As Lily held the picture, she jogged downstairs and ran outside, jogging up to Kayson as he planted and worked out on the field.
"Kayson! Kayson!" Lily chanted as she wailed the picture out in her hands. "Look! Look at what I found!"
Kayson wiped his forehead with his glove and glanced down at the picture of Lily and Asha. He scrunched his eyebrows down at the picture, scratching his head.
"A picture of Asha and her little girl?" Kayson asked.
"Yeah, not look at my baby picture."
Lily placed a picture of herself next to it, watching Kayson's eyes widen in shock.
"Wait a minute...." Kayson paused.
"Yeah!" Lily nodded, giving him a shocked look.
"You.......you can't be Asha's daughter!" Kayson laughed. "Her daughter died in a fire!"
"But when I watched the show, it said that the police couldn't identify the children." Lily panted. "So.....?"
Even though Asha had the picture, it was pretty difficult for him to believe that she was the daughter of a superstar. So Lily took Kayson upstairs to show him all of the other pictures she found inside of the box. Iyana followed after them, looking at the pictures as well. One photo she pulled out, was a picture of Kayson, Tyler, Isaiah, and Iyana in the delivery room. Minutes after Tyler gave birth to Iyana.
But after 10 years, Kayson or Iyana didn't recognize Isaiah, Tyler, or the baby, which was Iyana herself.
"Do you know who this is?" Lily asked in a confused tone.
"No?" Kayson chuckled. "I have no clue."
Lily squinted her eyes at the picture, leaning back.
"I don't know who they are, either." Lily groaned.
"Me either!" Iyana squealed.
"Iyana, of course not." Kayson groaned. "You had to be like a baby when these pictures were born."
"Well, what about my picture?" Lily asked. "Even if Asha isn't my mother, I know her in some sort of way."
As Kayson shrugged, Lily stood up and glared evily out of the window.
"You better keep that shit to yourself." Kayson said in a serious tone. "You know dad is combative-"
"No. I'm going to ask him." Lily growled.
"Leave it, Lil-"
"No. I want to know why dad had sexual relations with her and didn't tell me." Lily growled. "I DESERVE to know."
"Yeah you say that now, but are you gonna say something when dad gets here?" Kayson scoffed as the three made their way back downstairs.
"You'll see." Lily nodded. "Watch."
But Lily and the others had a lot of waiting to do. Abel didn't get home until 8:00pm, so it was going to be a minute. As Lily and Iyana started preparing for dinner early, Madilyn walked onto the field. As Kayson cupped the top of his eyes to see who it was from the sunlight, he smiled a little and went right back to planting his fruits and veggies.
"Hey, Maddy!" Kayson smiled.
"Hey!" Madilyn smiled as she kept her hands into her pockets. "Sup?"
"Nothin'." Kayson mumbled as he raked his fingers in the dry soil. "Plantin'."
Madilyn glanced down at him, wiggling her fingers in her pockets.
"What you wanna be when you grow up, Kays?"
"A farmers boy like my father." Kayson smiled. "I'm gonna find me a wife that's gonna cook, clean, and take care of all 6 of my children."
"6 children?!" Madilyn gasped.
"Yep." Kayson nodded. "What you wanna be?"
"I'm gonna be a housewife who works too." Madilyn grinned. "Girls can work just like men."
"Not as hard."
"How do you know?"
"Men are naturally stronger than women." Kayson shrugged. "Physically, too."
Madilyn glanced down, taking a deep breath.
"I'm getting married, Kayson."
Kayson glanced up at her, pointing his bottom lip out.
"Congratulations!" Kayson smiled. "You happy?"
Madilyn shook her head, staring out at the horizons as her fluffy red hair blew in the wind.
"I'm terrified." Madilyn said in a shaky tone.
"Why?"
Out of nowhere, Madilyn's adoptive fathers raggedy blue truck came pulling down the roadway. He'd just got done buying a lot of fruits from another farmer on the island.
"Come on, Madilyn!" Her father chanted. "I'm done buying the fruits."
