"Dad, could you grab my cup from the counter? I left it." I asked, and he got up to get it. Kenzo dropped me off to my parents' house before he left to go to the game. He's playing in the All-Star draft tonight, and he left early for it. Both of our families were going.
I'm a little nervous because he's making us official tonight, eight months pregnant and all.
Time to tell my family.
I made my way in front of the TV getting everyone's attention. "Ok so before we leave I have something to say."
"You and these announcements. I swear you do the most," Jr spoke, my dad joined us placing my cup in the chair holder.
I flashed my brother a fake smile. "Anyway, —I am officially no longer single. Kenzo and I are together."
My baby sister gasped running up to me squeezing me, I giggled. "Careful."
My dad smiled at my mom. They joined in on the hug, as well as my big sister Maliha.
"You both deserve it; just make sure he treats you right." My dad stated in a deep baritone voice.
I nodded as they broke the hug standing around me. "We still have a lot to figure out as far our future with the little one coming."
"Are you guys keeping it a secret or?" My mom asked.
"Yeah, are you?" Maliha added curiously. She stood across from me, cheesing from ear to ear.
"He's announcing it tonight at the game."
Everybody looked at smiling with their eyes wide.
"Yeah and I'm freaking out. You know his fans can be ruthless. Should I be worried about this professionally for my career?" I looked at my dad.
"Adira your job is already waiting for you. I told you I'm not retiring until you get in there. So don't worry about any of that, just live and be happy. You two being together shouldn't hurt your career, that's ridiculous."
"Right chill out." My brother added.
We hung around until it was time to go, we laughed and goofed off like we usually do.
"Does that mean I have to take all of my posters down?" My little sister Kamala asked as we settled in the vehicles making our way to the center. We rode with my parents, everyone else followed.
"I already took them down at my condo. The baby does not need to have all that on the walls. Ima' sneak in your room and take the rest down when you're sleeping."
"Do it, and I'll tell Kenzo. You have him now, but he's still future bae." She joked, giving me an evil stare.
I joined her in the stare off and mumbled, "don't make me tell dad."
She rolled her eyes. "Kenzo and I have history. He's been a part of my life before you even stepped on the scene." She added, snapping her finger.
"Oh please, Mala." I smiled at her.
"I'm playing. I'm happy for you. Plus I get to hang with his sister, and she's super dope. We have so much in common, her and Bens daughter Alison."
"That's good, and you'll get to be with them tonight at the game."
She gushed squirming in her seat, excited.
****
We arrived at the Arena. We didn't have to wait around for parking. Although it was packed and hard to maneuver, we had passes to drive through to a reserved area.
I rubbed on my tourmaline crystal bracelet on my wrist. I always wore when I'm around a lot of people. I made sure I charged it up so it could transmute all the negative energy.
I straightened my comfortable green jumpsuit, pulling out my wedgie before leaving the vehicle.
I didn't want to buy maternity clothes, just a bigger size. The bottoms of my wide-leg jumpsuit covered the white vans I wore. I wore the diamond chain Kenzo always wore. He insisted.
We made it in the arena with no issues finding our seats. Kenzos family was already there. Everyone greeted each other with hugs.
My mom and Kenzos mom sat immediately making conversation. And so did the dads. Everyone greeted me except for Kenzos oldest sister.
I didn't think it was odd, mainly because we haven't met.
Now was as good of a time as ever.
"Adira this is our sister Mai." Jade pulled me over to her. "Mai this is Adira, Kenzo girlfriend."
"Hi." She gave me a tight smile.
"Hi, it's nice to meet y—."
"Yep, same here." She interrupted, then looked away.
Oop are you serious right now?
"Mai, cut it out," Jade spoke up.
"What?" She played clueless while sizing me up.
"Nothing, just nothing. You are so damn rude."
"How in the hell am I rude? I don't know her. I know Zo, and I know how gullible he can sometimes be when it comes to these women."
Count to ten Adira and calm your pregnant ass down. Practice your breathing.
I turned to go back to my seat.
