Spoiler TW: Transphobia

  [colpse]"Hey Ma..."

  "Oh! There's my boy! Where's your sister?" I asked.

  My son JJ had walked through the front door. He quickly scanned the room and stopped when his eyes lingered on the book in my hands. I cpped it shut and set it to the side.

  "Where's dad?"

  "Your dad went out with some work friends. He'll be back in a couple of hours." I told him.

  Hmm?

  Something was up... He seemed even more fidgety than usual. And it had me worried. His father and I noticed his sudden change over the st couple of days and we pnned to talk with him about it. Maybe nothing would come of it; he usually bottled everything up and it was always a challenge to get anything out of him. But tonight, we were going to try and gently coax an answer out of him.

  While thinking that, I got up from the couch and approached him. So lost in thought he was, that he didn't even notice me until I was standing directly in front of him.

  "What's wrong?" I asked, gently pcing a hand on his cheek. His eyes widened, and a split second ter, he flinched back, quickly muttering "Nothing! Aunt Gigi wants to talk with you."

  Really? Now?

  "Hmm..." I hummed. I looked to JJ, who stood beside me now stiff as a board. He watched me without blinking and I doubt he realized that he was wiggling his fingers on both hands, probably to work off the nervousness. Outside, my little sister, Giannine sat in the front seat and chatted with my daughter Maya as she gathered her things. Maya was wearing her basketball cospy... Curious.

  "Girl~ Why are you wearing that?" Maya turned to me with her hands on her hips and a smile. I furrowed my eyebrows at her almost non-existent chest. "And what happened to your-" I asked, flicking a finger at her. I mean, I already knew what it was. I just wanted to hear it directly from her.

  "It's a binder. See!" Maya excimed proudly as she lifted the bottom of her shirt.

  Yeah... That's what I thought.

  "Ooh! I can see how that would be useful." I tapped a finger to my chin, about to ask her another question when I heard a huff of annoyance from beside me. I wasn't fast enough to avoid the swipe that came from Giannine.

  "Hey! Get in. We need to talk." She said, jabbing a thumb so her side.

  "We can't talk right here?" I asked. She just gave me a smile. A smile that didn't need words but said enough.

  It's important. We need to talk.

  "Get. In." She said with finality.

  Really important...

  We locked eyes for a long moment, Maya looking from me to my sister, feeling the tension.

  Well.... I guess screw my pns for the evening then...

  I gave Maya the 'You're in charge' look and walked around to the passenger side of her car. As we backed out of the driveway, Maya waved goodbye as JJ watched us leave through the living room window. we were both quiet as we drove down familiar streets, which was definitely off. My little sister was always known as the talkative one, able to carry a conversation on for hours and make every moment of it entertaining. I crossed my arms and watched her face intently as she drove. She had that anxious driver posture going on, so I broke the silence first when we pulled up to a red light.

  "You alright?"

  Her eyes flickered to me for a second before focusing back on the road. She exhaled, then...

  "Uh, yeah." She said. I turned to look out the window as she finally dropped the bomb.

  "Me and Denise... We've been dating for a couple of years now."

  I sharply turned back to her, meeting her nervous yet determined gaze.

  "I know," I stated bluntly.

  I registered the surprise on her face for only a second before she had to focus on the road again.

  "You knew?"

  I rolled my eyes even though she couldn't see it.

  "I mean, there was specution from our family. I didn't really feel like you guys were trying to hide it. You two were always together. Come on. You know how they like to gossip."

  It wasn't hard to figure out honestly. Even before they moved in together, Denise was always at my sister's house. Even when I would drop by for a quick visit or to drop something off of her. She was there. Or when we had family events. Our retives would pester her about her retionships, and she would brush them off every time. Denise was always with her. And they would specute. And it worried me that the same thing was happening again.

  "Okay... And what do you think?" She asked me, as she pulled into the bust shopping center. I knew where we were going at this point, and I got the feeling that there was a lot more that she wanted to talk about than just this. I sighed, watching the sights from my window blur by. I love my sister, but I was worried that she wasn't thinking things through clearly. About the consequences of the family finding out about this.

  "Gigi... Have you thought about what the family will think? You know how Bernice likes to talk. And Roger... Ugh. My god." I could feel my blood boil just from thinking about them.

  "Girl! I'm not asking them. I'm asking you."

  She pulled up to a very familiar shop and parked in a spot close by.

  "What do you think?" She said, turning off the car. She turned her whole body over in her seat to face me fully and I turned away to look out the window. From the reflection in the window, I could see her smirking.

