Isaiah's legs and arms shook as he stretched his limbs out, sinking his head down further into the mountain of soft but fluffy pillows that he laid on. His eyes opened to see that Namiko was still next to him, so he pulled her closer and leaned forward to kiss her forehead.

Her bed smelled exactly like her. That was probably why he had the best sleep of his life last night. It was like she was the bed and it hugged him the whole time he slept. Plus, her room was freezing cold just like he liked, and the 18.5 inch thick mattress adjusted to his body position no matter which way he turned—and it was so soft but still firm at the same time. It also had a cooling/warming effect that you could switch on and off with a remote.

Talk about sleeping on a mattress of Heaven! Just—wow.

He groaned quietly to himself as he sat up, trying to convince himself to actually go pee. He didn't even feel tired anymore, he was just way too comfortable. He could definitely get used to sleeping here every night.

Then, he heard low cries and it made his eyes open again. He raised out of the bed and pulled his sweatpants back on, rushing towards Naia's connected bedroom as her cries became louder.

"Dada," She cried, reaching her arms into the air for him to pick her up. She kept repeating the name as he approached her, and her cries softened when he finally grabbed her.

"Wassup baby? What's the mat—oh shit." He realized that she was wet and it made him look down at her bed, only to see the big spot of pee she previously laid in. This was her first time having an accident since they'd started potty training a month ago—just a couple of days after they picked her up from the foster home.

"I got you. It's aight mama. Don't cry." He pulled the sheets up from the corners and grabbed it in a ball with the covers inside of it, then he carried it over to the door. Luckily, it didn't wet the mattress due to the topper catching it.

"Excuse me," He called to a random man in the hallway who was pushing a mop bucket.

"Good morning, sir. What can I do for you?" The man bowed in front of him.

"Can you bring fresh sheets if y'all got some—and new covers. She needs a new mattress topper, too. And throw these out if you can." He said before passing him Naia's stained bedding. He would've done it himself but Namiko already told him they wouldn't allow him to lift a single finger.

"Right away sir. Breakfast will be ready in a half hour if you all would like to come down."

"'Preciate that. Uh—that's all. You can go." He gestured him away as the man stood there, seemingly waiting on another order.

"Yes sir." He bowed again before walking away to get a fresh comforter set.

Isaiah carried Naia to Namiko's restroom that was connected to both of their rooms and walked over to the whirlpool jet tub to start her a bath. The tub was about two and a half feet deep, so he made sure to only fill up halfway because it would be a drowning hazard if he added any more water.

After undressing her and wiping her down with baby wipes, he put her inside the tub and dropped her wet clothes in the bin with a 'dirty' sign on it. He looked in the closet that Namiko showed him when they showered together last night and grabbed the baby Dove hypoallergenic sensitive wash soap and the matching lotion. He also grabbed the Johnson's baby bath shampoo and one of the blow dryers because it was time for her hair to be washed anyway.

He and Naia were in the bathroom for around an hour when Namiko finally walked in, seeing Isaiah sitting on the edge of the tub with Naia in his lap, wrapped in her pink fluffy robe. She was on her iPad while he used a rat tail comb to neatly gather the sectioned off hair for the last box of the style he was doing.

There were two ponytails at the back of her head, four in the middle, and one big one at the top. Each ponytail had three two-strand twisted twists with a barrette at the end of each one. She looked so cute and Isaiah did a wonderful job on her hair.

"Hi mommy! You smell so clean and you look so pretty." Namiko squatted in front of her after brushing her teeth, and Naia leaned forward to rub her nose against hers.

"Dada did good on your hair too. He does it better than me. You could've been doing it—I be struggling with it every week." She said to Naia before directing her words to Isaiah with a playful frown on her face.

"I'm always sleep when you do it." He chuckled, shrugging his shoulders. His hand wrapped around her neck when she gave him a kiss, and she put her own over his before pulling away a few seconds later.

"Good morning to you too. How you sleep doll face?" He let her go to add the last barrette onto Naia's last twist, licking over his lips to savor her kiss.

"Fine. I didn't even feel you get up. Why are you two up so early?" She sat beside him on the edge of the bathtub.

"She had an accident and woke up crying. I think it's 'cause she didn't recognize where she was and got nervous. One of them butlers added a new mattress topper and bed set 'cause she peed through 'em." He explained to her, and her smile slowly disappeared to drop into a small pout.

"She's alright now, yeah? You just took her a bath?"

"Mhm. Washed her hair too. Tell mama we all good now." He picked Naia up so that she stood on her own, and all she did was hum in response, still focused on her iPad.

"You all good mommy?" Namiko tilted her head up to make her look at her, and Naia continued humming, mocking the way Namiko's mouth moved.

"Mommy." Namiko repeated for her to copy.

"Mmmmm..mmmmm.." She hummed a bit louder than before. "Mommy."

"Naia!" Namiko screamed the same way she did when she repeated dada, and Isaiah laughed as she swooped her up in a hug.

