hey icy gang.

"Raj come on! You keep saying another one and it's been ten minutes already, I'm gone be late to class." Lei whined in between kisses, as she sat in the car with Raj, in the parking lot of her campus.

Last night, their night ended on a good note. Surprisingly for Soleil, she was able to fall and stay asleep throughout the whole night. She was curious if smoking really did help her insomnia, that she would try it again later on once she returned back to Raj's place for a second night.

She felt comfort being in his arms last night, the one time that she did began to feel anxious, Raj was gentle with her and talked her through it, letting her know that he was there and wouldn't let anything happen to her.

"Okay, okay. Forreal this time, one more." he slightly chuckled, keeping his grip on her throat as he pulled her in for another kiss.

"Dang, you snatch a nigga soul once and he don't know how to act." Lei teased him, grabbing the strap of her backpack.

"Man whatever, cause I could've sworn you said you wanted to be the beneficiary of my life insurance policy." he rolled his eyes, Lei beginning to die of laughter as she tried getting out of the car.

"Siraj, please!" she cracked up, slipping her bag onto her shoulder.

"Have a good day, ma." he grinned, his eyes fixated on her ass as she pulled up her jeans.

"You too, love." she shut the door behind her, and walked in front of the car. Raj watched through the windshield as she paused with a confused expression on her face, she glanced behind her and smiled, waving at someone who was still out of Raj's view.

A few seconds later, a familiar face came into view, Raj letting out an annoyed sigh. "You got to be fuckin' kidding me bruh," he groaned, as the two girls walked off towards campus.

He sat there for a minute, tapping his thumb on the steering wheel as he thought to himself. He simply shook his head and shifted the gears, pulling out of the parking lot.

"Mhm girl, this weather is ghetto. I'm ready to go back to North Carolina, I need to experience all four seasons again." Nadia, Lei's friend said as they stepped onto campus.

"I need to see what that be like, cause Florida always hot man." Lei scoffed, adjusting the straps of her backpack on her shoulders.

"I didn't know you knew Siraj," Nadia popped her gum, tapping away on her phone. Lei shot her a side-eyed glance, raising an eyebrow.

"What?" Lei said.

"That was his car you got out of, right?" she briefly peeked up from her phone to look at her.

"Yea, he was best friends wit' my brother...how do you know him?" she asked her, her curiosity peaking as to how the two knew each other.

"We use to talk,"

"Mm, why'd y'all stop?"

"His baby mama is messy, I wasn't boutta put up wit' that toxic shit. She use to stalk my social media and shit, and go back to tell him the shit I be postin', saying how I be throwin' shade at her on the slide." Nadia explained, Lei shaking her head as she sighed.

"She acted nice at first, but I guess once she realized Raj wasn't worried about her, she started becoming jealous. I was already wary of dealing wit' a nigga who had a baby mama, but after dealing wit' that shit, I will never do it again."

"I feel you," Lei replied, now slightly annoyed with the newly revealed information. "I hate that typical baby mama trope, but then again, niggas be behind that shit."

"And this is not to bash him or anything, because he's a real sweetheart — sweetest nigga I ever met, but before he gets into another relationship — if he already isn't, he got to straighten that bitch out." Nadia said, waving at one of her friends she passed by them.

"Right," Lei held her arms out for Keia who was approaching them. "Hi baby,"

"Hey darling," Keia embraced her, while also shooting Nadia a polite smile, since the two didn't know each other that well.

"I'ma leave y'all be, text me to let me know if you wanna come out wit' us this weekend downtown." Nadia told Lei, slowly departing from the two girls.

"Alright, see you later." Lei waved goodbye to her, the girls waited until she was far enough away, before they turned to each other, Lei giving Keia a stale face. "Bitch,"

"Uh oh, what done happened?" Keia linked arms with her, slowing their pace.

"You know she use to talk to Raj?" Lei tilted her head, giving her a tight lipped smile. Keia's mouth fell agape, her eyes growing wide.