  "See. That's where she gets it from."

  "What?"

  "Nothing. Don't worry about it." She said, waving me off. That's what she said, but she was ughing like it was definitely a thing. I narrowed my eyes at her.

  "Well?! I'm waiting for an answer."

  To tell the truth, I wasn't worried about Giannine's retionship. From what I saw, they got along great. My sister can be very loud and outspoken. She's not afraid to speak her mind and is never okay with someone feeling down or left out. I think that's where Maya gets her sense of justice. I remember when she came home one day, crying that one of her cssmates wasn't showing up at school. She had bawled her eyes out, thinking that it was her fault that the girl hadn't shown up anymore. And as ridiculous as it sounded, I sympathized with her. I knew how it felt, even though it wasn't her fault. Even though it had nothing to do with her.

  "Helloooo..." With a sp, Gigi wacked the side of my thigh. Right...

  "Gigi. You're my sister and I love you. Whoever you decide to go out with, I will trust your judgement."

  "Okay... But that's not what I'm asking. I want to know how you feel about our retionship."

  "About you dating a woman?"

  She nodded as she bit her lip. Ah. This was what she was actually nervous about?

  "Honestly, I have no problems with you dating a woman. Like I said, I trust your judgment. Now, it you were dating a psychopath, then I'd be worried!" I was never worried about her dating a woman. That's not what I was worried about at all...

  Gigi began to smile. She lunged at me, pulling me into a big hug.

  "Ooohh! That's my big sister right there!" She squealed, shaking me side to side.

  "Okay. Okay! Enough, girl!" I furiously tapped her on the back, begging to be released.

  "Wooo! I'm just so excited! Come on, frozen yogurt is on me!" She said, bursting out of her side of the car. I was after her a few seconds ter, the happiness I felt for her roiling in my stomach as it warred with how nervous I felt coming up to this pce. It was part of our little meet ups we did every once in a while. We'd get together and talk about anything going on with our family, which was part of why I was worried, considering what Maya tried to pull on me recently.

  I followed after her as she walked up to the beginning of the line and picked up a rge cup to start off with. I gave her a look.

  "What? I'm celebrating!" We stared each other down for a moment, then I also picked up a rge cup. She barely concealed her ughter behind her hand as we moved down the line. My eyes went wide as Gigi swirled the yogurt in her cup, higher and higher, until it kept going past the lip of the cup and formed a small mountain. She looked back to me.

  "Celebrating..."

  "Why are you so goofy?" I asked her while doing the same with mine.

  "Hey, you're my sister. We both get our goof from the same people."

  I stood by the side and watched as Gigi piled on as many different types of nuts and candies as she could. When she got to the chocote chips-

  "Also, gonna ask Denise to marry me soon."

  There it is...

  "Giannine-"

  "And I was hoping," She said, sharply cutting me off. "That you would be my bridesmaid. If she said yes, of course."

  I leveled a ft stare at her.

  "Well?" She shrugged.

  "Gigi. Did you even think about what our family will say? You know how they are."

  "Again, not asking them. I'm asking you."

  I rolled my eyes as she stepped up to the cashier, then watched as she walked past our usual chatting spot and out the door.

  Wait. We're not talking here?

  I followed after her to the car where Gigi stood leaning against it.

  "What?" I asked.

  "Will you be my bridesmaid?" She asked again. It's not like I was trying to be difficult on purpose. It's just very clear to me that she's not thinking about the consequences of this. But...

  "Yes, I do want to be your bridesmaid." She smiled.

  "Great! That's what I was hoping to hear from my big sister. Thank you."

  "But I still think-"

  And with a click from her keys, the car door unlocked, with Gigi smoothly slipping inside. I huffed out my resignation. Why won't she see that I'm just trying to protect her. She obviously doesn't know what they say about her. They never say anything to her face, after all.

  Gigi already started to dig into the yogurt by the time I sat down, and we ate in silence for a few minutes. Gigi released an overly dramatic sigh as she finished and excimed, "That was good!" I put my yogurt on the dashboard next to hers and folded my arms across my chest.

  "What," she asked as I watched her. Without saying anything, I rolled my hand to her, and not a second ter, she relented.

  "Sooo..." She started, steepling her fingertips. "About what Maya tried to pull on you yesterday... The prank."

  "Yes. The prank. What about it?"

  "Just wondering how you're taking it. You seemed to be freaking out pretty badly when I found you." She prodded.

