Before Knowledge could even respond to her question, he saw two familiar faces coming in his direction.
“What y’all doing here?” he asked Khyree and Cole.
“Nigga, I would ask you the same, but I can already see the answer,” Khyree said as he looked Courtney over.
“Oh, my bad. Courtney, these are my brothers, Khyree and Cole. Fellas, this is Courtney,” Knowledge introduced.
“Uhn oh,” Cole shook his head as he looked in the direction Asia and Cookie were walking from.
Everyone followed Cole’s eyes and Knowledge rubbed his temples. He knew it was about to be some shit with Asia. Here we go, he thought to himself as she got closer. She and Cookie were laughing about something until Asia looked up and noticed that Khyree and Cole were talking to somebody
“What y’all doing?” Cookie asked. “Oh, hey, Knowledge.”
Asia walked up and looked from Knowledge to the girl he was sitting with. She was about to say something slick until she remembered that she and Knowledge weren’t together; they never were. She wrapped her arm around Khyree’s waist and looked at Cole.
“We standing here all day, or are we going to get something to eat?” she asked.
Khyree and Cole both let out breaths that they didn’t even know they were holding. They glanced at each other, sharing the same thoughts before Cole looked back at Knowledge and said his goodbyes.
“Alright man, we’ll see you later,” Cole said.
Asia didn’t even spare Knowledge a second glance as she walked away with Khyree. When they got to their table, Khyree pulled her close to him and grabbed her face lightly so that she was looking at him.
“You good?” he asked.
“Yea, why wouldn’t I be? He’s not, nor has he ever been, my man. He’s been doing him since jump. I just hope he can do right by her, unlike me and Chelsea,” Asia said as she glanced back in their direction.
Chapter Seventeen
Knowledge opened the door for Courtney with a smile on his face. It had been a while since he had some female company that wasn't his sister.
"Come on in."
Courtney looked around his house and was impressed. The décor was beautiful. But it screamed 'a woman decorated it.' "You have a beautiful home.” She smiled.
"Thank you. I wish I could take all the glory but this is all my mom and sister," Knowledge informed her.
She stopped at the two big portraits on the wall that Cole had drawn. One was a drawing of Asia and Wysdom before she got out of the hospital and the other was of Serenity and Wysdom.
"My little brother drew those. He’s a beast," Knowledge said from behind her.
"I can tell. He’s very talented," she complemented.
"You want something to drink?" he asked.
"No, I'm fine."
Knowledge led her to the den where Serenity left her big dollhouse out, amongst other toys.
"Sorry, my daughter just left with my sister and I was just about to clean up before you knocked."
Courtney was feeling some kind of way that Knowledge had sent his daughter off just because she was coming. They had been getting to know each other pretty well and she figured that since he invited her over, he was ready for her to meet his daughter.
Before Knowledge could even put the movie on or get comfortable, his phone was ringing. He looked down and noticed it was Asia, so he hit ignore. Courtney was wondering why he didn't answer his phone.
"You can go ahead and answer," she said.
"Nah, it's cool."
As soon as the words left his mouth, Asia was calling back. Courtney noticed his phone said 'Baby Mama' with the kissy face and heart eye emojis.
"What movie you want to watch?" Knowledge asked.
"Surprise me," she said.
Knowledge put on an old school classic, Harlem Nights. He grabbed the bowl of popcorn and sat on the couch, pulling Courtney closer to him. As his luck would have it, his phone started ringing again. Only this time, it was Patience.
"What's up, sis? I'm busy—”
"Omari, I don't give a fuck what you're doing!" Patience screamed. "Get your punk ass down to the hospital! Something's wrong with your daughter!"
Upon hearing that, Knowledge jumped up, alarming Courtney.
"Which one?" he asked. He realized how stupid that sounded as soon as it left his mouth.
"Does it fucking matter? Get here!" Patience yelled one last time before hanging up on him.
"Shit!" he yelled.
