The next day, Kayson arrived at school and prepared to go about his day. He was feeling a little bummed because of how he found out his mother died, but he was more bummed about the fact that she was American. The fact that he would never get to meet his biological mother dawned a little bit on him. But something else he hadn't forgotten about, was Madilyn. Though he didn't like her all the way, he was pretty anxious to see her at school.
But again, she wasn't there. So he had to go about his day, hanging with Aahdi and Barack. While walking to lunch after three classes, the boys smiled at the majority of the Indian girls in the hall.
"Whew." Barack smiled. "These girls make my blood pressure go up."
"Aye, that isn't the only thing that they make go up for me." Aahdi grinned.
Kayson and Barack shook their heads as they walked through the filled hallways. It was this time that Kayson decided to ask them something in reference to himself.
"Hey uh.......how would you guys feel if you found out that a close friend liked an American girl?" Kayson asked. "I was wondering because someone here told me last night."
"Who?" Aahdi and Barack gasped.
Kayson's eyes widened as he turned away.
"Nah, I can't give any names." Kayson mumbled. "Not right now, at least."
"I bet you he's talking about Franklin." Barack growled. "All he likes are American girls."
"Yeah what a sell out." Aahdi growled. "If I were you Kays, I'd tell whoever that is to get a fucking grips on their heads!"
"Oh really?"
"Yeah!" Aahdi snarled as they stepped inside of their lunchroom. "They obviously haven't been paying too much attention to the beautiful foreign girls around here."
"Better yet, if they want fat slobs, tell them to head off to America themselves." Barack laughed as they got in the long lunch line. "They'll find plenty of them there!"
"Oh my god, Barack." Aahdi laughed. "This is why I love you!"
"Ahahaha." Kayson said, putting on a fake laugh. "Aheh....."
Kayson turned away, closing his eyes.
"Shit...." He thought.
And by having a possibility of liking Madilyn, he was putting his whole social life and friends on the line.
Meanwhile in America, Isaiah got off of work. Isaiah worked at Foot Locker. Even though Isaiah had became a better man, his past was still deeply engraved in his background. With all of his previous arrests, this prevented him from working anywhere serious or high paying. While assisting a customer with a certain shoe, one of his colleagues came out and alerted him about something.
"Telephone, Isaiah." One of his employees said as she walked over there. "I'll assist this customer."
Isaiah jogged to the back, answering the work phone.
"Hello?" Isaiah answered.
"Hi, this is the principal speaking for your sons elementary school." The woman on the other line said. "I wanted to alert you that your sons haven't been picked up for the last hour or so."
As always, Stephanie picked up the boys from school all the time. Why she didn't do it today? He didn't know.
"Alright." Isaiah sighed. "I'll be there."
Having to take off another day, Isaiah made his way to the school to pick up his kids. When Isaiah pulled up to the school, he made his way to the principals office and saw his kids sitting inside.
"Come on, y'all."
As they drove back, Isaiah glanced at the boys in the backseat and turned ahead.
"Why Steph ain't come get y'all?" Isaiah asked.
"We don't know." Maurice shrugged. "We tried calling her, but she didn't pick up."
Isaiah shook his head, turning to the window.
"Aight."
Isaiah pulled up into his middle class home, storming out of the car. Stephanie's car was in the driveway. With the door cracked, he barged inside and called out for Stephanie.
"Steph!" Isaiah chanted. "Why you ain't come get the kids? You know I had to work!"
There was nothing but silence. Isaiah groaned, jogging upstairs to their room. Nobody was there. He scrunched his eyebrows and looked in every room upstairs, trying to find any sign of her. There was none. Isaiah jogged back downstairs into the living room and looked around there. No sign of Stephanie. He stepped into the basement of the home, expecting to see her washing or something. No sign of Stephanie. Isaiah groaned as he jogged upstairs, calling her phone.
*Buzz!*
*Buzz!*
Isaiah turned to the kitchen counter, watching her Iphone 8s vibrate on the counter. He scrunched his eyebrows at her phone, walking towards it. His eyes widened as he stared off into space and in shock.
He knew that something was wrong.
"She left her phone. Crazy!" Jalen laughed. "Why would she do that?"
"Kids, y'all go get started on y'all homework." Isaiah said in a dazed tone, still staring off into space.
