Chapter 29: Michelle’s Daughter

"Did you go out in the garden? There were footprints on the snow." Henry asked before stuffing almost half of the toast that was in front of him in his mouth. Michelle looked at his vile way of eating as if he had been starved and clicked her tongue. Her upper lip curled up and nose drew up and wrinkled as she shook her head, yet she still put more toasts in front of her husband. Got to feed him well.

"I did." Ryder answered slowly, not sure if it was the right answer or not. There was no way her father had seen Jake sneaking out of her room, right? He would have grabbed his homemade sword and chased after him. Right?

"Oh. Why?”

"I wanted to play with snow."

Henry looked at his daughter as if she had grown a second head. Facing such gaze, Ryder smiled foolishly. "It has been so long since I last saw snow…”

"Oh…” Henry said again. He didn't ponder over it too much though, as Michelle stuffed what was left from his toast in his mouth.

"Eat more, speak less."

Having been feed by his wife, Henry grinned and stopped talking at once. When only the sound of her father chewing and the noise of the coffee cups placed on the table were heard, Ryder breathed out a sigh of relief.

The footsteps from last night were covered by the snow, but when Jake left before sun came up, it had already stopped snowing. Even though it hadn't snowed enough to turn the ground white, a thin layer still covered the place and the footsteps Jake left behind were pretty visible.

Ryder finished her coffee and placed the cup in the sink. She was about to leave the house when Henry stopped her. "Wait for me. I will drive you to school. It's too cold. Your butt will freeze off."

Ryder frowned. "It's not necessary."

"Not necessary my foot. Who's the one who gets sick by just washing her feet with cold water?” Henry snorted, stuffing what was left from his breakfast in his mouth and standing up. He took his coat from the hanger and patted Ryder's shoulder. "Let's go. Isn't your dad so awesome? He will drive you to school."

Ryder pursed her lips. "Yeah, yeah. So awesome."

The two of them got in the car and drove to school. On their way there, there wasn't much to talk about, yet Ryder was pondering whether she should tell her father about Jake or not. After all Jake seemed to have prepared himself long ago and Ryder didn't feel comfortable keeping such thing a secret. Not telling her parents about him for so long was bad enough. Now that she knew who Midnight was and that he was now her boyfriend… it was only fair to let her parents know.

Coming to this conclusion, Ryder took a deep breath and looked outside the window. "Dad."

"Yes?”

"Do you remember that friend?"

"Which one?”

"The one you wanted to duel."

Henry frowned having a bad premonition of where this conversation was going. "Yeah…” He dragged out the word. Oh boy. She got together with that brat. I know it. I can feel it. Oh why, why?

"I'm dating him now…” During all this time, Ryder's eyes never left the changing scenery outside the car's window. That was until she heard a sob.

Bewildered, Ryder turned her head and looked at her father who had started sobbing, legit tears dripping down his eyes. "Luwawu! I knew it. Luwawu. My little girl got snatched away by some brat. Luwawu!”

Ryder frowned. You haven't even met him. How do you know he's a brat? Ah? He's not a brat, okay? He's not a brat at all. He's the total opposite of a brat! Augh! Whose boyfriend are you calling a brat?

Knowing what Jake had gone through, Ryder who already was protective towards him, now reached a new level of overprotectiveness. She couldn't help getting angry hearing someone talking bad about Jake, understanding very well why Jeremy was the way he was to Aiden. If it was anyone else, Ryder most likely would have snapped, putting Jasmine's boxing lessons to good use, but this was her father and he didn't know anything about Jake so she could only bite her tongue and throw a displeased look at her father.

"Don't call him that."

"Luwawu!” Henry ignored her and kept sobbing.

"Dad, I'm serious. He's very good to me."

"No, he's not. I saw him. He had that brat face. I know brats when I see them. Luwawu. My daughter is dating a brat."

What the fuck? Ryder stared at her father with wide opened eyes. When the fuck did you see him? I saw him for the first time yesterday. When did you have the time to see him ah?

"What the hell are you talking about? When did you see him?”

"Luwawu." Henry wiped his tears with the back of his hand. "When he came to pick you up a few weeks ago."

Ryder's mind went blank for a moment. What the hell is he talking about? When did Jake come pick me up… oh… Oh…? OH! Fuck. He's talking about Aiden. Realizing this, Ryder had the urge to laugh. Well, her father wasn't wrong though… he really knew brats when he saw them.

