"Make my wish come true!" Na'imah and Sevyn sang together, making breakfast on Christmas morning. "Baby, all I want for Christmas is you!" they pointed at each other, both with utensil microphones in hand, both cracking up laughing.
The girls both woke up early to make a huge breakfast for everyone because Christmas was at their house this year—and Na'imah was excited to take part. She helped decorate inside with Sev and outside with Grim, although he insisted she didn't. She helped put gifts under the tree, she bought matching onesies with Sevyn that she was currently wearing, along with a bright red Santa hats.
At 20, her first real Christmas since she was 5 had been fantastic.
"Merry Christmas, bubby!" Sev grinned as Grim came downstairs—in his Christmas pajamas that Sev picked out for him.
"Merry Christmas, Cordell," Na'imah smiled. Grim had grown close to her, he was extremely easy to talk to—and he was always making her laugh.
"Merry Christmas baby," he pecked Sevyn's lips. "Merry Christmas ta' you too, sis," he gave her a tight hug from the side, making her fake cough dramatically, and he shook his head at her. She was coming out of her shell so much, the almost didn't recognize the girl that came to stay with them in early September.
He quickly snatched a sausage patty off of the plate, making his girlfriend swing a spatula at him, and he ran off to answer the door, seeing Nino at it with his arms full of gifts, yelling Merry Christmas to everyone. They reciprocated, and he made a beeline to the kitchen after he dropped his gifts under the tree.
"What my favorite sista's makin fa' me?" he asked, rubbing his hands together, and then draping his arms around their shoulders.
"Keon—get yo' greedy ass out my kitchen," Sevyn fussed.
"You see how she do me, Imah? Li' rude ass," he mugged her, but leaving, because she had a weapon.
Slim and Kiana were next, also hollering greetings throughout the house. They came to the back and gave hugs to Sev and Na'imah. Corinne finally woke up after they arrived, grumpy because everyone was too loud.
After the food was officially done, Na'imah was left worrying where Yasir was. She knew it'd be a little hard for him today, because it'd officially be five years since his grandmother passed tomorrow. She stayed up as late as she could with him on the phone this past week, or she spent the night.
Just as she was about to pull her phone out and text him, the door opened again and he came in, with a Gutta, who she begged to wear a little Christmas outfit, and he caved for her. He wore a Santa hat, and that was all Brix would do.
"Hi my babies!" Na'imah squealed, directing most of her energy toward an excited Gutta. She had fully claimed Gutta as her son, her phone number was on his new ID tag along with his daddy's number. "Merry Christmas Gutta," she cooed, moving her face away as he tried to lick her.
"Excuse tha' fuck outta me," Yasir scoffed playfully, and Na'imah instantly popped back up to her feet, and hugged him around his waist.
"Merry Christmas," she mumbled, happy to be in his embrace.
"Merry Christmas, bae," he chuckled, lifting her chin to plant repeated kisses to her lips. "You look cute in dis li' thing," he chuckled, laying her hands on her ass.
"Thank you," she blushed. "C'mon we gotta eat," she pulled his arm, and he watched her walk, tongue swiping across his bottom lip, shaking his head.
After everyone ate to their fill—including Na'imah sneaking Gutta a pancake and bacon, everyone sat around the tree, opening gifts like they did every year. Nino was first, and he loved everyone's gifts, including Na'imah's.
"Ima use dis bitch once a week, whoeva' house she at, I'm pullin up, fuck you mean," he laughed. She had made him a coupon book, but for food. He constantly complimented her cooking, and he always asked for food when he came over to Brix or Grim's and she was cooking. Every coupon was worth 'One Free Meal From Nana!' or 'A Dessert of Your Choice'. She baked just as well as she cooked, and he was obsessed.
"Man why she enable his greedy ass," Slim rolled her eyes, looking through the gifts to find all of hers, like everyone else did. "Me next, befo' he ask fa' more food now," she shook her head with a chuckle, making him flip her off.
She opened all of her gifts as well, most excited about the Chanel purse that Sev bought for her. Slim was a girly girl most days, and tomboyish on others, she did love a good purse though. Na'imah had bought her two Alex and Ani bracelets, one with her birthstone, and one with a 'K', and she was wearing them already.