As the boys took their shoes off and raced upstairs, Isaiah turned to the door and stared out into space again.
"Lord..." Isaiah thought. "Not again.."
It was like Schaefer all over again.
After working a long day in the farm after arriving home from school, Kayson decided to help Iyana with the cooking and cleaning since Lily wasn't there. They still hadn't received a call from Lily, so they didn't know how she was doing or where she was at. Right when dinner was finished, Abel walked into the door, only to see Kayson and Iyana setting the table. Once everyone got settled for dinner, everyone thought that it was going to be a nice meal.
But that was wrong.
The three glanced at the empty table seat, eating in silence. There was no conversation, no talking, nothing. As Kayson ate his slow cooked pork ribs, he looked up at Abel as Abel gave him no eye contact. Thinking about it, Kayson decided to get it off his chest.
"Dad, what nationality was mom?" Kayson asked. "Well, my mom at least."
"Indian and Hawaiian." Abel said in a blank tone. "Why?"
It was the first lie that Kayson caught Abel in. He glanced down at his steak, picking it with his fork.
"So you had me, Iyana, and Lily with three different women?" Kayson asked.
Abel scrunched his eyebrows at Kayson, giving him a serious look.
"What are you talking about, Kayson?" Abel mumbled in an agitated tone.
"Well, I'm a lighter skin tone with curly hair, Asha's caramel toned with long and curly hair, but Iyana, she has shorter hair and a different texture to her hair as well." Kayson said. "She looks more African American than Nigerian to m-"
Abel banged on the table, startling everyone as he gave Kayson an evil look.
"Don't you dare compare your sister to American let alone an African American." Abel growled. "Do you understand me?"
Kayson gave his father an agitated look, going right back to picking with his steak.
"I only asked a question..." Kayson mumbled.
"No, you made an assumption." Abel growled. "Saying that I've slept with multiple women is an ASSUMPTION."
"Did you know that Lily flew off to America to find her mother, Dad?!" Kayson snapped. "She found out that you kept her away from her biological mother for I don't know how long? You told her and all of us that our mothers were dead!"
As Abel gave him a shocked and angry look like he was about to beat the shit out of Kayson, he sat back down and shot a look back at Abel.
"I looked up my own mother and found out that she was dead. Dead!" Kayson scowled. "Hell, who the hell is Iyana's mother?"
Kayson shook his head, placing his silverware down.
"You despise Americans but me and Lily's mothers were Americans, I'm pretty sure that Iyana's mother was African american." Kayson growled. "Why didn't you tell me that she was American? Why did you lie to us, thinking that we all had the same mothers?"
"Kayson, this discussion is over." Abel growled.
Kayson shook his head, storming up from the table and heading upstairs.
"I would've left for America too if my mother was alive." Kayson snarled. "This must be what Lily was talking about. You're a liar."
As Kayson slammed his door, Abel realized that his whole world and empire that he built with the kids were coming to a crumble. He sat at the table and started tearing up, placing his silverware down and covering his mouth.
"Dad." Iyana said in her soft and angelic tone, placing her hand on his shoulder.
"Yeah?"
"I still love you." Iyana smiled. "You're the best dad ever."
Abel smiled as Iyana gave him a hug. She kept her grin on her face, getting right back to eating her food.
"Let's finish dinner!" Iyana squealed. "I'll eat with you!"
It felt good to Abel that he was finally getting through to one child. Iyana. Iyana was 10 and was too young to understand much of what was going on, but she loved Abel no matter what. He raised her since she was a newborn, so that was good enough in her eyes.
As for Lily, she was trying to sort out her cash.
She only had $959.36 dollars left, so she had to make this last. $100 dollars per night at the hotel, $20 for taxi to get around, and at least $10 to eat everyday. At night, she decided to walk the streets of Cali to look around and glance at everyone. Even though she was famous, she was expecting to see Asha around the area somewhere. Unfortunately, that wasn't going to happen. Eventually, Lily grabbed a taxi and took a ride through Schaefer. It's where Asha mentioned that she lived before on Oprah. She wanted to see what it was like down in Asha's hometown. After making her driver slow down, she glanced around the area to see what it was like.
It was still ghetto and rural. The worst part is that the killings went up from 1/3, to 2/3. Lily gazed out at the small, young, and new aged hoodlums. None of us lived in Schaefer anymore. She looked at the last house that was towards the end, then pulled out after the taxi driver left.
