😗sorry for any mistakes

Atlanta, GA

January 31st

Friday

"No, I'm all sex out. Please" Ailani whined, lightly pushing at Matthias's chest when he tried to pull her black Nike shorts back down. After she just pulled them up and they just spent the last 2 hours going at it.

He chuckled and kissed her cheek "I don't even want ta' do that baby, just wanna love on you" He started to kiss her neck and lightly suck on her soft spot while he pinched her nipples and started rolling them, driving her insane.

"Bubba. No. Please, let my coochie rest" She stressed and pushed him away again. He laughed and let her finish getting ready for bed while he did the same. Once they both were fully clothed, Lani hopped into the bed and he turned the lights off before getting in right beside her.

"Are you goin' ta' tell me what you have planned tomorrow?" She asked, moving over closer to him and laying her head on his chest. Tomorrow was her 24th birthday but Matthias planned everything so she had no idea what was going on. All she knows from what he keeps telling her is that she is going to have a full day ahead of her.

"Nope. You have ta' wait. Have I ever led you wrong?" He smirked down at her She playfully rolled her eyes, this was honestly new for her. She was always in control of how her birthday goes but she allowed him to do it this year. He allowed her to have control over his birthday so it was only right if she let the same.

She was just nervous since she didn't even have the slightest clue about what he planned. It was exciting in a way since she knew how thoughtful he was. His gifts or plans always had so much thought and love put into them so she was excited.

"Oh, pops called me today. Cora's sentencing was today, she got 45 years" Matthias chuckled.

Ailani scoffed "That's what ha' stupid ass get. But not that I'm complaining but why so long?" She questioned. Lani had been keeping away from the whole case against Cora. After she pressed charges against her, she didn't go to the hearings or talk about it. She knew if she saw Cora again she would lose all her common sense. Her business was gone because of her and she has been struggling to get it back up and she was going to hold that grudge against her forever.

Matthias was only active in the case since he had to ensure full custody for Kennedi. Even after her burning Lani's shop down, she still tried to fight for custody. She failed miserably and wasted everyone's time with that. She also got more added to her sentence.

" 2 counts of child neglect, 1 a count Arson, 2 counts of child abuse. When she was with her boyfriend, they robbed a few stores down in Athens. It's some more shit, I just can't remember right now" He explained "And she had a son who was only 2 and she was abusing him. Doin' the same shit she was doing to Ken, not feeding him and hitting on him" He shook his head.

"I've seen him before. That's so stupid, why have kids if you aren't goin' ta' do right by them" She grumbled. That got under Lani's skin so much about that people will have kids just to cause them hell and pain when they are innocent. So many people didn't deserve kids and it was sick how they got the blessing of them.

"What happened to him? Is he okay?" She asked worriedly, her heart ached for that little boy. He was so adorable from the time she saw him and Cora in the store.

"Yeah, he's in a group home now," He shrugged. She started pouting and then looked up at him. He could see the look on her face and immediately shook his head "Ailani, No"

"But— why not? He's Kennedi's sibling, they deserve to know each other" She reasoned. She felt awful for the little boy and she thought it would be a good idea to keep the siblings together. Weirdly, if she had a sibling out there, she would want to know them."We should Bubba, he's innocent" She frowned.

"I understand that but I'm sure a loving family will adopt him. We aren't that family mama" He spoke softly and shook his head.

"He's Ken's sibling. You don't want to keep—"

"Ailani. No" He said again seriously. She lowly sighed "Okay" She mumbled and laid back on his chest. She really wanted to help the little boy, group homes weren't a place for any child. She knew she couldn't save every child but if she had the opportunity to help one, she wanted to. Give him the home and love he truly deserved.

The week she spent in a group home was the worst. They didn't treat them right at all, they treated all of the kids like they were burdens and just inconvenient to them. She knew not all group homes were the same but it still made her really sad.

"He's gonna be okay mama. Get some sleep" He kissed the top of her but she just nodded. She figured it would be hard for him to look at his child's abusers all the time through their child.

But now she couldn't sleep, she just kept thinking of the little boy now.

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Atlanta, GA

February 1st

Saturday

"Y'all are so fake. Y'all my best friends, not Matthias" Ailani rolled her eyes at Sierra and Lyric after begging them to tell her what Matthias had planned later tonight.

Si laughed "Girl he payin' fa' us to get a new wig and get it installed along with our nails down. You think we 'bout ta' fuck that up just to tell you? Chilee bye" Si shook her head and looked back at the lady that was currently doing her nails. Matthias did a house call of hairstylists, makeup artists, and nail techs to come and get Lani and them all dolled up tonight.

