Chapter TwentySix
Chris Brown
Tarzana, California - A Week Before Mya's Birthday
Walking out of the studio I went over to the couch and sat down. It felt good to finally have a little peace and quiet and it's probably shocking that my old house is where I'm getting that. Back home it's been nothing but chaos. Kids everywhere, toys everywhere, Mya's random attitudes or her going crazy over her birthday, it's just been too much.
I need a little peace and quiet so I told everybody I was going out of town but I've been here. I kind of feel bad because I know Mya's schedule is busy and now she has the kids but I just needed a minute. I planned to go home today, we'll see how I'm feeling.
I was getting ready to take my tenth nap for the day, something I could never do at home. As soon as I got comfortable and closed my eyes, my front door opened causing me to quickly sit up.
Who the fuck is this?!
Eventually I heard Hoody's voice. He must've been on the phone because his voice was the only one I heard.
"Kayla, why can't you just sit down and talk to me. I'm trying to be here for you and my kid but you want to make this hard. I know you hurt from everything I did but I'm trying to fix that." He said.
I walked to where he was. When he finally realized I was there his eyes bulged then he quickly got off the phone. "Nigga, I thought you was out of town." He said.
"Yeah, technically. What up fool.
"What up, so why you tell everybody you was out of town?"
"Man...my house is like a circus and I needed a break before I went crazy. I don't know what's going on but everybody there was losing they mind."
Hoody laughed. "Mya gone kill you when she find out you still here."
"She probably will but oh well. She the main problem. I don't know what the hell she got going on but Mya been on some bullshit these past couple weeks. I'm ready to cancel everything I planned for her birthday."
"Nigga you ain't gone do that. She probably just got a lot going on. You married fool, you ain't supposed to just run away when shit get crazy."
"I've asked her a million times what the problem was and her answer was always nothing and then she'd leave or something. I was done trying. I told her I had to go do some shit out of town for a few days, she said bye, packed up the kids and left out the house then I left and came here."
"Shit is crazy." Hoody shook his head.
"Tell me about it. Like what is she mad about. Everything is going perfect for us right now, why does this woman have an attitude?"
"Ain't that what women do? Have random attitudes?"
"Man....so what's going on with you and Kayla?"
"Nothing, at all. I've tried everything to get back on her good side and it's not even for us to get back together but just to be in my kid life with no issues and she ain't letting up."
"Well I mean, you did have a baby on her. You really think shit gone be a piece of cake because you trying? Mya gave me the hardest time for months after I fucked up. I thought shit would never get better but it did thankfully."
"Like I said I'm not trying to get back with her, I know shit is so fucked up because of what I did. I just want to help with my kid."
"Something I've learned from my issues is that begging and being a nag don't help at all. You gotta give them space. Nigga you watched everything that I went through with Mya, you ain't learn from that? I did so much stupid shit trying to get her back or at least be cordial for our son sake. Nothing worked until I gave her space. They gotta be ready to open up to you on their own. You can't force nothing. Nothing you say or do is going to help and the wound is still fresh, shit happened a couple months ago. Like just chill, let Kayla come to you when she ready. Don't pressure her."
Hoody nodded. "Damn, I never thought you'd be giving advice about relationships."
"Me either but going through shit really helps. I learned a lot when me and Mya broke up."
"Well go sit Mya down and make her tell you what's wrong. It gotta be something. You know sis a little difficult."
"Indeed." I exhaled. "I guess I'll go talk to her. Her 30th birthday next week, the last thing we need is to be mad at each other." I went and grabbed my stuff. "Alright bro, ima holla at you."
"Alright Nigga, be easy."
Climbing into my truck, I pulled my phone out my pocket to call Mya, but as soon as I was getting ready to do that, she was calling me.
"Hello." I answered.
"Hey Chris, it's Mya's assistant Natalie."
"Hey."