"Bitch say you swea'," Keia paused walking, taking a slight step to the side. Lei closed her eyes and slowly nodded her head in confirmation. "Damn bih, Raj done been passed around."

"I'm not really mad, because it was before me. What's bothering me though, is the reason why they stopped talking." Lei profoundly sighed, removing one of the straps of her bookbag off of her shoulder that was now beginning to hurt from the heavy pressure.

"What happened?"

"Ximena, girl. And I believe her, cause Ximena been acting funny wit' me lately now that Raj and I been getting closer, plus what happened at Raegan's party." Lei explained.

"Tuh, she better not try that shit wit' you. What did Raj say when you guys talked? It seems like the women he had previous relations wit' still has access to him — Ximena is understandable cause they have a son together, but Raegan? Yea,' no sis." Keia scoffed, opening the door to the building where both of their classes were.

"He told me I didn't have to worry about neither of them, but I don't know Keia, like I can just feel it in my bones that some shit might happen and I don't want to do anything that might result in her being petty and tryin' to keep Raj from seeing his son." Lei stressed, throwing her head back in frustration, her mind now plagued with intrusive thoughts and false scenarios.

"I understand babes, you definitely need to talk to him. Let him know that even though he's assuring you that you don't have to worry about her, you still have some concerns."

Both of the girls paused in the hallway, a couple of other students waiting outside in the halls for their professors. Lei leaned against the wall, tucking her arm under her chest.

"I will, I'm going back over his place again tonight so I'll definitely bring it up." she yawned, shifting her weight. "I'll see you later, I'll be home tomorrow morning cause I gotta grab some stuff before I go over my folks house for the day."

"Well you won't be seeing me, cause I'll be over my boo house for the weekend." Keia grinned, reaching in to embrace her once again.

"Oop bitch, look at you being grown. Tell Ty he better run my money when he see me next time, cause I damn sure didn't forget."

"I'll make sure he cashapp you," Keia laughed, walking off down the hall towards her class.

"You sure you okay?" Raj raised an eyebrow, looking back at his son. Semaj slowly nodded his head, fiddling with his fingers. Raj twisted his lips to the side, deeply exhaling through his nose as he watched him closely.

Since picking him up from school, he hadn't spoken much, and that was unusual for him, given that he always told Raj about his day. However, there was a little incident at school, where he fell and scraped his knee. Of course being the first time he ever saw blood coming from his own body, he freaked out.

His teachers were able to calm him down eventually, and he went on with the rest of his day. Apart of Raj wanted to chalk it up to his son being worn out, and just honestly ready for a nap, but then again like any other parent, he knew his son all too well.

He saw from his peripheral view as the passenger door open, causing him to turn around and sit straight as Lei got into the car.

"Hey," she spoke, getting settled into the seat. She grabbed the seatbelt and fastened it, resting her bag down by her feet. "Hi Dooda,"

"Hey," Maj barely spoke above a whisper, Lei raised an eyebrow and whipped around in the seat to face him. His attention still focused on his tiny fingers.

"What's the matter sweetie?" Lei tilted her head, her eyes examining over him to make sure there wasn't anything physically wrong with him. Her eyes landed on the bandage covering his knee. "Aww, Dooda. You hurt yourself at school?"

Maj nodded his head, slightly poking out his bottom lip. Both Raj and Lei watched as a few tears fell onto his hands, indicating that he was now crying. Lei grimaced and unbuckled her seatbelt before reaching into the backseat, unbuckling Semaj's seatbelt as well. She held her hands out for him, as he reached for her.

"It's okay sweetie," Lei consoled him, cradling him in her arms, putting the seatbelt over them. Raj sat there for a minute, watching the gesture. He shifted the gears and drove out of the parking lot, figuring his son just needed a little comforting — and of course the best person for that job was Soleil.

Neither spoke as Raj drove downtown to his workplace. Lei was too focused on Semaj, making sure that he was okay, to even worry about the issues that were bothering her.

