“Damn, where was Maya’s mumma?”
“Still in Baltimore until about 6 months into your mom’s pregnancy. Your uncle Nadir came to state to visit me and brought Kalil’s mom with him. Karinne ran her ass back to Baltimore and told Crystal that there was a pregnant girl in my apartment when they got there. Two weeks later, Crystal showed up with Maya while your mom was there.”
“You made my mumma yo’ side chick, nigga?”
“I was never proud of that because Layla was always too good for that title. To make a long story short, your mom cursed me out and didn’t talk to me until Onyx was born. Even after everything, she still let me name my boy and gave him my last name.”
“If she knew you already had a girl and a baby, how the hell did I come along? I know my mumma very well, and I can’t see her still fucking with you after some shit like that.”
“Yea, well, sometimes love doesn’t make sense. It’ll have you doing shit you swore you’d never do, and such was the case for your mom. Make no mistake about it, I wanted to be with Layla. It was just that… Crystal had sacrificed a lot for me. I graduated college, started a pretty good paying job in my field, and it didn’t feel right that she was living in the projects in Baltimore.”
“So you were fucking with both of them and ended up with me?”
“Pretty much. Layla finally came to her senses, though, and kicked me to the curb. I got a job in Atlanta and became estranged from everyone. I came back to see you and Onyx here and there, but your mom told me her boys weren’t going to have a part-time father, and if I couldn’t be there for y’all permanently then don’t be there at all.”
“That shit is crazy, like, all this time she knew we had a sister?”
“Crystal asked your mom not to ever mention her daughter, and Layla agreed.”
“That’s dumb as fuck though. You know how many times I been to Atlanta? I could’ve fucked my own sister and would’ve never known. I would’ve had to kill myself if I found that shit out.”
Nouri couldn’t help but laugh. “Nah, Maya asked me anytime she met anyone with the last name Zaman. She asked when Onyx became famous, then years later, she asked me about Kalil. Small ass world we live in.”
“Yea, she told me. Damn, Nyx needs to hear this story.”
“If he gave his old man a chance, he could.”
“He’s just not ready yet.”
“Well, whenever he’s ready, I’ll be around. But tell me about your woman troubles. I know you got them.”
“How you figure?”
“I may have been absent, but let’s just say a father knows these things. What’s her name?”
“Jaiyanna. She’s Onyx’s wife’s cousin.”
“Oh, the pretty girl with the blonde hair? She was at the mixer.”
“Yea, that’s her.”
“Y’all together?”
“Nah. She fucked that up.”
“How so?”
“Alright, so I met Yanna on some wild shit. She was like the female version of me, and it started out as us having fun, so I carried it as such. Lying to her, fucking with different bitches and that made her see me in a certain light. She made it up in her mind that she’d never be in a relationship with me, but we carried it like we were in one.”
“Nah, that wasn’t no relationship. That was a situation.”
“But is it crazy that I still felt like she was mine though? Like, I wanted to do what I wanted, but I wanted her to only be for me.”
“It ain’t crazy, it’s called being a man. We tend to be selfish that way.”
“Yanna ain’t no better than me, trust me on that.”
“You love her?”
