Jasmine felt her heart drop, the sound echoing off in her ears. Breathe in. Breathe out. Wasn't that what she had been waiting for all along? Certainly, maybe not so sudden, but it was finally time to take that burden off her chest and scream to the sky that she was in love with her brother. She calmed down and held his gaze with her unwavering one, "Yes," a simple word, and she said it as clearly as she could, "Yes!" she said it again, "Yes!!" and again, each time more loudly, "Yes!!! I'm in love with you!"

"..."

Jered honestly hoped she would have put on an act. Like being disgusted by his question. Laugh it off. Tell him that he was imagining things.

And then everything would have gone back to normal, except that things were never normal when it came to him.

Impregnating his teacher was not enough. Of course, it wasn't. Jasmine had to confess her taboo feelings for him, and then what next?

"I love you, Jered... I've tried doing the sensible thing a-and move on. God knows I tried!" Jasmine scooted closer to him, his silence making her stomach twist and knot, "I'm sorry... please, say something..."

"Come on, what am I supposed to say?" he met her eyes—those beautiful green pearls glazed by unshed tears, "What do you want me to say?"

"I don't know..." she chuckled bitterly, "I don't fucking know..."

"I'm not disgusted, Jasmine. Don't mistake my silence for repulsion."

She looked up at him, a sliver of hope, of something dark, coming to the surface. He promptly ignored that.

"Then..."

Jered shook his head, "I'm going to be honest, Jaz. There's no future for us. Brute-forcing an incestuous relationship would tear this family apart. We have a shitstorm ahead of us, sis. Let's not add your feelings on top of it. It's not worth it. I'm sorry, but I have no intention of dealing with this. I love you dearly, but it's all platonic," he stood back up, "Don't go down that path, there is no rainbow at the end."

He was about to head out, but a hand grabbed the hem of his shirt.

"No..."

Her voice was brittle, barely above a whisper.

"..."

"You think I'm going to give up, Jered? You think this little incestuous freak is going to let the world tell her what's right and what's wrong? 'Ohh, poor Jasmine! So in love with her brother is she... so hopelessly lost in the throes of her taboo feelings that she has lost sight of everything!' Is that what you think, brother?"

"You're losing control of yourself. Don't let the Shadow speak for you. Get a grip, Jasmine."

Wrong choice of words. She shoved herself up and stared at him, "Oh, I'm not. I know exactly what I want. This is not the Shadow's doing," she growled, "I've been fighting with myself for too long, and I'm tired. At this juncture I'm simply too tired to give a fuck... haha, I guess deep down you are freaked out. Or maybe you just don't care... which seems more plausible the more I look at you. Please, tell me, you really don't feel anything at all for me?"

Jered did care for her, just not the way she wanted, "Of course, I do. You silly potato," he cradled her face in his hands, "You have no idea how important you are to me. You're my family, my sister, that little snotty girl who wouldn't leave me alone when we were children; you still don't leave me alone, haha..."

"..."

"I love you, Jasmine. But as a brother, nothing more."

"..."

She relinquished the grasp on him, her hand falling to her side.

"That's fair. I don't know what I was expecting..."

"It's a difficult situation. We grew up relying on each other. You're not to blame for this."

"I guess..." Jasmine laughed, "W-What if I make you change your mind?"

"Change my mind?"

"Yeeees," her eyes sparkled, "We're perfect for each other, but you're still blind to it. You need time... to realize that there is no one else out there who will love you as much as I do. And it's not because I'm your sister. It doesn't matter that we're blood-related. God wouldn't have made us that way if that were the case, right? You just need to open your mind, and see me as a woman, not your sibling."

"Yeah, I don't think I can do that at the moment," Jered opened the door, "It's not because I'm against it, mind you. But going down that rabbit hole would arise a clusterfuck of problems. Our life is already messed up enough as it is. Having a secret relationship with my sister is a recipe for more trouble. Look. I'm tired. Can we discuss this another time?"

Jasmine's smile didn't reach her eyes, and he would have been an idiot not to see the gears turning inside that pretty little head of hers, "Of course. Rest well, Jered."

She slowly closed the door for him, though still watching him through the gap.

It was not an innocent look.

Oh well. Whatever.

---

It was a few hours later that Jane finally came back home. She rubbed her neck, her eyes quickly adjusting to the veneer of darkness enveloping the house. Her heels clicked as she walked up to the couch and flopped on it. The money she had 'found' in her purse that day had already been used to pay the bills. She knew Jered had something to do with it, and she just hoped he didn't do anything shady to attain such a sum of cash.