Corinne was next, and she flew through her gifts, she missed this part of the year. Cordell's gift was her favorite, a locket with a picture of them on one side, and one of their mom on the other. Her original one was taken from her when she first got arrested. Na'imah had bought her some bracelets as well, but two C's—for Cordell and Corinne, and one of her zodiac sign, which was cancer.
Grim was next, and of course his favorite gift was from his girlfriend. She had bought him not only an abundance of clothes, and then handed him a key fob. He was confused—because it looked exactly like hers, until she made him get up and open the garage they never used, to see a shiny black Mercedes Benz E-Class sitting comfortably inside.
"Reneé...how the fuck—" he stared in shock, looking back at her, and she simply grinned, showing all her teeth. She had put this plan in motion two years ago when he bought her the Benz she had, which was this same one, but white. She never even asked her for the car, it was a gift for her being in business for five years. She was resolved immediately to get him one too, so she saved and saved every payday she got, and was able to get this for him two weeks ago.
"Merry Christmas baby," she smiled and he instantly lifted her from the ground in a hug, making her laugh as he kissed her all over her face.
"He getting sis pregnant ta'day," Slim giggled, watching them being cute in their driveway.
"Sholl is. I'm ready," Cori laughed.
Sevyn was next in line for gifts, and she received a daisy necklace from Na'imah, that she found at Pandora.
"I love it! You remembered my favorite flower," Sev pouted, giving Na'imah a hug. Part of her wished that she could have gotten her more, because she truly deserved it for being such a help and a beautiful person, but she was glad Sev liked her gift.
She opened everyone else's and once she reached Grim's gift, confused when she saw her logo on a folder. She opened it up and read through it, eyes getting teary as she continued.
"Cordell!" she whined, wiping her eyes. He had gotten her, her very own small storefront in a mall nearby where she could do her lashes, have a nail tech and another lash tech if she wanted with enough space to have a small beauty supply up front. Having a 'hair store' was always something she wanted, but she never really talked about with anyone—besides her boyfriend of course.
She found her niche in doing lashes and kind of placed her own dream kn the back burner to focus, but Cordell never ever forgot. He promised her one day she'd have it—and while he was drunk when he said that on New Years Eve, he meant every word.
"I promised," he nodded and she began to cry, making him laugh and pull her into yet another hug, in his lap where she laid her head on his chest. "I love you aight?"
"I love you," she pouted, kissing him on the cheek.
"They ass do this every year. Sevyn always end up cryin'," Nino chuckled, and they both flipped him off at the same time.
Yasir was next in line, and Na'imah had butterflies in her stomach the entire time. His gift took the most time and effort but it came out beautifully and she was so proud of herself for it.
"Me an' Gutta say thank y'all," he chuckled. After every gift that was his, Gutta had one in the box as well, he was getting treated just as well. Na'imah bought him a chain collar that resembled a gold link chain, and Brix thought it was hilarious.
"Y'all welcome," Cori cheesed, handing Gutta one of his many Christmas bones.
"Damn baby, dis big as hell, what is it?" he asked, looking over her gift.
"Open it and see," she smiled anxiously, picking at her finger, making him grab one of her hands to make her stop. "Okay, okay," she whined, taking it back. She watched as he ripped through the wrapping paper, Sevyn and Grim watched too, already knowing exactly what it was. They watched her work on it for days, almost two weeks.
"N-Na'imah is—" he looked at her, and back at the canvas again. "Dis my maw? You—how'd you do 'dis? I—" he stammered, trying to find the right words.
Na'imah discovered her gift of art in middle school. She excelled in any creative art class, any projects. But in high school, she tapped into it more and found a love for painting. She was beautifully gifted, and loved to do it. Although, she loved her camera more. She loved taking photos but whenever she got an opportunity to, she'd paint.
So, when trying to come up with Yasir's gift, she thought it'd be the perfect time to dust her skills off. She asked Grim if he had any pictures of Etta Mae and Yasir, or just her, and he did. It was a picture the day Yasir turned three.
He was sitting in her lap with cake all over his face and smiling wide, and she was looking down at him laughing hard with her eyes shut. She wasn't the best with facial features so it was very minimalistic, the smile was painted, the glasses she always wore and her smile lines. Her hair was painted perfectly, and just like he remembered when he was young. Her earrings and her wedding ring were painted as she held Yasir at his waist, also showing the gold bracelets she wore everywhere. The party hat on his head was painted as well as his wild black curls, and his big smile as well as the cake all over his face.