"Mommy?!" Naia screamed back but with a mix of confusion and the excitement her mother had, and then she giggled when Namiko began to kiss all over her face.

"Oh, I'm so proud of you my baby. I'm so so proud of you. Good job." She signed 'good job' in ASL the way that Ms. Rachel did—Naia's favorite lady on YouTube.

"She gon' be saying full sentences in no time." Isaiah kissed Naia's cheek before standing up from the side of the tub, stretching his body out.

"Ugh. I'm so happy. I really thought she'd stay nonverbal forever. The posts I read on Reddit said that most of their children didn't start speaking until they were pre-teens."

"We just gotta keep working with her. I think Ms. Rachel helping a lot too 'cause she been had her signing mom and now she finally saying it." He said while putting up the stuff that he'd used, and Namiko nodded in agreement.

She was so proud of her baby.

When the three of them went down for breakfast, Namiko was informed that Shaniece, Jamell, and their children were still sleeping. She wasn't surprised. The time difference was probably getting them and they were most likely still a bit jet lagged as well. They still had a couple hours before they had to start getting ready, so Namiko just let them sleep in.

For breakfast, there was an assortment of food but Namiko only wanted toast, sliced fruit and Ehime jelly, of course. She'd been without it for almost two months and it was a miracle that she'd survived.

"Nonna!" Namiko dropped the toast that she was eating and practically jumped out of the chair to run to her grandmother, who caught her in a hug with a big smile on her face.

"Oh, my love! I've missed you terribly! Look at you!" They rocked side to side together, and Nonna Mae clutched her cane tighter so that she didn't fall over from how Namiko was damn near trying to be picked up.

"Your hair is—wow. It isn't yours! But it's so beautiful!" She referred to Namiko's 32 inch deep wave wig, making her laugh.

"Thank you! Come, come." Namiko grabbed her hand to help her walk towards where Isaiah and Naia were sitting.

"Oh my goodness gracious..Namiko!" Mae looked over at her in shock once Isaiah stood up, towering over her since Mae was only 4'11. He was almost two feet taller than her and she could see the tattoos that covered both of his arms, his neck, and all across his chest and shoulders since he was currently wearing a muscle shirt.

"I know right." Namiko said with a cocky grin as she wrapped her arms around Isaiah. He was the polar opposite of the image of any man that had ever been king—here in San Senova and probably everywhere else, too. Namiko didn't care though. She loved her man.

"This is Isaiah. Isaiah, this is my Nonna, Mae." She introduced the two of them, and he leaned down to kiss both of her cheeks the way that Namiko told him about. That put an instant smile on Mae's face at his manners.

"It is very nice to meet you. We are eternally grateful for all that you've done for my sweet Namiko and her little girl."

"You raised a good woman. She put the work in, I just helped a lil' bit. It's nice to meet you too." He said back, and Namiko smiled at the both of them.

"Come here mommy." She picked Naia up from the high chair in the midst of her eating a sliced mango, walking over to Nonna Mae.

"Oh, sweetheart. Look at you. You spit her out Namiko." Mae's trembling hand rubbed down Naia's arm in awe of the little girl.

"I did not." She frowned in confusion and slight disgust. She would never.

"That's an idiom mama. It just means she looks like you." Isaiah chuckled, and her mouth formed a circular shape once she processed what it meant. That's probably what the Prime Minister meant as well when he said that Naia was a spitting image of Namiko.

"She has your big eyes, your thin eyebrows, your nose—your lips. My goodness. This is your twin. She is beautiful." Mae began to tear up at the sight of her, unable to believe she was really there.

"I prayed that she would return to you unscathed and healthy. Look at her. My god." She sent up another quick and silent prayer, putting her hand over her heart.

"I need to phone Barbara. She will be excited to see her! Oh goodness." Although she was old and could hardly walk, she practically ran out of the kitchen to get to the telephone room to call her sister.

"I guess the name Barbara is universal." Isaiah said to himself, then chuckled because Namiko still heard him and now had a confused look on her face.

"What they feeding her? She likes whatever it is." Isaiah asked out of curiosity, seeing Naia pick up where she left off on her plate when Namiko put her down.

"Mango sticky rice. It's a dessert but it was all I ate as a kid, too. I figured she might as well. I'm glad she does." Namiko picked up her phone to check the time, and Isaiah watched her expression harden just a bit.

"Wassup?" He asked.

"I want to see my mom. She should be awake by now." She raised up from the table again, and Isaiah picked Naia up before following right behind her. He didn't know why she continuously tried to leave him. He wanted to be at her side at all times.

"Dada." Naia frowned at him since she and her food had been interrupted yet again.

"What? I'm bringing it for you." He told her with the plate in his hand, and Naia's frown disappeared as she went back to eating.

Isaiah followed Namiko towards the front of the castle and listened to her tell the guard at the door to call up the carriage. It appeared in less than two minutes, and the horses blew through their lips as the carriage came to a stop. He helped Namiko in first and then got in himself, and two of the soldiers got on the back to stand guard.

