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five years later...
Celeste stressed over the stove as she prepared dinner for herself and Sanai. Finding new ideas of recipes to prepare was especially hard, because Sanai wasn't fond of meat, so Celeste struggled to include protein in her diet. She was currently preparing chili, but without the ground turkey.
Feeling a tap at her thigh, she looked down seeing Nai, "Mommy, what if I don't like school?" Sanai asked with worry laced in her voice.
Sanai suffered from diagnosed separation anxiety, and Celeste was trying to fix that but it was difficult. Tomorrow was Sanai's first day of kindergarten, so she was overthinking the entire situation. If it was up to Celeste, her daughter would stay home with her forever, but it wasn't her call sadly.
"You'll definitely like it, Nai. You'll meet new people and color pictures, like you do at home." She said, trying to reason with the scared child.
Despite her efforts, that didn't calm her anxious child, "I don't want to go." Sanai whined as she stood beside her mother causing a scene.
"You're going, Nai." Celeste said, having to use a motherly tone to get her point across. Eventually, the conversation was dropped and dinner was complete. The two sat at the table enjoying the weird variation of chili. It wasn't a hit for Celeste since she was basically eating just beans.
After getting Nai together for bed, she rubbed the child with lotion and sprayed her bed with a bit of melatonin, or else she wouldn't sleep tonight. Celeste sat in the princess bed as she cradled Sanai to sleep. It was something they did every night, so Sanai would sleep in her own bed.
When she finally fell asleep, Celeste gently laid her in the bed, and shut the light off. Celeste would have to prepare herself mentally for tomorrow, because she'd probably be crying right along with Nai. They hardly ever spent time away from each other— the two were inseparable and it was a beautiful relationship.
They resided in a small two level suburban home. Celeste put most of the payment down, and luckily her father helped with the remaining. She was proud to be a home-owner at such a young age. So far, she was doing a way better job at providing a better childhood for her daughter than her parents did for her.
As she packed the dinner into a tupperware container, she heard her phone buzzing from an incoming call. The caller ID informed her that her best friend, Kennedy, was calling per usual.
She pressed the green button and spoke, "Hey, Ken."
Her friend replied from the other line, "Cel, why I'm scrolling through instagram, and I see this post saying Saint is coming here."
Celeste stopped mid cleaning session and responded, "What are you talking about? He hasn't been back here in years."
"I don't know, but this might be the time to tell him about Nai. He deserves to know about her, she's literally five now." Kennedy said, but Celeste wasn't the most fond of her tone or demand she was practically giving.
