The Girl is Mine • MJ Fanfic • COMPLETED

Forty-Eight: Marriages, Disapprovals, Apologies, and the Act of Love

Michael's POV

The room had become consumed with a grim silence after Lauren stormed out. Everyone's expressions weren't really readable, including mine. I didn't really know what to say at this very moment, so I just swallowed the lump in my throat.

"Katherine, it's nice to see you again," Elizabeth spoke up as she greeted my mother.

I almost forgot she was even here honestly.

"Mm. Hello, Elizabeth." She replied simply, not bothering to look her way. "I wish I could say the same," she mumbled in a snarky tone.

Clearing my throat, I decided to speak up before either one of them could say anything else. "I'm sorry, Elizabeth, this is Lance and Shanice. Lauren's parents." I said properly introducing them.

"Pleased to meet you," Elizabeth greeted them warmly.

"Likewise," Shanice returned with a smile. "I'm sorry that you traveled all this way, Ms. Taylor."

"Please call me, Liz." She said. "And it's not that much trouble. I never miss an opportunity to come and see Michael. And of course, I've been excited to meet Lauren."

"Well, allow me to at least apologize for everything you walked into just now. Especially on Lauren's behalf," Shanice said causing me to scoff silently.

"There's no need to apologize. But I would love to speak to Lauren, if that's okay," Liz said as she turned to me.

"Um," I started as I looked around confused, not really knowing what to say, being that I had no idea of her whereabouts.

"Good luck with that," Shanice chuckled. "Lauren's off somewhere stuck in her ways." She added, and I sighed.

"That's nothing new for us women," Liz laughed lightly. "Besides, I know a thing or two about marriages and disapprovals." She joked.

"Tuh," my mother scoffed as she shook her head. We all looked in her direction, as she took a sip of her drink.

"How about we stop this now before this gets out of hand," I chimed in, not giving Liz a chance to speak. "Mother, I don't know what's the problem between you and Liz, but y'all need to handle it or just don't acknowledge each other at all. And whatever you said to Dunk earlier, you need to apologize to her." I said before turning my attention to Shanice. "I understand you're pissed off right now, because there's a lot of that going around at the moment. But solely blaming Lauren is unnecessary. Yes, she may have went a little overboard, but can any of you blame her? It seems that y'all are forgetting she's 7 months pregnant and hormonal. It would be nice to cut her some slack." I defended. "Maybe she was right, because y'all are making me regret even bringing y'all here."

"Michael-"

"Why are y'all so against this wedding anyway?" I asked out of frustration as I cut Shanice off.

"I don't mean to interrupt, but I really do wanna talk to her. I'm sure right about now, she'd rather talk to me than to any of you," Liz spoke up.

"If that's what you wanna do, good luck," I enthused. "Bill could you help her look?" I asked and he immediately agreed. "Be sure to get some security to help. I'm not sure she's even still on the property." I shrugged.

Despite everything we talked about, apart of me was still skeptical of Lauren and her reactions. And honestly, I probably wouldn't blame her if she ran off this time. I was just about sick of seeing every single face that sat before me in this room.

"I'm actually gonna go with them," Ashlyn said as she got up from her seat, quickly making an exit.

Turning my attention back to everyone at the table, I cleared my throat as I awaited a response.