"If I knew you were going to react like this, I wouldn't have said anything to your rude ass, "Jade stated a little louder.
"I said I was going to reserve my opinion —and I'm trying. You know Zo doesn't know how to pick em'. I'll close my mouth though because I can't tell him anything. He won't listen. I tried hooking him up with the model Chelsea Chambers and the singer Star Maddison, but he wants this."
That's it I've had enough of this.
I turned back around, facing her. "Look I wasn't going to say anything to you, with all that crap coming from your mouth. —You don't know anything about me, and like it or not Kenzo and I are together. So get over it. I'm so fucking tired of people trying to make me out to be some bum. —Anyway, it was nice meeting you, but the disrespect ends here. If you don't have anything nice to say, then don't even bring my name up." I retorted, extremely loud apparently. Char got out of her seat and walked over to me as well as my big sister, Maliha. They were ready for whatever.
I didn't even realize everyone seated around us court-side heard me. Including Kenzo who walked over to us.
I can't believe I was that loud.
His nose flared up, glaring at his sister. He walked up to me, pulling me to the side. "You ok?"
I gathered my breathing, painting on the verge of tears.
"Come on. We have time before the game starts." He held my hand.
"We'll be right back." He added, and everyone nodded simultaneously. His mom got up to talk to Mai.
We walked out to the hall where the players came out. Somewhere no cameras were.
"I'll talk to her. I don't know what it is with my family coming at you like this."
He stared into my tear-filled eyes. I couldn't say anything. I shook my head as tears came down my face.
"I'm sorry baby, please don't let this ruin our night. We're together now, and that's not changing. I don't care about what anybody has to say about it."
I wiped my face nodding. "Ugh, I ruined my makeup."
"Come here." He dabbed under my eyes and cheeks, removing my tears. "You're perfect; your make up is fine."
"I'll be fine. I didn't know she wasn't feeling us. If I had, I wouldn't have approached her." I stared into his eyes.
"She didn't mention anything to me. I don't know why she's acting like that. I've always told her that I didn't want to be with Chelsea."
I took a deep breath. "I have to be able to let things like this go. I can't let it bother me. This might be the opinions of millions. I need to be able to handle it."
"We'll get through it together. You've only been my girl for a couple of days. I'm not losing you."
He gazed into my eyes until a smile crept on my face.
We kissed and hugged for a few seconds. Then made our way back out to the game. I was still uneasy and off-put. All I could think about was how the world would take it.
"Mai let me speak to you." He gritted not even able to look at her. They left out in the same direction.
"Di you aight?" My twin asked, standing behind Char, everyone we were with had their attention on me. I nodded.
"I'm sorry Adira, it's no excuse for that. It makes me think about how I treated you initially, and I again apologize." His mom Tanya stated to me filled with remorse.
"I'm fine, and thank you." I gave her a little smile. We hugged then found our seats.
I was looking for Kenzo after some time went by.
"Adira, you have seen Zo?" Marcell came over to me. "They're getting ready to announce us."
"He should be back any minute now." After I said that Zo and his sister were making their way back over to us. Marcell gestured for him to hurry, he picked up speed.
He gave me a small smile before rushing over to the court.
The game started, the arena was filled to the max. This was supposed to be a fun game. It was All-Star weekend. Unfortunately, it started a little rocky for us, due to what transpired. Midway through it, everyone warmed up a little.
I did whatever I could to block out how I was feeling. I stood up next to Char, joining in rooting for our team. I needed to do something to pick up Zos' spirit.
"Come on Zo, let's go baby," I shouted to him as he ran by. He turned in my direction, smiling. "Pick it up."
We all screamed and shouted, showing our support, everyone except his sister Mai. She sat quietly at the end.
My little one started kicking. I rubbed my stomach in a circular motion using both hands. "Easy little momma, that's my ribs. —I guess I startled you."
"Uh oh look at Kenzo showing off." Char pointed at Zo, making a dunk, and we screamed again hoping up and down.
