Fate Will Twist the Both of You

Chapter 1 - The End in the Beginning

Two weeks. Cookie had waited two weeks before she went down to Empire to make it clear that she was there to get what was rightfully hers. She wanted to give her ex-husband time to stress about what she was up to, make him sweat before she marched up in that building and raised hell.

The first night after her release, Jamal practically begged her to stay with him, ensuring her that his guestroom looked nothing like the rest of his apartment. Sure enough, he was right. The room was rather nice. But Cookie hardly slept at all that night. The bed felt strange. Comfortable as it was, it didn't feel right. She was so accustomed to sleeping in that tiny prison bed, on that thin, lumpy mattress that experiencing something else threw her off. Made it hard to settle. She kept waiting for someone to come and tell her that it was a lie, a trick. That that moment, being there with her son, wasn't real. But it never happened. And when Cookie awoke the next morning to a giddy Jamal, she hugged him again, just to be sure.

By the third day, everyone knew she was out. She was at a café having lunch with Andre and Jamal when Vernon showed up. The look on his face told her that Lucious had sent him to talk to her instead of coming himself. Coward. Vernon didn't stay long, and after Cookie and her sons finished their lunch, they went to see the apartment Lucious had bought her. When Vernon had mentioned it, she rolled her eyes, clearly unimpressed. The apartment was lovely though. Impeccably well designed and fully furnished and equipped with everything she needed. By the end of the first week, her sons—minus Hakeem—were almost finished helping her add her own flair to it.

As she sat on her couch during one of the many breaks they took, rifling through the box containing her family photos, she came across a picture frame that housed a photo of her cradling a baby Hakeem. Cookie's mind kept replaying her encounter with him earlier that week. God, he had been so angry. She knew establishing a relationship with him wouldn't be easy, but not once did she anticipate him being so consumed by rage in her presence, completely indifferent about anything she had to say. But that certainly wasn't about to deter her from trying.

Yesterday, she and Jamal had gone down to Philly to see Carol, and when Cookie had told her about her confrontation with Hakeem, Carol had suggested that he probably reacted that way because he had spent years feeling unloved and abandoned by her. Well that, coupled with the fact that his ass was spoiled and entirely disrespectful. As if Cookie hadn't figured that out on her own.

While Cookie had conversed with her sister; Jamal, amiable as ever, entertained his little cousins who were beaming to be in his presence simply because he was Lucious Lyon's son. Even when Carol had told them to leave Jamal alone, they didn't shy away from him.

Carol had always been a talker, but gosh did she have a lot to say that day. Cookie had found it difficult not to scoff at all of her unsolicited advice, and when Carol kept asking, "When you gon' see Lucious?" Cookie had to refrain herself from strangling her. I'll go see his yella ass when I'm good and damn ready. Nonetheless, she had enjoyed spending time with her sister without a glass window between them.

In prison, time always seemed to drag on and on. But ever since Cookie had been released, it was as if someone pressed fast forward on her life. Two weeks of freedom and Cookie had already been up and through New York with Jamal by her side. He had been so excited to share his life with her, "I come here whenever I need to clear my head." He had told her after convincing her to come to the rooftop with him so they could admire the breathtaking view of the skyline. "Ma, that's my favourite spot to eat at. Can you come to dinner with me and Michael?" He had asked, pointing at a restaurant through the window on their drive back to Manhattan. And the way he had looked at her, bright eyes enhanced by that smile she loved so much, Cookie couldn't say no. Later that night, when she had told Jamal that he didn't have to keep inviting her everywhere, he had left her teary-eyed with his response. Ma, you been by yourself for seventeen years. You just got out, you not about to be alone again if I can help it.