With a sigh, Jane unclipped the laces of her heels and slipped her feet off of them. Then she dragged her feet over the inside arm of the couch and let her head fall on a throw pillow.

When she opened her eyes, it was to see the face of her son, right when he was about to drape a blanket on her.

"Jered?"

"Sorry, did I wake you up?"

"I was not sleeping..."

"Hm, you've slept for three hours, mom."

Jane's mouth hung open in disbelief, "B-But I just closed my eyes..."

He chuckled, "You must have been really tired."

"Yeah..." she ran a hand over her face, a yawn tearing her mouth wide open. Then it clicked on her. Jered had come back. He was in front of her, "... oh, Jered I've missed you so much!"

And then she threw her arms around him.

Jered smiled and hugged her back, "I'm sorry I had to leave on such short notice."

"Please, don't do it again. I thought something had happened to you..." she tightened her hold on him, her voice weak, "Your employer contacted me. Rainey, right? She told me you were with her, but... you know, that didn't make me feel better. I don't even know what kind of work you're doing. Lately, you've been very absent. Do you know how stressed I am, Jered? It's hard for a single parent to raise two children... it's hard for a woman who relied on her husband for her whole life to survive out there..."

"..."

"I know you're trying to help me, sweetie. And I appreciate that, I reeeaally do," Jane planted a kiss on his forehead, and smiled lovingly, "But don't scare me like that. I don't know what happened to Jasmine, but she's been very... withdrawn... and... and... I feel like I'm doing a very bad job at keeping this family together. You've always been very smart and considerate, so please, do not do something like this again. You're making my hair turn white, ha..."

Jered chuckled at that last statement. After her marriage with his father, time seemed to have stopped for her. And considering John's identity, he realized he must have done something about it. Still, as much as he empathized with Jane, the fact still stood that his trip to Archiland was an impromptu one. Not that he could tell her that, of course.

"I'm... sorry..." he said, and maybe, somewhere deep inside him, he meant it.

He might have been unfeeling, but that didn't mean he wanted to see his mother cry.

She leaned her forehead against his, and heaved a deep breath, "It's okay, son. You've been working hard. But I want you to be truthful with me... what is this job that you had to go out for so many days?"

How could he be truthful? Lies were what was barely keeping them together.

"It's not manual labor if that's what you're worried about. Rainey needs some help with her business, and I'm quite good at analyzing her company data."

Jane frowned, "Wait, what? When did you learn to do that?" she was understandably skeptical.

"Father taught me in his spare time. He had a company too, remember? He told me it's a valuable and high-paid job, and proceeded to teach me. He wasn't lying, I did make quite a bit of money," he tucked a hand in his pocket and drew out his wallet, "See?" after paying for his and Evelyn's flight and some other small expenses, there were still over a thousand dollars in cash. And he was confident he could make way more than that over the weekend.

"..."

She didn't know what to say.

"I can help you. Don't be afraid to ask if you need something. I'm young, yes, but I'm your son. I don't like to see you come home so tired, so fed up with life but having to put up with it because of me and Jasmine. I don't like to see you cry in secrecy. Here..." he grabbed all the cash in his wallet and handed it to her, "... you need it more than I do."

"No... Jered... I can't take this... it's your money!"

"Oh, come on. What am I supposed to do with one thousand dollars anyway? It's not like I pay rent."

"But..."

"Just take it, really. It would make me happy if you do," he wore his most convincing smile, "Besides, I have some spare cash in my room."

Jane demurred. She wanted to say something, but the words were stuck in her throat. There was no need to make such a scene about it, but it was the first time she received such big help since her husband passed away, "I..." she met his eyes, "Thank you, son," she smiled, gingerly taking the money.

"Go get some rest now."

"I will try," she chuckled, pulling away, "You skipped many days of school, young man."

"..."

"Don't worry. I talked to the principal and explained the situation to him. He said that some working experience would do you a world of good, and I have to concur with him. While I don't condone your lackluster attendance, you've begun to walk down a successful road. Looking at the bigger picture, skipping a few days shouldn't be an issue. But you better not make it a habit."

"Yes, ma'am!"

Jane smirked, "Good. I'm going hit the hay, I have to go back to work later. I will try to wake up earlier so you and Jasmine can eat some proper, homely food," she stretched, grabbed her heels, and headed upstairs.

Jered ran a hand through his hair, "Guess I'll get some rest too..." he wasn't really tired, but his mind was.

A chirping melody suddenly went off.

He blinked before pulling out his smartphone.

It was a text message from Kenny.

—"Heey... can you come over? I have to tell you something, it's very important."