Every other minute or so, Raj would occasionally glance over at her, seeing that she was gently rubbing her hand up and down on Semaj's back, as she absentmindedly stared out of the window at her surroundings. Semaj's small hands barely wrapping around her arms. The interaction simply melted Raj's heart.

Finally arriving downtown, Raj paralleled park his car in front of his building, before the trio got out and went inside. Lei carried Semaj up until they made it onto the elevator, figuring he was calm enough now. Once they made it onto the third floor, they headed straight towards the conference room, speaking to Raj's team as they passed by.

Lei pulled out her MacBook as usual, as Raj handed Semaj his tablet and turned on the TV for him. He ran his hand over Semaj's short curls as he started to head out of the room, not bothering to mess with Lei as she already seemed to be invested on what was on her screen.

He spoke briefly with his team, letting them know that he would be back up in about two hours, once he completed the last session for the day. They still had a lot of orders to package and take to the postal office before the day ended. So, Raj only scheduled about four sessions for the day, so that he was able to focus on the orders and help his team out.

Lei grabbed the case for her glasses and took them out, sliding them onto her face. She snuck a quick glance over at Semaj, who was watching a YouTube video on his tablet.

"Semaj?" Lei called to him, his big, round eyes complimented by the same medium length lashes like Raj's, ripped away from tablet and focused on her. "You okay?"

He slightly pouted again, shaking his head as he began to rub one of his eyes. Lei turned her chair towards him, rolling a little closer. "What's the matter, hun?" she softly spoke, grabbing his hand and caressing the top of it with her thumb.

"Someone pushed me at school," he said in a raspy voice, sounding like he was on the verge of crying once again.

Lei frowned, pointing at the bandage on his knee. "Is that how you hurt yourself? What happened sweetie? Where did they push you?" she questioned, upset that a kid had picked on him.

He nodded, fresh tears now streaming down his face again. "He pushed me because I was playin' wit' a toy he wanted." he told her.

"Why didn't you tell the teacher baby? Did you tell your dad?"

"No," he softly cried, continuing to rub his eye. "My mommy and daddy told me to hit someone back if they hit me first and I didn't. I didn't want to get in trouble."

Lei slumped her shoulders, gaining a better understanding of the situation. It was clear that Semaj didn't want to disappoint Raj by telling him that he didn't defend himself from the bully.

"I understand," she simply replied, reaching out to wipe his tears. "No one is mad at you sweetie, and it's not your fault, okay?"

Semaj nodded once again, sniffling. "You want Chick-Fil-A?" she asked him, pulling out her phone to text Raj and ask him to return back upstairs.

"Yes,"

"Okay, I'm gonna order it." Lei got up from the chair, walking out of the room. She walked towards the elevator and waited a few minutes, going to the Uber Eats app to order the food for them for later.

As she did so, she heard the ding of the elevator doors as it slid open, Raj stepping out. She held back a laugh, amused by his quick response.

"You okay?" he asked her, a slight confused look on his face, wondering why she was already waiting by the elevator.

"I'm fine, it's Semaj." she cleared her throat, locking her phone and sliding it into her back pocket. "He was pushed,"

Raj jerked his head back, beginning to frown. "What?"

"At school, I asked him again if he was okay and he finally told me what happened. He said that a li'l boy pushed him after he didn't give him the toy that he was playing wit'." She explained, an even bigger scowl growing onto Raj's face.

He started to walk past her until she grabbed the sleeve of his hoodie and pulled him back. "I'm not done," she said, crossing her arms over her chest. "He didn't want to tell you because he thinks that you're gonna be disappointed in him. You and Ximena told him to defend himself if someone put their hands on him and he didn't,"

Raj's face soften, as he simply stared at her. He sighed and walked past her again, Lei following behind him.

"Aye Raj," Hakeem called to him, Raj paused half way through the entry of the glass door.

