The remainder of the party went pretty smooth. It was now golden hour and most if not all of the kids had gone back to their respective homes. Nyla along with the twins were somewhere upstairs in the gaming room being supervised by the nanny; while all the adults were drinking and vibing to some old school music.
Zac noticed that Fatima was a bit withdrawn so he walked away from the crowd and went to go check on her...
Zac: you good?
Fatima: I'm fine, why do you ask?
Zac: well for starters you've been off ever since you came back from changing Nyla's dress and now you're sitting here all alone.
Fatima: Zac that doesn't mean anything, maybe I just don't wanna dance.
Zac: Fatima please! The DJ is literally playing your favorite song bro. What's wrong baby, talk to me.
Fatima: (sighs) okay fine... there's something that I have to tell you but I'm not sure how you're gonna receive it.
Zac: (sits down) I'm listening...
Fatima: (hesitant) it's uh... uhm let me ask you this. What was it like growing up with Mr Rodney in the house?
Zac: (confused) what? Where is all of this coming from?
Fatima: babe please just answer the question, I promise it'll make sense soon.
Zac: okay, it was uhh... tough. He's a big disciplinarian so he used to beat me, bad!
Fatima: and what did your mother do about that?
Zac: (shrugs) nothing really, she used to just take a back seat and let him "discipline" me. However, when Gigi was a baby he just stopped. I don't know what it is that led him to a change of heart but I'm grateful because lawd knows that I was not about to sit and let him beat on my baby sis.
Fatima: so he has never laid a hand on Gigi?
Zac: (confused) no, at least not to my knowledge... baby where is all of this coming from all of a sudden?
Fatima: I uh-
Gigi: (interrupts) Zac, uncle Buck sent me to call you, he said he's about to leave so you should come say bye.
Zac: I'll be right back baby *walks off*
Gigi: (sits down) what were y'all talking about, it seemed pretty intense.
Fatima: he was telling me about y'all upbringing.
Gigi: (sighs deeply) please don't tell me you told him about earlier.
Fatima: I was about to tell him until you interrupted our conversation.
Gigi: Fatima please don't! Just trust me okay, I'm doing this for his benefit. The less he knows the better!
Fatima: Gigi I'm not gonna lie to protect you if I don't even know what exactly I'm covering for.
Gigi: okay fine! But if I tell you then you have to promise me that you won't tell Zac.
Fatima: I promise.
Gigi: you were right about the marks on my wrists, I did do them myself.
Fatima: so you self harm?
Gigi: *used to, I used to self harm but not anymore.
Fatima: may I ask why?
Gigi: it's kind of like a coping mechanism. Everytime after Mr Rod would hit me I would cut myself to help get over all the pain and emotions, but don't worry I upgraded to something safer.