A few surpassed chuckles sounded from her. "It's not him." She assured her father.

Henry abruptly stopped sobbing and looked at her in confusion. It's not him? Then who was it? Where did this daughter of mine found another guy to date?

"It's his big brother." Ryder added.

Henry nearly wailed, almost losing control of the car. "WUWUWU! SHE'S DATING A BIGGER BRAT! WUWUWU!”

"Could you stop, please!” Ryder gritted her teeth.

Fortunately, they had already reached the school's parking lot. Ryder got out of the car in a rather foul mood. "Are thinking lowly of your own daughter ah? Do you think I would date a brat?” Throwing those two sentences, she pushed the door of the car closed and walked away, leaving Henry in a daze. He almost shivered.

Freaking hell. She's just liked her mother. So vicious.

Ryder huffed and puffed all her way to her locker. Aiden caught a glimpse of this and a satisfied smirk spread on his face. Sure, enough she would leave his brother once she found out how fucked up, he was. Ryder acting so intimately with his brother was like a blow to his ego. He was obviously better than his brother who was messed up in the head and locked himself in his room or ran around the house acting like a lunatic with that friend of his that already had a baby in his arms. How could Ryder not like him but like that fuck up of a being?

On the other hand, Ryder who was completely unaware of these wicked thoughts of a certain brat, was dragged out of that foul mood when she saw Remy and Jasmine fighting with each other. The problem wasn't that they were fighting. The problem was why they were fighting.

"What's going on?” Even though Ryder felt that it would be better not to ask, she still asked anyway. Her curiosity was her biggest flaw.

"We kissed." Remy simply answered.

Remy, bro. This isn't an explanation. I specifically asked for an explanation. This is simply a statement.

Jasmine really wanted to smack the soul out of Remy out of frustration but no matter how pissed she was she couldn't bear even the thought of hurting him the tiniest bit. Which was also the reason why they were fighting.

"Elaborate." Ryder furrowed her eyebrows. She pushed the two out of her way and opened her locker.

"We kissed and she got aggressive. Now the skin of my lip broke and she's mad at me for it. As if it's my fault that she bit me. Ryde, help me. She's being unreasonable." Remy finally explained with a rather pitiful tone.

The more he talked the hotter Jasmine's face felt. By the time Remy finished talking she was burning from the desire to bite a chunk off his flesh. YOU DON'T HAVE TO TELL HER WHAT WE DO WHEN WE'RE ALONE!

Ryder looked at her best friend that didn't dare say a word and the corner of her lips lifted with amusement. Huh… who would have guessed. I mean… I get the aggressive part. Jasmine didn't get the Boxer Girl title for nothing. But being this unreasonable? Now wait… that is a Jasmine move too…

Under Ryder's gaze, Jasmine turned red as a tomato, silently vowing to take revenge when she and Remy were alone. However, Jasmine was unfortunately still unaware of the fact that when it came to Remy… she was completely powerless.

"Let me see." Ryder grinned.

Unbothered, Remy showed Ryder his lower lip that had swollen a bit and turned red. The skin had broken on the inside and turned red with just a bit of blood visible.

Seeing this, Ryder laughed. "You should have known she would be violent." She said to Remy. The young boy just shrugged.

"I don't mind it. I like it."

Jasmine who was being ignored: (/・_・/)

"So, what was her argument in this fight?”

"She blamed me for not stopping her when she started biting and when I told her that I didn't stop her because she seemed to enjoy herself, she went berserk. Probably because she is shy."

Ryder looked back and forth between Remy and Jasmine in amusement. She wanted to know how the hell could Remy speak about such matters with that calm expression. But her thoughts drifted away in a dangerous path halfway through, her thoughts containing of Jake, his lips and biting.

"She's shy." Ryder dragged her thoughts back to the main point. "And she just doesn't want to hurt you. That's all."

"AGH! I'M NOT AKNOWLEDGING ANY OF YOU ANYMORE. YOU HAVE TEAMED UP AGAINST ME. UNFILIAL…” The word "children" stuck in her throat as she met Remy's gaze and his right brow raising in an expression that clearly dared her to finish that sentence.

Jasmine felt wronged. Truly wronged. I picked up a harmless bunny. When the fuck did, he turn into a big bad wolf? ╭(T^T) ╮

With Jasmine biting both her lips, not daring to continue the sentence, Remy's heart softened. His arms pulled Jasmine in his embrace and hugged her tight before landing a peck on her lips. "Don't be angry okay. I won't say anything anymore."