"Give me like five minutes, I gotta talk to my son real quick." he said, Hakeem nodding in understanding. Raj walked into the room, shutting the glass door behind him as Lei sat down in the chair.

Raj tapped the screen of Semaj's tablet, pausing the video he was watching before he crouched down to his level. "You know you can come to me about anything, right?" he said, picking something out of his car. "I'm not mad at you, I can never be mad at you for what someone else did to you."

"Of course I want you to defend yourself when someone is physically hurting you, because me and mommy won't always be there to do it for you. But, if it comes down to where you're unable to, then that's okay, you tell the teacher instead and let them handle it. You will never get in trouble by me and mommy if you hit someone back because they hit you first — unless it's a girl, you never hit a girl, tell the teacher instead, okay?" Raj calmly explained, Semaj nodding, holding eye contact with Raj.

Shortly before Semaj started school, Ximena and Raj sat their son down and explained that since he was going to be around kids that weren't his cousins, other children were raised differently and played rough than what he was used to.

They stressed to him to never put his hands on anyone unless they did so first. Raj hate that they even had to have a talk with him on that topic, but he knew how kids were, especially when adults weren't looking.

The situation bothered Raj, given that his son was afraid of telling him what happened.

"Has he hit you before? Or was this the first time?"

"The first time,"

"Okay, and this'll be the last time, I promise. He'll never put his hands on you again — but if he do, I want you to beat him up, just like you be beating Hakeem up." Raj pointed at Hakeem through the glass, Semaj beginning to grin. "Beat him up just like this,"

Raj gently, yet playfully sending light punches to Semaj's body and face as his laughter started to fill the room, Lei cracking a smile as she watched.

"Okay? Just like that,"

"Okay,"

"Come here, give me hug." Raj held his arms out for him, Semaj leaning forward and wrapping his arms around Raj's neck as Raj planted kisses on the side of his face.

Raj stood up straight, handing Semaj his tablet again. He placed his hands on the back of Lei's chair, leaning down to kiss her on the neck. "Thank you," he said, Lei humming in response.

He walked out of the room again, approaching Hakeem and having a short conversation with him before he got onto the elevator to go back downstairs.

Fortunately for Raj, his last session of the day was to shoot for a toddler. It was one of Raj's favorite things to do, he loved capturing the innocence of children, the bonding between the child and the parents was something that absolutely made Raj's heart melt.

Being a parent himself, he knew how important it was to capture as many moments with children, as they did grow up quickly. Raj had a large photo album dedicated to his son, from when he was in the womb up until now.

For the next hour and a half, Raj finished up his session. He sanitized and put away his equipment with the help of Aria. After the two were finished, they locked up the second floor and headed upstairs.

Raj grabbed his MacBook and walked into the conference room, where Lei and Semaj were both eating Chick-Fil-A, giggling about something. He raised an eyebrow as he took a seat across from Semaj.

"No food for me?" he said, powering up the laptop.

"Could've sworn I made you dinner last night, with leftovers to bring to work." Lei mumbled, as she typed away on the keypad.

"Ooh, you right. I forgot about my food," he quickly got up and walked out, to go heat up his food that was stashed away in the break room's refrigerator.

Later on that night, Lei was sitting on the couch, Semaj's head resting in her lap as he watched the paw patrol movie while she scrolled through her twitter feed.

Raj was finally in the shower, after making sure Semaj was taken care of first before Ximena arrived to pick him up.

Keia texted her shortly before they arrived to Raj's place, asking if she talked to him yet. She let her know that she hadn't yet, as she wanted to wait until Semaj was gone to bring up her concerns.

So far, Lei had been doing her best of acting normal, knowing that Raj could sense when something was wrong with her. Though she wasn't mad, it something that for sure needed to be talked about.

Lei heard a knock at the door, mentally cursing herself, she strained her ears to listen if Raj was still in the shower — which unfortunately, she was unable to hear, since his bedroom was far from the living room.