𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐂𝐔𝐋𝐄𝐒 | 𝐊𝐕

XXVII.

Chapter Twenty Seven.

Monday.

"You guys can go play, have fun!" Kitana exclaimed to her class as she released them to recess. Watching all of the kids yell in excitement and disperse, she took a seat in her usual spot under a shady tree, being a few feet away from the playground.

Pulling a book out of her bag, she opened it to the bookmarked page she was last on. Kitana then picked up where she left off, finding the highlighted paragraph.

As she began to read, she heard the faint sound of sniffling. Looking up briefly, she didn't see anything out of the ordinary so she went back to reading. A few seconds later, it happened again but this time louder.

Frowning, she looked around until her eyes landed on Ilani. The young girl was sitting on the bench of the playground alone with her knees pulled up to her chest. Her head was down, but it was evident that she was crying.

Kitana closed her book and stood up from her chair, then began to walk towards the bench.

As she made it over, she gently tapped Lani on the shoulder.

"Baby, what's the matter?" Her soft voiced questioned with concern. Raising her head up, Ilani's face was full of tears and her face was tomato red.

Instead of answering, she continued to cry. Her eyes were puffy and her lips quivered with sadness.

Tana held out her hand, urging her to take it. "Come on, come with me."

Ilani grabbed her teacher's hand, getting off of the bench. Kitana led her over to the tree she was sitting under at first and took a seat. She then pulled Lani into her lap carefully, sitting her on her right leg.

"Tell me what's going on, lovebug. You've been sad all day, and I don't like seeing you like this." Kitana rubbed the child's back, trying her best to calm her down.

From the moment she walked into class this morning, Lani had been in a sorrowful mood. She wasn't her usual happy, vibrant, ready-to-learn self. Kitana tried asking her what was wrong earlier, but she just replied with 'nothing'.

"I w-want my d-daddy!" She said in between sobs. "M-my mommy said..she said I-I can't see or talk to him."

Kitana felt her heart shatter into a million pieces. No child should be kept away from their father, especially a good father such as Justice. He loved his daughter unconditionally, so the fact that she had to suffer due to the bitterness of her mother was just wrong.

It wasn't Justice's fault that he wasn't trying to fuck with her on that level again. Tyler would have to get over it, one way or another. Not letting the man see his child wasn't going to fix nor solve anything. It wasn't going to make Justice give in, and damn sure wasn't going to prompt him to come crawling back. If anything, he heavily resented her.

"I'm so sorry." Tana said with a pout, pulling her in closer. She knew that Justice was hurting just as much as his daughter, and that pained her to the core. Tyler was downright wrong, and she knew it.

An idea popped into Kitana's head, prompting her to grab her satchel bag off of the arm of the chair. She unzipped it and reached inside, grabbing her phone.

"Hey, why don't we call him right quick?" She suggested, making Lani's ears perk up.

"Really?" The ten year old gasped.

"Sure." Tana said with a head nod, unlocking the device with her passcode.

Going to her contacts, she clicked on Justice's name and hit the FaceTime button. He should've been on his lunch break right about now, so hopefully he answered.