  "Hmm. Well, it reminded me of something. I'm fine," was all I told her and hoped that would be the end of it. I knew it wouldn't be. My answer had her interest peaked.

  "What did- Wait, I mean, did you know what she was talking about?"

  "About transgender people? Yeah, I know." I decided to get to the point Gigi was trying to make immediately. She had raised a finger like she was about to go into teaching mode.

  "Oh," She eventually stuttered out. "Really?" She had a skeptical look on her face.

  "Yes," I told her. There was a light sp to my arm.

  "Can you look me in the eyes and say that? I swear, you and Maya..."

  I turned to her with a huff and repeated myself.

  "Yes." I said to her pinly.

  "How?!"

  "I was curious one day and looked into it Anything else?" My answer had thrown her for a loop. It almost got a ugh out of me, how she probably been pnning this for a while.

  "Okay. Well..." She dropped her hands to her knees as her shoulders drooped. "Then what would you do it she wasn't joking. If she was being serious. Like I said, you didn't look like you were talking the news that well."

  "She surprised me, that's why. It felt like it was coming out of nowhere."

  "And I get that." Giannine started, "We know it was a prank. But if she was being serious..." She tilted her head towards me. I had to stop myself from breaking eye contact with her.

  "Then I would talk with her about it and figure something out." An unsatisfying and vague answer. I knew she wouldn't like that.

  "You'd talk about it?"

  "Yes."

  "Mhmm. And what about after that?" She pressed further.

  "I don't know. I haven't been in that situation yet; we'll figure it out as we go. If it comes to that." Giannine rolled her eyes.

  "Look. I'm just thinking about the consequences. The good and the bad. Everything isn't going to be okay just because you want it to be. What would other people think? What would they say?"

  "Why are you so obsessed with what other people think?! I'm asking you!" She pointed at me. My sister's lips were pursed tightly, and I could tell that she was beginning to feel genuine anger. I... didn't intend to make her mad. I only wanted her to see where I was coming from. So...

  "Do you remember Deontre?" I asked her. The question had her confused and she peered at me with squinted eyes.

  "What? Why are you changing the subject?"

  I held up a hand to cut her off before she got riled up again.

  "I'm not. It's relevant to what we're talking about. Now, do you remember?"

  She sighed, clearly annoyed, but went along with my train of thought anyway.

  "Doesn't sound familiar. Should I?"

  "Well, you probably wouldn't. You were still in diapers when they were around." Giannine scowled at my comment but I had her interest peaked.

  "Okay. Go on..."

  "What's wrong with her?"

  A guy's voice called out to everyone as he stepped into the kitchen. I couldn't remember his name, but I've heard his voice before. There's so many people at this 'family reunion' that I'm supposed to be reted to that I've never seen before, it's hard to put names to faces. Well, I couldn't see anyone because I was staring into a corner of the kitchen by myself.

  "She's in time-out," says another voice of some dy I don't know.

  "What did she do?"

  "She tried to paint her baby sister's nails and got caught. You should have seen her face when we found her. Funniest shit I ever seen!" A man ughs.

  "Hmph." I pouted, crossing my arms and hoping they knew that I didn't care for them teasing me. I'm just a little kid and you messing with me? Stupid old people.

  "Girl, don't nobody care that you an attitude problem. You know what you did was wrong." Snapped some older dy.

  "Mmm!" I sharply hummed, twisting away from the voice, but still staring into the wall. I got into more trouble when I tried looking away from it earlier, they increased the time I had to stand there. I wanted to py... This sucks!

  "Oh... well, I can watch her if you guys want. I know everyone else is already outside." The new voice suggested.

  "Oh damn! Since your offering!" The ughing man said. I heard the shuffling of chairs as everyone cmbered outside, then it was quiet.

  "You must have known you would get in trouble for painting a baby's fingernails?" The voice asked me as he pulled a chair from the table to sit down.

  "Nobody said I couldn't..." I said, lowering my head to rest against the wall. I heard the guy let out a sigh.

  "Look... You can leave the corner. Go py or somethin'." He waved me off.

  I can leave?! Yes!

  With a bright smile, I turn to the kitchen counter where my nail polish was sitting. I snatched it up and finally turned to the guy sitting at the table. He was tall, I think? I dunno. Everybody's tall when you're a kid. So maybe he was a little taller than other people? And kinda nky too. I looked down at my own, recently painted nails. It would be stupid to paint them again. but...

  I looked up at the guy sitting at the table with a smile.

