"'Where is your bd?' Is that an abbreviation for boyfriend? He went to get us breakfast because doordash is down." Namiko read a comment on her TikTok Live as she applied leave in conditioner to her naturally curly hair.

"'That means baby da—' oh guys, come on. I don't call him that. He's more than just my baby's dad. That's my man. And he went to get breakfast like I said." She chuckled, standing up to get her wig brush out of the box labeled 'bathroom'.

She leaned over to dig through the box that she'd previously organized pretty nicely, but Isaiah ruined it when he tossed his stuff in. He was nowhere near as neat as her when it came to packing so she constantly went behind him to re-pack each box.

"Yooo, Nami, wassup mama? What you doin'?" Isaiah noticed the camera first and then he saw her bent over in its line of view and her tight fitting sleeping gown that stopped above her mid thigh had risen up and almost showed something that was his.

"Getting my brush?" She said as if it was obvious, holding it up for him to see.

"Yo' whole ass out girl. You good?" There was a small frown on his face as he pulled the gown down, and her mouth formed an O shape before it dropped into a smile at him kissing her face.

"Sorry baby. I didn't realize. Did you guys see my coochie or my butt? And be honest?" Namiko walked back over to her camera, and Isaiah shook his head at her with a light laugh while walking over to the bed.

"Dada!" Naia smiled at him when he removed the covers from over her head and she fell out in giggles when he tickled her sides. He'd seen her trying to hide when he walked in but she was way too obvious to the point where it was comedic because she was serious at the same time.

"Wassup dada baby? You hiding from me? Huh?" He continued tickling her for a couple of seconds before he stopped, listening to her scream. That was her way of letting him know she was done playing.

"Aight. I quit." He raised his hands in surrender, chuckling at her jumping into his arms anyway as if he wasn't just lying in the bed with her an hour ago.

"Dada," she used her thumb to touch the tip of her fingers at one time and moved it closer to her mouth to sign 'food' in sign language.

"It's on yo' table. Gon' head." He kissed her cheek before placing her down on the ground, and she took off running towards the kitchen.

"Get off that live Namiko. Go eat." He sat down on the edge of the bed, just a foot or so away from her.

"No. You go eat. I'm doing Q&A right now."

"Isaiah! You're going to get me banned!" Namiko turned around with a frown on her face when the sound of his hand making contact with her butt echoed throughout the mostly empty room.

"Daddy sorry." He gripped the same spot at the same time that he kissed her forehead, and he laughed at how her frown immediately disappeared and her arms wrapped tightly around his torso.

"Ok fine. I'll get off." She grabbed her phone off of the windowsill. "Bye bye guys. My man said I have to go. Talk to you all later."

"They are always asking about you. Do you know that someone cropped me out of my own video to make an edit of you in the background with your shirt off? I blocked them. I'm the star here." She pointed to herself before rolling her eyes at him laughing again.

"Did it get some likes?"

"Two hundred thousand! I'm so aggravated. I don't want anyone to know you. And here they are making thirst traps of my man." She pulled her gown down her thighs as they headed to the front of the house.

"It's good. You know who I'm for." He grabbed a handful of her butt when she stopped walking, and her smile returned when his arms wrapped around her from behind.

They were currently on their last day of packing Isaiah's house up and if they remained at the pace they'd been on for the last three days, they should be able to finish up by mid afternoon. Then, they'd be going over Jamell's house for a farewell party that was being thrown in Isaiah's honor.

Instead of selling or paying his mortgage off in full, Isaiah's house would be put on AirBnb to be rented out so that it could basically pay itself off and give him another disposable income. He already had three listings on Airbnb so this wouldn't be his first rodeo or anything.

Today was Friday, February 27th, and they'd be flying back to San Senova in two days. It felt like time was flying by so fast but Isaiah didn't mind it. Namiko was right, there really wasn't anything that was keeping him in New York besides his job and he could go remote if he would prefer that over in-office.

He was ready to settle down with her now.

That was such a crazy realization to him. He was 34 years old and had never felt the urge to actually sit still and start a life with a woman that he was genuinely in love with. He couldn't be paid a million dollars to tell how she'd done it because he still didn't know himself. The girl knew magic or something.

"Will you stop staring at me like a creep? Gosh." Namiko opened a packet of grape jelly to pour on the sausage and cheese muffin from Wendy's, able to feel Isaiah's eyes on her.

"My fault doll face. You look good." He didn't tear his eyes away from her, watching her cheeks raise with another warm smile, trying to hide the fact that she was blushing.

She wasn't wearing any makeup, lashes, or lip gloss and her hair also wasn't done but he still made her feel like the prettiest girl on earth. She just knew her face was as red as a tomato.

