkingston ! " 

I groaned as Mrs.Pedroza was making her way towards me, "Are you okay ? You seem angry." She asked looking at me. 

"I'm good." I answered through gritted teeth. 

"Okay. I just want to let you know that your P.O called to question me about your work and I told him that you're doing your job greatly." 

It calmed me down a little, "Oh...thanks. Thank you." 

"You're welcome. Keep up the good work." She patted my shoulder before to take the elevator.

"Hey ! I don't think they're paying you to leave vomit on the floor. My daughter deserves to have a clean room ! Come do your job ! " This bastard dared to bark at me. 

I was practicing how to manage my anger with Dr.Khimona since one week and a half now, and I was glad it began to have some impact in my life, because if it wasn't the case I would be already back in jail.

I took a deep breath and counted until ten in my mind, making sure to work on calming my nerves. "The violence is not the solution." I mumbled to myself the stupid sentence she made me learn. Sometimes, violence really was the only and BEST solution. 

"I'm talking to you ! " He continued as I recited the alphabet from A to Z and then from Z to A in my head. Then he had one more time to be rude with me, because I only had one exercice left. He was really playing with my temper and it wasn't safe. 

"Could you stop ?! You can ask him nicely ! And stop yelling, we're in a hospital ! " Herica told him with her folded arms. 

I rolled my eyes and decided to finally go back there to clean everything. I couldn't leave that room dirty. I didn't want that for Aria and it was my job. I entered back in the room and the two were arguing in whispers. Aria had stopped crying and she was sitting on her bed and hugging her pink teddy bear like her life depended on it. The tension in this room was too thick for a child of her age. 

She smiled to me when she saw me and I returned it. As I was about to ask her how she was, it suddenly echoed the sound of a slap. Next thing you know, these two fools were fighting physically in their daughter's hospital room.

"They can't be serious." 

"Mummy, daddy stop ! " Aria screamed scared and trying to get off the bed, but I motioned for her to stay there while I was going to take care of it. 

I placed myself in the middle and hold the man back. He was furious and started to call Herica out of her name...in front of his daughter. It was a damn shame. I know I would never do that type of foolishness. She was the mother of his child and by the big ring on her finger, his wife. He should respect her and treat her good instead of trying to punch her like she was another dude, "I'm going to kill you bitch ! Who you think y-" 

Since he didn't want to calm down, I kicked him out of the room. He tried to come in again and I introduced him to my left fist. Actually, his left eye met my left fist. He fell and then a silence was taking over as the three of us were waiting for his next move. He looked up angrily and mugging me, while holding his eye; then he stood up and left without saying a word. 

I looked behind me and Herica was on the floor, on her knees, crying her eyes out. I sighed and went to check up on her and Aria, who was also shaken up by the scene. I kneeled down and wrapped her in my arms, "Herica...uh, it's...it's gonna be alright. Okay ? It was just...uh..." I was at lost of words, to be honest. What to say to a woman, who just got into a serious fight with her husband ? I didn't want her to feel like I was all up in their business and I didn't want to say something bad that will only make the situation worse. 

The question is: could it be worse ? 

"I'm sorry. It wasn't supposed to happen. Aria, baby, I'm sorry. Mummy is so sorry. It will never happen again, baby, I promise." She laid her head on my chest, "Dorian, what am I gonna do ? "

I really didn't know what to say.

•07/02 {Thursday, 8:20 A.M}

"Dorian ? Hey ! "

"Huh ? " I got out of my trance confused. I couldn't help but keep thinking about Aria and Herica. I was hoping that they were right. I was scared that her husband, Charles, showed up and did something to them; though he didn't give a sign of life since the fight. This man seemed to be a crazy one and I didn't want them to get hurt. I couldn't wait to check up on them after this therapy session.

"Dorian ! "

"What man ?! "

"First off, I'm not a man and secondly...What's going on with you ? Why are you so silent today ? I thought we were making progress." She questioned looking at me with concern. 

"Oh...uh...Can I ask you a question ? "

"Let's go." She encouraged me. 

"Uh...I have a friend, who has some problems in her marriage..."

She frowned slightly, "What king of problems ? "

"Lately, she's arguing a lot with her husband, to the point where they ended by fighting...physically...while their daughter witnessed everything." I scratched the back of my neck, "I think that she should get a divorce and find herself a better man, but...I don't want her to get it in the wrong way. I just want to help, you know. I mean, I'm not trying to control her life or something like that. No. That's what I think and I think it's the best thing to do. What are your thoughts ? " 

I couldn't say that Dr.Khimona and I were friends just because I was willing to speak with her during the sessions now, but she was definitely not the enemy anymore. I guess that I finally got that she was simply trying to do her job and help me, and so didn't want to harm me in any kind of way. I was still vigilant though --because you never know, but you could notice the difference in my behavior from three weeks ago. 

No, I was still not confessing my deepest secrets, thoughts, emotions nor feelings to her; but at least now we were talking. I told her about my days and her about hers, plus we sometimes debated about philosophic or random themes. Since we had one year to go with these therapies, she said that she'll give me time to open up. Even if our conversations weren't the deepest, we were still sharing thoughts. 

"She definitely can't stay in this relationship, it sounds really intoxicating from what you just said. And an intoxicating relationship, no matter what kind it is, it's not good at all for an individual. If she stays in it, she won't allow herself to be truly happy. And there is a kid in the middle of all this mess, that doesn't need to witness that type of things while growing up. The world we're living in is already chaotic and crazy, so the daughter deserves to at least live under a paisible roof. And it's not healthy for a kid to see the parents destroying each other."

"So...I should try to help her ? "

"Yes, try. But if she doesn't want it, I mean if she's stubborn and doesn't want to listen to me, well...at a point you'll have to let it go and the only thing you'll can do is to pray. Even now, pray for her and her daughter." 

"Pray ? " I looked down at my hands that were resting on my lap. 

"Yes. What ? You don't believe in God ? "

"Yes, I do...But it's been so long since I seriously prayed for the last time. I kind of lost my connection with the Lord these past few years. I have talked to him from time to time, but it wasn't about big things. I'm not too sure if He'll listen to me, to be honest. Plus with what I di-" I interrupted myself realizing that I was about to make a big mistake.

She didn't need to know who I really was.

_________________________________

Feel free to comment and/or to vote =) 

•A/N: Since I'm updating less often than I'm used to, I'm gonna try to keep giving you longer chapters. With this one we're almost at 4K words. For the next one I'll try to go to 5K and even more if I can. And y'all will definitely have more of Docia, so you'll know her better. 

What are your thoughts about Yemi and Ryver ? Aria and her parents ? And finally, what about Docia and Dorian ? 

THANKS FOR READING ! 💗

CissyItsMe 💋✌🏾❤️