  "What?" He asked when he noticed me. That's when I walked over and smmed the nail polish box set on to the table with both hands.

  "Lemme paint your nails!"

  "What? No!" Huh. He seems really against it.

  "Why?!" This sucks! I want to paint nails!

  "Because I'm a guy? Men don't get their nails done. Now, go py outside."

  Py outside? There's nothing to do outside!?

  "Um, excuse me, sir? What does that have to do with me painting nails?" I gave him a look as my fist hit my open palm. He looked at me in disbelief.

  "Where do these sassy children come from?" He tried to whisper but I heard him anyway. So I just stared at him, unblinking, until...

  "Come on..." He sighed out.

  Yes!

  I snatched my nail polish off the table and ran after him, following him into the living room and into what I think was his room. He held the door open for me as I charged in. While he was fumbling with the door, I walked over to his bed. A gnce of his room was all I needed to know that-

  Boring.

  This room sucks. Ain't nothing to do in here and the only color he had in here was the bck bedsheets and curtains.

  Well... Doesn't matter to me.

  I grabbed the two pillows on his bed and threw them on the floor.

  "Hey! What are you doing?!" He shouted at me. I shrugged.

  "I need somewhere to sit..."

  "Uh. The bed?"

  I watched as he motioned towards the bed.

  Huh.

  I made myself comfortable onto one of the pillows I had thrown on the floor and patted the one next to me, waiting for him to sit down.

  "Yo, what is wrong with these kids?" He compined. But he still sat down anyway. I looked around for something... Ah! There! I grabbed a shoe box from uner the bed and pced it between us.

  "Hand." I said as I patted the box. He looked skeptical, but pced his right hand, palm down, onto it. I broke out into a wide smile. Yes! I get to paint again!

  "Okay! What color do you want?"

  He peered at the three options avaible: Red, blue, and bck. He shrugged.

  "I dunno. Just choose one." I frowned. He was not making this fun.

  "You have to choose! Don't you care about how you look?" He froze. I think he was doing that thing that adults do when they don't want to tell the truth, but still have to say something? He looked like he was thinking about it for a looooong time. This is talking to long! Ugh!

  "Go with bck." He finally said. I frowned again. He already had so much bck going on in his room, but whatever...

  I took out the bck nail polish and unscrewed the top. Then, I leaned over the box and got reeeeal close to his hand. I had messed up really bad on my own nails and I didn't like that. So I had to focus this time. Maybe he'll let me do this again next time I come by! I heard him sigh like he was frustrated with something?

  I started to paint. Slowly... Slowly... So that I wouldn't make any mistakes. And when I ran out on the brush, I went to dip it in the bottle.

  "Gurrl~ did you hear that Ms. Cheryl is pregnant again! She just had a baby not too long ago! I mean, really? Can you believe her?!"

  He just looked at me. "What are you doing?" He asked.

  "We're having girl talk? Duh?" And I leaned forward again to start painting another nail. For some reason, he pulled his hand back and I accidently marked the shoe box. Not my fault! He moved!

  "Why did you do that?!"

  "I'm... not a girl." Was all the said. Okaaay? What did that have to do with this? "And why are you talking like that?"

  "It's how the dies talk when my momma takes me to the hair pce. Girl talk."

  Hey! I know that look! I ain't stupid!

  "Still..." He stared. "Can't you see I'm not a girl. I'm a guy. And guys don't gossip." I stared at him. My momma told me that boys do gossip, but they don't like it when you call it that.

  "Can't you pretend?" Was all I asked. He went silent.

  "Sure. Whatever to get this over with..." I smiled.

  "Good! Now we need to get you a girl name! Choose one."

  "What?!" He was getting flustered, but we had to do this right.

  "Choose!"

  "O-okay! Uh... I don't know! Nicole?"

  "No. Choose again."

  "I did."

  "You don't look like a Nicole. Choose again."

  "Why are you so difficult..."

  "Choose!"

  "Oh my god- Grace?"

  "No."

  "Kianna?" I brightened.

  "That's it!" And it sounds like my name too! Kianna. Brianna. Ki and Bri!" The look on his face.

  "You don't like it?" I asked him.

  "No! I mean, yes! I do! Kianna... It's good." Hmm. He was looking a little weird. But...

  "Okay. Can we go back to painting nails, Kianna?"

  "Huh? Oh, yeah. Sure..."

  So we did. Back to painting and having girl talk, which he kinda sucked at to be honest. But I got to have fun, so I was happy.

