Her First Words

Five Months Later

. . .

"It's about time Little Zeirenne utters her first word," Lady Beatrice said while peeking on the bubbly baby smiling inside her crib.

With her hands closing and opening in the air, Baby Zeirenne was surrounded by four heads. All delighted to gaze into her cutie little smiley face while their ears feasted on her heartwarming giggle.

Lady Genevieve raised her head up to look at Baby Jin who was sitting under a tree—reading Advance Algebra at eight months old... in his diapers.

"How about Jinny? Still no progress yet?"

The three heads followed her gaze to focus their attention on Little Jin. Lady Beatrice folded her arms in front. She shook her head. "Not yet. He wouldn't even look at us unless we've irritated him enough."

"Four times," Lord Felix added, "We have to call his name four times in average before he spares us some attention."

"Little Jinny or Baby Jinny not included. Only Jin Yang works for him."

Lord Louis tapped his buddy on the shoulders. "Sorry he had to inherit your genes."

"Right?" Lady Beatrice rolled her eyes. "You uttered your first word when you told me to 'piss off' when we were four. Such a fun memory that was."

"Rude kid," Lady Genevieve mumbled.

"Anyways, it doesn't matter now. I've given up on making my son talk. So I'm putting all my hopes on Little Zeizei," Lady Beatrice smiled while tickling Baby Zeirenne who in return giggled, "Awww. Such a cute baby you are. Now say, 'Aiyi.' That's right. Say it, Baby Zeizei. Say 'Aiyi."

"No fair! She's supposed to say Papa first... or Dada," Lord Louis interrupted, "Indeed, my beautiful baby girl, watch carefully," he pointed his lips, "Say Dada. Da-dah."

"Uh-uh. We've been tied for too long. Her first word would be Mama. Right, my baby? You got this. Say Mama. Ma-ma."

Baby Zeirenne cackled inside her crib. Once again, their hearts melted.

"Awww," Lady Beatrice gently poked her cheeks, "How can you be so cute?!"

Lord Louis shrugged his shoulders, "Well, tha-haaanks. From my genes of course," and his wife rolled her eyes, "What about you, Yang. You're not giving it a shot?"

"Should I?" Lord Felix cleared his throat, "Then... Little Miss Zeirenne, please say Shushu. Pout your lips--that's right! And then say Shushu. Shuuu-shuuu."

Lord Felix was interrupted in his tutorial when a flash blinded him. He looked up to see Lady Beatrice holding a digital camera up.

"Oh would you look at this! The great Felix Yang pouting! Ahahahahahaha."

While the two ladies laughed, Lord Louis decided to pull a sneak on his competitors. He beckoned Butler Gordon on the sly, whispering an overly specified command which he followed discreetly.

"Inside my treasure trove, floor 47, room 143, there's a golden chest. Inside that chest, you'll find hundreds of golden keys. Don't pay them attention. Instead, cram your way down to the bottom. You'll find a hidden compartment. Inside that compartment, there's another key, it's made of jade. Grab that key and go inside my office. Open the bottom drawer slowly at exactly three inches per second. If you succeed, a smaller chest will appear. Use the key and bring its content to me. Please hurry."

Butler Gordon left for a few minutes before coming back with an unknown thing wrapped inside a white satin cloth that matched his white gloves. He held the item up with both hands. Lord Louis cleared his throat to claim everyone's attention.

"Ladies and Gentlemen," he announced while unraveling the item underneath the white cloth, "You all should step up your game. May I present to you... the tastiest and tastiest-looking candy in this world."

As he opened the cloth, a candy wrapped in golden wrapper presented itself. He held his chin up with pride while unwrapping the sweet. Like a precious stone pulled out of a storybook, he held the candy up for everyone to see. It was glowing blue. The most eye-catching candy one could ever find.

"Now... where does this sweet candy go? Of course! To my beautiful baby girl's tummy!" he walked towards Baby Zeirenne's crib. She chuckled upon seeing the glowing candy.

"That's right, my darling... this candy will be yours. But first, say Dada. You can do it, my love. Say Da-da-- Ahh!"

"Unacceptable! Don't bribe her with junk food. How can you possibly let your daughter eat such an unhealthy snack?!" Lady Genevieve said while pinching her husband's cheek.

She snapped a finger and a maid stepped forward bearing a baby bottle. "What she needs right now is lunch. And her favorite food, which turns out to be my very own milk, shall be served this instance."

She peeked inside the crib. "Owo. What is this hmm. What could this be? Ah! It's my baby's favorite! It's MAMA's love for Baby Zeirenne. Mama's love. Ma-mah."

Her rivals bit the tip of their nails, expecting her to succeed. To their delight, her attempt failed as well. When she turned around to face her competitors, an empty field greeted her instead.

"Where did they all go?"

"They all sprinted out, My Lady."

"Urgh. I guess the gifting game begins," she snapped her fingers once again, "Butler Bentley! Prepare the copters! I'm going to Japan!"

She kissed her daughter goodbye before bolting out of the mansion.

For a few hours, Zeirenne and Jin were left alone with hundreds of maids and butlers keeping them accompanied. Their parents returned after a few hours to shower them with gifts.

"Baby Jin, your handsomest uncle bought something for you too," Lord Louis greeted him. Baby Jin didn't even spare him a glance—eyes still focused on his book. He cleared his throat, "Hmmm. You don't seem very interested but I bought all the books I could find. Sorry to bother your reading time."

Lord Louis came back to their circle while shaking his head. They decided to stack his gifts beside him without interrupting his reading time. As the mountains of books surrounded Baby Jin, they all focused their hopes on Baby Zeirenne.

It took them hours of pursuit. Baby Zeirenne only giggled wordlessly upon seeing their gifts. If it weren't for her cuteness, they would've lost their spirits already. But she made everything worth it.

The sun was already setting when they decided to end their attempts. They were supposed to head back inside the mansion when all of a sudden, Baby Zeirenne's mouth opened, lips curled.

All pairs of eyes widened at that moment.

"She's about to say her first word! Grab the camera!"

They all waited in anticipation. She opened her mouth and took them by surprise.

"Chwini."

Their eyebrows furrowed before the realization sunk in.

Once again, she mumbled.

"Chwini..."

With eyes wide open, they looked back to see Baby Jin looking away from his book for the first time. He had his baby blue eyes pinned on the crib... and there was a smirk on his cutie little face.

"Jinny?!"

. . .