"I know you're wondering why I'm calling. Um, Mya passed out here at the warehouse and had to be rushed to the hospital because her blood pressure was super low. She didn't want me to say anything to you but I had to. Im up here with her now."
What the fuck?!
"Alright, I got her location, I'm coming."
"Okay, I'll meet you at the back entrance just let me know when you're outside."
"Alright." I quickly hung up and sped off. Mya's location showed that she was Sinai so I headed there. In no time I was pulling up and her assistant was outside waiting. "So what's the full story Natalie." I asked while walking up to her.
"She had been complaining about a headache all day and that she felt nauseous. I offered her something to eat, and something to drink. She said she was hungry but could take some water, so I got that for her. Mya drunk the water and minutes later she was throwing it up. So I asked if she wanted to go home, she said no and that she was fine. We both continued working then next thing I know, there's this loud crash from her office. I rush inside and she's passed out on the floor. I called EMS because we could wake her up. They came and checked her out, said her blood pressure was extremely low and brought her here."
I couldn't even say anything because the shit don't make any sense to me.
We finally got in her room.
"She's awake, I'll be out here if you guys need anything." Natalie said.
"Thanks." I headed inside. "Mya."
She looked over at me then up at the ceiling. "I told her not to call you."
"And why the fuck would you do that?"
"Aren't you supposed to be out of town? How did you even get here so fast?"
"Cut the bullshit alright, why did you pass out? What's going on?"
"Probably just tired. I'm working, I have the kids, you did decide to just up and leave out of nowhere. That's something that doesn't normally happen." Mya side eyed me.
She was trying to turn this shit on me and that's just gone piss me off and cause me to go off.
"I've been gone for two days. How could you be that damn tired?"
"I have a baby and 5 year old that needs me. Jade wakes up a couple hours before Landon has school, so after I feed her, I'm up until I have to get him ready. And once he's in school, I have to take Jade all the way to my moms then go all the way to my warehouse where I'm working nonstop so that I can have my birthday collection out in time. I know you think you're the only busy one around here superstar, but you're really not."
"Mya before I left, I was taking Landon to school and dropping Jade off because I knew you were getting up early to feed her. You were home from your warehouse everyday at 7, maybe 9 some nights. So within two damn days your life has just gotten so crazy."
"It has."
"Pure cap my nigga. Why you lying to me? What the hell you hiding?"
"I should ask you the same thing. I called to see if your jet landed, it never left LA. So where have you really been Chris?"
My eyes squinted. I don't know why I ever try to get shit past her. But this ain't about me right now. "Since you did all that, you had to check my location and see where I was, so why act clueless?"
"So you're back to lying I see."
"And you're beginning to lie I see."
"Why did you tell me that you were going out of town just to be in Tarzana? What kind of bullshit is going on over there?"
"It wasn't shit going on over there but me working."
"Pure cap my nigga."
"Believe whatever the fuck you want to Mya, I was chilling the entire time. Wasn't nobody there but me so whatever you got running through yo head, forget about it."
"Why did you tell me you were going out of town?"
"Because I've been dealing with yo random ass attitude for weeks and to keep me from strangling you, I left."
"I don't have an attitude."
"You do, I came to check up on you and not only did you turn this on me, you told Natalie to not even tell me what kind of shit was that."
"You're supposed to be out of town."
"But you knew I wasn't. What's going Mya? You passing out, throwing up, blood pressure low...what is it? Another baby? That's why you mad cause you gone be pregnant on your birthday.....aaaaaaaahhh I get it now." I smirked while nodding.
"Yeah, no."
"So what's the cause of all this?"
"I don't know, but I'm fine now so you can g—." Before she could finish the door opened and a doctor and a nurse walked in.
"Hello Mrs. Brown." The doctor said. "I'm Dr.Adams I'm going to be taking care of you."
Mya started looking nervous as she sat up. "Hello."
"So I have an idea of what may be going on with you. Are you okay with me discussing with everyone in the room?"
"You're saying that you don't have to?"
