Jean woke up and found herself rested on Aiden's chest. His arms wrapped around her and they are both naked. Her towel and lingerie was lying on the floor, same with Aiden's clothes last night.
She slowly moved away but he hugged her a little tighter.
"Where are you going?" He sleepily asked.
"Bathroom..." She answered and looked at him. His eyes were still closed.
"Where's my morning kiss?" He asked and smirked, eyes still closed.
Jean reached for his lips and planted a smack. He opened his eyes and smiled.
"That's not a kiss, that's a smack." He said, he lifted her chin and kissed her.
"Can I go to the bathroom now, TL?" She asked.
"Say my name and say please." He smiled, still gazing at her eyes.
"Please... Aiden...?" she said.
"I love how you say my name." He kissed her again. "Fine. I'll be heading to my room now." And he let go of her.
She grabbed the towel on the floor and covered herself. She ran towards the bathroom and closed it.
Aiden laughed and went out of Jean’s room.
After a while, Jean went downstairs wearing a sports bra, a hoodie, and a jogging pants.
"Hey Jean! How's your night?" Vera teasingly asked.
"It's good, actually." she answered and smiled
"Roose, your late." Anthony noticed.
"Am I?" He said and looked at Jean. "Morning, Jean." He smiled at her.
Jean blushed. Vera saw it and laughed.
"What?" She asked.
"Nothing. Let's have some breakfast." Vera said.
"Where are the others?" she asked.
"Training room. Mind to call them?" Asked Anthony.
"On it Mr. Stanton." She answered and left.
Jean went to the training room. Jon sees her.
"Morning, doll." Jon greeted her and smiled. He has a habit of licking and biting his lower lip.
She didn’t notice she had been staring at Jon.
"What?" He asked and laughed slightly.
"Nothing." Jean shook her head while smiling. "Actually I'm here to say breakfast is ready." She announced.
"We're coming." Nash said as she and Caleb stopped training.
"Okay." she said and left. Jon followed her and eventually, they are walking together.
"How's your night, doll?" He asked
"It's good." Jean responded shyly.
A flashback from what happened between her and Aiden crossed her mind. She bit her lower lip.
"Hmnn... Something happened I guess. With Aiden?" He asked.
Jean looked at her.
"What? How do--" she stop midway.
"I see." He said.
"It's not that-- never mind." She stopped herself from talking.
They both went to the dining hall silently.
"Good morning Jean!" Pierre greeted her.
"Good morning, Pierre!" she responded and took her seat beside him.
Jon took his seat on the opposite side. He seated beside Aiden. The others find their seat and they all ate their breakfast.
"Meeting after an hour." Anthony announced after breakfast.
"Is it okay if I do some jogging rounds, Mr. Stanton?" Jean asked.
"No prob, kiddo. Be back before the meeting." Anthony replied.
Jean went out into the lawn and started jogging. She was about to finish her first round when she saw Jon with a bottle of water. She ran towards him.
Her sweat dripped down her forehead, down to her face, then to her neck, down to...
"Is that water for me?" Jean stopped in front of Jon who's busy analyzing her.
He smiled and did the biting of lips again.
"Yes. Might want to rehydrate before going to your next round?" He said, smiling. He handed her the water bottle.
"Thanks, Jon." she said as she got the bottle from his hand.
Jean drank the water. Jon was staring at her as she swallowed the water down. He swallowed his saliva.
"You're hot." He said.
Jean stopped drinking.
"What?" she ask him. She frowned but at the same time, smiling playfully.
"I said that aloud, didn't I?" He asked and scratched the back of his head.
"Yeah..." she nodded and laughed.
"Well, you're really hot, doll." He said and he bit his lip again.
"Thanks, I guess. You're kind of hot, too. Especially when you do the lip biting." he said.
"I do what?" He said laughing.
"You tend to bite your lower lip whenever you smile or maybe nervous." she said
"Do I?" He said laughing.
"Yes!" she said laughing as well.
They were both laughing and they didn't notice Aiden looking at them from inside.
"Someone's jealous..." Nash teasingly said.
Aiden looked at her.
"I'm not." He said.
"I didn't say it's you, but you claimed it so." Nash shrugged her shoulders.
Aiden smiled.
"So, how's your night?" Nash asked.
"Great, I guess." He said.
"I think you enjoyed. I heard noises from Jean's bedroom when I passed by." Nash stated.
Aiden looked down at the floor and smiled. His hands pocketed on his pants.
Jean and Jon came in from the loan, both of them are still laughing. They didn't notice Nash and Aiden looking at them.
"Jon, Jean! Having a good time?" Nat asked.
They both looked at where Nash is. Jean was surprised to see Aiden with her. She accidentally locked eyes with Aiden. He's looking at her with void expression. She moved her gaze at Nash and she smiled at her.
"Jon's just telling some jokes." She answered Nash.
"And she's so gullible, if I may add." Jon said.
"Yes, she is." Nash added and laughed.
"You better change. You're soaked in sweat. The meeting's about to start." Aiden said.
"On it, TL." she answered. "See you later, Jon." She said and ran upstairs.
"I will leave you two. I forgot I have something to do." Nash said and left.
"Had a good time?" Aiden asked Jon.
"Not as great as yours last night." Jon said.
Aiden frowned.
"She told you?" He asked, still frowning.
"No. I figured it out." Jon said.
"Do you like her, too?" He asked.
"If I say yes?" Jon asked.
He shrugged his shoulder. They both went silent.
"What's with the silence, boys?" Vera asked.
"Nothing." They both answered.
"Fine. They're in the conference room already. Might want to join?"
Jean was sitting adjacent to the door so she saw Vera, Aiden, and Jon enter the room. Aiden went straight to Anthony's side. Vera seated beside her. Jon stood behind her.
