About that Night

Chapter 9

I gave birth way too early. Seven and a half months, couldn’t even make it to eight months, and Micah came in like a wrecking ball, basically a premature baby. Micah Alcott Dae-Jung Taylor, weighing in at a whopping 10 pounds, on December 31st at 9 am. Grayson couldn’t be there, and I don’t blame him. I told him Micah would come in January, so he was busy getting his divorce and winning custody over Rosalia. So when I screamed and cussed out random objects in the middle of the night, Rosalia heard me and she called 911. Rosalia also called my sister, my mother, Nessie and Liza. She tried for Grayson but couldn’t get him. 

“I’m so proud of you.” My mom kisses the top of my head as Nessira and Zaro anxiously wait for their turn to hold Micah. 

Rosalia smiles. “If you were here when she was in labor earlier, you would’ve seen a different side of mom.”

 “Eomma? i aineun mueos-e daehae iyagihago issseubnikka? geunyeoga dangsin-eul eommalago buleuneun iyuneun mueos-ibnikka?” (Mom? What is this child talking about? Why does she call you her mom?)  My mom asks.

 I sigh, and thank God she said that in Korean. “Geunyeoneun saengmulhagjeog eommaga geunyeoleul wonhaji anhgi ttaemun-e naleul geunyeoui eommalago buleubnida.” (She calls me her mom because her biological mom doesn't want her.) 

My mom looks at me funny but decides not to speak about it. 

“Mom, let me hold him now. It’s my turn.” Zaro whines; Mom raises her hand, and Zaro sits back down.

 “Where’s Grayson?!” Mom asks angrily. 

“Ma’am, he’s stuck in the office-,” Nessie tries to cover for Grayson, but my mom shushes her.

 “Excuse me? He couldn’t pause what he was doing to help my daughter give birth to his child?! Instead, he leaves his twelve-year-old daughter, not even a teenager! What kind of job does he do anyway?!” Nessie looks respectful for the first time in her life; Mom can do wonders. 

“Ma’am, he’s a lawyer.” Grayson is not a lawyer. There’s no way. 

“Nessie, did you say lawyer?!” 

Nessie nods. “His office, his firm, duh.” 

Why didn’t Grayson tell me? All along, I’ve been calling it his business. Is it because he knows people’s first guess isn’t that he’s a lawyer due to his unexpected compassion? 

My mom isn’t having it. 

“He didn’t even tell my daughter what he was!” I sit up, accidentally peeing myself along the way. 

“Mom, it’s okay. I should have asked. Plus, you’re taking too long with Micah, and other people want to hold him.” 

Talon nods dramatically as my mom sighs. 

“Chae-Young, I’m so disappointed.” Mom hands Micah to Talon and walks out of the room. 

I groan as Rosalia comes back confused and with M&Ms.

 “What happened to Ms. Joon?” Rosalia asks. 

“She needed to use the bathroom.” Nessira smiles. 

“She’ll be back.” Zaro adds.

 “Hopefully,” Talon whispers. 

Nessie clears her throat. “I hate to do this here, but Grayson’s not here because of Kiki, and I need to know what Kiki did to you to make Grayson move you into your own apartment at nine years old.” Talon, Zaro, Nessira and I gasp. I thought Grayson moved Rosalia in with me; I didn’t know I was moving in with Rosalia. 

Rosalia smiles sadly. “What made dad move me was Kiki leaving me at the grocery store for a week, I had to hide from workers and live off the food in the grocery until I saw dad come in and ask for me, and I ran to him. But that’s not all Kiki did to me. She told me I was worthless, and she didn’t want me and made dad take all the blame for being a bad parent. I heard her talking to dad about putting me up for adoption. When dad wasn’t there, I was basically Cinderella, and she would beat me with a belt and say when she didn't behave, her dad beat her with the same belt until she got the guts to kill him.” 

“Oh hell no.” I say with fury. 

Talon puts Micah in the incubator.

 “Are you sure you won’t change this story in court?” Talon asks. 

“No, I hate her, and she’s not my mom. Why would I care about what happens to her?” Zaro and Nessira look at each other, and Nessie looks like she wasn’t prepared to hear what she just heard. I raise my hands, offering Rosalia a hug, and she takes it. 

“Rosa, I want you, your aunt Nessie wants you, Talon, Nessira, and Zaro want you. You’re a fantastic child, and what you said will help your dad and put Kiki in jail.” Rosa cries onto my chest as everyone agrees with me. 

“I don’t want to talk about it anymore, please.”

 “Of course.”

 I look at everyone else.

After a few hours, Rosa and Micah are asleep, and Nessie starts up again. 

“Grayson doesn’t know about this.” Nessie inhales, running her hands through her hair. 

“He’s going to be devastated. That’s his princess,” Nessira whispers. 

“He already feels like he doesn’t do enough for Rosalia.” I sigh. 

We stay in silence until the door opens. 

“Grayson?!” 

They all perk up at the sound of his name.

 Grayson smiles apologetically. “I’m so sorry, I was trying, but Kiki kept dragging it.”

 I hug him. “We’ll talk about that later. Meet your son.” I smile. 

Grayson smiles. He looks so terrible, so tired. The crew gestures at me to ask him what happened, but I make an x sign with my hands. “Wrong timing!” I hiss at them before turning around. “Grayson, he looks just like you.” Grayson doesn’t respond. Instead, he sits down, observing Micah. 

Talon gets up. “We’ll leave you two alone. You have some talking to do.” Nessira and Zaro nod, getting up. 

“You’re leaving too, Nessie.” Nessira pulls her up. 

“Wait-,” Nessie tries to stop, but Nessira has none of it and drags Nessie with her. 

Grayson scoffs and looks back at me. “How was it?” He asks.

 I shake my head, smiling. “Grayson, it was painful, and I keep peeing myself when I move around.” 

Grayson furrows his brows. “You moved from the bed to me to the couch, and all of those times you peed?” I laugh. 

“Yes, I did.”

 Grayson chuckles. 

Micah seemed to be enjoying our laughter, so he opened his eyes for the first time. 

“Heterochromia?!” I gasp.

 Micah has gray in his left eye and blue in his right.

 “He’s beautiful, just like-,”

 “Just like his dad.” I cut him off. 

Micah is the spitting image of Grayson; He only has my eyes. 

“Winston-?” 

“Grayson, you give me too much credit. Micah’s basically you with heterochromia.” 

Grayson smiles, but then he stops, and he looks at me.

 “The judge is ruling in favor of Kiki, we need Rosalia’s testimony, but even then, Kiki will probably say that you and I manipulated her.”

 “Grayson, we will win and after, and you will be with whoever you want.” 

Grayson’s face softens. “I want to be with you, Winston.”

 My jaw drops. 

“I love you.”

 I grab his face gently and kiss him. “Grayson, I love you too.”