Baby Steps

"So, what's up with Jace?"

It had been a week since her late night appearance, and the twins still wouldn't tell me the real deal about her.

I had been patiently waiting for the twins to tell me something but they kept their mouth shut, and it was annoying the hell out of me. They knew that I knew something was up. I would purposefully ask Jace about herself sometimes just to get some reaction, or luckily, an answer. But she would just stare at me and shrug, completely ignoring my questions.

My suspicion was right when I noticed Jace looking around carefully before venturing out. She would constantly look over her shoulder whenever we were out with the twins. I took it upon myself to watch her everytime she was around. Just to have some answers to my too many questions, despite the fact that I sometimes enjoyed watching her.

Through the week that I had been in the same house with her and discreetly watching her, okay, I sounded like a creep, but I swear to my dog's grave I was just curious.

Oh, wait, I didn't have a dog.

So, back to what I was saying. Through the week that I had been watching her, I realized she rarely smiled. She would smirk a little while teasing and playing with the twins but I never yet to see her genuine smile.

She was avoiding me a lot of times but she still watched us whenever the twins and I practice our music in the basement. We finally managed to arrange our equipment, and made the room soundproofed.

We were currently waiting for Elli and Jace who went out to buy doughnuts and coffee when I fired the question at Aeron.

He stopped tuning up his bass guitar and looked at me with his brows furrowed. "What do you mean?"

I rolled my eyes at him. He was doing it again. Whenever I asked him about Jace he would throw me another question or ignored me completely, pretending he didn't hear me.

"I already knew she ran away from home, Ae. I'm asking you why."

Aeron sighed and puts down his guitar. "Sorry man, but it was not my secret to tell. We trust you, you know that. But it's up to Jace if she will tell it to you or not. And..." he fidgeted.

"What?" I prodded him. Aeron was right, it was not even my business. I admit I was being too nosy, and I swear—not on my dog's grave because I didn't have one—I didn't know why I was being adamant to know everything about Jace. I wanted to know why she had this mysterious façade or why she ran away. She really piqued my curiousity.

"Uh, Jace doesn't, uhm.. trust you enough," Aeron muttered under his breath. "That's because she just met you," he added quickly. "And believe me, it took us long enough to earn her trust too."

I sighed as I leaned on the couch. I suddenly felt drained, and I didn't even know why. "What happened to her? Why is it that she wouldn't even smile? She was always reserved and..." I trailed off as Aeron looked at me with his brows above his head. I knew that look but I ignored him.

He glanced at the door before looking at me again and ran his hand through his hair. "First of all, dude," he grinned at me and wiggled his brows at me. I swore he was the only one who would tease me with his cousin while we were seriously talking about her. "Jace smiles. Just not a lot. And she definitely wasn't reserved. It's just that..." Aeron turned serious again. "Jace grew in a very different environment. It was far from what we had, man. And.." he struggled for words. "It was bad. It's a good thing she's a strong person. If she wasn't, I couldn't imagine what already happened to her. She probably wasn't here. Or we didn't even had the chance to meet her."

We fell silent. Aeron looked tired after what he just said. "We are the only family she have. It was really fortunate she found us. We didn't even knew about her until she contacted us. Aunt Jasmine or mom didn't even mentioned anything about her."

My heart felt heavy with what Aeron said. "That bad huh?"

"Yeah. I don't even want to think about the things she went through."

We fell silent again. That was when the door opened and Elli came in gushing about some hot dude in Startbox. Jace was behind her holding a box of doughnuts.

"He kept on eyeing her and she just downright ignored him." Elli jerked her thumb towards Jace who sat beside Aeron with a roll of her eyes as she handed the box to him.

"I wasn't interested," Jace said coolly. "He was lucky I didn't sock his face."

I perked up when realization hits me. "Wait, wait," I held up my hand to stop Elli from replying. "You were saying the dude from StartBox tried to hit on Miss Serious?"

Jace looked at me with her teeny little smirk. Elli and Aeron froze at what I said and stared at me.