"Exactly and I ain' on mama duty? Girlll" Lyric laughed while she was currently in the chair to get her hair done.

"Well twins, y'all gon' tell me?" She looked at Sydney and Brooklyn who were both on their phones while getting their toes done.

"Girl, we are barely in Bud's good graces right now. I ain' tell you shit" Brooklyn scoffed and Sydney nodded in agreement with a frown on her face while everyone laughed at them. Lani knew that Matthias was still mad with them but they were still his little sisters that he would do anything for and wouldn't let them miss the opportunity to get pampered with everyone else.

Jabari and Matthias had Rayah and Kennedi to get them kid-friendly dolled up. Mainly so Lani didn't have to watch her mouth the whole time she was with her girls.

Lani didn't want to get overly excited but something in her was telling her he was going to propose tonight. Even though they have only been together for 10 months, she felt like he would. She's been practicing how she's going to say yes all week.

Even if he didn't, she wasn't going to rush him. Marriage is about when they're both ready and feel like it's the right time. It was shocking Lani would be this on board with getting married with the short amount of time of knowing Matthias.

True love just didn't have a time limit and their relationship was the definition of that. Moving in only 3 months into the relationship most people would say you're moving too fast or y'all relationship will fail but theirs didn't.

If anything it helps Lani grow into a better person. Taking chances and not overthinking anything. It helped show her how to love again after putting love that wasn't her daughter on the back burner. It helped her become more of a role model and gave her the blessing to be a mother of two.

If you asked her if she would do all these things that she experienced with Matthias she would have said no and looked at you as crazy.

But she did it and was happy about it.

"Si when is Joelle and Ryan comin' home?" Lani asked while putting her hand in gel light.

"It's your birthday, we can talk about that later" Si waved her off but Ailani staled-faced her "Girl I don't care. It's my birthday and I want to know" She chuckled.

"Right, don't act like you aren't excited" Lyric smiled. They all knew how much Si wanted kids and now she was finally getting them. You can tell how excited she and Ru were, their family was about to be complete. Everyone was excited for the couple.

"I am. Ruben just finished setting up Jo's bedroom last night. It's princess Tiana-themed, I hope she loves it. Then we did Ryan's room girly pink since she seems to love the color pink" She chuckled. "But they come home Next Saturday, I'm nervous tho" She twisted her lips to the side.

Ailani frowned "Why? I thought y'all been building a bond with the both of them over the last months? " She asked, confused.

"We have but what if they come and all that changes? What if they don't feel at home with us ya know? And y'all know my job can get busy sometimes, what if I ain' cut to be a mother?" She sighed.

Lyric sucked her teeth "Girl please, you are cut to being a mother. You have been having that mother insist since we were kids. The first to help Lani with Rayah and me with Zach" She told her and Lani nodded in agreement.

"And knowin' you, you gon' quit and move locations before you let it keep you away for them" Lani chuckled while Lyric laughed with her and agreed.

They knew how much Sierra loved being a pediatrician, especially with her love of helping kids and her being one of the youngest in her field. But she never let it take over her personal life and now with kids, she was going to take it more seriously.

"Just don't feel like you have to be the perfect mother. That's where we all went wrong trying to be so perfect" Lyric said, shaking her head.

"Literally, I remember I used to always try to be perfect. Always tried to make sure I was doing everything right and followed what other people told me instead of doing what worked best for me and Rayah" Lani said.

"Yes! I stay trying to follow what the moms in my parenthood group do and get so frustrated when it doesn't work for me" Lyric stressed.

"That's what my case worker says. She says not to go into it to be perfect because Joelle and Ryan aren't looking for someone to be perfect" Si nodded.

"Yep the more you try to be perfect, the more you're going to mess up" Lani shrugged then everyone heard the garage door open.

"Y'all ain' gonna get quiet when I walk in" Matthias mugged everyone when he walked into the living room with a gift bag in his hands.

"Boy bye, " They all said as he walked over to Ailani.

She smirked at the fresh cut he had and his braids looked fresh making her squint her eyes at him. "Unt unt, don't kiss me. You let someone else do yo' hair? I'm hurt" She mugged him and moved her head again from him trying to kiss her.

"You gon' show out cause yo' friends hea?" He raised his eyebrow while she tried to hide the smile that was trying to creep up on her face.

"You betrayed me bubba, I'on like dat" She pouted. He leaned down and pecked her bottom lip "My momma did it, girl." He chuckled.

"I still feel betrayed cause they look better than mine" She giggled and he put the medium size gold gift bag in her lap.

"What's this? Is it my surprise?" She cheesed, looking at her nails to see if they were dry. The nail tech nodded that it was before she started to open the bag.

