"My baby a champ," Nayeli sang, kissing his lips as he came up to the sidelines. The Grambling State Tigers had just won their state championships this evening. Nayeli was extremely proud of Mani, his whole family came out to see him, since this was his last ever game as a NCAA player.

Well everyone except his dad.

Armani tried to act like it didn't effect him, but Nai knew him better than that. She'd been trying to keep his spirits up all day, but every time he smiled, it fell faster than it came up on his face.

"I'm so proud of you, papa," she locked their fingers together and laid her head on his chest. The rest of the team was behind him celebrating, jumping around center court, but Mani wasn't in the mood.

"Thank you mi amor," he mumbled, watching as his mother and sisters made their way down the bleachers to him. Nai moved back once she heard Josefina and Camila yelling for him, so she wouldn't get caught up in the violent greeting.

"You did so good! I haven't seen you play in forever jefe you did that!" Josefina slapped his shoulder.

"I recorded literally every thirty two seconds," Camila said. "I was screaming so loud, I'm surprised mamá didn't tell me shut up," she laughed, making Mani crack a genuine smile.

"Look at you, hijo! You did a wonderful job," his mother spoke, holding his face in her hands. She was honestly proud of her son, he was growing up into a man whether she liked it or not and loving him meant supporting him in whatever path he chose to take.

"Estoy orgullosa de ti," (I'm proud of you) she nodded, wrapping her arms around him, feeling herself getting emotional.

"Thank you, mamá," he rubbed her back before wrapping his arms around her as well. Nayeli just watched from the side, along with his sisters, knowing this was something he needed from her right now.

"Armani?" Nai spoke quietly, entering his room all the way. She had just come back from her dorm, he asked her to spend the night and she needed to grab some things from her room first before she came, including her blanket she got for Valentines day, which she refused to sleep without.

"I'm up," he muttered, typing a paper on his laptop. He was of course in gen ed classes like everyone else and he completely forgot he had a paper due in his history class until ten minutes ago. He was wrapped up in his mom and sisters being here and it completely slipped his mind.

"Hey babe," she smiled, walking up to him at his desk and kissing his cheek.

"Wait—I want a real one," he turned his head to her and she laughed before pressing a kiss to his lips. He swore cheek kisses weren't legit, especially when saying hello, goodbye or goodnight. She made herself comfortable in his bed after changing from her clothes into some she stole from him, and scrolled on her phone so she wouldn't distract him with the tv.

Once he submitted it, he sighed loudly, getting in bed with her.

"You okay, papa?" she asked, rubbing her hand on his back.

"I'm straight. You know I love when you call me that? Shit is mad cute," he chuckled, laying in between her legs on her stomach.

"What papa? It's a habit," she giggled. "My mama calls my dad that, so when I was a kid I just figured that's what you call the guy you love," she shrugged.

"You do love me, don't you?" he smirked, making her blush.

"Yes, I love you, papa," she smiled, running her hand over Armani's hair. "That's why I'm confused as to why you're lying, what's the matter?" she asked.

"Baby, I'm fi—"

"Armani, stop. What's wrong? Be honest with me, babe. You been walking around claiming to be fine all day, and it's okay to not be," she assured him. "Nobody's gonna judge you for being sad," she continued, making him sigh.

"I know you're not gonna judge me Nai. But the fact that I'm sitting here wasting my time being sad over somebody that ain't even care to come see my last game says a lot about me. I shouldn't care this much if he decides he don't wanna support me and be my fuckin' dad," he finally broke down and expressed. She raised her eyebrows at him, and he realized he kinda just went off, and sighed again, making him see he probably did need to talk.

"When I got adopted, my dad was always...there. It just seemed like he wasn't as hands on as my mom. Until I started playing ball. He was my biggest fan, man. He was real involved, he came to all my games, stayed at my practices, he ran drills with me, that's how we bonded. So for him of all people not to come see my last game, to miss an opportunity to see me play I guess really hurt me, just solidified the fact that he don't give a damn what I do unless I'm dribbling a ball," he spoke finally.

Truthfully, Nayeli was at a loss for words. She couldn't even imagine her father not supporting her every decision. She usually knew exactly what to say to make him feel better, but this was hard.

"Mani, I'm sorry," she began, making him look straight up at her. "I know how much it means to have your dad behind you. I know you're hurting, and I wish there was something I could do or something I could say to make it go away, but I know that there are people who are proud of you, baby. Your mom stood up to him in ways you probably don't know to come see you play because she's proud of you. Jojo and Mila will are always gonna be there for you, you got the whole team rooting for you and your coaches, your professors, you got our friends and you always got me. I know it's not the same as having your dad, and it'll never be the same, just don't forget you got a hell of a lot of people in your corner," she held his face in her hand.

"I hope he comes around for you, Armani. I really do, but I want you to be happy with the choice you made, because you did it for you," she smiled slightly.

He just stared back at her for a minute. He knew everything she was saying was right, but for some reason he couldn't shake the feeling.

"Thank you, Nai," he spoke simply, offering a small smile back. She could clearly see he was still upset, but she didn't want to dwell.