"No ma'am."
"Bye Chris."
My eye bulged. "Excuse me."
"I'll see you at home, or whenever you get back from your "trip", bye."
"I'm her husband, do I really have to go?" I asked Dr. Adams.
"Unfortunately Mr. Brown you do...I'm a big fan of yours by the way."
"I bet you are." Shaking my head I stood up. "I'll see you at home Mya." As soon as I walked out Natalie rushed over to me.
"Is she okay?"
"I wouldn't know....walk down to the garage with me."
"Okay."
We headed to the elevator.
"Has anything been off with Mya lately?" I asked her.
"Ummm, I don't think so. She's seemed pretty normal to me. A bit cranky but normal."
"And she swears she's not pregnant." I said as we walked onto the elevator.
"She's not, I bought her tampons the other day."
"I'm just not getting why this happened."
"Your body has a mind of its own. She's been working pretty hard to make sure her birthday line is perfect so that could be stressing her. Oh yeah, and losing weight."
I rolled my eyes. "Mya and her damn weight." The elevator got to the garage. Before I got off I dug in my pocket and pulled out a wad of money and counted off 4,000 dollars. "Do me a favor?"
"What's that?"
"Mya's discharge papers, I want you to send me pictures of them. Knowing her, she's going to throw them away just so I won't find out what's wrong."
"If she finds out, I'll be fired. I can't do this."
"If she fires you, you can just work for me." I smiled while passing her the money.
"Do I really have to? I like working with Mya and I'd rather stay of this."
"If that's the case you wouldn't have called like she said. Unfortunately Natalie, you're in it. I'll be waiting for those pictures. Spend that money wisely." I tapped her arm then went over to my car.
I can't wait to find out what Mya is hiding.
Mya Brown
"So Mya, from your test results you are severely dehydrated, your sugar was very low and your blood pressure. I tested your urine sample for diabetes that wasn't the case, I looked up your medical history and you've never had low sugar before, so my next question is when was the last time you ate?" Dr. Adams asked me.
"This morning." I quickly lied.
"From your test results, that can't be true. Mrs. Brown you should be in a coma right now with how low your vitals were. With what I've seen it looked like you were starving yourself."
"That's insane, why would I do that?"
"That's what I'm wondering."
We just stared at each other until I looked down at my blanket. "It was more of a fasting, not me starving myself."
"How long has it been?"
"Like three weeks."
Dr. Adams sighed. "And you weren't Intaking any liquids?"
"Water whenever I got hungry, juice maybe if I couldn't handle just water."
"And your husband doesn't know, that's why you wanted him to leave."
"No he doesn't, look this may sound crazy but I was just trying to lose weight before my birthday."
"There's plenty of other ways to do that and much healthier ways. I mean some people do go on fasting where they eat nothing and drink water but the water is non stop. It has to match the nutrients you're missing from food, you can't just drinks bottle of water when you're stomach growls. And Mrs. Brown, you're not even overweight you look absolutely perfect."
"You can see that with me having this gown on? Before my kids I was a size 4, Im far from that now. My stomach looks gross after having my daughter, I look in the mirror and hate what I see. I just want to feel like me again." Tears rolled down my face.
Dr. Adams came and sat on the side of my bed then grabbed my hand. "Mya, I'm not a therapist or a psychiatrist but I'm telling you everything you're feeling is all in your head. Now listen I am a proud gay man, but when I tell you that you're breathtaking, I absolutely mean that. There is nothing for you to be insecure about. But I know me telling you won't make things better for you. You have to believe it. How old is your daughter?"
"Two months."
"You may be experiencing postpartum depression and it's weighing on your perception of yourself. And I know being in the public eye isn't making things easy either, right?"
"It really doesn't."
"You gotta learn that outsiders do not matter, only how Mya feels matters. Got it?"
I nodded while wiping my face. "Got it."
