With Or Without

𝓦𝓲𝓽𝓱 𝓸𝓻 𝓦𝓲𝓽𝓱𝓸𝓾𝓽

[September 13th, 2019]

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          The Henderson Residence

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Niamani's POV

The whole family was sitting at the kitchen table eating or staring at each other in silence. I was just about to dig my fork into my pancake to cut into it tiny pieces but my focus on my food shifted to my brother Des.

"I have a confession to make before we all go our separate ways today..." everyone looked at Des waiting for him to speak.

I rolled my eyes because whenever he has a confession it's stupid as hell.

"I've decided on going to Oregon State for soccer next semester. After graduation I wasn't so sure about college cause well uh...y'all know me. But the real confession is I'm moving in with Quinn." After Des' confession I basically zoned out.

It's happening again. Oh my fucking gosh. That weird feeling in my stomach. Something just isn't sitting right with me. Taking a deep breath I snapped back into reality to hear bickering between my mama and Des.

I looked around the table at everyone confused. I saw that Khalil was already done with his food basically. Hungry ass. And then I looked at my dad who was staring off into space as if he were thinking about something deeply. The bickering stopped and the room went quiet again. I looked to my right to see my mom rubbing her temple as if she was absolutely stressed.

"I- I have something to say." My dad stuttered to get his words out as he scooted his chair back before standing up.

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Pierre's POV

I was so sick to my stomach. Holding in this secret was absolutely insane of me to even try and do. The mother of my 3 children is sitting in front of me hurting. I heard her sob last night. I actually sat in the stairwell last night for about 3 hours before finding myself sleeping on the couch.

Trying to keep it together here at the kitchen table was hard. Naomi's eyes were red and puffy. She works day to night, night to day. I'm really a sorry piece of shit but now is the time to say this.

As I was trying to finally speak, I ended up stuttering.

"I- I have something to say."

Everyone then looked at me. Even Naomi.

"What is it Rob??" Naomi spoke and her voice faded as she used my middle name.

I took a deep breath and I began to pace the kitchen floor. I rubbed my stomach thinking of the right words to say first.

"Damn motherfucker...today please." I heard the statement slip out of Khalil mouth.

I backed handed him in the back of his head. "Shut the fuck up, watch your mouth in here." I watched as he ended up spitting out a piece of pancake onto his plate after I hit him.

"Naomi...Niamani. Khalil...and Desmond. I love all of you so much. Y'all are the reason I work so hard. I don't know what my life would be like without you all."