Redemption

Chapter 14

The following weeks, for Zari, were utter hell. Nothing seemed to be going right. She continuously pierced her finger hand stitching and on the industrial sewing machine in the studio. She'd barely slept since she went back to her own bed, and coffee was no longer working. That morning she drug herself from the bed, slipped on a pair of sweatpants, and a field day t-shirt from Aiden's preschool. She grabbed a customary cup of coffee and a granola bar. Thirty minutes later she found herself swiping her ID across the door lock and trudging through the eaves. She hummed along with the actor's vocal warmups. Walking into the studio she dumped her things onto the workstation. "Well good morning sunshine," Melanie teased as Zari walked to their food counter. "We have any more coffee pods?" Zari asked as she searched through the cabinets for a stray pod. "Nope and it's your turn to buy," Melanie replied.

"Shoot," Zari slammed her palm on the counter.

Melanie turned to frown at her fellow seamstress. "What's going on?" Zari turned away and began pulling a costume off of the rack." Nothing's wrong," she murmured. Melanie sucked her teeth, "Don't lie to me. We've been through too much for you to start now," Melanie gets up and moves her chair over to Zari's station, " Now two weeks ago, you didn't drink coffee. Now you drink like your life, and mood, depend on it. As well as the number of times you've injured yourself. This week alone. Usually, I'm the one that constantly needs a band-aid, not you."

"It's nothing."

"It's obviously something. It's thrown you all the way off sis. Why don't you just tell the man how you feel?"

Zari looked up. "What?"

Melanie shook her head, "Tell. The. Man. How. You. Feel. About. Him."

"How do you know it's about T'Challa?"

Melanie shoots her a look, "Sis, your royal baby daddy just walked back in your life wanting to get to know his son. You didn't know he knew his son existed. He didn't know he had a son. He wants to get back with you, but you are scared that he'll leave you again. Plus, your parents showed up on your doorstep and you haven't seen them in five years. Five years during which you graduated college and had a baby. No one can go through all of that in a month and it not throw them off."

"How do you know It wasn't about my parents?"

"Is it about your parents?" Melanie smirked. Zari sighed and began threading a needle to add some beading to a costume. "No. It's about T'Challa. We decided that we should cool it on dates, and sharing the same bed-"

Melanie squealed, "Y'all were sharing a bed!"

"Shhh!" Zari covered her mouth, "Tell the whole theatre why don't you." Melanie removed Zari's hand from her mouth, "Zari, it's very obvious what the problem is. You miss him. You love him still. So why don't you just tell him?"

"T'Challa already knows I love him." Zari sighed, looking away from the conversation and loading beads on her needle. "Okay so you've told him that you still love him, does he know you want to be a thing forever? Like get married? Have more babies? You know actually be with him in Wakanda?" Zari looked down, "No, but, I don't know If I'm ready for all of that." Melanie set down her own hand sewing project, "No one is saying have a baby or get married right away, but at least let him know that you wanna get back to that space in you all's relationship. I mean you obviously miss him. You started losing sleep when you moved back into your own room." Melanie remarked.

"Yeah, but it's because Isha snores," Zari excused. "So does Aiden when he is really tired. I'm sure he gets that from his father, because you don't snore. Just admit it, you miss T'Challa sleeping next to you."

"I was fine alone for 5 years-"

"Now you don't have to be. It's ok to want to be with T'Challa. It doesn't make you any less of a woman Zari. You were there for Aiden when he needed you. Let T'Challa be here for you. Be with him. Love him. Let him help take care of you and Aiden." Melanie encouraged.