"Alright girl. So here's what we're going to do I'm going to personally order you a delicious salad nothing too heavy since you haven't eaten in a while and I'm not letting you out of here until you eat every single bite. Also Mya, I want you to look into talking to someone."
"I already have someone, I'll make an appointment soon."
"Good, lastly apologize to Chris and tell him what's going on. He deserves to know."
I nodded.
"Okay sweetie, I'll be back with your food and I'm going to get some more fluids for your IV." Dr. Adams said.
"Alright."
"Alright." He left out and I just sunk down in my bed while breaking down.
I knew this wasn't a good idea but I insisted on it, trying to lose weight. I feel so stupid right now.
And when I tell Chris he's going to be so pissed and he has every right to be. Being self conscious is going to be the death of me.
•••
It was three in the morning and I was finally home. Dr. Adams kept me there until my vitals looked good. He planned on keeping me overnight but I begged him to release me. All I wanted to do is take a hot shower and get in my bed.
After checking on the kids, I went to our room. Chris was laying in bed on his phone. Before we could say anything I went into the bathroom and got in the shower. I smelt like the hospital. Once I was done in there and I slid on my pajamas I went and got in bed.
Chris kept scrolling through his phone and I just stared at the TV. He started moving around making me look over at him while he sat up.
"Ready to tell me what was wrong?" He asked.
I slowly nodded. "I am."
"I'm listening."
"I really haven't been satisfied with the way I look after having Jade, something that you are aware of. With my birthday coming up I needed to lose weight and fast. Three weeks ago I decided to stop eating and intake water only. I knew that it could go bad but I did it anyway. From what I was told earlier, my vitals were so low I should've been in a coma. Dr. Adams had a long talk with me and said this all could be stemming from postpartum depression and maybe other things so I have to go talk to someone and soon....Thats it."
Chris inhaled deeply before rubbing his forehead. "I honestly don't know what to say Mya."
"Say something."
"Like what? I tell you you're beautiful and it's nothing wrong with you every chance that I get. You obviously don't believe it. And I feel like this issue ain't because of you or me, it's because of what you think other people will say."
"I don't care what people think."
"You definitely do Mya. It took a random doctor to tell you some shit for you to finally listen. But what I say don't matter."
"It does matter."
"So why don't you believe me when I tell you it's nothing wrong with your body Mya?!"
"I...I don't know."
"Of course you don't. You've been giving me hell for weeks all because you've been starving yourself? That's fucked up....I hope you didn't come home looking for sympathy cause I'm not giving it to you. This shit is crazy Mya. I really can't believe you." He scoffed while getting out of bed and going into the closet. I quickly got up and hurried in there. Chris was slipping on clothes.
"What are you doing? Where you going?"
"My house."
"Why Chris?"
"Because I need to be by myself right now."
"Chris you just don't understand."
"You right I don't. How hard was it for you to just go downstairs and work out? Its a whole fucking gym down there. I could've hired you a trainer, one of my best friends is a trainer and is fucking married to one. I told you, I'll work out with you. But nah, you either wanna lay on a surgery table or starve. I'm sorry Mya but the shit is stupid."
"I fucked up okay? I'm sorry. This isn't a reason to leave though."
"Don't you leave when I do stupid shit? When I fuck up?"
"This doesn't compare to you doing cocaine Chris."
He let out a small laugh. "It don't but it's still stupid." He slid his hoodie on and tried to walk out the closet but I blocked him. "Excuse me."
"Don't go."
"Can you please move?"
"You're overreacting."
"Right." He moved me inside the closet then walked out and out the room.
I rushed out the room after him. "It must be a bitch over there or something. You really ain't that mad about what I did, you're just using it as an excuse so you can get back to your bitch."
"Ain't no bitch, ain't nobody cheating on you. Go to bed Mya. Matter of fact, go eat."
"Whatever."
"Goodnight." He walked out the door, then I heard his car pulling off.
I let out a loud groan while tossing my head back.
This is some bullshit.