"What's wrong?" Courtney asked.
"My baby was just rushed to the emergency room. I have to go see what's up," he told her.
"I'll go with you," Courtney said.
Knowledge just agreed and threw his shoes on before rushing out of the house. Had he been thinking, he would have realized he was feeding Courtney to the wolves known as Asia, Patience and Anika. He had no doubts in his mind that the whole family would be there because that's just what they did.
When Knowledge got to the hospital, just as he assumed, the whole family was there. He looked around for Asia but couldn't see her. He was about to ask where she was, but her voice stopped him.
"So this is why you couldn't answer your phone for me?"
Knowledge turned around to face her and her red puffy eyes broke his heart.
"It's not like that, A. But what's up? What's wrong with my baby?" he asked.
"I don't know," she said dryly before walking away and going to sit between Patience and Anika.
Symir walked up and eyed Courtney. "Let me talk to you real quick," he told Knowledge. When they were out if earshot, he put him up on what happened.
"Asia was in the kitchen cooking while Symare was playing with Wysdom in her walker. He started screaming for his mom when he noticed Wysdom’s eyes started to roll in the back of her head and shit. Asia rushed in the room to see what was wrong, then she started panicking. She called 911 and they rushed her here. No word on what's going on yet."
Knowledge felt a sharp pain shoot through his chest when he said that. He had been so pissed off at Asia lately that he hadn't been putting in any effort to check on his daughter.
Symir looked behind him and saw the looks the ladies were giving Knowledge's lady friend. "You think that was a good idea?" he questioned.
"I wasn't thinking straight. The only thing on my mind was to see what was wrong with my daughter and which one," Knowledge answered honestly.
Courtney sat there ignoring all the funny looks she was getting. The only one who didn't seem to have a mug on their face was who she knew now to be Asia's mother. She couldn't keep her eyes off of Asia. So that's my competition? She had to admit that Asia was cute, but she looked like a teenage girl. She had no idea that she was one of Knowledge’s baby mamas when they were at the restaurant.
"What the fuck are you looking at?" Asia questioned. The mood she was in would have her fucking this unknown bitch up if she kept looking at her like she knew her. Before Courtney could even respond, Patience spoke up.
"Who are you?"
"Courtney."
"Courtney, who?" Anika followed up.
"Knowledge's...friend." Courtney smirked.
"My brother don't have no friends outside of this family." Patience rolled her eyes. She didn't like this bitch just from the way she was looking. She had made it very clear from the first day that they met that she was all team Asia. Patience knew just from looking at her that she was going to be a problem.
"Well, he does now," Courtney said, matching her attitude.
"He should have left you where you were at. This doesn't have anything to do with you," Anika said. Never mind the fact that she was almost seven months pregnant. She remembered that the last time she was in a hospital, she had to punch a bitch for fucking with her little sister, and she wouldn't hesitate to do it again.
"Hush and eat this," Symir said as he walked over and handed Anika a bag of plain chips. The two still weren't on good terms, but he knew firsthand how she cou
ld be when it came to Asia. Just knowing that made him wonder how in the fuck he would think she had something to do with Asia's kidnapping.
Anika scrunched her nose up and looked at him like he was crazy. "I don't want that."
"I really don't give a fuck what you want. I'm pretty sure you ain't ate all day and I'll be damned if you starve my son, so eat it and shut the fuck up."
“Oh, now he’s your son?” Anika asked.
“Not now, you two!” Crystal fussed.
Anika snatched the chips out of Symir’s hand and bit her tongue from saying anything else. Mama Crystal was right. Now was not the time for them to air out their dirty laundry; it was all about baby Wysdom. Knowledge came and sat next to Courtney who was sitting across from ‘the wolves,’ as he called them.
"Where's Serenity?" he asked his sister.
"Khyree took her and Symare for a little walk," Patience answered.