He could tell she was nervous because her leg bounced in place and she played with her hands that were in her lap, so he used his free hand to reach over and hold hers, forcing them to be still. Her head tilted to rest on his shoulder and she wrapped both of her arms comfortably around his as her nerves eased.

The ride to the detention center only took about ten minutes, and honestly, Isaiah wasn't even surprised to see that their 'jail', AKA the detention center, looked more like a suburban catholic schoolhouse rather than a place for 'criminals'. It wasn't big either so crime must've been pretty rare around here.

"Queen Namiko," The man behind the intake counter immediately stood at the sight of her, lowering his head to bow. "How can I be of service?"

"I want to see my mom please. Don't tell her it's me though."

"Of course. One second." He picked up the telephone on the desk and told whoever was on the other side to bring Kamila Sato to the visitation room. They were then led to said room less than two minutes later.

Isaiah was realizing that Namiko really did get princess treatment around here. Just one snap of her finger and anything she wanted was in front of her within a second. He couldn't understand how she ever got used to being in New York, especially before dating him. It was nothing like this in the city—for anyone, hell, not even the president.

Anywho, they rounded a corner to see a recreational area with a few tables meant for 'inmates' and their visitors, and there was an enclosed play area for children. Kamila sat at one of the tables with a bored expression on her face, dressed in a long-sleeved white shirt, gray sweatpants and white crocs.

Real crocs in jail. Isaiah had to chuckle.

"Oh my god." Kamila stood up from her seat at the sight of Naia, knowing exactly who she was without needing to be told. The girl really had her mother's entire face.

"Who i—who is he Namiko?" Kamila pointed to Isaiah, frowning at his appearance. She'd never seen this man in her life and she knew everyone that Namiko knew.

"My b—,"

"Dada!" Naia screamed in excitement, causing Namiko to look back at her with a smile. Isaiah quietly shushes her with a smile on his face as well, and Naia mocked him, bringing her pointer finger to her mouth to shush herself.

"He's my boyfriend." Namiko answered.

"He's the father? How old is he? Where did you even mee—I've never seen him before Namiko." She continued to question Namiko as if Isaiah didn't have a mouth to answer questions about himself.

"I came to tell you that I'm not letting you out anytime soon. I don't want to put my daughter in harm's way aga—,"

"Oh for Christ's sake Namiko! I did it to protect you! I would never harm you or her! You blew this out of proportion without bothering to let me explain. You know good and well you would never be where you are today if you would've kept this child. I did it for the sake of your father's legacy!" Kamila expressed.

"No, you did it for you. I never paid attention to how selfish you are because we are family and I love you. I chose to look past how you treat people when I should've realized that you've treated me the same way as them the whole time—just behind closed doors. You can't use my father as an excuse for your actions. He would've never agreed to do what you did."

"Because he was slower than a herd of snails traveling through peanut butter! Your father was mentally challenged and you know that, Namiko. Of course he wouldn't have done that—the man barely ever thunk a thought!" She was so frustrated and was about to say something she'd definitely regret.

"All of the decisions he made for this kingdom, I made them! Every bill, every damn law that went into place, every new school that opened up—it was me! I was trying to help you do the same and you wouldn't have been able to do that with a child! You can barely take care of yourself Namiko! You're just like him!"

Tears welled in Namiko's eyes as her mother's words settled in, and Kamila's expression softened once she realized what she said. She covered her mouth in shock at herself, and the room went silent.

Namiko knew since she was a child that Kamila had always doubted her. She loved her more than anything, yes, but she never believed that Namiko could one day take over the kingdom because of her diagnosis. She'd always wanted to make every decision for Namiko and control her life in every way possible, but it never came off as controlling to Namiko because she thought that was how mothers were.

She was the whole reason the workers in the castle always asked if Namiko needed help with anything. She had them believing that Namiko couldn't do anything on her own or for herself. She was just as capable as Kamila was, though. She hated that for a second, she thought of herself the same way her mother did. Disabled and incapable.

"I didn't mean it like that love. I just—what do you think he's here for Namiko? You have billions of baums to your name and you think he's here to love y—,"

"You don't know me. I wasn't 'bouta say nothin' to you but don't speak on me. She could go broke today and I'd be here tomorrow. Would it be the same for you though?" Isaiah interrupted her from falsely accusing him of being with Namiko because of her wealth.

"It wouldn't because that's all you've ever cared about, and that's exactly why you won't be leaving this center. I'm an adult and I can take care of myself. You think you're better than me and my father because you're 'all there', but you aren't better than anyone." Namiko wiped her tears away as she stood up from the table.

"I'm a better person than you because I actually have a heart, and I'm a better mom than you because I'll love my daughter no matter what she does or what path she chooses to take in life. I'll be a better wife than you because I love him for him, and not because of what he has. You will die bitter, and you will die in here." She made sure to clarify her last sentence.

"Namiko! Namiko you come back here this instant! Don't you walk away from m—Namiko!" Kamila screamed at her as she walked away, but it didn't stop or even slow Namiko down.














Yeah boo ⏰🫖