All of Me

Nine

Kai

The time was 9:37 a.m. and Kai sat behind her desk replying to emails to start off the relatively busy Thursday. Kai's phone sat on a stand a bit to her left, giving David a clear view of her face as he also did work on his end of the line in another state.

"When the last time you went by ya people," David randomly asked, continuing to type on his computer before sitting back and waiting for Kai's reply.

"I was at my dad's for a little last night, but I didn't want to smother him so I went back to my place," Kai poked out her bottom lip before continuing, "I went to see my mom a couple days ago."

"You ain't gonna smother the man," Dave chuckled. "You his daughter, of course he wanna spend time with you."

"I just don't know what to do, David," Kai sighed after a few seconds and leaned back in the chair with her head back, trying not to start crying when she had just managed to pull it back together and get to work. The news had hit the rest of their family a few days prior and everyone was hurting, trying not to bring that energy around Kareem, though.

Despite not being there initially due to being locked up in another state, Kareem has always been an incredibly active father in Kai's life; the same for her siblings as well. Struggling to not constantly think about the worst case scenario and living the rest of her life without the first person to show her what a man should be was overwhelming and frightening to say the least.

If she did have to say goodbye, Kareem would miss more graduations, weddings, grandkids, and a lot more. Kai's mind was moving much faster than it ever has and for the first time in a long time Kai was wondering if she was moving fast enough in her own life.

"Of course you'on know what to do, mama. You ain't neva been here before so all you can do is take it one day at a time and love on ya people, because they need you just as much as you need them," David spoke, gnawing at his cheek when Kai leaned forward to place her elbows on the desk and hid her face in her hands.

"Whatchu need from me right now," David inquired, uneasy at the sight of his woman crying when there was nothing he could do immediately, hours away.

"A long hug," Kai joked through her tears and let out a chuckle because she wasn't really serious. Her boyfriend was a busy man and there was no way Kai would be selfish enough to have him hop on a flight in the middle of the week just to come hug her.

David's gaze averted to the side of him as he got up to speak to someone in the background briefly before coming back to the phone. "Aight. I'm handlin' some shit but I got a flight to you before five."

Kai shook her head and wiped her face, "I wasn't serious-"

"But I am. I need you to eat at least one mo time before I get there, too."

"Damn, sergeant. I will," Kai scrunched her nose before smiling and the same smile spread across David's lips. "Wipe ya face, ya man on the way."

Kharisma

Walking out of her last class of the day at 3:15 p.m. on the dot, Kharisma took in a deep breath of fresh air and began the journey to her car in the student parking lot. On the second day of spring semester of junior year and the first time having a session for the survey research methods class for her psychology major, Riz could already tell it was about to be a ride.

However, before classes even started the day before Kharisma had been reminding herself that she'd just said goodbye to her boyfriend and found out about her dad's cancer nine days before. She couldn't be so hard on herself, as she had been accustomed to for so long. Patience was necessary and the only way she would adjust without losing her mind.