"The shoes you wearin' tonight" He smirked, watching her eyes widen at the Saint Laurent label. She gasped and quickly opened the box and smiled when she saw the black heels.

"These are so cute! Thank youuu" She stood up and hugged him. "You welcome but it's just some shoe mama" He let his hands slip to her ass and gave it a firm squeeze.

"Yeah but they're expensive and I don't have these" She smiled and leaned back to peck his lips repeatedly.

"Ew, can y'all not do that in front of us" They heard one of the twins say. Matthias instantly pulled away and turned around to mug them both.

"Y'all on thin ice wit' me. I suggest y'all shut up" He warned and both shut up causing Lani to fall out laughing.

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"You look so pretty bestie" Lyric pouted while recording Ailani who was getting helped out of the truck by the driver. Ailani smiled and ran her hands down the sides of the red dress, "Thank you. Y'all must have helped him pick this out" She giggled.

"Actually, we didn't. He picked it out on his own" Si chuckled, fixing her hair. Lani just straight-faced them as they kept taking pictures of her. It was cold, not too cold but cold enough for her to be inside whatever she was going.

"Nigga I'm gettin' ha' right now. Shut up" She heard a familiar voice say. She turned to her left and saw Matthias walking towards them on the phone fussing at Jabari. He had a suit that had the same sequence and color as her dress along with the fitted black slacks. She couldn't help but smile at how good he always looked in a suit.

He hung up the phone with Jabari and looked up and froze for a second once he saw her. She started feeling nervous and blushed at him staring at her like it was their first date again. Matthias snapped at his daze and walked up to all of them.

"Y'all look beautiful" He spoke but kept eyes on Ailani who was surprisingly holding eye contact with him. She usually would look away by now. It was like she forgot she was cold the more she stared into his eyes.

"Aww, I can't wait to tell Kei he ain' shit. Why he doesn't look at me like this?" Lyric fussed making them both start laughing.

"You look beautiful mama" He licked his thick plump lips and grabbed her hand to lift it for her to do a spin. She pick up the bottom of her dress before giving him a 360 turn, already knowing he was looking at her ass.

"Damn" He huffed and shook his head at how good she looked. He was a bit nervous when he got the dress made, he didn't know if she would like the color but the red and silver really complimented her dark skin tone.

"Okay lemme get you inside befo' they piss me off again" He chuckled, taking the red corsage from Sydney. Lani frowned but held her arm out anyway for him to put it on her wrist.

"So you remember how we were talkin' 'bout our high school experience and stuff. You said you didn't get to really experience your senior year because you were too focused on being a mom. You only got to do graduation" He said while walking up to the building. "You always said you wished you could have gone to prom and how when you see people going to prom it makes you sad you missed out on yours" He stopped walking once they made it to two double doors.

Ailani looked around at them all recording her but she was confused about where he was going with all of this "I'on know if this is corny or anything but I gave you a prom for yo' birthday" He chuckled, opening the doors and Ailani gasped at how beautiful it was.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" Everyone yelled and an even bigger smile grew on her face. Moment 4 Life by Nicki Minaj started playing and Matthias held his hand out for her so they could walk in since she looked stuck.

Ailani felt like her inner teenage self was coming out. She always thought she was childish for being now 24 years old and still wanting to go to prom. They say prom was a special night and Lani always regretted not going. She had a baby at home to take care of and responsibilities to handle.

She didn't expect Matthias to actually listen. She thought he would think she was childish for wanting to go to prom so bad. She said hello to everyone before she stopped walking and hugged Matthias tightly "I love this, thank you" She mumbled.

"You definitely outdid me from your birthday" She giggled, pulling away and then pecking his lip. "Ain' nothin' out doin' that" He chuckled.

"This did. It's so— Mommy!" She was cut off, she looked around and smiled when she saw Rayah and Kennedi run towards them.

Lani pouted "Y'all look so beautiful" She cooed and kneeled down to hug them. They both had on red poofy dresses with silver bows on the back. Rayah's hair was silky straight and parted in the middle part while Kennedi hair had big curls and parted in the middle too.

"You look so pretty, mommy! We help daddy pick your dress out, you like it?" Kennedi smiled. Ailani laughed and stood up straight "I do. Y'all have some really good taste" She chuckled and Matthias wrapped his arm over her shoulder, watching Sarayah drag Kennedi over to the food table.

Lani looked at their hair and smiled. She was glad she wasn't going to have to do it for a while but she knew she was going to have to pay extra attention when they got in the showers.

Matthias was about to speak up until Roman Revenge by Nicki Minaj started playing and he knew she was about to go off. She loved her some Nicki.