TEACH ME NOT 2 HATE LOVE

53

🧑Nik Anthony POV🧑

While I was brooding over the shocking and unfortunate news, my father dropped on me like a bomb. You know about him having brain cancer, which I still believe is a lie. Well, it has to be. Alright, I don't know what to believe. Sigh.

Moving on. I heard a commotion coming from the party area. Pfff, Tajea's loud mouth, and rushed out to the balcony to find out what the problem was.

It turns out she and that worthless trash of a brother of mine, Nathan, got into a little conflict. She stabbed that scumbag in the hand with a fork. This woman is crazy. But this doesn't surprise me one bit. I also have no doubt Nathan truly deserves it and more.

"Are you aright?" I checked up on Tajea. I'm greatly concerned about her well-being, after all.

"Yeah, you should see the other guy," she replied with a smile. "By the way, I was just coming to look for you. Are you OK?"

"I will be." I assured her. "I just want to get out of here."

"I agree. Let's get our son and go then."

"Yeah." I smiled. She said our son.

"Regina! Nik is taking me home. See you tomorrow!" She yelled at her best friend, who replied with a nod and a smile.

We then went to get little Nik, who was fast asleep. Then we headed out for Tajea's home. Kenneth and the squad drove closely behind me.

"What if he's really sick, Nik?" Ah boy, why did she have to bring that back up? All I want to do is forget about it.

"I don't know, and to be honest, I don't really want to talk about it," I responded a bit severely. Then I took a deep breath. "Sorry for that."

"I'll let it slide this once," she said.

"Thank you, I guess." I set my eyes on the road.

"It must have been hard, though." I guess she is trying to get me to talk about my feelings and get over it. Or she's just really bored.

"Yeah. But I wanted to know his reason for being here, and he told me," I said, way more emotionally than intended. "I mean, I hate the guy for being a crappy father, so why do I even care if he's dying?

"All I wanted was for the guy to be my father. Is that so hard to ask for? And he waits until he is dying to want to be that. No. I can't do that with him. He should have just kept his distance."

"I'm sorry, Nik." Tajea briefly caressed my left hand resting on my leg as a means to comfort me. And it worked somewhat.

"It's alright. You don't need to be." I played tough—put on a smile even to not trouble her any more with my problems.

"I think I want to stay at your house tonight," she said out of the blues. A little uneasy, too. Startling me. "Well, clearly, you are upset. And I can't have little Nik seeing you like this. I'm staying there for my boy's sake, so don't get any ideas."

"Of course not. Anything you want." At least one good thing happened tonight.

After that, it was a quiet ride all the way to my house. And as soon as we got in, Tajea put little Nik to bed before coming down to join me in the living room. She sat across from me, seeming a bit afraid to get close to me but at the same time worried about me.

"Are you sure you are alright?" She asked after a few minutes of stealing gazes at each other and avoiding eye contact.

"Are you?" I retorted.

"I asked you first," she snapped.

"Well, I asked second," I stated firmly.

We then look at each other and break out in laughter. My laughter then turned to tears. After all, I recently found out my father is dying. And despite how horrible he is, he's still my dad. And I do care what happens to him.