Chapter 21 Cousin Bonding moment (Lotus)( Joy )
Joy looked down, picking at the edge of her sleeve. “Do you know I started going to therapy also? And why I went ?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
Lotus gasped at the sudden revelation. “What! How long and what made you go?”
Her cousin shifted uncomfortably, but Joy jumped in, her voice softer than usual. “It was my dad. You know he still calls collect from prison sometimes. Every time he calls, he asks what I’m doing, how I’m really holding up. He’s the only one who ever sounds proud just to hear my voice. One day, he told me straight up: ‘You should try therapy. Don’t carry all this by yourself.’ That was the first time I really thought about it.”
Lotus and her cousin exchanged a glance, both surprised. Joy had always hidden her pain under jokes and quick comebacks.
She sighed. “Growing up, my mom and stepfather missed damn near all my moments. They poured everything into my sister’s pageants. My stepdad loved the attention loved being the man with the beautiful daughter. When her boyfriend bought her expensive gifts, he’d walk into family gatherings like he was the one being celebrated.”
Joy shook her head, a half-smile with no joy behind it. “And his side of the family? Mostly sons. So my sister became the prize the pretty one, the popular one and my little brother fit right in with the males on that side then its just me. His rich sister took to my sister, the one who basically runs the whole family, treated her like some kind of trophy. She’d take her out, show her off to her friends, call her ‘the daughter I always wanted.’ It made my stepdad puff up his chest like he finally had something to brag about a family worth showing off. And me?” She paused, voice low. “I was just… the extra.”
Meanwhile, me? I was invisible. Sure, I brought home ribbons, trophies, grades worth bragging about but they only ever noticed my weight. Or why I wasn’t more like her.”
Her laugh was sharp, bitter. “Ninth grade was the breaking point. I entered this youth competition, built an app to connect neighbors with community resources. I won first place. A thousand dollars. I wanted to use it to go to a gifted-students camp that summer. But my mom and stepfather? They took it. I gave it to my sister for a prom dress. For her boyfriend’s prom.”
Joy shook her head, blinking back heat. “That’s when I realized my accomplishments weren’t mine. I was just... background support. Even when I got a part-time job at the community center, they took part in my check. Said it was to ‘help the family.’ But it always ended up for my sister or my brother.”
She inhaled, voice breaking, then steadying. “And all the while, they called me weird. Said I wasted my time on the computer, said I didn’t know what I was doing. They never cared enough to ask. But my dad? Even from a prison phone, he saw me. He’s the one who pushed me to try therapy. Without him... I probably wouldn’t have admitted I needed help.”
The room went still. Lotus whispered, “So what changed?”
Joy looked at both of them, eyes raw but determined. “You did. Hearing you talk about therapy, Lotus how you were unpacking your mom, your stepfather, your job it made me realize I’ve been carrying the same weight. Just hiding it under jokes and code. So, I started too. Quietly. I didn’t want to admit it, but I needed it.
“And now?” Her voice sharpened with resolve. “I’m choosing me. I’m leaving Edd too.”
Lotus raised a brow. “You sure? ‘Cause I’m quitting tomorrow; Just to let you know.”
Joy blinked. “Damn, that’s short notice.” She leaned forward, shaking her head. “Still, I’ve been thinking about it long before you said something. That place too toxic to breathe in. Edd crossed the line one too many times.”
Lotus smirked. “You think he gonna take the news well?”
Joy laughed. “Hell no. We might as well show up in flammable clothes ‘cause that man’s about to gaslight the hell out of us tomorrow.”
Lotus chuckled. “Then I’m bringing the extinguisher.”
They leaned back on the couch, feeling the beginning of something bold.
They would no longer carry people who didn’t see them.
They would build something where they could thrive.
And this time, they'd do it together.
The next morning, Lotus stepped into the sleek glass doors of Apex technology Inc Her heartbeat hard, but steady. Her curls were pulled into a loose bun, and soft amber lipstick coated her lips. It had been three weeks since her accident, and the scent of office-grade coffee made her stomach turn.