Madilyn quickly placed a smile on her face, waving at Kayson as she jogged to her car.
"Goodbye, Kayson!" Madilyn smiled.
"Bye!"
But Madilyn wasn't fooling Kayson at all. By the way she was looking and fiddling her fingers, he could tell that there was something wrong with her. To him, it seemed like something more than an arranged marriage.
When Abel got home, as always, dinner was ready. Iyana and Lily made some parmesan crusted chicken along with some cheese mash potatoes and some greens. After saying grace, everyone at the table seemed to dig right into their food.
Everyone, accept for Lily. She was ready to get down to business.
"How are those grades looking, Kays?" Abel asked in a stern tone, eating his food.
"Consistent as always." Kayson mumbled in an unmoved tone, moving a progress report of all his classes next to him. "Check to see yourself."
As Abel expected, Kayson's grades were flawless. Not a single B was on the report card.
Next, was Lily.
"I already checked yours, Iyana." Abel groaned as he looked at Lily. "Lily?"
Lily didn't say anything. She picked with her foot, watching Abel's face grow a little more stern.
"Hello?" Abel scoffed.
"I have my grades right here." Lily mumbled as she slid him a small folded half sheet of paper.
As Abel took the paper and unraveled it, he realized that it was the photo of Asha and Lily. After leaving these secrets in the closet for a decade and some change, it was finally out. Abel glanced at the photo, looking back up at Lily as she refused to give him any eye contact.
"So who's that, dad?" Lily said, keeping her eyes down onto her plate.
Abel didn't say anything. Kayson and Iyana sat nervous at the table, not knowing what was going to happen. At any point, they were waiting for Abel to snap and start beating Lily on the spot.
But what they weren't expecting, was for her to stand up to him.
"Wow you're silent for the first time." Lily chuckled as she picked with her mashed potatoes. "That says something."
"You will not back-sass me at this table, damnit." Abel growled.
"I deserve to know who my real mother is!" Lily barked, standing up and banging on the table.
Kayson's heart started to race, worrying about what was going to happen to Lily next.
"You sit down right now, Lily!" Abel barked.
"Or what? What are you gonna do?" Lily snapped, not backing down. "Beat me with a belt? Make me sleep outside!"
"Lily-"
"Is that my real mother, Dad?" Lily scowled. "Is Asha really my mother!"
Abel didn't answer her. Lily grinned a little, storming out and making her way upstairs.
"Well until you tell me, I'm not doing anything." Lily growled, stomping up the stairs. "I'm not cooking, cleaning, or doing SHIT until I find out!"
Abel sighed, covering his face and shaking his head. Like nothing happened, Abel went right back to eating his dinner like nothing happens. Since Iyana was so young, she had no clue about what was going on. As for Kayson, of course he sided with Abel. Abel cared the most about Kayson, so of course he was going to go with whatever he said. He was almost like Abel's little follower, at the least.
When Kayson, Iyana, and Abel got finished eating dinner, Kayson jogged upstairs and headed to his room, when he heard the sound of rustling and zipping from Lily's room. When he walked inside, he saw Lily packing and stuffing a lot of clothes into her suitcase.
"What are you doing, Lily?" Kayson chuckled.
Lily sighed, resting on the suitcase and looking up at him.
"I'm going to America, Kayson." Lily said in a serious tone. "I snuck a little bit of dad's money and his credit card in preparation of paying for the ticket."
"What?!" Kayson scoffed. "What the hell do you want to go to a horrible country like that, for?"
"I'm going to go find my mother."
Kayson wiped his face, shaking his head.
"Lily, you going a little overboard with this." Kayson groaned. "You don't even know if that girl in that picture is you."
"So it's just a coincidence that Dad has keepsake photos inside of his box of an A-List Asha along with a little girl that resembles me JUST LIKE THE GIRL on TV?" Lily said. "Coincidence, I think not."
"Lord..."
"It'll be simple." Lily chanted. "All we have to do is order the tickets online and bri-"
"Wait wait wait, where's this 'we' coming in the picture?" Kayson scoffed.
