Part 2 of this story will be on that account ]

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𝙷𝚘𝚞𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚗 𝚃𝚇 .

❦

"Where yall brother at?" Samiron's dad, Nasir, asked as he stuck his head into Kairo's room where both of the twins were laid out on their phones.

"Which brother? You be forgetting we have two or something?" Kai asked sarcastically.

"Both of 'em." Their dad shrugged.

"Zy is picking Mayah and Cee up. He said he was on his way. As for Samiron.. I don't even know." Nia shrugged making Nasir sigh.

He was hoping that having Mari by Samiron's side would give him the courage to actually come to the engagement party/cookout but he wasn't sure at this point.

Out of all four of his kids Samiron definitely took the engagement the roughest and that was due to how close he was to Harmoni before she died and Nasir's extremely poor choice of words when announcing his engagement in the first place— which he was now very aware of after being grilled by all his children and cussed out by Zion on multiple occasions.

However, just because Samiron took the engagement the roughest didn't mean the others were suddenly okay with it. If anything, they were even more against it now that everything was being made so public with a cookout to celebrate the engagement— an engagement that they didn't find anything celebratory about.

Zion and Samiron decided they were just going to shrug it off and simply act like their dad wasn't getting remarried at all. Which would be easier for them since they didn't even live in the house.

However Kai and Nia did live in the house and had to constantly interact with Malaya who was trying her hardest to get the two kids to like her.

Malaya's only daughter, Xiomara, had just graduated so she wasn't even in the twins' age range and even if she was, the twins didn't even feel positively about her enough to interact with her.

So Malaya held onto non-existent hope when it came to getting the twins on her good side. She was tip toeing over her boundaries as a wannabe-mother figure to two kids who lost their mom at a young age. But no matter how many meals she made and how interested she seemed in their lives, the twins wanted nothing to do with her.

Whether Malaya liked it or not, the twins felt like any woman stepping into their home and trying to put herself into their mom's spot was overstepping boundaries.

Seeing the twins' change of demeanor was slowly but surely starting to make Nasir question his decision to get engaged in the first place. He really liked Malaya and she made him happy but a part of him felt like he was using her to fill the void in his heart that Harmoni had left after all these years of being gone.

He had to constantly ask himself if the void that Malaya was filling was worth the way his kids viewed him— and it obviously wasn't. But he didn't want to lose Malaya so he stood conflicted.

"Nia, call Mari and ask about Samiron for me please. And both of y'all get up. Y'all ain't gonna be cooped up in this room all afternoon while there are guests downstairs mane." Nasir told the two twins who huffed and rolled off of Kai's bed.

Nasir made his way downstairs and out to the backyard where family and friends gathered while the twins mentally prepared themselves for the long afternoon ahead of them.

"You think they gon' break up?" Kai asked his sister as he put on the 5's Zion had bought him.

"I don't know. At first I was sure he was gonna call off the engagement after Zy cussed him out that last time but that obviously didn't stop him." Nia said as she fixed her black Palm Angels tee in the mirror.

"I hope they call that shit off." Kai mumbled as he waited for his sister at the doorway before walking out of the room together.

Ever since Malaya had returned from San Antonio with Xiomara, the twins had been spending most of their time out of the house with Samiron. Malaya and her daughter hadn't officially moved in but Malaya was always at the house and the twins didn't feel like interacting with her try-hard ass.

So for the past two weeks the twins spent most of their days sleeping over at Samiron's house and spending the entire day with him, escaping the reality of their dad being remarried.

And no matter how much his younger siblings annoyed or irritated him at times, Samiron would much rather have the twins spending their days with him than at home and having to deal with their dad's soon-to-be wife trying to play the step momma role.

Kai and Nia made their way downstairs and took notice of all the people spread out within the kitchen and coming in and out of the backyard. Most of them were people they knew from around the neighborhood, family friends, or family members.

"Hey twins!" A familiar voice called out from behind them. They turned around to be faced with Malaya and her daughter following behind her.

"Hi." They both responded dryly, not looking to elongate the conversation.

"How have y'all been? Y'all haven't been here for the past week huh? What y'all been up to?" Malaya asked, trying to start up a conversation.

"We been sleepin' over Samiron's house." Kai shrugged making Malaya nod slowly.

She wasn't too fond of Samiron after finding out that he "shoved" her daughter during a fight several months back but she eventually understood why he did it. But Samiron had been giving her the cold shoulder since the first day he met her so she just steered clear of him which was easy considering he's never at the house when she's here.

Malaya turned towards her daughter to get her to say something but she was too focused on her phone. "Xio." Malaya said warningly under her breath.

Xiomara looked up at the twins who had bored expressions on their faces, waiting eagerly for the awkward interaction to be over with.

"Oh, um my bad. Hi." She shot them a slight smile. Kai nodded his head towards her and Nia waved.

Since Xiomara clearly had some old tension with Samiron, the twins weren't too fond of her either but luckily she had just graduated and would be leaving for college in a few months so they wouldn't have to deal with her anyway.

