Poison // Jay Critch ✔️

35

Rose ☕️

Later That Morning...

I sat in Mac's kitchen beside Mekhi.

He had basically forced me down here to talk to my alleged father. I could've been in bed, sleeping the day away, but nope. i NeEd ClOsUre. 🙄

"How you feeling?", Mekhi asks me, rubbing my back.

"I'm good, I guess. I honestly don't feel any type of emotion right now.", I answer with a shrug. "I'm chilling.", I add.

"Good. We don't need you storming off during this conversation.", he says, and I roll my eyes.

"I won't. I'm too lazy to walk away anyway.", I respond, waving him off.

Before Mekhi could say anything else, footsteps were heard coming towards the kitchen.

"Good morning, y'all.", Mac says, walking in.

"Morning.", Mekhi responds and I stay silent, only to get a thump on my ear.

"Good morning.", I finally respond, mugging my petty boyfriend.

"So..", Mac says, standing on the opposite side of the counter, looking at me.

"You ready to get this out of the way?", he asks and I nod.

"Well, I wanna start by saying that I'm sorry if I came off a lil' creepy. It's just that every time I saw you, I just wanted to blurt out that you were my kid.", he begins, and I nod again. "And you look a lot like your mama, so I couldn't help but stare."

"But anyways.. my name is David MacKenzie, which is where I get the nickname Mac from. You're Rosalyn Amira MacKenzie, but your adoptive parents changed your name?"

Nodding I say, "Rosalyn LeAnne Dues."

"My granny's name was Rosalyn, and you have her eyes, so I gave you her name."

"Not to be rude, but can we get to the adoption part? I'm just so anxious to hear about that.", I ask him, and he nods. "No problem."

"Well, it was the day you were born. I was 16 at the time, and your mama was 15. She went through almost 35 hours of labor to get you here, and we were happy. We honestly were.", he says.

"But we just couldn't take care of you. We were kids ourselves, and we weren't ready for the responsibility. So, we put you up for adoption, and they found you a nice family before we even got out of the hospital.", he finishes, and I simply stare at him with a blank look.

"Can you say something? Please?", he asks me, and I shrug.

"I mean...", I say, lost for words.

I knew what I wanted to say, I just didn't know how to word it.

"I can understand why y'all made that decision and I respect it. It was a good one.", I tell him, smiling softly.

"That's good. Your adoptive parents did a good job raising you. You're smart as hell and you got good manners. Way better than I could've done.", he says, mirroring my facial expressions. "Thanks, Mac. That means a lot."

"This is just beautiful right here.", Mekhi says, breaking his silence. "A father and daughter reuniting after 20 years. Ellen could never."

"I ruined the moment?", he asks, noticing the way Mac and I were looking at him. "Very much so.", I answer, giggling.

"So, Rose. Can your dad get his first hug from his kid?", Mac asks me, and I look at Mekhi for permission. "Go ahead, bae. That's ya' pops.", he answers, and I hop off my stool.

He meets me halfway and brings me into a bear hug.

Another set of arms wrap around us, and I automatically know who it is.

"Mekhi...", I mumble, making him smack his lips.

"I felt lonely.", he responds but let's go anyway.

"Now.. I have 20 years worth of things to catch up on, so get to talking."

—

Once again.. FIVE is out now! Go run that up for me pleeeaaseee 💙 I expect to wake up to hella notifications 🥴