"You got a private school you gon' send her to Nami? Or she gon' be homeschooled?" He asked, passing Naia a Simply orange juice with no pulp once she signed for juice.

"There's tutors at the castle that will teach her like they did me."

"Hm. You was nonverbal when you were a kid?" He looked over at her again.

"Yes. I'm not sure how long it lasted though. I was speaking when I started school, I know that. I think she'll do well, regardless. Ms. Rachel has taught her so many signs. It won't be long before she starts talking like that lady too."

"Or talking like you 'cause you always in her face tryna get her to repeat after you." He chuckled, and she nodded her head in agreement. That was how she got her to say 'mommy' so she knew it would work for everything else as well.

"Knowing her, she'll copy you just to taunt me." Namiko shook her head and added an eye roll at the sound of him laughing since they both knew that was true.

Isaiah took a long pull from his blunt and let the smoke flow through his nostrils and his mouth at the same time, using his free hand to hold around Namiko's waist from behind. She stood in front of him with a small gray baby monitor in one hand and a red solo cup in the other.

They were now at the party that Jamell was hosting for Isaiah, and it wasn't like the Super Bowl party that they'd attended a few weeks ago. It was an actual party that stretched down the street. Namiko was sure how they even knew this many people personally.

Despite it being loud, a bit cold and overstimulating, Namiko was surprisingly doing well. She had Isaiah's noise canceling Beats on that didn't really cancel out the noise completely, but it muffled it well enough to keep her stable. He checked in on her frequently and that was really helpful as well.

Naia was currently asleep with Shaniece's twins in their bedroom, while the other children played and ate freshly grilled barbecue in the living room. Isaiah and Namiko were outside, leaned up against his car with a group of Isaiah friends that he'd grown up with in Harlem.

"Let me see sista." Shaniece held the bottom of Namiko's red cup, pouring her another shot of Don Julio.

"Thata' girl!" She gave her a high five when Namiko downed it with ease, then both of them laughed at the expression she made. Namiko probably wouldn't ever get used to the taste of liquor. She was more of a wine type of girl.

"She got me like ouuuuahh. I love you down to your feet..don't worry 'bout me, I'm yoursss. She make me wanna..settle down, settle down, settle down." Isaiah sung Settle Down by Rich Kidz in Namiko's ear, pulling the left side of the headphones back so that she could hear him, making her smile.

She placed her hand over his that rested on her waist, beginning to sway her hips against him to the beat of the music. He bit his bottom lip once her hands found her knees, bending over to have more control over the effortless movement of her waist.

He couldn't front like he wasn't surprised that she knew how to move her ass like this. He'd seen her do a quick little playful twerk that never lasted more than a couple of seconds before, but the liquor in her system mixed with the second hand high from Isaiah's blunts had her feeling herself and she was showing out.

"Aight mama. Chill." Isaiah's hand wrapped around her neck to pull her back up when too many lingering eyes landed on her backside.

"Why? You're clearly enjoying it." Now facing him, Namiko's hand slid over the front of his jeans with a soft but cocky grin on her face.

"Yeah but I'm not the only one. Watch out, freaky frog." He grabbed her wrist after kissing her cheek, and she laughed, wrapping both of her arms around his neck.

"It's crazy—this used to be my type of scene every day a couple years ago. Ion even wanna be at my own shit right now. I just wanna lay up with you." He chuckled as his red eyes lowered to look down at her.

"Really? Like every day every day?" She curiously asked. He didn't seem like the partying type.

"Yeah. If I wasn't on the block selling, I was somewhere at a party or a kick back in a bando. Shit like that. I hated being at home so I would just do whatever to get away from it."

"Kick back in a b—," she started to repeat him before he cut her off with a laugh.

"That's just like a lil' get together in a vacant apartment or house. We ah' break in and some of us would live there, others just went to get high and shit." He explained to lessen her confusion.

"And selling, you mean, drugs?" She asked, watching him nod his head.

"Wow. You did a complete 180. Your baby did it to you?" She looked up at him with curious eyes to watch him nod again.

"I had to sit down for her. It's crazy how kids can just snap you outta certain shit 'cause I stopped smoking when she was born too." Isaiah told her as he grabbed the blunt that Jamell held out after approaching them with Shaniece at his side.

"You should've seen this nigga back then Nami. You wouldn't even believe he'd be who he is today." Jamell told her.

"And you used to be that way as well?" She asked.

"Psssh, not for long. I sat him down soon as I met him in high school. That's why Zay ain't like me at first. I turned this nigga head straight." Shaniece pointed to her husband who kissed the side of her face with a smile resting on his. It was true. He would forever love her for that.

"Yeah she came in from Boston tryna be everybody mama. She was the cheer captain her first year at our school and the manager of the football team. She gave the coach some strict ass ideas to get us in line—had us pissed." Isaiah shook his head just thinking about it, making them all laugh.