After their uncomfortable interaction with Malaya and Xiomara, the twins briefly said hi to a few people and sat in the empty living room watching tv as they waited for their older brothers to arrive.

"Y'all look depressed as fuck." Zion said as he walked into the living room, carrying Cee who had her head on his shoulder while his arm was hooked onto Mayah's shoulder.

"We is." Kai said, making Zion and Mayah chuckle.

"Hi Mayah." Nia got up to embrace Mayah in a hug.

The family always liked Mayah when she and Zion were together. Mayah was a petite brownskin girl with a very short but curvy body and shoulder-length, curly hair. At 24 years old, Mayah worked as a high school teacher so she was ultimately good with kids.

Even though they were no longer together due to Zion cheating, the household was happy that Zion had a kid with a woman who was respectful and made something of herself unlike the other babymommas they had came across amongst their family.

"Are y'all back together?" Kai looked in between Zy and Mayah eagerly.

"Oh uh, no." Mayah chuckled awkwardly as Zion sighed in frustration.

After walking in on Zion with another female on top of him in HER bed over a year ago, Mayah promised she would never take Zion back. They fuck around here and there but Mayah still didn't have any intentions of getting back together with him.

Zion on the other hand was still in love with Mayah and noticed how happy Cee was when she was with both of her parents and Zion wanted that permanently. It was just Mayah who wasn't going for it.

Regardless of his apologies, Mayah didn't wanna hop back into a relationship with a man who cheated on her. She didn't wanna run the risk of having it happen again so she chose to avoid the heartache and just not be in a relationship with Zion at all.

However the thought of being an actual family with him did float through her mind constantly and the whole passing Cee back and forth every week thing was getting tiring and old after doing it for over a year.

Zion had Cee on Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays while Mayah had her on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. They both came to an agreement that they

would do something all together on Saturdays as a "family" and that's when Cee was the happiest; when she had the chance to be with both her parents at the same time as opposed to one or the other.

Zion never missed a single Saturday since it was the only day he got to be with both Mayah and Cee. He'd call off of work if he had to just to take Cee to the pool, the park, etcetera, with Mayah. He'd never pass up the opportunity to be a 'family with her, even if it was just for 8 hours.

"Shut up, Mayah. You know we're together." Zion said, trying to convince himself more than Mayah.

"We're not together but whatever helps you sleep at night I guess." Mayah rolled her eyes playfully, making the twins laugh.

Even after less than two years of not being in a relationship with Mayah, Zion was still determined to get her back. Even if that meant popping up at a restaurant to scare her potential boyfriend off when he found out she was going on a date.

He was extremely possessive, but nonetheless, Zion was very in love with her and he wasn't gonna see her with anyone but himself.

"We're together." Zion mumbled to himself.

"You togeder?" Cee asked randomly, picking up on the conversation like she always does.

"Yes, me and yo momma are together." Zion smiled. Mayah rolled her eyes at his stupidity.

"Stop lying to my daughter." Mayah chuckled, smacking his chest.

'''Our' daughter." Zion corrected. The commotion at the front door caused their conversation to halt.

"I'm walking nigga! If you don't like it walk in front of me." Eli threw his hands up at Rell while Samiron, Mari, Duck, Tasia, and Aijah filed through the front door.

"Y'all ghetto as fuck son." Zion laughed. "That's Eli's ass " Duck shook his head

"Waddam, voodoo twins." Eli nodded his head towards the twins who mugged him. Even though they weren't identical, the twins looked like the male and female version of one another and to make matters worse they were always together. You didn't see Nia without Kai and you didn't see Kai without Nia.

Nia huffed, "It's not voodoo nigga! We're fraternal twins."

"Jokes on y'all I don't even know what the fuck that means." Eli smiled before flipping them off.

Everyone greeted one another while a majority of the guests were still occupied in the backyard and kitchen.

"She's here already?" Samiron asked the twins referring to Malaya. They both nodded in response.

Samiron blew out a breath and ran his hand over his face. He knew he was going to have to interact with Malaya eventually, but he was determined to make the conversation as short-lived as possible. He didn't like her or her daughter at all and if that meant he wouldn't come to the house as long as Malaya was here then so be it.

"You good?" Mari asked, taking a seat on the couch next to him.

"Yea." Samiron sighed unconvincingly.

"If you're uncomfortable we can leave." Mari said, understanding how it might be weird for him to be at a celebratory engagement-cookout for his dad and a woman he felt like was trying to replace his deceased mother.

"Nah we good." Samiron reassured. "But if either one of 'em say something I don't like, i'm not gonna hold my tongue. Family event or not." He said, referring to his dad and Malaya.

Mari nodded and intertwined her fingers with Samiron's as she leaned back onto the couch and watched Tasia and Aijah go back and forth with Rell, Eli and Duck about some random shit. Zion was too distracted by Mayah to pay attention to the argument happening in front of him.

She was smiling a little too hard at her phone prompting Zion to hope it wasn't a nigga she was smiling at or he'd have to end his appearance at this family function early to go take a someone's head off their shoulders.

