What I Have

|22|

Two Weeks Later

The Hamptons

Egypt POV

After taking a shower and getting myself cleaned up, I walked around the huge estate, trying to get to the studio I knew my mother was in with her writing camp.

Because of everything that happened with Christian and with his funeral only being a few days ago, my mama thought it would be a good idea for me to fly out with her to the Hamptons. A ritual she always did when it came to writing and creating her albums. She loved being ducked off on the estate and having free reign to work on the album and focus without any extra distractions of the city, whether it be LA or Houston. And my mama definitely needed a break to express her creativity with all the stress she's experienced, especially with moving.

Finally making my way to the studio, I gently knocked on the closed door and opened it slowly. Peeking in, I carefully made my way inside the studio as my mother announced something about a particular verse in a song she was working on. I noticed Justin Timberlake, The-Dream, Honey Dijon, Dixson, Nija, Raphael Saadiq, and a few other black songwriters and some white ones also that I didn't know by name or recognize.

My mama raised her head, singing some lyrics when she made eye contact with me. Stopping her singing, she smiled at me and waved me over. "Hey baby, come here."

Everyone else followed her gaze and all eyes were on me. "Sorry for interrupting y'all." I apologized.

"Don't worry about it." My mama assured me.

"Hey Egypt." I heard everyone say.

"Hey y'all." I responded, acknowledging everyone. Walking over to my mama at one of the tables in the studio, I hugged her when I approached her.

"How'd you sleep?" She asked me, pulling away from the embrace and looking up at my face to examine me.

"Alright, I guess." I mumbled.

"Well you slept in pretty late today. I'm surprised you didn't wake up when I got out of bed."

"Me too. Everything seems to wake me up these days." I mentioned. With my mild PTSD and anxiety that was caused by the driveby, made me a light sleeper as of lately. In return, I can't get much sleep or a good quality sleep. That also played a part in my moodiness and slight depression.

"Just keep trying those sleeping pills that were prescribed." She spoke lowly, rubbing my back. "You still taking your anxiety and anti-depressants?"

"I only take the anxiety pills when I really can't function properly, which isn't too often. And I haven't really touched the depressants."

"Alright, but remember they're there if you need them. There's some leftover food from breakfast, go to the kitchen and ask the chef to warm up the food for you."

"Okay mama. Bye y'all." I spoke, making my way through the studio to the door. Everyone said their goodbyes as I left out of the studio and walked to the kitchen.

I did as my mother said and politely asked the chef to warm up the leftover breakfast for me. Once the food was ready, I sat down at the exquisite long dining room table and ate as I scrolled through my socials.

Looking through my Instagram and checking my DMs, I noticed a strange message from some girl I didn't know. From the start of the message, I was curious as to why she was reaching out to me. Putting my fork down, I put all of my attention on my phone and opened the direct message.

PrettyEyes

I'm sorry to reach out to you like this, but I have no one else to turn to. I was told you were Christian's girlfriend when he passed. Christian and I were involved a while back, but things just didn't work out. In that timeframe, I became pregnant. I didn't find out until we were already broken up and I didn't want to bother Christian. We were over each other and with his lifestyle...look, Christian is the father of my son. I finally decided I was going to reach out to him when I realized I wouldn't be able take care of our child on my own, to only find out he got murdered. His mother wants absolutely nothing to do with me and doesn't believe my son is Christian's.