Independence

Thirty-Eight

Omniscient
6 September 2023
Jah's Birthday Dinner
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You okay bubba?" Leilani asked glancing over at Jah who sat in her passenger seat staring out of the window as she drove towards their destination. She convinced— well begged him to go out with her for dinner.

"Yea, just a lot on my mind right na' " he spoke looking over at her as she stopped at a red light, grabbing her phone to check her notifications. Jah watched as she typed on her phone before turning it off and putting it back in its original place.

"You wanna talk about it?" She asked him as she leaned back in her seat placing her hand over her belly while rubbing it soothingly as she felt little movements going on in there.

It was silent for a moment as Jah looked away from his little sister as a lump formed in his throat, afraid that if he said anything he'll just start crying like he's been doing these past few weeks when he was alone.

One thing Elijah and Leilani was grateful for is the fact that they were raised and thought to express their feelings freely. Their parents did monthly mental health check-ins with them to see where their head space was at and made it known that if you need to cry, shout, hell anything that they could do it without being judged for it.

(A/n: I apologize but I don't remember if I ever gave their parents names so forgive me if I did and I'm now giving new names. Mom - Desiree Amara Johnson ; Dad - Alonzo Shakur Johnson)

Desiree and Alonzo also made sure to let Elijah know that it was okay to cry, boy or not, man or not, he shouldn't be afraid to show emotion and that it doesn't make him any less of a man. It just showed that he wasn't afraid to be vulnerable and there was absolutely nothing wrong with a man being vulnerable which is also one of the reasons Kaelynn fell in love with him.

Once they got serious, she let it be known that one of the reasons she likes him so much is because he wasn't afraid to show emotion or express his feelings for her and she admired that. She loved his parents even more for teaching him about being open about his feelings instead of hiding them cause he might be afraid of showing weakness.

"L-Lani, we barely talk. If it ain't about Ej or anything concerning babygirl then— like she says— there ain't shit to talk about. It hurts me deeply cause I can tell that she herself feels bad when she talks to me like that but she doesn't care to stop" he cleared his throat after sniffing as Lani drove off from the red light that turned green.

"And it's like I'm working on proving to her that I ain't even cheat on her but its to the point where I'm like fuck it cus' it just shows that she don't trust me so is it really worth it?" he looked at Leilani as she pulled into the parking space of the restaurant.

"Twel– twelve years Lani. If I wanted to cheat on her I would've been did it years ago but right na'? That shit ain't even worth it. I can barely even breathe without her right na' so what makes her think I'll even step foot out of our marriage?" His voice cracked even more as he spoke hurting Lani's heart even more as she listened to him while she put the car in park.

"Come here bubba" she spoke softly opening her arms as she leaned over the console. He leaned into her as he softly cried on her chest while she rubbed his back.

"I promise she's just hurt right now and that's no excuse for how she's treating you. Pray about it bubba, ask God for guidance through this time and leave it in his hands. Matter fact lets do that right now" she spoke as she still held him while slowly rocking side-to-side.