"What?" I asked them innocently.

"Is he always that slow or he just insulted me?" Jace turned to Aeron with amusement in her eyes. She clearly didn't mind what I just said while Elli was throwing daggers my way.

"You just insulted me," I stated, not a bit least offended. I promise I wasn't.

Elli glared at me more before handing out my drink. "You're lucky she's in a good mood."

I rolled my eyes at her as I got my macchiato. "I was just asking." And besides, I seriously wouldn't even notice Jace was in a good mood since she always looked serious.

"Whatever." Elli plopped down on the minion bean bag and sipped her coffee. While Jace and Aeron talked, she nudged my foot with hers.

"What?" I felt recharged just by drinking coffee.

"Can we talk?"

Uh-oh.

I couldn't help but get worried since she asked seriously, which was a rare phenomenon. Yeah I was exaggerating but it was the truth. Elli rarely asked me to talk about something serious. And it made me nervous for some reason.

I swear if she told me she got pregnant by some asshole his brother and I didn't know about, I'm gonna throw up all over her and break the guy's face afterwards.

"Uh, what about?" Her expression was scaring me a bit.

She stood up and beckoned me to follow her. I did. She sat behind the drumset and I just stood there as she hold on to her drink and stared at me. Which was disconcerting.

"So," I said while holding my coffee. "What do you want to talk about? Uh, you're not pregnant, aren't you?"

She furrowed her brows for a bit and then her eyes widened in horror. "What the f*ck Tolky?!" she whispered-yell at me. "That was f*cking disgusting!"

I held up my hands in surrender. She looked like she was about to throw the drumset at me. "Okay, okay! Geez, no need to go bat-shit crazy over it."

"You just f*cking asked me the most impossible question and you're telling me not to go bat-shit crazy over that?" Elli asked incredulously. She shook her head and took a deep breath to calm herself. "I'll let you go just this once, you idiot."

"So," I said as I took a sip of my coffee. "What do you want to talk about?" I asked again, more serious this time.

"Aeron told you something about Jace, right?" she asked quietly as she stole a glance at Jace and Aeron on the couch.

I nodded. "Just some of it."

"We still haven't told mom and dad that she's here," Elli admitted. She folded her arms over her chest. "Aunt Jasmine didn't have a good experience in Japan. It was that bad that she didn't tell us about Jace. In fact, she didn't tell us anything that happened to her in Japan. Mom just told us that it was horrifying, and it should just be forgotten."

"You're not sure if your mom would accept Jace," I supplied and she nodded sadly. "I thought you were in contact with her the past year?"

"Yeah. But mom also didn't know."

"They're coming anytime soon, E. Maybe you and Aeron should call now and let your parents know about her." I patted her shoulder and glanced at the other two on the couch. I saw Jace looking at us, but she just glanced away nonchalantly. I just lifted an eyebrow.

"Dude, I know you watch Jace a lot," Elli smirked at me as if she didn't just told me her worries, and I just didn't "accused" her of being pregnant. I was about to protest but she cuts me off. "And don't give me your bullshit lines. I know that look of yours since my cousin took off her baseball cap in front of you. I just have to remind you she was still adjusting with the place, with the culture and most importantly, with you. So I am strongly advising you to take baby steps, Tolky. Baby steps. You should befriend her first."

I just gawked at her. Did Elli just implied that I like her cousin?

"Yeah, I just did," she admitted as if she heard my thoughts. I looked at her with my eyes wide. "Don't give me that look. I definitely didn't hear your thoughts. You were looking at me as if I grew a foot on my face. Plus, I know you like the back of my hand. I know your expressions and how your mind works."

"That's creepy."

We were interrupted by the loud ringing of Aeron's phone, and we all looked at him curiously.

"Shit," Elli muttered. "I bet you my own twin brother that was mom calling."

Aeron pulled out his phone from his jeans' front pocket and froze while looking at it. He excused himself and walked out of the basement to answer the call.

