Life After Heart Break

Can't Be Real

I quickly made my way to the park where Hendrix and I were supposed to meet so I could see my babies again. As I said, it had been months since I'd last seen them, and I was afraid. I was really afraid that he had turned them against me. Mai had been in their lives for the last year, and she was a nasty b***h. No telling what she had been doing and what Hen, had been allowing her to do. The thought of it made me sick, but I pushed it all to the back of my mind as I waited.

We were supposed to meet at 4:00, and it was a quarter till. Yes, I was a bit early, but I didn't want them to be able to say I was a no-show if I was a minute late. It could have given Hendrix what he needed to take back control of the situation. Everything was finally good, and I didn't want anything to happen to ruin it. Then I thought about everything that I had gone through up until this point. I couldn't understand why he wanted me to suffer so.

I didn't do anything to him but love him, but it didn't seem like he loved me the same way I loved him. Or was it always her? Cause when I think about it, Mai was around more than I realized. Now she was in the spot that I was in, pretending to be my babies mother. It started to hurt all over again as I looked down at my watch once more. It was now five till four, and Hendrix hadn't yet shown. He was known to be late, but I didn't think he would be late for something like this.

Then again, this was about him losing. He didn't like losing lately, and it was because he had Mai Hoàng on his side, who made him think he was untouchable. The joke was on him because he was her little guinea pig, and she was using him the way he thought he was using her. However, I didn't care what was going on in their relationship. It was their problem, but my problem was that he hadn't shown, and it was now 4:20. Something wasn't right; I could feel it in my bones.

Even though he may have been mad about the situation, he wouldn't have gone this far. If it was something that he had to do. It would have gotten done either way. He had a court order, which meant that he would have honored it. So, slowly I stood and made my way over to Jennifer's car. I was thinking as I made my way over to the upper side of the city to the house that I sold to him and Mai a few months back, to find fire engines and police cars everywhere. Their home was up in flames, and from the looks of it, their cars were in the driveway.

"W... what happened?!" I asked one of the neighbors, who was standing around, looking at the fire as if it were on television. This was someone's home, and they could have been inside, as far as they knew. Still, they couldn't care less as they sat on the sides of the road laughing and talking, which pissed me the f**k off.

"What..."

"We don't know. There was an explosion, and the next thing we knew, the house was up in flames. I think he started the fire. He and his wife were arguing about something, and it was heated enough for him to smack the hell out of her. They went inside with the children, and about five minutes later, there was the explosion and the fire. There was no way any of them made it out alive.

Hendrix had a bad temper, but it was not bad enough to kill himself and our children. Plus, he and Mai had one on the way. The one thing I knew about him was that he loved his kids, and he would never put their lives in danger that much, I knew. Everything about this seemed weird, like it was planned. So, I wasn't leaving until I knew what was going on. The whole time, I was praying that he faked their deaths to win this stupid custody war that we were having. I didn't think that it was that bad for him to do something wild like this until it was all about her.

Still, I waited about three hours until the fire was out, after I spoke with the fire chief and the police. The fire was under investigation, and they couldn't tell me much, but there were five bodies found in the debris, which caused everything in me to break down. I was at a loss for words as I called the only friends I had who didn't answer. Knowing them, they were somewhere getting nasty when I remembered Sevyn and the house I sold him.

I made my way over to his home, rang the doorbell and waited. When the door finally open, he stood there with a younger man whom I could see was his sibling. He couldn't have been more than two years younger than me, which means Sevyn was older, but I couldn't tell. However, he spoke to his brother, said bye, smiled at me, and left. I was confused about why I was there, but he said he wanted to be friends and that’s what I needed now. I wasn’t thinking straight when I walked up to him, hugging him as I started to cry.

"Whoa, what's wrong, Shorty?"

"I had just gotten them back, and now they are gone. My babies are gone." He gently held me for a moment before walking me into his home, into the living room, where he let me cry it out without saying a word. I needed that, and all he did was hold me while brushing his hands through my braids.

