October 7th| 12:30PM|

Naala rolled over in her hospital bed and winced at the shooting pain in her side. This alarmed Dave because he shot up from his sleep to check on her.

"You ok ma'?" He questioned, worry laced his deep voice,

Naala looked at him lovingly and nodded her head, she was still feeling very sleepy due to the medication her doctor had prescribed. Dave carefully got out of the bed so he could grab his phone, he turned back and saw Naala drifting off slowly to sleep. A wave of hurt washed over him as he watched her sleep. The mother of his child lay fragile in a hospital bed because of her so-called boyfriend. His jaw clenched as he thought of Darnell. He went to his messages and saw one from Bully,

💀

Dave sighed in relief and shot him back a text,

Quietly, Dave began to put on his sneakers, he knew that Naala needed her rest and he didn't want to wake her. The sound of movement caused Naala to stir,

"You leavin' Amir?" She croaked out, still half asleep,

"I need ta' handle sum' quickly" Dave spoke in a hush tone. He couldn't tell her his plans otherwise she will worry, he had to handle this on his own.

"You gon' be long?" She questioned, now fully awake and trying to sit up. Dave rushed over to her to help her up. She accepted his help and cleared her throat.

"You won't notice I'm gone ma', get some rest, my mama and 'nem gon' come up here whilst I'm gone," He said while handing her a cup of water that sat by the side of the bed. Naala face frowned up at the realisation that people were gonna see her in this state. Dave caught the look and bent down to leave a lingering kiss on her lips,

"Stop stressing Love, they not judging you," Naala kissed him back and sighed. She was embarrassed at how she looked and was not looking forward to explaining what had happened.

"Ima bring you back something good to eat, hospital food nasty" Dave said to lighten the mood, Naala chuckled with a pout on her face - she wanted to be up under him.

"Gimme a kiss baby," he spoke lightly. Naala leaned up and planted a quick peck on his lips, she was teasing him.

"Bye Amir," she said with attitude present in her tone, Dave chuckled and grabbed her chin lightly and kissed her, with tongue and all. Naala tried her best not to moan but his lips were so soft. She moaned quietly into the kiss and Dave pulled back with a smirk.

"I'a be back soon," he spoke and stepped out the room and closed the door lightly.

Naala was on her own for the first time after her terrible ordeal the day before. Her mind started to wander as she sat there thinking of what to tell Sinai. Sinai had never been a big fan of Darnell but she was a child of routine - her mom had implemented a strong routine in her life and now that was all going to change. Naala was angry with herself, angry that she had let Darnell almost take her life, she wondered what happened to him after Dave drove her away.

A constant vibration was being heard from the table across her so Naala reached forward to grab her phone. There were various emails and messages that she ignored but she couldn't ignore the instagram notifications. She rolled her eyes at how many followers she had gotten after Shaderoom made that shady ass post. She was on 2,900 followers last week and now she had 17k followers all in one night. She tapped on stories and saw Mia's story, it was a picture of her and Ace.

🤣

Naala's eyebrows shot up as she analysed the photo. Mia never posted anyone she was speaking to on social media so that was very surprising to her. She sent a heart eyes emoji and continued scrolling through stories. As she was exiting instagram, a knock sounded through the room.

"Come in," Naala spoke quietly, silently praying that it wasn't Dave's family with Sinai.

"Now why my baby laying in a hospital bed huh?"

Naala let out a sigh of relief as her father came walking into the room. His 6ft4 figure stood towering over her. His jaw was clenched and you could see the anger written all over his face.

"Hi daddy," Naala said timidly, she knew he was about to go off,

"What the hell happened Miani? I get a call from your sister at 10am in the morning, crying that you in hospital, and look at your fucking face!" He bellowed causing Naala to cower away. One thing about Jacob Love is that he goes hard for his girls. He is the definition of a girl-dad. He was a hard man on the outside but a big softie on the inside. He loved Naala more than anything in the world.

"Daddy please stop shouting," Naala whimpered. Jacob's face softened as he remembered who he was talking to. Naala hated being shouted at, she could cry instantly from someone raising their voice at her.

