Don't Leave Me

chapter 3

*dinah pov*

of everyone that I didn't want to run into, why must it be her? with my daughter, smiling.

"mommy!" Justine screamed, letting go of Normani's hand to jump into my arms.

I caught her and position her on my hip. I hated myself for this but I gave her a small smile.

"thank you for this."

"you're welcome."

"where did you find her?"

"I was getting some food when I saw a little girl wandering so I went up to her and she started crying. I felt bad so I bought her some ice cream. after she finished, I asked her where her parents were. she told me that they were at the shoe store but she didn't know how to get there."

"baby, why did you leave without me or your mom?"

"I couldn't find you." she said dejectedly as she hid her face in my neck.

I rubbed her back and looked back at normani. before I could say anything to her, anise spoke up.

"you found her."

she let out a relieved sigh and took Justine from my arms. she gave Justine lots of kisses and she started to giggle.

"I'm sorry mom." justine's soft voice says.

"don't do that to us anymore. you had us scared."

she nods her head and then gives anise a kiss. I smiled at that before turning to normani, who was rubbing her arm nervously .

"thank you for finding her ."

"you don't have to thank me."

before I could respond back, anise interrupts and holds out her hand for normani. she smiles at her and normani reluctantly reciprocates. I could tell she was uncomfortable.

"I'm Anise Richards. I'm the 'father' of Justine."

"Normani Hamilton. a friend of Dinah's."

"she never mentioned you." she said confused.

"I assume because she doesn't like talking about her past relationships."

"wait, did you date Dinah?"

I looked at normani with terror flashing through my face. i obviously didn't want anise to know about our past. I'm still heart broken about it. hell I doubt she was. upon seeing my face, she shook her head. I let out a sigh of relief as Justine stares at me with her big brown eyes.

"I'm just a friend that regrets everything that happened in the past."

"what happened?"

I held my breath as I awaited for Normani's answer. I was expecting her to tell anise but I was taken by surprise when she didn't.

"it's something I'd rather not talk about. it still breaks my heart as I replay what happened. I should go. i left my son with a friend and i need to go back."

i don't know why but in the inside i felt a pang of jealousy. i shouldn't have because i have a kid too. i have these unexpected feelings coming back because of her. she found my daughter and i find out that she has a kid.

i watched her leave and there was a part of me that wanted to call for her but nothing came out. i couldn't scream for normani to come back because then the secret that i've kept from anise would surface. i never told her about my past with normani because that broke me on the inside. i couldn't bring myself to talk about it. it took anise two years to actually get me to be her girlfriend. i lost my virginity to her on our last year of college.  we've only been together for a year but it felt right because we were ready and anise didn't force me to do anything i didn't want to. she was patient with me and i appreciated that because no one would've been that patient with me.

"dinah, will you be my girlfriend?" anise asks, pulling me out of my thoughts.

before i could respond, i saw the girls come up smiling at me. anise was starting to look annoyed because everytime she asked that question and waited for my answer someone had to interrupt. i thank god for that to be honest because i didn't know if i wanted to be with her. my feelings for normani are going to be surfacing and i don't want to hurt anise if they do. i mean she probably has a boyfriend since she has a son. what am i supposed to do? say yes and end up hurting anise in the process or say no and hope that normani and i get back together?

anise decides not to push the question any further because i looked uncomfortable with the question. she followed us and i held justine close to me. she didn't feel like walking yet after her little nap so i decided to hold her. she was calm until she saw claire's. she began to jump up and down in my arms. i decided to put her down and she quickly grabbed camila's hand, dragging her into the store. i was about to call for justine telling her to watch out but she already ran into a person because she wasn't paying attention.

"are you okay?" a familiar voice said, making me freeze in place like the other girls.

i haven't heard that voice in awhile and just hearing it now makes me stare at the woman with my daughter. i saw camila clenching her fist and holding justine's hand tight. the woman obviously doesn't know that camila is right there but i am really curious as to how this is about to go.

"what are you doing here?" camila's harsh tone echoes.

the woman immediately tenses up, obviously recognizing the tone. she slowly stands up and looks at camila. i look to lauren, ally, and zendaya, who also had shocked faces as we watched the scene unfold.

"i'm spending time with my god son, what are you doing here?"

"with my god daughter."

"camila, can we talk?"

"talk about what? how you cheated on me while i was with my family. do you know how hard it was for me to answer the phone call thinking that you were going to say that you missed me? imagine my surprise when i heard someone moaning your name. i cried over you for a month until i realized that it was stupid of me to even be crying over a fuckboi. i knew your past and i believed you when you said that those days were over and that you would never hurt me. just go away kehlani. i don't want to see your face."

"well i don't care that you don't want to see my face but i want y-"

kehlani was cut off by someone screaming her name. she immediately looks up and i follow her gaze. it lands on normani, who looked frantic. that immediately set kehlani into something i've never seen before. she looked like she was about to kill someone like how a dog gets into a position at an incoming intruder. she knew exactly what was about to happen when she saw normani's face.

"where is he?"

"i had him beside me but when i went to go pay for his hat, he was gone. kehlani, he's three years old. he knows better to run off without me or you."

hearing normani's voice seem so broken killed me. that's exactly how i felt when justine wasn't there with us. i watched as she began to cry and kehlani hold her.

"i swear if he took jafre, i'm about to beat the crap out of him. he has no legal authority over him."

"Kehlani, what's happening?" zendaya asked, making her and normani look at us.

"my son is gone and the father probably took him."

"wha-"

zendaya was cut off by a mad Kehlani.

"the father is a stalker. he stalked normani for years and then took her virginity when she was walking back to our dorm late at night. I wasn't there to freaking help her because I was knocked out. I had exams coming up and I passed out studying. so when she came knocking at the door, looking all beat up and all I promised her that I wasn't going to leave her sight. we have a restraining order against him. so don't even think about saying something that you will regret."

everyone got quiet after hearing that. Normani's sobs being the only thing heard along with people conversing with one another. at that very moment , I decided to walk over to normani, not caring about the consequences. I watched Kehlani slowly let go of normani who stopped crying for a split second. I pull her into a tight hug. I kissed her head and just held her in my arms as she cried. I could feel anise giving me glares but at this very moment , I didn't care. normani needs me and I'm going to help find her child.

I don't care about the past, I know that I want her in my future.