The game went on, and it didn't disappoint. All of the players had fun showing each other up. It was fun to see. After the game ended, I started feeling down again. I was reliving the situation from earlier out over and over in my head. Anxiety was kicking my butt. I rubbed on my bracelets calming myself.
Kenzo was standing in front of reporters finishing his interview. They had it playing on the large centerhung video board for everyone to see.
"Kenzo, is there anything else you would like to add?"
"Yes Dawn, thank you. I want to take this time to thank my fans. My true supporters who have been rocking with me through it all. I say to you, the journey is not over, and I appreciate the love shown."
He took a deep breath and wiped the sweat off of his face with the towel around his neck. "With that said, I want to also thank my family for coming out to support me. —I want to send a special thank you to my girlfriend Adira Belle Thompson, who's sitting over there. "He pointed to me, and I smiled waving.
"Kenzo are we hearing you correctly? Did you answer the million-dollar question the fans have been dying to know? The woman you were with at the park with is now confirmed to be your girlfriend?" She pointed the mic back to him. They then switched the camera to my direction zooming in on me. I was on the big screen!
"Yep you heard it here first Dawn, that's her. Also, shout out to her family. They're here supporting me as well." He nodded. Screams erupted all over the arena. I wasn't sure if it was a good or bad thing. I smiled into the camera cheesing with my two braids, jumpsuit and protruding belly.
"Thank you, Kenzo Martin." They shook hands. "There you have it, folks—" the interview faded off the screen, focusing back on the court.
Kenzo began making his way over to us finally, after a few more interviews, autographs, and pictures. Everyone wanted to know more about this news he dropped.
The moment he had a chance, he walked over to where I sat and pulled me up. He smiled, snaking his arms around me, connecting his lips to mine. I pulled at his jersey from the sides as he continued kissing me passionately. I felt every emotion possible in that moment, shocked, nervous, anxious but most of all happy.
He placed his hands on both sides of my face while planting more kisses on my lips. "We got this."
I opened my eyes only to see us on the big screen.
He turned noticing it then brought his attention back to me, laughing. I removed the lip gloss I was wearing from his lips. Only for him to kiss me again. This time slower.
"Wait for me by the locker room?" He asked, pulling away, taking off back to the locker room. I nodded.
We made our way through the crowd, with a few people congratulating me. Some people wanted pictures with the family. It took us all a while to get to our destination. I was still on a bit of a rush.
We met Kenzo in the back after he did everything he needed to do. All of us decided on having dinner together. This became somewhat of a tradition for us.
No more words were exchanged between his sister and I. She left us after the game claiming she was tired.
In other news, Kenzo started following me on social media. I'm now the one person he follows.
****
Waking up the next morning in Kenzos bed, I looked around, noticing my two sisters and best friend in the bed with me. I'm not even sure when they got here or how.
Charlotte started squirming at the foot of the bed. My baby sister Kamala had her arms around me from behind. Maliha, my big sister, was in front of me with her back facing me.
I reached over Maliha to grab my phone, waking her up in the process.
"Nope, Kenzo told me to keep you from your phone until he return from practice." She popped up, snatching my phone away.
"I don't care what people have to say about me. At least not strangers. Is that why you're over here?" I sat up.
"He asked us to come over last night at dinner. He wanted to make sure you didn't wake up alone checking your phone." She sat up and got out of bed, with my phone in her hand. I stared down at it.
"It's that bad, huh?"
"You have a lot of new followers, and the blogs are eating this up. Some of the headlines are ridiculous." Maliha slipped my phone in the little pocket of her pajama pants.
"What time did you guys get here?"
"Last night, around twelve. You were knocked out. We slept in the guest bedrooms until Kenzo woke us to move in here." She studied her self in Kenzos tall mirror across the room. "Your nephew asked about you. He stayed at Jrs house last night. Garret had a flight last night, it worked out perfectly I didn't have to stay home alone.
Charlotte squirmed in her sleep, showing signs of waking up.