"Aight, I'm sorry, I'm just pissed off - what happened Miani?" He asked, calling her by her middle name, that was the only way he addressed her - that was her mother's name and he loved it.

"It was Darnell," she said quietly. She couldn't lie to her Dad, she had too much respect for him and plus he was gonna find out one way or another.

"Speak up Miani, I thought you said Darnell?" Anger started to fill out in Jacob - he always knew there was something wrong with that boy but he respected his daughter's relationship. Jacob started to pace the room,

"Daddy, please don't do anything stupid, it was my fault --" Jacob cut her off immediately.

"Don't you ever blame yourself for a man's doing! He knows better than to be hitting on a woman, HIS woman at that" Jacob stressed, he was furious. Naala sighed heavily and looked out the window, she could only blame herself for this.

This why you shouldn't be here. The voice in her head taunted her. Everybody is gonna get hurt. It continued, causing tears to gather in Naala's eyes. Maybe the voices were right, she thought.

"Miani, are you listening to me?" Jacob asked, looking at his daughter that was there physically but mentally in a different space.

"I-I'm real tired Dad, c-can you come back later?" Naala stammered, still looking out of the window.

"What you mean 'come back later'? I ain't going nowhere Naala, the only place I'm going is to jail after I kill that nigga" Jacob stressed watching his daughter. Fed up with her dad Naala exploded,

"Daddy can you just leave me alone?!" Jacob's mouth flew shut as he saw the anger on Naala's face, without saying another word, he picked up his coat and walked out. Jacob was aware of his daughter's mental health and knew that when she got like this it was better to listen to her. Still staring out the window, tears started to fall from Naala's eyes. She knew she was falling back into a depressive state and was angry - she didn't want Dave to see her like this.

He's gonna leave you. The voices chimed. You're crazy, he's gonna run away. The voices got louder and soon that's all Naala could hear.

"Stop! Please just leave me alone!" Naala cried out, attempting to silence the voices, but they were too loud, she couldn't hear herself think - the voices were suffocating her. She closed her eyes and let the voices continue, streams of tears falling down her face - there was no more fight left in her.

LATER THAT DAY

Dave walked sluggishly through the hospital, avoiding all the glares that he was receiving. He pulled his hood further down his face as he walked down the hallway. His phone vibrated in his pocket drawing him from his endless thoughts.

"Hey ma'" He answered with his eyebrows scrunched together and signature mug.

"David, how's my baby doing?" Sonia inquired, sounding worried.

"She's good ma, I'm just going back in there na'."

"Hey daddy! Where's mama?" Dave heard Sinai's small voice come through the phone. His heart melted at the sound of her sweet voice,

"Hi Nai Nai, she's sleeping at the moment - you gon' see her soon," He spoke confidently into the phone, he didn't want her to hear the sadness in his voice.

"Okay daddy, I miss you guys, me and Nanny went to do our nails, then she took me to get ice cream but then I had to get a slush cuz they ain't got no ice cream with no nuts," she said the last bit with so much attitude. Dave chuckled at her, his daughter was definitely a character.

"That sounds fun mama, ima see you soon," he said into the phone,

"Ma, Ima bout to go back and check on Naala, you guys coming down now?"

"We just left the Ice cream parlour, ima gonna swing by the house and pick up Chanel, she wants to come," Dave nodded his head as if she could see him then said his goodbyes.

He arrived at Naala's door and knocked lightly, when he didn't get a reply he assumed she was asleep and pushed the door open. The room appeared to empty, the blankets that once were wrapped around Naala's small body was sprawled out on the floor. The food tray had been flipped over and the yogurt had splattered on the floor. Dave grew alarmed at the sight of the room,

"Naala?" He bellowed, he had already began to regret leaving her on her own. He heard sniffling from the bathroom and he sauntered over there, forcing the door open. The sight he saw was horrendous, the mirror had been smashed and there was blood smeared all other the walls. Naala sat in a corner, whimpering with blood gushing out of her knuckles. Dave rushed to her side,

"Love, what's wrong? What have you done?" he questioned, examining her bloody knuckles. Luckily there was no glass stuck in the wound but it was pretty bad. Naala sat there motionless with tears still running down her face.

