𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐒

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐈𝐗𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍

"My grand babies! Hurry come on in." Grandma Cece has a sad look on her face but when she sees all of us gathered on the front porch, she smiles brightly.

"We brought you something." Ashanti grins down at the short old lady as she hugs him for an extra thirty seconds and ushers us inside her cozy home.

"Y'all really didn't have to." When she finally notices the new cooking utensils in our hands, she gasps and pecks all of our cheeks. We sat them on the kitchen counter and watched her get cutely excited as she looked through the bags impatiently.

I planned to go to the store by myself after Keziah's phone call, but the three overprotective men behind me didn't want me to go out alone.

Today, just so happened to be Cece's birthday. Me being the genius that I am, I told them to buy a few gifts for Cece as a distraction. While they were busy looking at pans, I managed to slip away and buy the important item that is currently hidden in my purse.

"I'm glad you guys came." She sighs and sends me a quick worried glance. The guys were completely oblivious to what was wrong with Ziah because she specifically told me not to tell them.

I immediately look around for her but she's no where in sight.

"Yea. Raven told us that your always complaining about your broken and rusty pots-

"What he's tryna say is that we hope you like it." I smoothly hit Sekani without anyone noticing and make a move to hug her again.

"Mmm. She's in her room. Go upstairs and it's to your right." She whispers in my ear.

How she read my mind?

"Okay. Does any of y'all know how to send a picture to someone on Facebook." We pull away from the hug and she turns to the boys.

"I know." Levi volunteers and she hands him her phone. Moments later he covers his eyes in disgust, "Grandma Cece, whose Harrison?"

"And why doesn't this old man have a shirt on?" Ashanti and Sekani go take a look but instantly regret it after glancing at the screen.

"Y'all better stay outta grown folks business and help me take a cute profile picture." I hear her say before heading upstairs.

I take this opportunity to fully observe the welcoming home. As I looked on the walls surrounding the staircase, photos of Ziah's childhood scattered everywhere. Pictures of when she was around five catch my attention. All of them are either taken with her alone or with Cece.

No trace of her parents existence.

I find the door to her room and brace myself before actually knocking. "Keziah, sweetheart it's me." I mutter but don't get a response.

I twist the door knob and look inside to realize it's empty. I'm about to turn around and leave but gagging noises from the bathroom reach my ears. As I approach, the nerves in my stomach don't go away. Crouched over the toilet, a groaning Ziah is found.

I quickly rush to her body with concern. I don't even think twice before holding her hair up and rubbing her back soothingly. After flushing the toilet, she exhaustingly wraps her arms around me.