But his jaw clenched when her phone started ringing and the name "Kareem" flashed across the screen. He watched Mayah as she got up from the couch, excused herself and walked out of the living room to take her call outside.

Zion took deep breaths to contain himself as he held Cee in his lap who was laying her head on his shoulder and playing with his chains. He couldn't see himself with anyone other than Mayah even after all this time of not being together.

After a few minutes Zion grew impatient and stood up, holding Cee, and handed her to Duck who was standing to the side watching everyone debate over dumb shit like they'd been doing for the past 10 minutes.

"Cow!" Cee yelled at Duck, reaching her arms out towards him. She never understood why people called Duck "Duck" so Cee being young just assumed everyone was calling him an animal and started doing the same.

Zion laughed and stepped out the living room and out to the porch where Mayah's voice lead him too.

When he stepped outside Mayah had her elbows leaned up against the porch railing as she held her phone in her hand. Her back was towards Zion and he had to fight the urge to grab her ass which was poking out in the position she was standing in. He stood by the door, unbeknownst to Mayah, listening to her flirt with some nigga on FaceTime.

She briefly glanced back and noticed Zion standing there causing her to roll her eyes. "I'ma call you back in a second, Reem."

After hanging up, she tucked her phone in her back pocket and turned around to fully face him. Zion immediately pushed himself off the wall and took a step towards Mayah.

"Why do you keep playin' with me, Kamayah?" Zion's voice dropped a few octaves. The frustration was clear in his voice from having to hear someone sweet talk the girl he was desperately in love with for the last 2 minutes.

Mayah sighed in defeat. "Let's not do this again, Zy."

"Do what again? Talk about how much I want you just for you to blow me off again?" Zion asked rhetorically, his eyes never leaving Mayah's.

"I walked in on you fucking some bitch in my bed, Zion!" Mayah snapped.

"It was over a year ago and I've been apologizing for it ever since. I was kinda drunk and high and she came on to me."

"And that's supposed to make it right?" Mayah narrowed her eyes at him.

"That's not what i'm saying, shorty." He ran

his hands over his face and let out a groan. "What I'm saying is that for the past 18 months I've been trying to get yo ass back. I watched the girl I love go on dates and flirt with nigga after nigga. But regardless of how bad I want to cuss you out for even giving them the time of day, I understand."

"Understand what?"

"That I fucked up and another nigga was gon' cuff you up eventually." He said, making a pit form in Mayah's stomach.

"After that one time at the restaurant when I crashed your date and you went off on me, I understood. I understood that you weren't obligated to stay single just because I was and I should've expected you to move on eventually."

"I guess I just didn't understand how you could move on so easily yet I can't even imagine getting into another relationship with someone that isn't you. Even the times that I did involve myself with some random bitches, I had to think about you to even get hard." He stepped forward, his chest on hers.

"You're in my mind 24/7, shorty. I can't even look at another female without imagining you and that pretty ass face. And you're out here hugging up on another nigga the same way you used to be hugged up on me. How you think I feel?" He stared down at her.

With one swift movement, Mayah's back was pushed up against the railing and Zion's hands gripped the railing on either side of her body, preventing her from moving. But his hands couldn't prevent her eyes from wandering away from his face, trying her hardest to avoid making eye contact with him. She knew once she looked him in the eyes, she'd fold.

"I'm in love with you, Kamayah." He spoke. "Been in love with yo ass since that first time you corrected me in Ms. Bernard's Geometry class in 11th grade." He made her crack a smile, replaying the moment in her head.

Anti-social Kamayah had took it upon herself to correct Zion's arrogant ass who sat in the seat right in front of her in Geometry, giving her a chance to look at the answers on his test which were all wrong but that didn't really surprise her. He was always kinda slow.

"You was just a dumbass lil' nigga. How you get all the answers wrong? Like really? Not even one was right?" She laughed. Zion sucked his teeth and hold his smile back. "Shut up."

"But I'm glad I got 'em wrong though, or else you might've never talked to me." He smirked.

"You're corny but you right, I probably wouldn't have talked to you. We ran in completely different groups." She chuckled, finally meeting his eyes.

Zion's gaze dropped to her lips and he sucked in his breath. Even though they still have sex from time to time, even after breaking up, him and Mayah are never affectionate— especially in public. She wouldn't let him touch her, kiss her, or hug her so people would insinuate anything.

The only time they'd kiss was during sex. So Zion hadn't truly and genuinely kissed her in two years, and he was eager to taste her lips again.

Once Mayah broke eye contact again and looked off towards the door, Zion stepped back and accepted his defeat.

He cleared his throat,"You should prolly call yo ole boy back." He turned around, not waiting for a response.

Mayah realized that if she let Zion walk back into the house with the conversation ending on that note, he was gone for good— no more corny pick up lines, no more doing little stuff to be near her or touch her, no more telling Cee to tell Mayah to hold his hand— and that didn't sit right with her.

She stepped off the railing and grabbed his inner elbow, making him stumble back towards her. He stared down at her with confused eyes before she wrapped both arms around his neck and stood on her tip toes to press her forehead against his.