  "Tada!" We finished! And it didn't look sloppy like mine. He looked down at his fingers like he was seeing them for the first time.

  "Thanks..." He said, wiggling his fingers and inspecting each one carefully. I could tell he liked them and I was satisfied. He panicked when my momma called out for me in the hallway.

  "Brianna! You have the stuff that removes nail polish, right?" He asked in a hurried voice. I looked at him, confused?

  "What's that?"

  "..."

  The rest of the day sucked. I told him that nobody was gonna notice his stupid nails. Nobody cared about mine. Well, I was wrong for some reason.

  "Deontre, What is that on your hands?"

  The loud man from before, Roger, asked. Deontre stumbled over his words.

  "This? Uh, Brianna..." He pointed at me. "Wanted to paint nails, so..."

  "Boy, What the fuck is wrong with you? Clean that shit off! Why the fuck did you think that was a good idea?!"

  "S-she wanted to py... I was just-" The man's hand shot out and grabbed Deontre by the colr. He dragged him down the hall and shoved him really hard, sending him crashing against the bathroom door.

  "Get that shit off! And don't come out 'till it's done!"

  It caused a huge commotion. A lot of people were really mad at him. Some people didn't care. And I ended up in time out again. I was real confused, because no one cared about my nails. They didn't say anything mean to me when I showed them off. And my mom was disappointed in me... But I don't know what I did! He's not a baby! Whatever...

  But that's when things got more fun! Kinda... Coming over to this house for meetings wasn't fun. It got really dark, really fast and being surrounded my trees made it soooo creepy at night. They had a swing attached to a big tree; that was fun, but if you swung too high on it, the cranky grandma kicked you off of it. And there was sooo many old people! There was nothing to do! That's why I always looked forward to pying with Doentre!

  Everytime we absolutely had to go to family meet ups, I got to hang out with him! And we'd do sooo much fun stuff together! I would bring my make up kit, and let me pretty up his face, but only if I had something to clean it off. He also let me py with his hair. I'd bring over little bracelets and barrets and anything momma would let me carry over.

  But meeting with him was the only fun parts. It got really bad when we met up for thanksgiving, the old people started to talk about Deontre when he left the table to go to the bathroom.

  "Roger!" The cranky granny tried to whisper. Seriously, why whisper when you're so loud in the first pce? We can still hear you! "When are you gonna step in and correct his nasty behavior?!"

  "C'mon Ma. He's not hurting anybody." Said my mom's sister.

  "Not hurting anybody? Look at him! Tell me with a straight face that you didn't notice the shit he's smearing on his face! His hands?! The little earrings!!"

  "Ma... Anybody can wear jewelry..."

  "You knew what I'm talking about!"

  I was getting confused. Did he do something bad? Why were they talking bad about him? I wanted to ask about it...

  "Mom-"

  "Sshhh!" She hissed. Oh. This sounds really bad.

  "Roger!" The granny barked. And then she spat some word out that I had never heard of before but I could tell it was a big deal to say. Roger's face twisted, finally showing a reaction. Some of the older kids did a little knowing ugh, and my aunt recoiled in disgust. It was clear to me that everyone knew what this word meant except for me. And I wanted to know. So-

  "Ma," I asked her. "What's a tra-"

  Mom suddenly squeezed my hand from under the table and she gred at me. So it's a bad word and I'm not supposed to repeat it. Got it.

  It was getting louder and louder in here and it was making me nervous. I really wanted to leave. At the moment, Deontre rushed past the door.

  "Ma, can I go py?"

  She looked around the table one time and nodded at me.

  Yes!

  I immediately got up and went to the front door where I left all my stuff and scooped it up in my arms. When I stood up, I saw the door to his bedroom close shut. Right on time! I walked right up to her door and tapped it with a finger rapidly.

  "Open up! This is heavy..." The door flew open and he quickly shoved me in by the shoulder.

  Why did you do that?!

  I 'stumbled' and 'accidently' dropped everything in a big pile on the floor. We both stood there, staring at each other with him giving me 'the look'. I just shrugged.

  "Shouldn't have pushed me." And before he could compin, I reached over to her bed and dropped the pillows on the floor. That's better! I bent down and pat the pillow in front of me.

  "Sit." We had another staring contest and I won. He sat down with out saying a word, so I searched the pile on the floor for my toy hair kit.

  "Oh Em Gee! Kianna, Guuurl! You're te for your appointment! Come sit down so I can get you out the way! I'm extra busy today!" Kianna didn't react. I frowned, bu moved on anyway. Picking through my hair kit, I found the pstic hair brush and pretended to go through her hair. She still didn't react.