The attention to detail was beautiful, and although her entire face wasn't pictured, he could spot his Etta Mae ten miles off.
"I-I painted it for you," she spoke quietly. Everyone watched the scene around them but in the moment Brix felt like it was only he Na'imah sitting there.
"Y-you did dis fa' me?" he furrowed his eyebrows.
"Yeah," she smiled. "I know you miss ha' and I rememba' you sayin you lost a lot'a y'all pictures in Katrina so, I wanted you ta' have one that ain't on the phone," she explained.
"Baby," he breathed out, looking back at the picture. "Thank you," he smiled faintly, before setting it aside and reaching for her. She gladly went to him and allowed him to hold her tightly with his head resting on her stomach. She tried to pull him back and look at him, but she wouldn't let him, which only meant that he didn't want her to see him cry.
Once he finally let her go, he looked up at her and swore he saw an angel.
After he opened his gift, he had her sitting close so he could keep touching her, which he usually saved for intimate moments but he couldn't help himself right now.
"Okayyy! Saving the best for last, my baby Imah," Sev cheesed, as a pile of gifts sat around her. She felt like a kid in a candy store, she didn't know what to go for first.
"Do mine!" Nino called, and she nodded. His were easy to find, because he just wrote his name in big red letters on them.
After tearing through the paper, she saw a brand new cookware set,. Pots, pans, knives, other miscellaneous utensils, and everything matched. Nino—as greedy as he was, knew Na'imah really enjoyed cooking, so he thought this would suit her.
"You a fat ass, Keon," Slim straight faced him.
"No he's not! I love it, thank you," Na'imah smiled over at him and he sent her a thumbs up, because he knew Yasir wasn't about to let her go for hugs right now. Coco volunteered to go next, since her gift was relatively smaller. "Oh wow," Na'imah gasped, pulling out a golden pair of angel's wings on a necklace with diamonds in the wings.
"You like it?" Corinne asked hopefully. When she first met Na'imah, she admitted to being skeptical. But getting to know her was like an experience. She'd hear Sev calling her Angel face, and she always thought it was because she was beautiful, but she truly gave off this pure, innocent energy and aura that reminded her of one—an angel that is.
"It's so pretty, I love it. Thank you so much," Na'imah pouted. Coco told her she was welcome, and Slim volunteered to go next.
She tore through that paper as well, and much to her surprise, she came face to face with a gun. An army green gun, sitting pretty in the box—wrapping paper and all.
"Kimora," Brix straight faced her. "Hell she need a gun fa'?" he asked.
"Self defense," she chuckled. "You like it, pooh?" Slim smirked, seeing Na'imah pick it up, and look all around it.
"Um I—well it's nice I just...I don't know how ta' use it," she giggled.
"I'a teach you, sista! Point dat bitch like dis," she demonstrated dramatically, "and bop bop bop, shoot them niggas," she said, and Brix tried his best not to laugh. "Period! Bitch it's a stick up lemme get mine! So we can buss some holes in shit!" she squealed.
"Reneé. Sit yo ass down," Grim bursted into laughter. "Excited ta' shoot, da hell wrong wit' you," he chuckled, and she laughed louder.
"She get dat shit from his ass," Yasir whispered to her, making her laugh.
"Well when I learn to use it, I'm sure it'll he helpful. Thank you, Kimmy," she grinned.
"Okay, you gotta open ours togetha'," Grim said, pointing at their two boxes and Na'imah nodded eagerly. She had no idea what they were planning but she was excited.
As she tore Grim's box open, she literally jumped and gasped loudly to see a rose gold, 16-inch MacBook Pro sitting in a box in front of her. She looked up at him, and he was just smiling like a big kid. "Cordell..." she said quietly.
"Wait don't say nothing yet! Open mine!" Sev interjected. She was still shell shocked from his, she was sure Sevyn's was even more shocking.
"S-sevyn how did—this is so expensive you—" Na'imah was the one stuttering now, when she saw the box of a Sony Alpha A7iii camera, with all the extra accessories. She was saving for a camera not even half as expensive as this one was. It was basically a professional camera.
"You deserve it! You a great photographer who deserves a great camera. And by great, I mean tha' best one. My sis gets the best," Sev shrugged.
"And the computa' is so you could do all yo' lil fancy editing an' shit it's a mouse in thea', so you and them claws can get shit done," he chuckled, and Na'imah still sat completely speechless.
