𝐁𝐄𝐘𝐎𝐍𝐃 | 𝐃. 𝐃𝐢𝐕𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐳𝐨 |

017

"what happened?" kasara asked, suddenly intrigued.

"rini fought her mother..." donte chuckled, smiling at the memory.

kasara's eyes widened and a smile grew on her face as she let out a loud laugh. "no way! are you serious."

"yes," i groaned, nodding my head. "and im just hoping that i won't have to do that tonight, so let's pray things go well..."

we stood in the lobby of the restaurant for a moment, waiting to be seated when i spotted my mother and my father walking towards us.

"oh god..." i mumbled.

gary's head snapped up and he followed my gaze and his face dropped as well. "jesus, the devil's advocates have arrived..."

beside me, donte shifted uncomfortably. i looked down and saw that his knee was bouncing up and down like he did when he was anxious or uncomfortable.

landon was in donte's lap, and just so happened to be sitting on the knee that donte was bouncing, and because landon didn't understand why donte was bouncing his knee, he was giggling as if it was some kind of fun ride.

while i wanted to smile and laugh with landon, i just couldn't when i knew that donte was uncomfortable by just seeing my parents because of how badly they had treated him during their first encounter.

i reached over and laced my fingers with donte's. he looked down at me and gave me a small smile. i returned the smile and rested my head on his shoulder; and just like that, his knee stopped bouncing.

"well, if it isn't my daughter," my mother said as she walked up to us. "long time, no see..."

i plastered a fake smile on my face and stood up. "hi, mom.."

my mother turned and faced donte and frowned, rolling her eyes slightly. "donte."

"mrs. payton," donte said politely. "nice to see you again."

my mother scoffed. "i wish i could say the same.."

donte sighed and nodded his head. "alright..."

"who's this?" my father asked, motioning to landon, who was now in donte's arms.

landon looked over at my father and shrunk up into donte's arms, and buried his face in donte's chest. i moved over beside donte and ran my hand over landon's curly ginger hair and kissed his forehead, a way of me assuring him that everything was okay.

"this is landon..." donte said, his voice full of sternness and confidence.

my father raised his eyebrow and shook his head. "what, y'all babysitting or something?"

"no," gary said, shaking his head. "that's their son."

my mother turned to face me and frowned. "you had a baby by this man? serenity payton, have you lost your mind?"

"this may not be my business," kasara said. "but um, why is the fact that they have a child, any of y'all business?"

my father turned his attention to kasara and narrowed his eyes. "who are you?"