  "Guuuurrl~! Didn't I tell you not to come in my shop with your hair nappy like this again?!" Kianna looked back and gred at me. Heh heh heh!

  But even with that, she still didn't say anything. We spent a few minutes like this, but I got bored. I wanted to py and she didn't. So I walked to the front of her and cpped the sides of her face with both hands.

  "Ow! Yo, what the fu-!" I squished her face.

  "No bad words. Now what's the problem? I'm trying to py and you're making this difficult." Kianna still didn't say anything. So I mushed her face some more.

  "Okay! Okay, stop." She grabbed my hands and pulled my down onto the pillow opposite of her. She held both my hands in hers and blew out a sigh. Oh. This is important. I could tell.

  "Bri... I'm gonna tell my parents that I want to be called Kianna now. I want to be Kianna all the time; not just in my room and with you."

  OH!

  I threw my hands up in excitement. That sounds great! But, hmm... I had to stop myself 'cause my stomach started to hurt for some reason. I... don't think this was a good idea.

  "Why?" Was all I asked her. She squeezed my hands softly.

  "Because I like being Kianna. Wouldn't you feel bad if you only got to be Brianna in your room?? Don't you want to be you; do what you want, all the time?"

  Hmm...

  When she said it like that, I guess it made sense? But everyone at the dinner table...

  "Kianna. When we were eating, and you went to the bathroom..."

  "I know," She nodded. Well, now I was more confused. The one thing that has been clear to me from all the times I have been over here, is that they just don't like Kianna. Her family really, really cared about what she did. They were even arguing with each other about it right now. It sounds like all this would do was get her in trouble, like how her dad yelled at her for having painted nails. Why would you willingly get in trouble like that?

  "Okaaay... If that's what you want... Sounds dumb though." But Kianna didn't seem to care, smiling at me like I had given her an early birthday present.

  "Thanks, Bri. And don't worry I've got a backup pn if it doesn't work out."

  "Mhmm. Now lean back!" I dug into the pile and got out a pstic hair dryer. "And don't move."

  "How have I never heard of her? Something like this seems impossible to miss..." Giannine wondered.

  "Well, there's kind of like an unspoken rule to not talk about her. They probably feel embarrassed to have a trans person in the family if I had to guess..."

  "No, I mean, where is she? It's been years since that happened."

  "Oh. That was the st time I had seen her. She basically disappeared after that." I rememvered that part clearly. The Christmas gathering was cancelled that year, So I can guess that she told her parents around that time. And the next time I went over there, she was gone. I did ask around for her, but I was a kid. If they didn't want me to know about what she did, then they weren't going to tell me. But that didn't stop anyone from bringing her up when they made transphobic jokes or comments. A few months after she disappeared, they stopped mentioning her at all.

  "Hey." Giannine whispered softly, tapping my shoulder. "You alright?"

  "Hmm? Oh, yeah," I tell her. "I'm fine. Nothing really happened to me. I was more worried for her, personally. I haven't seen her since then, but I remember her deleting all of her socials, so she's probably still out there, doing her own thing, right?" I was rambling I realized, so I gave an understanding smile to Giannine, to let her know I was okay. I'm fine.

  "So, the whole family needs therapy..." She muttered under her breath. "What are you going to do, then? Nothing?"

  "No. Not nothing. I did my research, Gigi. Seeing something like this happen to someone so close to you... It makes you curious. You know how cruel the world is; can you imagine having that kind of hate coming from people who are supposed to love and care for you? Our family is huge and they don't like anything that isn't 'The man is the man, the woman is the woman, let's make babies!' That's why I'm worried for my kids. That's why I'm worried for you!"

  "Brianna," She asks me calmly. "I love Denise. Does that mean I have to hide my retionship from our family, just to appease them?"

  "No..." I said crossing my arms.

  "And you have my back, right?"

  "You know I do. Always."

  "That's all I need." She said with a smile. "Same goes for you kids. Let them make the decisions and be there for them like you've always been for me. Likewise, I've got your back too."

  "Right..." I guess, just because I want to protect my family, doesn't mean I should take life changing decisions from them.

  "Nice talk!" Gigi cpped her hands together and went to start the car. "By the way... You know I'm not talking about Maya, right?" I rolled my eyes at her as I fastened my seat belt.

  "Yeah, I know..."

  HenshinTetsuya