I, Ian

Chapter Four

Portier-K'alani family home, San Diego, the following morning...

Gentle reader, if you pardon me to make a small detour regarding Asha Montrose. If there is anything you need to know about her aside from her being the former friend of one Ivy Levine; she was known to be beautiful, sensible, and very atypical to the aspiring model stereotype.

She came from a strong family that was known to be full of diversity, given that she was not only related to the Deveraux family lineage of Louisiana but also had strong ties to the K'alani family of Samoa and Tonga and also the Portier family of Mississippi- all three clans living alongside Southern California stretching from Los Angeles to San Diego.

She was also dedicated to her studies at UC Irvine where she was majoring in finances while attending photoshoots and modeling go-sees as directed by her agent who encouraged her to continue her studies and have a backup plan in case her modeling aspirations went nowhere.

And she was known to be a good friend who stuck by her principles as taught to her by her late paternal grandfather (a preacher who was devout to his faith). "Never let anyone dictate your future or use you to their advantages," he would remind her when she was a little girl. "Never be restricted to what people say that you are and what you're not. But most of all, never be friends with anyone who is too toxic in their ways."

That last statement was all the more apparent when she cut ties with Ivy Levine after the fiasco at Mama Kaneva's Coffee and Treats. She and Candide knew that Antoine's words would ring true in some way or another after he cursed the egotistical influencer. And when the time came, all she would do was say "I told you so."

****************

"Thanks so much for tagging along with me, Candy," Asha said gratefully as the duo made through her aunt Estelle's mini-mansion where the place was full of laughter and enjoyment. "You honestly have no idea how I could use this weekend getaway after what Levine pulled yesterday."

"That's for sure," Candide agreed, nodding twice while waving hello at two of Asha's pre-school twin female cousins who were having a breakfast-themed tea party with their dolls as their mother was on her computer for a video conference call. "Your family was cool enough to let me  come with you since my parents are out on business. I'd stayed with Mrs. Levine and Ivy, but I remember that I'm blackballed in Ivy's eyes."

"True," Asha hummed as the duo arrived in the kitchen where the head matriarch and her Samoan husband Horatio (a large former wrestler were cooking the last of the waffles while her older twin cousins Jerome and Jace (both of them EMT workers) were chatting with Jace's wife Nia. "Hey, y'all."

"Asha, Candide," Estelle crooned in her French patois while serving the girls their food. "So the incident with Antoine and the coffee shop regarding Ivy Levine's true, yes?"

"It's true," Nia replied as Reva K'alani (a female wrestler who was also a college student at Pepperdine) joined them as she carried her laptop computer. "I got the footage from Instagram. Looks like Levine's heading downhill with all her followers dropping her like flies, last time I checked."

"Serves her right," Reva grunted as she opened her laptop. "I heard her sponsors are also turning on her. Turns out that they are big fans of Mama Kaneva's and some of them stopped by for their coffee breaks and lunches."

"Won't be long before Ivy will become yesterday's news and a bigger pariah than she already is," Jerome noted, pausing to sip on his glass of orange juice. "Her mom's a saint to put up with her bull, but I wouldn't be surprised if Olivia Levine's ready to give her eldest daughter the boot."

"Wonder why Ivy's so anti-male and homophobic," Horatio asked.

Before Asha could reply, the house phone began to ring. "All right, y'all, put all your devices on hold," Estelle announced, knowing that the wifi and the phone couldn't run together. "We got a phone call."