"I called for this meeting because of two things: First, Tin, and second, Leinth." Anthony begun.
"Why me?" Tin asked.
"Well, we haven't had the luxury to ask why were you looking for Jean the same night I met her." Anthony stated.
"I've been meaning to ask as well..." she murmured.
"Okay. The real reason is my brother." Tin answered.
"Leinth?" Jean asked.
"Well, yeah. The day we caught Leinth, he doesn't want to speak, and Aiden said we should find his weakness, and so I thought of his Statsonian FRIEND." Tin explained.
Jean can't help but laugh at the thought. They all looked at her.
"I'm sorry I can't help but laugh. Are you serious, Crown Prince?"  she asked in disbelief.
Tin shrugged his shoulder.
"I mean, he ghosted me and you think I am his weakness? That's so funny." She laughed without humor.
"Worth a try. And by the way, he was thrown to the dungeons because of you, so basically he didn't ghost you." Tin said
"Same to me." She said in a serious tone.
"Okay. So that explains it. Let's cut the tension. Let's move on to the next one, Leinth. TL, might want to fill us in with this." Anthony said.
"For those who didn't know," Aiden looked at Jean. She stared back. He cut the eye contact.
"Leinth went to Ordinarius through a dungeon black hole 6 months ago. Not only did he terrorized the people there, he also killed almost a hundred due to terrorist attacks he planned with Tempel in order to take over Ordinarius. Now we need him to tell us the rest of the plan since they failed before." And he looked back at Jean.
Jean didn't say anything because of two reasons: first, she doesn’t know what to say, and second, it’s her pride who’s eating her.
"Tin tried talking to him. Aiden, Nash, too, but all in vain. He even threatened Nash, of all people." Anthony said.
Jean still didn't say anything.
"Jean...?" Tin insinuated.
She didn't respond.
"Don't pressure her. It's basically her 2nd day." Benedict said calmly.
"Yeah right." Pierre agreed.
"No one's pressuring her. We are trying to ask her to cooperate, that's all." It was Aiden.
Jon put his hand on her shoulder and gently pressed it. Jean touched his hand. Aiden was looking at her and saw what just happened. Jon removed his hand on her shoulder.
"Can I think it through?" Jean suggested.
"Of course, dear." Nash said and she nodded at her and smiled.
"That's all, then. Meeting adjourned." Anthony said and they all stood up from their seats.
"I will just be in my room." Jean said to Vera.
She rubbed her back and nodded. She went upstairs to her room.
Jean was sitting on her bed, her mind is a blank space. Suddenly she heard a knock on her door.
"Come in." she said.
"Hey kid. You want to talk?" It was Anthony.
She smiled at him.
"Mr. Stanton. Yeah sure..." she said and she fixed her sit.
He went inside and seated beside her.
"We're not pressuring you, okay? We don't mean it like that. If you're not ready to face Leinth because of what he did, it's fine. You can tell me anything, anytime."
Jean can feel his sincerity. She didn’t know why but her eyes started to water.
"Yes, Mr. Stanton." her voice broke.
"Hey, hey... Are you crying?" He asked, concerned.
Her tears started to roll down her cheeks.
"It's just that, I didn't have this kind of conversation before." She said and smiled in between tears.
"Why? Where are your parents?" He asked.
Jean swallowed and she wiped her tears and smiled.
"Well, I haven't met my father. My mom said he died when I was a baby and my mother is... Well, she never really was a mom to me. I technically grew up on my own." she said.
"Come here." Anthony said and hugged her.
She hugged him back.
"Thank you, Mr. Stanton." She said.
They pulled away from each other.
"I am curious, though. How did you get your powers, then?" he asked.
"I don't know as well. My mom doesn't have powers like mine, but what she has is the power to talk nonstop." she laughed.
Anthony smiled.
"If you'd like to, I could set up a training for you so you can enhance taking control of your power. But of course that would be until before you go to school." Anthony suggested.
"I would love to, Mr. Stanton! But who would train me?" she asked
"I will ask Vera and probably Tin. Tin’s just a jackass sometimes being a crown prince and all but he is a great guy actually. You okay with Tin?" He asked.
"Yes. We're good. I apologized during the party and he accepted it." she said.
"Cool. So that's all I'm going to say. But if you ever need to talk, just call me. I will be there. We are your family now. Remember that, okay?" He said.
"Yes Mr. Stanton. Can I hug you one more time?" she asked and smiled.
He hugged her and kissed her on the head. They pulled away to each other and he left her alone in her room.
Jean stayed in her room the whole day. Eventually, she fell asleep reading a book. Jean was fast asleep when someone knocked on her door. She didn't notice. Pierre entered her room.
"Jean--- oh, she's asleep." He said and went out of Jean’s room.
Pierre went back to the dining hall.
"She's sound asleep." He said.
"I'll just leave some for her. She might get hungry later." Nash said and left some food for her in the microwave.
"You might misunderstood her, sometimes wanting to be with everyone and sometimes wanting to be alone, but, you need to understand that she needs a family who would accept her and not use her in any or by any means." Anthony broke the silence.
They all looked at Anthony.
"Okay, don't look at me like that. It's weird." He said.
"And we will not use her in any and by any means." Aiden said.
"I talked to her this afternoon. I asked her if she would like to enhance her abilities and she loved the idea." Anthony continued
"I volunteer!" Pierre said.
"No Pierre. Not to belittle you but she's already strong without proper training." Nash said.
"May I suggest, we should test her first before the training starts? We don't know her full strength yet." Benedict suggested.
"We should ask her first. But I suggested Vera and Tin to train her." Anthony stated.
"Not a problem for me." Vera said.
"Cool as long as she's cool with it." Tin said.
"Well she agreed."
"Then we don't have a problem." Aiden said.
They all finished eating.