She didn't know what she did to deserve such great people in her life. She never thought in a million years she'd ever get to take pictures on anything like this, much less own it. And even the computer. Whenever she got her camera, she was ready to edit on her phone.
"I—I can't thank y'all enough, this...this means the world to me," she sniffed, feeling herself about to cry. "I really love you guys, thank you," she wiped her eyes.
"Don't cry boo! I told you, yo' time is comin'. That storm passed," Sev said reassuringly, holding one of her hands, only making her even more emotional. "You loved, sis. We wanna see you do good," she nodded.
"Sevyn, you not helpin' the tears stop," Slim chuckled. "We glad you like em, pooh,"
"Wait, she ain' done, c'mon, open mine bae," he pushed boxes near her, and she widened her eyes, and he only smirked, pinching her side, making her laugh.
As she opened the boxes one by one—she was blinded by diamonds. There was a pair of diamond studs, a tennis bracelet snd matching anklet, and a cuban link, that looked very familiar to her.
"Yasir!" she gasped, looking around at it all. The jewelry was beautiful and it was gaudy, very simple and pretty, he felt like jewelry like that belonged on a woman like her. "Is this your chain?"
"Nah, I gotchu one ta' match mine," he chuckled, pulling his chain out of his shirt, making her grin widely. "You like em?"
"Yeah of course! Everything is so pretty, you have such good taste. I love it. Thank you, Yasir," she gently pecked his lips and he—of course held her face in place to deepen it. "We are in public sir," she giggled.
"They'a be aight," he pecked her again. "I got one mo', but you gotta promise not ta' cry,"
"I can't promise," she pouted. "What is it?" she asked him.
"Look," he began, taking a deep breath. He was talking low because she was so close to his face, and everyone was trying their best to strain and hear what he was saying because hearing Yasir express himself was extremely rare.
"I ain' good wit words like you. But I know I care about you a lot, Na'imah. You make feel shit again, like I'on get how I was so fuckin numb before. Befo' I get sappy and shit, an' make you cry, jus' know dis a promise from me. I ain' goin nowhea', Ima protect you wit' my life, I'a lay my life down fa' you Na'imah. You hea' me?" he asked her and she nodded, tears welling in her eyes. "What I say 'bout them tears mama?" he chuckled, kissing her again.
"I can't help it," she mumbled, sniffing.
"Aight crybaby. Hea' I want you ta' have dis," he handed her a small velvet box. "Wheneva' you in doubt, wheneva' you annoyed wit' me or I'm gettin' on yo fuckin nerves, look at it, rememba' everything I just told you," he spoke. Her lip pouted out further and he chuckled. "Gon' and open it, Nana,"
She nodded and looked down at the box, popping it open and immediately gasping. Inside, was a pear shaped Emerald ring—which was her birthstone , surrounded by stones.
"Yasir..." she looked up at him, and back down at the ring.
"Oh shit," Sev mumbled, looking at it over her shoulder. "Dat bitch pretty," she mumbled.
"You'n like it?" he asked her, as she stared at it.
"No no! I love it! I-I just—thank you," she spoke, in a shaky voice. She was in complete shock that he cared this much. "Thank you," she mumbled again. To even think they'd come this far from her pulling up on her during her lunch break and buying her a snowball was amazing to her. She couldn't see her life without him now, and she didn't want to be without him.
"You welcome, baby. Put it on fa' me, lemme see how it look," he spoke and she did so, sliding it on her ring finger, looking at it in pure awe.
"Bitch! You married!" Sev yelled, and everyone bursted out laughing, including the couple.
"Go ta' sleep, Na'imah," Yasir chuckled, as she raised her hand to her face again. She had claimed she was exhausted but every three seconds she was looking at her ring again.
"Okay, okay, goodnight," she said happily.
"Goodnight for tha' sixth time," he smirked. After a little while she finally settled down and she was sleeping peacefully. He was amazed at how quickly she slipped into sleep and he wished he could do the same.
He had been doing his best at holding it together all day. He was doing a good job, he thought, because nobody noticed. He was faking smiles and laughs the entire day, but he was doing better at making it seem real.
Every Christmas since his grandma passed had been this way. He had to force himself to be around his friends just so he wouldn't do anything stupid, or just wallow in self pity all day long. It was necessary, but at night, even now it hit him the hardest.