Little did she know, she was looking directly at Aunt Shay's house.
After the Schaefer stroll, Lily decided to dine out at a TGI Friday's to treat herself to dinner. She never heard of this restaurant or any other restaurant around in Cali, so she decided to try it. As Lily sat down at her booth, one of the waitresses came by to take her drink order.
"Hi my name is Susanne and I'll be taking care of you tonight." The waitress smiled. "Can I start you off with something to drink?"
"Can I have some orange juice, please?" Lily asked. "Freshly squeezed."
The lady gave her a weird look, keeping a smile on her face.
"I can.......have them squeeze some oranges into the orange juice?" The lady chuckled.
"You mean you don't squeeze your orange juice from scratch?" Lily asked.
"No, ma'am." The waitress sighed. "Sorry."
Lily shook her head, then smiled at her.
"Some water with a lot of ice sounds fine." Lily smiled.
"It'll be right out."
It was a Friday, so Friday's was packed with grown folks. It was so crowded inside that there was a line that was starting to form outside of the door. 10 minutes after Lily ordered her drink, the waitress came by with her water and placed it down onto the table.
"Are you ready to order?"
"Yes can I have the spinach artichoke dip with the salmon salad?" Lily asked.
"And that's it?"
"Yes."
"Alright, your food should be out shortly."
As the waitress took the menu, Lily had one thing to ask.
"Do you guys make that spinach artichoke dip from scratch?" Lily asked in a serious tone. "And how old is the salmon?"
"Huh?"
"Well I just want to make sure that I'm not eating freezer fish. I like my fish fished straight out of the waters and cooked the day of." Lily said. "Also, I don't eat freezer spinach. I grow mine."
The waitress paused, chuckling a little.
"We make our food fresh." The waitress smiled. "Trust us."
"Alright." Lily scoffed. "I'll be the judge of that."
Lily was so much like Noah and Asha that it was crazy. She had her mothers heart, but she had Noah's stubborn and combative attitude from thinking that she was a "know it all". As she made a quick stop to the bathroom, she decided to peek into the kitchen to see how they were making their food.
As expected, she saw them taking a majority of their foods out of the freezer to unthaw and cook.
"Oh, so thewaitress lied?" Lily laughed as she walked into the bathroom. "Alright."
25 minutes later, the waitress came out with the spinach and chip artichoke appetizer. She also placed the salmon salad down next to her.
"Enjoy your meal." The waitress smiled.
"So, you guys DO take your meals out of the freezer?" Lily smiled.
"Excuse me?"
"Well I saw a few of your staff doing it." Lily continued, placing her hands up. "I mean it's not a big deal, but the restaurant would be so much better if everything was freshly cooked."
The waitress had no idea what Lily was talking about since she was speaking from a third world language, so she kept her smile on her face.
"Enjoy your meal!" The waitress repeated.
As the lady walked off, Lily dipped her chips into the spinach artichoke dip and ate it.
As expected....
"Oh my.....oh my god!" Lily thought in her head, crunching slowly on the chip. "This is disgusting!"
Lily scrunched her eyebrows at the spinach, picking with it.
"It tastes like they got this out of the freezer." Lily thought, pushing the plate away. "Ugh..."
As Lily swallowed her food, she filled her fork with salad and the salmon and took a bite.
This one, she couldn't bare.
"Oh my god. No." Lily said lowly out loud, spitting her food out in a napkin. "They've got to be kidding me!"
Lily spent her last 10 years eating foods fresh out of the river and garden that Abel surrounded her by, so she knew what "fake" food tasted like. After eating foods that were so fresh and pure for your whole life, this "plastic" food we call love is going to taste like pure shit.
Luckily, Abel raised Lily with enough manners to the point where she wouldn't let the waitress know that she hated the food. So for the rest of the time, Lily watched as everyone partied and had fun inside of the bar area. She wasn't an adult, so she knew no one here. She sighed, placing her cheek on her hands and staring off into space. Already, she was missing Saudi Arabia. She was missing Abel, Kayson, Iyana, and fresh foods. Suddenly, while she stared off into space, a woman smiled and sat in her booth.
It was Brenda. Brenda squinted her eyes at Lily, giving her a shocked look.
"Are you.........Noah's daughter?" Brenda asked in a shocked tone.