As soon as she said that, the trio rounded the corner. Serenity took off in Asia's direction and climbed on her lap. Knowledge couldn't help but to smile at the sight before him. He loved how since day one, Asia never acted funny with Serenity. It was evident to everybody that Serenity loved her.
"Asia, can I stay with you and Mare tonight?" Serenity asked.
"You don't wanna come home with daddy?" Knowledge asked.
"Hi, daddy," Serenity spoke.
"Can daddy get some love?"
Serenity was about to climb off Asia's lap until she noticed the woman sitting next to her dad. She didn't like any female that she didn't know being close to her dad. Serenity squinted her eyes at her and shook her head no.
"Why not?" Knowledge asked.
"Who that?" Serenity asked as she pointed at Courtney.
"Give me a kiss and I'll tell you."
Once again, Serenity shook her head no and laid her head on Asia's chest. Knowledge watched as Asia whispered something in her ear and Serenity nodded before getting down and coming to him. Serenity hugged her daddy and kissed his cheek. Knowledge really didn't want to introduce Courtney to Serenity this early, but since they had already seen each other, he had no choice.
"Baby girl, this is Courtney. Courtney this is Serenity."
"Hi, Serenity. What a pretty name for a pretty girl," Courtney said as she held her hand out for Serenity to shake.
Serenity looked at her hand like it was diseased before pushing it away, jumping off her dad's lap and going back to Asia. The three ladies didn't even try to stifle their chuckles.
"Y'all out cold." Khyree shook his head.
"That ought to tell you something right there," Asia said. "Let me talk to you real quick."
She didn't even wait for him to respond or get up before she walked away. She knew he would follow her. Just as she knew, he was right in her heels.
"Look, I don't have a problem with you or ol girl in there. My problem is you not answering your phone for me because you're all in your feelings for whatever reason," she said.
"It wasn't even like that, A—“
"I called you twice and twice you sent me to voicemail, but when Patience called you answered right away. So it wasn't like what?" she asked. When he couldn't give her an answer, she shook her head. "Like I thought."
"A, the doctor is looking for y'all," Khyree said.
Asia walked off back to where they were sitting with Knowledge right behind her.
"Hello, I'm Doctor Reynolds. It appears that baby Wysdom had a seizure which was due to her having a temperature of 103. We ran some tests to see what the cause of her temperature may have been. She has an ear infection which caused the fever. We would like to keep her for a few days until we can get her temperature down," Doctor Reynolds explained.
After saying their thank yous and asking the doctor if they could see her, Asia shook her head. Wysdom didn't show signs of even having a temperature or even being sick for that matter. She was her same active self.
"How the hell could you let her temperature get that high and not bring her to the hospital? Did you bump your head or something, because that shit was stupid!" Knowledge's voice roared. To say that he was pissed would be an understatement. He couldn't understand how Asia could let their daughter sit around sick to the point where it caused a seizure.
"Hold up, Omari! Don't fucking tell at me about my daughter when you haven't even seen her in three weeks. Nigga, you wouldn't have even known she was sick if it wasn't for your sister. As a matter of fact, I don't have to explain shit to your ass. You and this bitch can leave because my baby been doing good without you. Kiss my ass and go to hell."
"Come on, y'all. Now is not the time for this. Your daughter needs you two right about now," Crystal spoke up.
"Nah, ma. He ain't been worrying about her, so I don't need him worrying about her now. Excuse me while I go check on my daughter. Cole, let's go," Asia said before walking away.
Cole was stuck. He may have been the godfather, but Knowledge was her birth father. He looked from Knowledge to Symir for what he should do.
"Go ahead. Those two don't need to be around each other right now," Symir said.
When Asia got to Wysdom's room, she started crying again. Seeing her baby hooked up to an IV and laying there sick was not something a mother wanted to see their child go through. She walked over to her bed and kissed her chubby cheeks while rubbing her hair.
"I'm sorry, baby. Mommy didn't know. I promise I'll never let you end up here again," Asia cried.
Cole walked over to her and hugged her. "It's going to be alright, A. She’s a fighter like her mom."