She knocked twice on Edd’s office door before pushing it open.
Edd, a skinny white Jewish man with thick brown hair and eyebrows, glanced up with the same smug detachment he always wore. He wore a white shirt with a black suit, looking like a small black-and-white chess piece. "Lotus. Didn’t expect you so soon. You’re walking better. Physically, at least. Mentally? We’ll see."
She didn’t sit. She placed the doctor’s note and her resignation letter on his desk.
Edd raised an eyebrow. "What is this?"
"My exit plan. I won’t be returning."
He leaned back in his chair, scoffing. "You’re joking. After everything I’ve invested in you”
"You mean the unpaid overtime? The gaslighting? The stolen credit for projects? You mean that kind of investment?"
His smile faltered. "Don’t be emotional, Lotus. You know how you get. You’re too sensitive to be in this field."
"I’m not sensitive, Edd. I’m self-aware. And I’m done." She turned to leave.
At that moment, Joy burst through the door like she owned the oxygen in the room.
"Oh, perfect timing," she grinned, handing him her own letter. "Two for one special. Consider this my notice."
Edd stood up, his polished façade cracking as narcissistic outrage flashed in his eyes. “I created you both to be powerhouses. I brought you into my inner circle. Gave you proximity—access. You worked beside me. That’s not something I offer lightly.”
He sneered, pacing now. “You don’t get to betray me like this. After everything I did. After all the trust, the mentoring, the late-night strategy sessions… This is how you repay me?”
He looked between them, incredulously. “You’re throwing away real power. Prestige. For what? Some feel-good neighborhood fantasy?”
Joy tilted her head. "Yes, because we will create space for our dream."
Lotus looked over her shoulder. "Good luck finding anyone else to clean up your messes."
Joy smirked, stepping beside her cousin. "And by the way, . I built half the systems you depend on. Back-end automations, security patches, integration APIs.you’re welcome."
They turned in unison and walked out like thunder following lightning.
Couple minutes later Edd chased after Joy in the parking lot, desperation in his voice. "Can we at least keep our... KFC.
Joy paused, looked him up and down, seductively and said, "sorry access been denied: no more breast and thighs for you."
Lotus gasped, shocked. Edd didn't seem to care about her obvious disdain. He was too focused on Joy.
They walked out, leaving Edd standing there, looking like someone stole his last piece of candy.
As soon as Lotus dropped into the passenger seat of Joy’s car, she whipped her head around like she was about to conduct a full-blown interrogation.
“Really, J? You were out here sneaky linking’ with Edd?”
Joy didn’t even blink. She just smirked, cool as ever, one hand on the steering wheel like she was hosting a sex-ED Talk on scandal.
“Girl, it was strictly maintenance. Just clearing’ the cobwebs, that’s it.”
Lotus squinted. “Cobwebs?” She looked at her like she’d just confessed to dating a Nickelodeon villain. “You risked it all for a man who still wear boat shoes unironically?”
Joy laughed. “First of all, I’m private, okay? Discreet by design. And Edd? He comes from one of them bougie Jewish families with generational NDAs. That man wasn’t gon’ say nothin’.”
Lotus folded her arms. “Still don’t explain why I’m finding’ out in this car like I’m the unpaid extra in your little Netflix Original.”
Joy leaned in, voice low like she was spilling tea under a hairdryer.
“Honestly? I cut him off because he made this squeaky sound when he came. I’m talkin’ full-on chew toy vibes.”
Lotus froze, seat belt slack in her hand. “Girl. Don’t play.”
Joy cracked up, wiping a tear from her eye. “Sounded like somebody stepped on a stress ball in the middle of a sex EDx talk.”
Lotus blinked, deadpan. “So, you mean to tell me... man finished like a damn TikTok sound effect?”
“I swear on Beyoncé’s internet.”
Joy drove out of the lot with squealing tires, and both laughed as she played "Miss Independent" by Destiny's Child.