Disclosure

Babymama Drama

9 pm
October 12
Beyoncé Knowles POV

I was now sitting in a cheap apartment smack in the middle of the hood with a 6 figure check on the small living room table. Thank God Alex decided to kick it with Amala tonight because I didn't know if I would feel like explaining myself to him depending on how my talk with Onika would go. I called her over hours ago to one, tell her she was definitely not returning to her marital home with that man, and two, that I had decided to allow Ariana to manage me in the art industry. Just thinking about talking about both of those subjects at one time was giving me a migraine. Onika was so stubborn and thought that she knew best just because she was older. I was really going to have to start asserting dominance if I wanted to get her to do what I said for once.

I went over my little "script" in my head of how I was going to rebuttal everything she said to me. Moments later, I heard her usual intimidating knock at the door. She really shows up to my crib with an attitude each time like she shouldn't have to knock. I shook my head before swiftly putting the check in my hoodie pocket, walking to the door, and opening it.

"You're late." I told her, letting her in and closing the door behind her.

"Yeah well your baby has me sick." She responded with an attitude and immediately sat on the couch. My entire demeanor changed once I sat beside her and noticed she was more pale than usual.

"Sick? What do you mean?" I panicked instantly.

"Relax." She told me dryly. "Typical pregnancy sickness. It's normal."

"Yeah okay.. um.." I wanted to get into the entire reason I had brought her here but felt hesitant since she wasn't feeling well.

"What did you want to talk to me about?" She squeezed my hand anyway to egg me on.

"Well.. I just don't want to worry about you." I cautiously told her.

"Beyoncé I told you i'm fine.. it's a little early pregnancy sickness nothing-"

"That yes but I don't want to worry about you period. I don't want you pregnant with our baby and in that house with that man." I rambled quickly, scared if I didn't get it out quick I would bitch out. When I said it, Onika looked at me indifferently and gave no reaction. I couldn't tell if she just didn't want to discuss this or if she just really wasn't feeling that well. She stared at me for a moment before sighing and letting go of my hand.

"Bey we already talked about this. I have a lot invested in my marriage. I have to be smart. That man paid the initial costs for me to start my practice my business my whole career... If he really wanted to he could fight me in a divorce and take it all. Hell if he really went all out he could win easily. I'm the cheater, not him." She rubbed her stomach with one hand and rested her head in her other hand as if she was fatigued. I paid close attention to her physical condition but still wanted to discuss the topic at hand.

"Onika it's over. He knows about us. He caught you and he beat you. Could've killed my baby and you if he wanted. Not to mention he could start questioning if the baby is his." I reminded her like she was slow. I didn't mean to come off condescending but I just felt she was being irresponsible. We couldn't keep pretending everybody didn't know what this was by now.

"He doesn't know anything. He saw a painting and assumed." She was very short with me. I sighed in frustration. She was being selfish and wasn't absorbing anything outside of herself.

"Onika what exactly is the plan? You're going to play pretend with this guy and let him believe my baby is his?" My jealousy and ego showed for the first time.

"That's what it's really about. Not our safety." She rolled her eyes.

"Okay." I clapped my hands together in frustration, startling her. "Listen... I tried to talk to you. Now you don't have a choice. You're not going home and if you try i'll tell him myself." I told her in a commanding tone but was unable to make eye contact with her. I just knew this wasn't going to go over well. For the first time, she sat up straight and looked like herself despite her nausea. Not only did she speak more than she had since she arrived, but she gave me a mouthful.

"No you listen to me. You're not even old enough to rent a car and you think i'm going to make a life altering decision based on your judgement? I will go talk to MY husband about what we're going to do moving forward and i'll handle it the way I see fit. I have too much to lose including the practice that man helped me start that will keep us afloat while you play with your little paint brushes and crayons." She huffed and her eyes started to water. I was left in shock and couldn't even form a thought as to what the hell was going on with her emotions or why she was speaking to me this way. 

Her words cut through me like a knife and all I felt was the same inadequacy that I felt before I was presented with this large check. My hands fumbled with it inside of my hoodie pocket and all I wanted to do was show it to her, explain how I got it, and tell her that I could take care of our little family. I wanted to show her what those "little crayons and paint brushes" had gotten me.

"I can take of you and our child." I kept it simple, unable to form more than that while I fought against my hurt feelings. She simply rolled her eyes and looked away from me like she was done talking. What she said was law, and that was just how she was. I could speak my peace and give her the rundown of what happened today at the restaurant or I could let her think what she already thought of me.

Call it ego but I chose the second option. If she wanted things her way, so be it.

We sat in silence for such a long time, both of us unsure what to do next. No one looked at each other or even breathed in each other's direction. I spent that time running down our entanglement from beginning to now. These are the consequences she was referring to when she told me we could never happen. She warned me she wouldn't upend her life for me. Now she had no choice. I got her pregnant, her emotions are all over the place, and she's probably regretting sleeping with a college student. Things were fun in the beginning, but were we really prepared to face reality? To bring a baby into our fucked up situation?

I thought the pregnancy emotions were the problem here tonight, but the longer I sat I realized this woman was in an impossible predicament. I thought myself into a negativity whirlwind before I heard a key turning.

"Yo." Alex walked in abruptly and immediately paused, looked at a post-cry face Onika and myself who wore a blank expression. He must have felt like this wasn't even his apartment in this moment and he was intruding into our personal space. From his perspective, he had just walked into the aftermath of an argument.

"Pizza?" He held out a box that looked like he had just picked it up. Onika snuggled closer to the corner of the couch away from me and very visibly rolled her eyes.

"Guess not." He laughed awkwardly and walked into his room with the box.

"Rule number 11. Don't eat in the damn room." I mumbled under my breath in frustration. We were gonna have a talk about that later.

"I should go." Onika got up suddenly and headed towards the door, me following right behind.

"So you're going back to that house?" I asked again, feeling like I was back to square one.

"I am. I'm going to talk to my husband. Don't you have a girlfriend to call?" She asked me coldly.

"I'm going to blame tonight on the pregnancy hormones and give you a chance to come back here tomorrow and talk to me like you have sense." I told her as I towered over her, blocking the door. She sighed and looked me in my eyes, patiently waiting for me to move as if she hadn't even heard me. Once I moved and opened the door, she tried to close it behind her, but I followed her to her car anyway.

"Figure your shit out Onika." I told her before closing her car door. She barely gave me time to even back away from the car before she pulled off into the direction of the house she shared with that man.

"Babymama drama?" One of the dope boys asked me as I stood in disbelief.

"Tell me about it." I responded before going back to my apartment.

Author's Notes 🗒️:

Where do they go from here?

Onika's talk with Xavier?

What is Bey's next conversation with Megan going to be like?

Should Bey now keep her arrangement with Ariana a secret for now?

What is Onika feeling? Regret?