Asia remembered him saying those exact same words to her when she was born and fighting for her life. She knew that if she could make it from that, she would make it from this.
"Ma ma," they heard faintly.
Asia's head popped up as she looked over at Wysdom who was looking at her.
"Did you just say what I think you said?" she asked excitedly.
"Ma ma," Wysdom said again.
Asia damn near jumped for joy when she heard that. She was used to Wysdom talking in baby gibberish, but she had never said an actual word. At seven months, Wysdom said her first word and it was 'Ma ma.' Cole stood there smiling.
While Asia and Cole were in the room, Khyree pulled Knowledge outside so they could talk. "You already know you and Asia need to cut this shit out, so I don't even gotta tell you," Khyree said.
"Man, that shit ain't sitting right to me. Like, how do you just sit there and let your daughter be sick?" Knowledge questioned rhetorically.
"In her defense, man, when I was over earlier to drop Mare off, she was good. She was laughing, playing with her toys and everything. She looked far from sick. Usually when babies get sick, you can tell," Khyree said.
"I don't know, man. Maybe I was wrong for going off on her like that, but you know me and Asia relationship been crazy from the jump. No matter how much I try to be nice to her, we can't never get in a good place. Y’all get along just fine, but she act like she hate a nigga guts," Knowledge sighed.
"Four reasons. I was her friend before I became the father of her child, I've never lied to her, I've never hurt her, and her feelings never ran as deep for me as they do for you." Knowledge looked at Khyree, confused. "Huh? What you mean? You were her first everything. How her feelings never ran deep for you?"
"Like I said, Asia and my relationship started off on a friend level. She was only twelve, just lost her parents a few years before. She was the new girl around with no friends. We became cool right off bat. When I would spend the night over Mama Crystal house, I would sneak in her room and help her get rid of her nightmares by holding her. Years down the line, she allowed me to take her virginity because she trusted me and knew in her heart that I would never hurt her. Selfishly, I got her pregnant on purpose so I could always have a piece of her. Me and Asia were never a couple. We just shared a bond.
“That's why when I found out about you and your situation from Mir and Asia, I didn't like you. I didn
't like you because you had hurt somebody I loved. The reason why you two can't get along is because of that same reason; you hurt her. She loves you but not only did you hurt her, she feels as if you allowed someone else, meaning Chelsea, to hurt her. So now her feelings for you are turning into resentment because she doesn't want to have feelings for you anymore," Khyree explained.
Knowledge just stood there taking in everything that Khyree had just told him. He had really just opened his eyes to a lot of stuff, even knowing that he knew Asia's stubbornness wouldn't allow her to be friends with Knowledge.
Chapter Eighteen
Chelsea and her sister walked out of Miami International Airport, taking in the Florida sun. Chelsea felt that her little time away would allow everything to die down and give her a chance to talk to Knowledge and give him a clear understanding of things.
“I can’t believe your dumb ass really came back, knowing those niggas want to kill your dumb ass,” her sister fussed.
Chelsea rolled her eyes at her overly annoying sister. “Once again, Kels, you could have stayed where you were, right in North Carolina. I did not ask you to tag along and I surely could have did without.”
Chelsea was tired of her sister thinking she knew it all. She had known Knowledge for years and she knew without a doubt that no matter how mad at her he was, he would never allow anyone to hurt her. That included Asia, which is exactly why she came back.
Kels just shook her head at her ignorant sister but didn’t say another word. She’ll learn sooner or later, she thought as she followed Chelsea to the rental car desk.
As they drove to her house, Chelsea’s mind was clouded with thoughts of how she and Knowledge’s conversation would go. She knew one thing for sure was she would have to explain her ass off. She was just going to lay it all on the floor and tell him everything.
She was tired of holding everything in. She just wanted to tell him what happened so they could move on with their lives. She was sure that after this, Asia wouldn’t want anything to do with him. Better for me.
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