#nimsart

Sione is a 46 year old mixed Dominican and Cuban woman who had her daughter, Nani, when she was 22 years old.

Most of her family is overseas so Sione grew up with only her parents and grandparents. Her parents were very hardworking and earnest people who were unfortunately given a bad hand in life. Because of this, they wanted Sione to focus on her studies and working hard to have a better future. They were very strict with her, tough love kinda stuff but it really only made her act out more as a teen. When Sione was finally able to go to college at 18, she saw this as an opportunity to go wild without being under her parents watchful eyes.

Sione during these years was a BIG party animal and slept around a lot with both men and women. One of those people being Akello at the time since they attended the same college and the two hooked up during a party. A one night stand that ended up getting her pregnant, but because of how many people Sione had slept with before and after the fling she was unsure who the father was. (I also wanna add in rq that Sione doesn't recognize Akello at all when they meet again years later. Their fling happened in the heat of the moment and Sione wouldn't have been able to recall his name since lots of alcohol was at play between the two but it was conensual!)

She ended up having to drop out of college due to the pregnancy taking a toll on her, the added stress of work and school was also putting strain on her so she moved back in with her parents. She feels a lot of shame and guilt for being so wreckless and even more so when she wasn't able to tell them who the father was. Despite the situation, her parents welcomed her back with open arms and helped her during everything. I think Sione felt extreme guilt for being a burden on her parents like this after reflecting hard on the last couple of years. Her parents managed to convince to keep going to school just in the current state they're in now, and she ended up doing just that while pursuing her medicial degree.

She ended up getting thru med school and becoming a locum tenets physician and getting a really good jon by the time she hit 28. Her daughter Nani went to college at 18 on a scholarship and moved to Tri City to go to one of the Universities there! She ended up graduating not too long before she went missing.

The messed up part is that Nani and Sione were on the phone while Nani was walking home from work, Sione was there talking to her daughter when she went missing. She heard an unfamiliar voice following Nani, a scream ring out, before the line went dead.

Nani went missing for a month before the Tri City police department declared her dead without properly recovering the body. Sione didn't accept that answer. None of it made sense, they were actively ignoring her attempts to get more answers, refused to give up crucial information that Sione deserved to know and stated there was nothing more they can do now. Filled with grief, anger, and an overwhelming need for justice, she moved to Tri City on short notice to find out what actually happened to her daughter. She knows what she heard and was going to find the bastard who took her daughter.

A few weeks later when Sione gets settled in, she meets Akello again at BookDudes! The place was somewhere her daughter frequented for school books and fun stuff to read/watch and she thought she'd have more luck talking to the employees there if they've seen her daughter before she bumps into Akello on the way out.