"You're coming with me, right?" Lily asked.
"And risk being brutally murdered by dad?" Kayson asked in a serious tone, shaking his head. "No."
"Oh come on, Kayson!" Lily snapped as Iyana stepped into the room. "If you cared, you wouldn't let me go by myself!"
Lily turned to Iyana, smiling at her.
"How would you like to go to America, Iyana?" Lily smiled.
"Really?" Iyana gasped. "Sure!"
"Wait wait wait wait, Iyana's not going anywhere." Kayson growled as he pulled her beside him. "She's 10 years old!"
"You don't make decisions for her." Lily growled as she tugged her away. "It would be way easier for you to just come with us."
"I'm not about to risk getting in trouble with dad." Kayson scowled. "Sorry."
"Oh for fucks sake, Kayson!" Lily barked. "Why don't you pop dads penis out of your mouth for two seconds and make a decision that doesn't involve him for once!"
"Forget the fact about dad, how the hell are you going to survive on your own in that dog-eat-dog country out there?" Kayson barked in a louder tone. "Please explain!"
"I told you that I have some of dad's money." Lily mumbled.
Kayson snatched the wad of cash out of Abel's wallet, flashing his money in her face.
"This money doesn't get you SHIT in America, Lily! Did you know that?" Kayson growled as the dollar bills flared out of his grip. "This is money for this country and this country only!"
"I can trade it in!"
Kayson smiled at her, laughing and folding his arms.
"So you have $1,000 dollars here, huh? That's worth $266.63 in American dollars, so let's add this up. Let me guess, your flight will cost you probably around $200 which makes that $800 left. That's $213.30 in American dollars." Kayson said, lifting his index finger up. "When you touchdown in America, you don't and won't know how to drive so you'll more than likely have to walk to a hotel to stay in. A room per night will probably be around $150.00, meaning that you'd only be able to stay in a hotel for ONE NIGHT before they kick your ass out. That'll leave you with $63 dollars, no car, and homeless."
As Lily glanced down, Kayson wasn't letting up on her.
"This means that you'd probably have to go and come back home, oh wait, you CANT! Because you won't have enough fucking money to get back, take a cab, or whatever the hell else you're planning to do! So tell me how long you're planning on staying in America, again?" Kayson growled. "You would know all of this if you got anything higher than a C in world literature and History!"
Lily didn't say anything. She turned away, looking up at Iyana.
"So are you coming or not, Iyana?" Lily asked, being in complete denial.
Iyana stepped back with Kayson, shaking her head.
"No...." Iyana mumbled.
"So you're just gonna let me go by myself, huh?" Lily growled as tears formed in her eyes, looking up at Kayson and Iyana. "Huh!?"
"After I told you what I just told you, go ahead." Kayson shrugged in a disappointed tone. "But me and Iyana aren't going to kill and starve ourselves by leaving a good and well home."
"She could be your mother too, Kayson." Lily growled. "And you're sitting here acting stubborn."
"Even if she is, I don't care." Kayson shrugged. "My life is doing great."
"Dad putting you to work like you're his goddamn slave and you think that this is okay." Lily mumbled. "He's brainwashing you-"
"I have a 4.0 GPA, making my own money each day by selling my own fruits and veggies, have almost every big college in Saudi Arabia giving me a free ride there, have friends, a nice home, and everything else that a boy my age would want just to be 15." Kayson interrupted. "I say that my life is pretty fucking great."
Lily smiled, shaking her head as she zipped up her suitcase.
"Fine." Lily growled. "Bye."
As Kayson and Iyana made their way out of the room, Kayson turned around and gave her one last statement.
"How harsh and cold it is in America, you're going to be banging and begging for dad to reopen his door in no time." Kayson mumbled. "I guarantee it."
Lily's determination to find her mother was gold, but Kayson ultimately had the better hand and point. Why would you want to mess up your life by going somewhere with virtually no money, no job, and nowhere to go or stay?
Getting to America, wasn't as easy as Lily thought it was going to be.