"Naala, come on let's get you back to bed," Dave said as he carefully helped her up and led her back to bed. He pressed the buzzer for a nurse to come and have a look at her hand. Dave was honestly scared, he had never seen Naala like this and the look on her face was scaring him more. He sent his mother a text to hold off on their visit for a while, Sinai didn't need to see her mom like that.

"A-amir," Naala stammered as the quiet nurse wrapped her hand. Dave's head snapped in her direction, she had been silent since he found her.

"Just let her finish up Love," Dave didn't want the nurse to hear all their business that's why he stopped her. He didn't trust anybody and being in the public eye meant people were always looking to sell stories on him.

The nurse quietly wrapped her wounds and also provided her with a fresh gown. A knock sounded on the door, everyone's head went towards the door as the doctor sauntered in to talk to Naala.

"How are you feeling, Ms Love?" the doctor asked,

"I-I'm feeling okay, a little sore," Naala spoke with zero emotion. Her voice sounded like it could break at any second.

"That's expected, you suffered a very bad stab wound, we want to prescribe you with oxycodone but that will interfere with the Citalopram that you are already on," Dave's eyebrow's rose at the name of the unknown medication.

"Sorry doctor, I'm her husband, could ask what the citalopram is for?" Dave butted in, Naala didn't even protest as she had no energy to.

"I apologise sir, Ms Love has been on this medication for 4 years now, I would assume you know?" Dave's nose flared,

"Well I don't know so that's why I'm asking," Dave was trying to keep his cool but the doctor was really pushing his buttons. Naala looked up and gave Dave a look,

"Amir stop it," Naala finally said as she glared at him, "It's for my depression." Naala said looking out of the window, she didn't want him to catch her eye. Dave stopped speaking at looked at the doctor to continue. He couldn't be angry at Naala for not telling him about her depression, they hadn't been together for long.

"As I was saying, we cannot offer you any pain medication but after your outburst we would like to up your citalopram and you have also been referred to our in-house therapist. I've known you for a long time Naala, and we need to deal with this,"

The doctor was right, he had been Naala's doctor since her first pregnancy check up. He had seen her through her whole pregnancy so was aware of her condition. Dave stared at Naala who was still looking out of the window, she wanted everyone to leave; Dave included.

Doctor Spencer continued to talk to Naala and Dave listened tentatively. He didn't want to miss out on anything, he knew Naala wasn't in the right mind to listen to what the doctor was saying so he had to listen. When the doctor was done he left out the room. Dave sighed and sat by Naala,

"Baby, you gotta talk to me, it's scaring me," Dave spoke softly while gently rubbing her hand. Naala's lip began to quiver at the sound of his voice. He always had that affect on her, she would hear his voice and break,

"I-I don't know what's wrong with me Amir," Naala said almost silently, she didn't want to cry but she couldn't stop herself. Tears began to stream down her face and her small whimpers turned into loud screams,

"I-It's not fair! Why am I like this? Why can't I be normal? Huh? you're gonna leave me, and then I will have nobody! I have no-one," Naala sobbed loudly, her small body shaking. Dave sat on the bed and scooped her up, his shirt was getting soaked by the tears.

"Shhh baby, don't say that, you have Sinai, you got your sister and you got me! I meant it when I said I ain't going nowhere ma," Dave said, "I made a mistake leaving you last time, I'm not gonna do that again, you are my family - you hear me?" Dave said softly but sternly. He wanted Naala to know that he loved her, and he wasn't going anywhere.

"I love you Naala, I am in love with you,"

Naala looked up at Dave who's eyes were staring back at her. She didn't expect him to say those words but her heart was full at his declaration.

"I-I love --" Dave cut her off,

"I ain't say that to get a reply ma, I just wanted you to know that, you can tell me when you ready," Naala had never experienced anything like this, Darnell would never speak to her this way so this was all new to her. She looked at Dave with so much love in her eyes. She knew she loved him, there was no doubt in her mind.

"I love you too Amir, more than you know," Dave was spread to hear her response, he found it crazy how they haven't been together long but it's like he never left.