"They was so ghetto sista. You wouldn't step fifty feet near this nigga if you would've known him back then. And he was a man whor—,"

"Heyyy now. Shut up. She ain't ask allat." Isaiah pushed her back by her face and ducked just in time to miss her fist, making Namiko and Jamell laugh again.

"No, I do want to know, actually. Tell me Niecey."

"Nah man she ly—,"

"No I'm not. This nigga slept with every bitch on the cheer team except me and this girl named Taylor. He was fighting almost everyday 'cause he used to fuck hoes that had boyfriends without a care in the world, lil' nasty ass." Shaniece began to spill the tea, and Namiko turned to look at him with a shocked expression on her face.

"Yo that was like—seventeen years ago. And she being dramatic. I fucked like half the cheer team, not all of 'em. Melly had the other half." Isaiah pointed to Jamell, and as soon as Shaniece's head turned, he moved out of her reach in case she felt like swinging.

"Yooooo, what the fuck? I ain't even said nothin', why the fuck I get brought up? I was gon' defend you bitch. From..over here." He now stood a few feet away from them, and Namiko burst out laughing when Shaniece put him in a chokehold anyway.

"Namiko!" Isaiah frowned when she did the same to him, squeezing her arm around his neck. She laughed harder when he picked her up bridal style to get her to release him, and she tossed her head back with more laughs as he tickled her sides.

Namiko pulled the duvet covers of the hotel's king sized bed back, lying down in her spot between Naia and Isaiah. Her daughter wasted no time to cuddle up to her side but paid no attention to the kiss Namiko left on her face because she was too busy playing Roblox on her new iPhone 11.

"Feeling better?" Isaiah looked away from his phone where he was scrolling down his Facebook timeline to look at Namiko.

"Yes. I didn't throw up, thankfully." She'd just gotten out of a hot bath to help with the headache she had from getting slightly drunk a few hours ago.

He gazed in her direction again when she went quiet, noticing that she didn't turn the TV on like she usually did before bed and she didn't grab her phone either. She just stared into the distance as if she was thinking about something.

"Wassup mama? What's on yo' mind?" Isaiah put his phone down and lowered himself in the bed so that he'd be face to face with her.

"Huh?"

"What you thinking about? I see how you lookin'." He said, and her confused expression softened into a small smile.

"I have so much to do when I get back home. I guess I'm just thinking about how much I'll miss it here. And I'll miss Niecey and Mell as well. And my other friends, Rae and Zaria.. When we go back, it'll just be us. I don't have any friends there and I don't really interact with my family much."

"Damn. I ain't even know you had family there, outside of yo' Nonna and yo' moms. When you mentioned yo' cousin moving away, I just assumed that was the only outside family you had. Who else is there?" He curiously asked.

"They live in third castle. It's a few miles away, closer to the village.. I have three uncles and an aunt on my dad's side, and another aunt on my mom's. They're all married with kids, but all of the kids are young so that's why I don't—you know, hang out with them. They're children."

"They all come over for big events, like holidays and birthday parties are always celebrated at First Castle. But sometimes I feel like us being family is just for an image, you know? It just hasn't been the same since my dad passed." She explained to him, laying her head on top of her hands.

"Yeah. I get it. That's probably how you clung to Niecey 'nem so quick. You don't have enough one on one personal relationships. I be feeling like that sometimes too though. I ain't never been close with my people."

"I figured. The one time I asked you about your mom, you brushed it off so passive aggressively that I just never brought it back up." She chuckled, rubbing a random piece of hair away from the top of his eyebrow.

"My fault mama. Sometimes I don't realize how harsh I be when I talk about sensitive subjects, you know? I'm sorry."

"No worries, baby. I know you mean no harm. It's alright." She leaned her head forward to kiss his forehead, making his eyes flutter close for just a second.

"I'm in love with you and how you make me comfortable enough to talk about certain shit. I don't know how you do it."

"Me either." She smiled, still rubbing his face. "I'm glad though. It's not good to keep stuff bottled up the way that you do. I think that plays a part in why everyone thinks you're so mean. You carry so much with you and it prevents you from being—you know, welcoming."

"Yeah..you right. It's a lot to unpack though. I feel like I'm trauma dumping whenever I try to talk about it." He lost her gaze in a bit of shame.

"Well in your case, it's fair. You haven't trusted anyone to release that trauma piece by piece. Now you trust me and it probably feels like you 'dump' a lot at one time but you don't. That's why I'm always eager to listen when you do. I want to understand you more, and understand what makes you, you." The last sentence made his heart warm, so he reached up to give her a kiss.

"I'm so in love with you Namiko." He spoke softly, repeating it for the second time.

"I'm so in love with you."
 



 

Tuh guess what? I'm bored lol