"Well, thank you for coming. I'll have to get my nephew over here next time." I glanced at her, "I know what I signed up for. Kenzo and I are in this together. We're not even going to entertain the blogs." I felt the need to tell her, while sliding over to get out of the bed.
"That's not the only reason why we came. I know you can handle it. Jade and their little sister Gabbi is supposed to come over so we can get those last-minute details together regarding the baby shower next month. Some things we wanted to double-check with you."
My phone dinged in her pocket, indicating that I had a text message. I finally planted my feet on the floor to get out of the oversized California king bed.
"Let me just see it for a second." I made my way across the room to her.
"Nope, you can get it when Kenzo returns." She opened my phone to read the message to see if it was necessary. "It's Jr, he was checking on you."
"That means the blog and everybody are chewing me out." I groaned and pouted my way to the bathroom.
"You said you're not going to entertain it. The world doesn't know you. They just see this whole thing as a big scandal." She spoke loud enough for me to hear her as I continued to the bathroom.
Those bloggers can write up whatever they want. They just better make sure they add my accolades and credentials too.
My shower lasted for at least an hour alone. I stayed in there singing to my baby girl while I relaxed letting the water hit me.
As I was readying myself, I heard a knock at the door. I knew who it was. While straightening my loose fitted long, tie-dye dress I told him to come in.
Zo walked over to me in his basketball shorts and black pullover hoodie. He leaned into my neck, smelling it. "You smell the good baby."
I turned to face him and planted a quick kiss on his lips. "Thank you."
"Stay in here with me while I shower." He suggested while pulling off the pullover hoodie and t-shirt underneath.
"How was practice?" I nodded, taking his clothes from him and tossed them on the floor by the door.
"It was cool. They roasted my ass." He chuckled while turning the water on.
"Oh boy." I laughed. "I bet they let you have it."
"I don't even want to repeat half the things they said. It was all love, though." He pulled off his final piece of clothing. I looked away out habit, only to quickly turn back to look him over. Taking in whatever I could. These moments were rare. Kenzo Martin completely naked.
"The guys already knew about you. I talk about you all the time. They were like, it's about time you two made it official. —They thought we were already official. Since they saw us together at the surprise party you had for me at your place." He continued as he made his way into the shower. I leaned against the counter, watching him.
When you enter the shower, the glass changes to foggy. I could no longer see him clearly, only movements.
"At least I won't have to worry about your team coming at me sideways." I chuckled dryly.
"You won't have to worry about my sister, either. Don't stress it. I don't even think her issue is with you personally. I think it stems from all the changes I've made. With the move and letting mom go so she can do her own thing separate from me. Plus our new relationship."
I sighed, "Just wasn't expecting it. I was already nervous about the announcement. She's been away traveling. Did she ever say anything about me before yesterday?"
"I told her about you. She wasn't blindsided or anything. She said she'd meet you. I asked what did she think of the situation, with you being pregnant. I was trying to see where her headspace was. —She didn't say much, only that she would refrain from speaking about it until she met you. I thought maybe she wanted to get to know you and form her own opinion." He paused. "I thought it was a good idea. I didn't know she would react like that."
I didn't say anything, so he spoke again. "We'll have obstacles to get through, but we're a team now. A team of winners. So don't worry about her, she'll get over it. If not, oh well."
"You're right, and I won't stress about that or the blogs you guys are trying to keep me away from."
"She still has your phone?" He asked in a manner of already knowing the answer.
"Maliha won't budge at all." I laughed.
"Good. We're only thinking about baby shower stuff and you studying today. You'll have all of us here to do flashcards. We have to make sure you walk across that stage."
"Plus you, our dads and Jr need to finish up the crib and the final coat of paint." I reminded him.
"My dad's over at one of the restaurants. We'll head over to your condo when he's finished. Your dad said just to let him know." He turned the water off. I went over to the closet to grab him a towel.
"Ok."
Just like that, I was fine. I didn't care to have my phone.
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A/N: I will be updating again tomorrow! Thank you for your genuinine support. Don't forget to vote and Share this book please.