"Whatever you need, I'm right here for you. Just cry it out, and when you're ready to talk, I'll listen."

"I don't know what happened, but they said it was an explosion and they all burnt alive. Why are these things happening to me? First, he takes my babies, and when I finally get them back, they're gone forever." He hummed but didn't say a word at first, but the way he tensed up made me think that he knew something about what happened to them.

"I may know something about your ex that you should know. First, I have to tell you who I really am."

"I know who you are, Sevyn. I have known for a while now because Becca told me... are you the reason my babies are dead? I pulled away, looking at him, waiting for an answer because if he was. He could tell whatever this thing was, he was trying to build between us, goodbye. I was starting to trust him, and I didn't care about who he was or what he had done. To me, he was good at heart, which was all that mattered to me. He did things to make me smile, and I didn't have to ask, and he knew his boundaries between us at the moment.

"No, but if my sources are right. Your ex is the reason why your children are dead. If Becca told you who I was, you know about her family, then you know about the two biggest mafias on the East Coast. Normally, it's hard for two mafias to operate in the same city, but we have managed. However, Mai broke off an arranged marriage and fled to South Carolina to escape her betrothed."

"Did Hendrix know this?"

"He did and married her for the money, and it got him, your children, and her killed. Either that or they faked their deaths and are on the run. Either way, they are playing with fire." I nodded and thought about what he said. Hendrix was playing with fire, and it could have gotten my children killed. In the back of my mind, I hoped they were on the run, but my gut told me this was real. I couldn't feel my babies anymore; they had always been a part of me, which kept me going, but their spirits were gone. I could feel it, and I didn't know what to make of it.

"How could someone do something like that? Kill a child... have you ever done something like that? And don't lie to me. You said you wanted to be friends, and the one thing friends don't do is lie to each other. So, have you ever killed a child?"

"I have killed before, but not a child. Not to my knowledge, I never believed in killing kids, and as ruthlessly, and my Dad and Grandpa were never children killers either. Children were always taken in or adopted by someone within our mafia or to a person who couldn't have children, and no, we didn't sell them."

I tried to smile, but it didn't quite fill my cheeks as it should. My heart was bleeding, and all I wanted was to be close to someone at the moment. I didn't want to go home or be alone. All it would have done was make me think about what I have lost and why. "Do you mind if I stay here tonight? I don't want to be alone."

"Sure, Shorty, let me get the guest room ready for you...."

"No, I would like it better if I could stay with you. I don't want to do anything, but I do want to be close to someone who cares for me." Without a word, Sevyn nodded and stood holding out his hand for me to take. After he led me to his room, he pointed at the bathroom for me to shower.

I didn't want to be alone, but once I was in the shower, everything came crashing down. I was no longer able to hold myself together, so I sat on the floor with my knees up to my chin, crying. If they were going to kill my kids, why couldn't they kill me too? Even without all this bullshit going on, I was okay because I thought they were safe with Hendrix, and this whole time they were in danger. I wondered if he knew who she really was or if he cared. It was the money, and that's all he saw.

"Asia, are you okay in there?"

"Yeah, I was about to come out. I'm sorry, I don't mean to burden you."

Most of the time, that's how I felt, but people always said that I was okay. I had no one else to turn to. I didn't have family and all the friends I had before Jennifer and Becca turned out to be fake. Other than them, Sevyn was the only other person I knew, and I had to bother him with my mess. Anyhow, I quickly grabbed a towel, wrapping it around me as I headed back into the bedroom, where I found some women's clothing on the bed.

"The underwear are new, and the clothes are my little sister's. I went and got something for you to wear to bed from her. The two of you are about the same size. So, stop thinking that I put someone I was f*****g clothes out for you to wear.

"I was just wondering if you were a crossdresser or something." I laughed as he quickly picked me up and threw me on the bed. I wasn't crazy. He was seeing me naked, and we weren't there yet. I barely knew the man, and I wasn't going to jump into bed with him just because he was cute. We agree to become friends, then we could see where that leads us.