“You making enough for everybody?”
“Everybody that lives here, nigga. You got a whole ass house only a few steps away,” Onyx chimed in.
“I don’t have no food in there. Troi already know that marrying you is a package deal, and I’m part of that package.”
He helped set the table while Onyx got Kian set up in his highchair. Once Troi was done cooking, they all sat down at the table to eat. Minutes later, Kian began banging his hand on his highchair, symbolizing that he wanted more food. He’d already scarfed down the piece of pancake Troi had cut up for him, along with eggs.
“Aye, lil’ boy, what I tell you about that?” Onyx fake scolded his son.
Kian gave him a wry look before turning to Troi with his hand out. “Eat, eat,” he murmured before pointing to his empty tray.
“Damn, he basically said fuck you, Onyx.” Kas laughed.
“Nah, he just know his mumma let him get away with murder.”
“Or he knows you the one who gave him that weird ass name. Ain’t that right, Ki?” Kas turned to his nephew, who stuffed a piece of the pancake Troi had just placed in front of him into his mouth. “You mad yo’ daddy gave you that Dr. Seuss ass name?”
When Onyx told Troi what he wanted to name their son, she was against it at first. His full name was Kian Jahan Zaman, and Kian, being pronounced like Keon, made his whole name rhyme. However, when Onyx explained that the name’s Persian meaning was essentially, king of the world, she fell in love with it. Kas, on the other hand, never let Onyx live it down.
“My son got a strong Farsi name, ignorant ass nigga.”
“You keep telling yourself that.”
After everyone was finished eating, Kas assisted with cleaning the kitchen then tried calling Yanna a few more times to no avail. Tired of waiting around to see if she’d eventually pick up her phone, Kas decided he’d go to her house and wait for her.
The pain in Yanna’s head and the lassitude of her body were still prevalent as she followed Kalil and Quan to the Richmond airport’s long-term parking. She hadn’t gotten a chance to see Layla because she’d taken off in a car service as soon as her and Quan’s flight landed. After what seemed like the longest walk ever, they were climbing into Kalil’s SUV with her taking up the rear.
“I’m taking you home, Yanna?”
“Hell nah. Drop me off at Fifth and Front so I can drop by my mumma’s house.”
Kalil nodded and exited the airport, heading in the direction of the Highland Park neighborhood. Yanna’s mother’s home was only about fifteen minutes or so away from the airport, so they were pulling up to the corner in no time. She grabbed her duffle bag and purse from the seat beside her but left everything else.
“Hold on, you forgetting your shit.” Quan warned.
“No, I’m not, take it home for me. While you’re there, tell Kas to get the fuck out my house and leave my key. I’m not playing with him.” Yanna wasn’t dumb by far; she was well aware that not answering his calls or texts would infuriate Kas to the point where he would go sit in her living room and wait for her to get there. It was the main reason she didn’t have Kalil drop her at home.
“You sure?”
“Positive. Bye Quan, thanks Kalil.” She dismissed before closing the door and strutting down the street.
By the time she reached her mother’s porch, the DoorDash she’d ordered was arriving. She accepted the order from the driver and then continued her trek into the house. Yanna scrunched her face in disgust as she entered her mother’s house, the smell of something sour assaulting her nose. Closing the front door, she locked it behind her with the bag of food secured in her hand. As she made her way down the hall of her mother’s home, located in the city’s Highland Park neighborhood, she shook her head. She could tell by the accumulated filth that her mother was in one of her moods. Finally reaching the bedroom, Yanna immediately became pissed at the sight of her mother propped on a bunch of pillows with a glass of liquor in her hand. The half-empty gin bottle sitting on the nightstand next to her, letting Yanna know the alcohol was what she’d gone to sleep and waken up to. Approaching her, Yanna pulled the glass from her hand and sat it on the stand.
“Aye, lil’ girl, don’t come in here taking shit out of my hand.”
“Ma, please, it’s only ten a.m. and you’re already drunk. Here.” Yanna sat the bag of food fromFirst Watchon the bed and began pulling out containers, opening them for Janis.
“Chile, please, I like your nerve calling yourself lecturing me, and I can smell liquor all over you.”
“Okay.” Was all Yanna chose to say. Her liquor consumption had been from the previous night. That was much different than taking a drink as soon as she opened her eyes.
After she’d opened her mother’s containers for her, she grabbed the omelet she ordered for herself and sat at the edge of the bed.
“How is my great-nephew doing over there in… where did Troi move to with that singer boy?”
“Dinwiddie. Kian is bad as hell and getting bigger every day. He looks nothing like Troi, look.” Yanna took out her phone and pulled up a picture of Kian, showing it to Janis.
“Aww, look at him, his little handsome self with all that hair. It’s a damn shame I’ve only seen him in person once.”