He couldn't sleep all week, especially when Na'imah was here. He didn't want to close his eyes and something happen to her that he couldn't stop. Not again.
When Etta Mae passed, Yasir sat right beside her, but he didn't know—because he was sleeping. He sat in the chair next to her bed, trying to get some rest like he usually did when he visited her and in the middle of the night, he was woken up by doctors and nurses bursting through the door and the sound of a flatline, her heart had stopped.
He didn't get to say goodbye, he didn't even get the chance to try and help her before, he didn't know what happened in the moment but he knew he could have done something and she may still be here today—and even if not, he would have gotten to tell her he loved her one more time before she was taken away.
He refused to let it happen again. He wouldn't miss anything, he couldn't, especially when he got blessed with another precious person to protect and keep safe. He looked over her sleeping figure and his chest hurt even thinking about something bad happening to Na'imah.
His thoughts were plaguing him for hours, and as badly as he wanted to quit, he only knew one way to quiet them, and to feel nothing, like he wanted.
He slipped from the bed, as slowly as he could as to not wake Na'imah, and went into his bathroom, grabbing the pill bottle, and taking it in the kitchen with him. He stared at it, and for a moment he thought against it, but for once, he wanted peace.
After he took the pills dry, he leaned his head back, staring at the ceiling, wishing it'd all stop.
"Why'd you have to leave me man?" he mumbled to no one in particular. "I'm fuckin messed up wit'out you," he chuckled dryly, eyes settling on a bottle of Hennessy. "I'm messed up," he mumbled
And that was the last thing he remembered.
Na'imah was jolted from her sleep, hearing things crashing around downstairs. She immediately began to panic internally, thinking someone was in the house, so she felt around for Yasir—shocked when he wasn't there.
"Y-yasir?" she mumbled, hoping he was somewhere in the room, or in his bathroom. When he didn't reply, her anxiety multiplied and she shot up from the bed to look for him.
As she wandered around upstairs, she couldn't find him, and so she descended the steps, and gasped loudly when she saw Yasir, laying on the ground, an empty bottle next to him. Two empty bottles.
"Oh God," she mumbled, rushing over to him. "Yasir get up, get up please get up," she implored him, shaking his shoulders while tears ran down her face rapidly. "Please, Oh my God," she cried, as his body felt limp in her arms.
She picked up the pill bottle and furrowed her eyebrows seeing a Xanax prescription. She didn't even know he needed them. But if he took as many as she thought he needed to get them out.
She rushed to grab some cold water from the kitchen and splashed it on his face, lightly slapping his cheeks, calling his name over and over till his eyes fluttered open and back closed and she let out a choked sob, knowing he was even still alive.
"Come on, stay wit' me, don't go back ta' sleep, wake up Yasir, please," she whimpered, disgusted at what she was about to do, but knowing it needed to get done. She held his mouth open and stuck her finger as far as she could down his throat over and over till he gagged, and she yanked it out, as he threw everything up, thankfully missing his face.
"Oh my fuckin' goodness," she gasped when she saw all the white pills that came up. She was convinced he was trying to hurt himself or worse. "W-what did you do?" she began to cry again as he coughed on the floor, shaking and weak.
She held him up trying her best to lay him in her, not even being able to look at him. She didn't know where this could have come from—he never mentioned being depressed or sad, nothing like this and he was just in such a good mood.
Na'imah held his head against her stomach, slightly rocking herself back and forth, trying to cope with what was happening, thankful she was able to wake up, or she may have lost someone else.
Her ring glittered on her finger and all his words from earlier flooded to her head.
"I ain' goin nowhea" just repeated like a broken record as she held him, crying and praying. Praying that he'd actually keep that promise.
"N-Na'imah," he choked out and her head snapped downward. "I'm—I'm sor—"
"Shh, you're gonna be okay. You gon' be fine I promise, you'll be okay," she nodded, consoling the both of them. "You okay, I gotchu" her voice trembled as he stared back up at her with broken eyes. She didn't know how she was going to fix them, and it scared her.
i—i'm sorry in advance.
i hope y'all enjoyed the BEGINNING of this chapter. what y'all think about the christmas gifts all around?
the ring? yk it had to be extra lol.
anddd of course the end. i know y'all believe in him and so do i he just had a moment. luckily na'imah was there. tell me how you feel.
what do you think is gonna happen after this? how don't all think nana feels? and yasir?
lemme know!
till next time 🥺❤️