—
Salma stood up today.
She stood to her feet and actually kept standing for a decent amount of time before falling in her mother's arms. After this, she couldn't stop giggling and trying again, the coffee table helping her out more than anything.
Salma had this thing where she liked being carried...a lot. It wasn't a spoiled thing, because Zayn was great at that, but she seldom wanted to get down to crawl. She was a fast one, too, always ending up somewhere she didn't need to be.
Last week Yemi found her digging in one of her plants in the living room, she almost ate a bug.
Anyway, she was a cute little thing, and Yemi was very very proud.
"You wanna see baba wth me?" Yemi asked her, watching Salma watch the Tv, mesmerized. "I'll just leave." Yemi moved to get up and heard Salma babble after her. "Come on, baby. Oh, shush I wasn't going to leave you," Yemi picked her up and walked upstairs.
Zayn was not feeling his best today. Overcoming drug addiction was sort of a breeze for him, but sometimes it got difficult. He was in a mood today, a depressive one, and as much as Yemi wanted to comfort him, it was best to leave him alone sometimes to battle with his demons. That was just how he liked it.
But he was going to learn how to be more willing to accept support when it was right in front of him.
Yemi knocked on the door, hearing a grunt in return and opening it enough to see him lying on the bed, reading a notebook.
"Hi, Spencer," Yemi greeted the man in the corner.
"Hey, Yemi. Ooh, Salma!" he got up and smiled at her, "looks like both you knuckleheads."
"Shut your mouth," she giggled softly, handing her to him. Spencer had been out of rehab for a few months, he stayed back just to help others out, and now he felt ready to conquer the world. Zayn visited him all the time, and they actually had a friendship, so as soon as he got out they linked up.
Spencer had been helping Zayn out these past few days, Yemi was envious a little but she realized only they knew exactly how it felt to be in that situation, so she let it go.
"Hi," Yemi sat on the edge of the bed, next to Zayn's head. She ran her fingers through his wavy hair, "how are you?"
"Better," he replied hoarsely, then proceeded to clear his throat, "much better."
"That's good," she replied lowly, "I'm glad. You scared the crap out of me yesterday."
"I'm sorry, Yem--"
"You're supposed to call me babe. That's what we agreed on," she pouted, causing him to smile. Finally.
"I'm sorry, babe. I don't know what happened to make me snap at you like that. I just felt...like shit yesterday and then you said something about a crack in the ceiling and crack was the last thing on my mind, what the fuck?"
"I'm sorry."
"Don't apologize. You did nothing wrong."
"What are you writing?"
"Nothing, just look at old journal entries back when I was in rehab," he flipped through another page, "I said some dark shit."
"As with most patients," Spencer intervened, letting Salma stand on his legs.
"Sal, you're standing for longer than ten seconds," Zayn smiled proudly at his daughter, "tell me your secret."
"Ba!" She squeaked then proceeded to ramble about nothing.
"I hear ya," he closed his journal and leaned into Yemi, "did you make food?"
"Not yet, Jah's not home from Marissa's."
"I'll make it then," he replied, watching her, "I need to take my mind off something anyway."
"Okay. Thanks."
"It's cool. Spence, you hungry?"
"Nah, man, I gotta get going anyway," he told him, "wife is kind of sick right now but I just had to check on you."
"Thanks. You're the best."
"Duh."
—
"I've been thinking."
"'Bout what?" she dug into the bag of chips again. Her cycle was on, so she went to her go to favorite snack.
"Us. As usual," Zayn replied, his back to her as he cut up some vegetables.
"What about us?"
"I dunno, like," he shrugged so obviously he'd been thinking too hard again, "let's say hypothetically, you loved your significant other so much you thought of marrying them, but the thought of it makes you sick and wonder why even bother because you're basically together."
"Hypothetically?"
"Yeah," he agreed, "it's just...the hypothetical person seems to think they're doing just fine but they know they want to get married."
"I think," Yemi started to smile, "I think that, hypothetically, the other person would be fine either way. Maybe they're more than content right now and basically stress free."
"I see," he stopped cutting to look at her, "so I'm assuming we're no longer being hypothetical."
"Pretty sure."
"I mean...I've always wanted to be with you like that. Marrying you would be great, but I understand what you're saying too, because I feel the same way."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean," he dragged a little, leaning against the counter, "I mean that whatever is in our future, I'm in no rush for it."
"Same, man. Like, I dunno. I'd never second guess marrying you, never. And whenever we do get married, it's gonna be amazing."
"Right."
"What made you think about that anyway?" Yemi asked.
"I was thinking about my sisters, who are coming literally tomorrow. How they'd react to you in particular and how my parents would react knowing their children are in a whole other country without letting them know," he sighed, dumping the vegetables in the skillet to fry, "I'd like everything to be alright, ya know?"
"What, like making amends before we even decide to get married?"
"Yeah! Like...I wanna talk to my parents and let them know I'm not a fuck up, I want them to meet you and your parents and be okay. It sounds unrealistic, but Doniya told me my mum kinda misses me. And I miss her, of course. So...I've been feeling like I wanna marry you, but I wanna feel completely happy and whole."
"You're basically saying you want closure," she summarized.
"Why didn't I just say that? See, I'm so--"
"Perfect," she shushed him while kissing his lips, "it's okay, and I get it. Of course we're getting married one day can't wait for it. But I want you to be as happy and as complete as I will, because I love you."
"I love you too, babe," he smiled softly kissing her again, "a whole damn lot."
"And...since we're talking hypothetically--"
"I thought we stopped."
"Let's start again," she hummed when he chuckled, "say, your partner wanted another kid as cute and as beautiful as the other two. What would you say?"
"Say lessss, Yemi," he dragged, "you know I got you."
"But not now, I'm literally bleeding to death."
"Shut your mouth."
—
HI THIS WAS THE LAST CHAPTER LOL
THE EPILOGUE IS NEXXXXXT