"You won," I said. "You gotta keep your twin. Sucked to be you."

Elli just flipped me the bird.

"I could just rent an apartment, you know," Jace suddenly said. "I saw one not far from here."

And that was a little pricey. But with all the cash she had, she could afford it.

"That's not necessary," Elli disagreed and stood up from behind the drumset to sit beside Jace. "You're always welcome here. You're family."

"I know. But your mom doesn't think so," Jace said as if it didn't matter to her.

I sat at the minion bean bag and just listened to them. I couldn't tell if Jace was disappointed. Her face remained neutral.

"Mom would definitely like you," Elli smiled at her reassuringly. She gave me a warning look, prodding me to say something.

"Uh, right. Definitely. Uh," I searched for a more appropriate word trying not to ruin the moment. "You're absolutely adorable." I mentally face-palmed myself. Adorable? Really?

"Sore wa detareme desu," Jace muttered under her breath and I stared at her. I thought I saw the corner of her lips curved into a small smile, or maybe I just imagined it.

Elli sighed and looked at me with pity. "Yeah, dude. That was bullshit."

I rolled my eyes at them. "I can't think that fast under pressure."

"I knew he's really that slow," Jace said. "And I'm way too adorable."

I just stared at her. Unlike the twins, Jace's western looks were more prominent. She had double-eyelids which the twins haven't. Her hair was naturally brunette. And her soft light brown eyes were the lightest I've ever seen. Did I mention that earlier?

"And someone looked silly and a creep." Elli snapped her fingers at me. "Earth to Tolky."

I scowled at her. "What?"

"Seriously Walky-Tolky—"

I grimaced at her another nickname for me and I felt my ears reddened. Yeah. My ears. "For f*ck's sake Elli, stop with your silly nicknames!"

She just rolled her eyes at me. Jace just looked at me with a raised brow. She knew I was staring at her.

Crap.

"Since you're unashamedly staring at Jace, why don't you tell her what was your first impression of her? You know, your opinion might help. Maybe mom would see what you saw on her."

I stared at Elli for a moment. "What?" Is she serious?

Elli sighed. She looked like her patience was wearing thin. "What do you think about her, Tolky? How many times do I have to repeat what I'm saying for you to get it? Do you want me to record it?"

"Whatever, " I muttered under my breath.

What was my first impression of Jace? With her sudden arrival and clad in black clothes, I found her mysteriously dangerous. When she took off her hat and I met her cold hard light brown eyes, I saw her exhaustion. I knew that her tough look was just a façade. And she was unreachable most of the time. It was only this past few days that she started talking to me with ease.

"Tolkien!"

We whipped around and saw Aeron's head poking in the door waving at me to come out. I had never been so happy just seeing my bestfriend that I beamed at him.

I immediately excused myself and went to the arms of my knight in shining armor.

"You just saved my ass," I said almost out of breath.

"I need your help," Aeron muttered as if he didn't hear me. "Mom freaked out when I told her Jace is here. She wanted her out of her house before they come home in f*cking thirty minutes!"

"I'm sorry, what?" Did I hear it right? Mrs. Wong was kicking Jace out of the house?

"Dude, can Jace stay in your place for a while? Just until we found a place for her to rent or something?" Aeron was frustrated.

This was going way too fast but I nodded before I even thought about it. "Fine."

Aeron sighed out in relief and patted my shoulder. "Thanks dude. I really appreciate it."

"Don't think about it dude. But how the hell are you going to tell Jace that your mom doesn't like her in here? I mean, we know that she knew your mom's not fond of her, but telling that straight to her face is different."

Seriously, I've known the twins' mother for how many years, and I didn't expect this side of her.

Aeron swore under his breath and pinched the bridge of his nose. He was really stressed out and he looked ten times older since the phone call from Mrs. Wong. He suddenly looked at me as if a lightning had struck him.

Uh-oh. Warning! Warning! I would definitely not like the idea that my dumb friend just thought about.

"What? You want me to do the honors?" So much for that damned baby steps.