"Always," she nodded. "Let's get some sleep, okay?" He nodded, sitting up from between her legs, getting in their regular sleeping position. She did not sleep unless she laid facing his chest, practically on top of him.

She got comfortable quickly, and everyone knew Nayeli fell asleep quite fast once she was comfortable enough.

"Goodnight, Mani. I love you," she mumbled, eyes already halfway closed.

"I love you too, baby," he replied, hand resting on her back.

"Yeah he's really upset," Nai sighed, on the phone with her mother. "I don't know what to do, mama. He's not really talking to me, or anyone for that matter, he leaves class and goes straight to his dorm, even when we hang out on the weekends as a group you can tell he's not really all there," she continued.

It'd been about a week and Armani was still sad, Nayeli didn't know what to do.

"Well Pea," Nadira started. "You can't really expect him to be right back to normal, babe. At least not in this situation, like you told me you can't really understand what he's going through because your father has always been your number one fan, he supports everything you've ever done. It's gonna be hard for you to understand the rejection he might feel right now. All you can do is really be there for him. That's probably everything he needs from you, Sweet Pea,"

Dira wasn't used to seeing Nai all worked up like this. She clearly really cared for this boy and had his best interests at heart, so she wanted to help her daughter as much as she could.

"I'm trying, mama. I really am trying, I still come see him every night, even though he doesn't really ask anymore, I check on him after my classes, or after I leave the library, I bring him food sometimes. I'm here, I just—I just want him to be okay," she sighed again, wiping her face, trying not to cry.

She clearly inherited Nadira's emotional ways.

"I know, baby. I know, but, he will be. He'll be okay before you know it and he'll be so happy and so thankful you were there with him through this rough patch. And trust me, love. You'll be happy you did too. The last thing you want is someone you love running to someone else for comfort," she told her. "You're doing an amazing job, Nayeli. He just needs time," she smile.

Nai nodded, knowing her mother was right. "Thank you, mama. You give the best advice," she smiled. "How's everyone at home?"

"I try, babe. But everyone's good, getting on my last damn nerve, what's new?" she chuckled. "Your cousins are here right now, the twins are out back playing with them. I learned that Egypt has a boyfriend, but her daddy don't know, chile all the gossip is just too much," she said dramatically, making Nai laugh.

"Uncle Gio gon beat her tail, Nyx couldn't have a boyfriend till she was 16," she giggled. Egypt and Cairo were now 14, almost 15.

"But did that stop her?" Dira asked.

"Absolutely not," Nai continued laughing loudly. She noticed what time it was, and she knew Mani was out of class, probably in bed already, and like she'd been doing, she was going to go check up on him and spend some time with him.

She grabbed her keys and his, leaving her AirPods in, so she could talk to her mom on the walk there, to keep her spirits up. As she got to the building, she passed Duck coming out.

"Hey Ducky!" she grinned, giving him a hug.

"Hey sis," he laughed, as he always did when she called him that. "You finna check up on your boy?" he gestured towards their dorm.

"Mhm, he's okay?" she asked. Duck noticed just like she did, his change in behavior.

"He's...well he tried calling his dad this morning, and last night. It's all fucked up, his dad's bein' real childish. Mani just wants to talk to him. He misses you, though. He kept looking at pictures of you when you left last night," Duck laugh, making Nai smile widely. "I know he's not saying it often, but he really appreciates that you keep coming, even if he's sulking," he said knowingly.

"I'm just trying to be there for him," she nodded with the smile still lingering.

"You been doing that, sis. He definitely needs you. His ass probably waiting for you right now," he chuckled.

"Aw, my baby. Lemme go see him, I'll see you later, bro. Get where you going safe,"

"Copy that, thanks sis, see you tomorrow," he waved, walking off. Nai walked up to their door unlocking it while saying bye to her mom.

"Okay mommy, I'm here, I'll call you later," she smiled.

"Bye, Sweet Pea. Tell my son in law I said hi,"

"I will, ma," she laughed. She walked deeper into the room, seeing him laying flat on his mattress, staring up at the ceiling, with his AirPods in.

"Hey," she spoke, catching his attention.

"Hey, baby," he smiled a bit, making her smile too.

"How you feeling today?" she asked, pulling out some of his clothes to change into since he despised outside clothes in his bed.  "Any better?"

"Not really," he shrugged. She nodded, climbing in bed with him, and laying beside him. That's all they really did. "Um, thanks for coming, babe," he said, making her smile again.

"Yeah, of course, Mani," she nodded, holding his hand. She knew everything would be fine, she just needed to give him time to get better, like her mom said.

"Can I talk to you about something?" he asked her, after a few minutes of silence.

"Anything. What's going on, baby?"

"I think...I think I wanna find my mom,"

oop👀

hi everybody! how's it going? how's everyone's dayyy?

lol i hope you all enjoyed this chapter. i know it was a bit somber, but like you guys said in your comments, this is mani's dad. he's allowed to be sad about this stuff, and you don't just get over it in a day.

so i just wanted to show that poor mani is a little sad rn :(

what do y'all think happened to his mom??

leave me some thoughts and predictions!

till next time ❤️