Ryder who suddenly found herself third-wheeling : (●・–・●)

To fucking hell with these two!

Being blinded by these oversweet shows of affection, Ryder couldn't wait to get the hell away from these two before she got diabetes. Who wants to see you two being gushy-mushy, buddy-buddy with each other ah? You wait. Just wait.

For the rest of the day, Ryder tried to avoid being with Remy and Jasmine for more than five minutes. One second later and she would be blinded by the couple's unrestrained show of affection. Thankfully Remy didn't have any classes with Ryder so at least the two girls would be together for a couple of periods and Ryder didn't have to be a third wheel for too long. Yet today Jasmine was extremely quiet, unlike her normal self. As the last period ended, Ryder couldn't help herself anymore and asked her.

"Are you still embarrassed about what happened in the morning?”

"Augh! Why are you bringing it up again? Do you want to see me suffer?” Jasmine exploded immediately.

That's more like her, Ryder thought.

"You're really being unreasonable."

"But his lip was bleeding. BLEEDING I TELL YOU!” Finished with shouting the last sentence, Jasmine started to pout.

"Have some restraint then." What is this illogical shit?

"But I don't want to."

"..."

Augh! Impossible. Impossible to redeem. These two are beyond hope.

Ryder checked her phone and the previously pursed in annoyance lips, curved up in a smile.

Jake: 【I'm in front of the school's gate. 】

Before he left in the morning, Ryder finally got his phone number. Because of some certain grudges from the past the also wanted Jake to give her his email and any other social media he was on, only to remember that she wasn't in any social medias herself. In the end she could only add him on WhatsApp. He had promised to pick her up from school so the two of them could go out for a walk.

“Why are you smiling like a fool?” Jasmine asked her.

"Huh? What?” Ryder put her phone back in her coat's pocket.

"Why were you smiling at the phone like a fool?” Jasmine repeated, her dark eyes narrowing at Ryder. Only now did she notice that this friend of hers looked kind of strange today. Her eyes were way too… sparkling…. And her cheeks were a rosy red… and her smile was a bit too bright…

WHAT THE FUCK!

WHAT HAPPENED YESTERDAY?

Jasmine turned around, looking around the classroom. As her eyes fell on Aiden, she felt both relieved and disappointed at the same time. In the end she clicked her tongue, not even trying to hide such actions from Aiden who noticed her. Damn it. She didn't kill him.

"He's here." Ryder replied as her pace of walking quickened.

"Who's here?” What is going on?

"Midnight." Ryder said. Not giving Jasmine any time to react, she ran away as fast as she could towards the school's entrance.

"WHAT!” Jasmine exclaimed, her voice echoing through the already noisy hallway. "RYDER QUIN, STOP RIGHT THERE AND EXPLAIN! WHAT HAPPENED YESTERDAY?”

But Ryder turned an ear deaf and kept running. With no answers given to her, Jasmine was furious as she ran after Ryder, yelling all kinds of nonsense.

Aiden who had been confused ever since Jasmine clicked her tongue at him: "…."

Having a bad premonition, he followed the girls with a frown on his face.

Jake was waiting right in front of the school's gate. His eyes were glued at the reply Ryder had sent him in a daze.

Ry: 【I'm coming ≧﹏≦ 】

It felt too unreal. Everything felt so unreal.

When he went back home, it was already eight in the morning and Aiden had left for school. Mathew and Jeremy were both sitting in the living room in complete silence. The TV was off, the phones were placed on the coffee table and their eyes were glued to the black screens as they waited anxiously. The only sounds came from Leah who was drawing quietly on her notebook next to Jeremy.

When he walked inside, the two men jumped on him, tens of questions thrown at him in rapid fire. One had grabbed his face looking for any wounds, looking at his eyes that had turned red from all the crying, and the other checked his wrists in fear that this time instead of scratching them to the point they bled, he had started cutting them. But when Mathew and Jeremy saw Jake smiling, they almost lost it, terror making their minds go blank.

It's over. He has turned silly.

Mathew almost started crying on spot.

It took Jake two hours to apologize to them and convince them that everything was fine. By the end of his two-hour long explanation and apology, Mathew still cried like a little baby, having Leah comfort him by stuffing pieces of chocolate in his mouth and patting his face.

Still Mathew didn't stop crying. He had been so terrified that his son would harm himself out of pain, that he would go back to how he had been when his wife just died, or even worse. He was terrified that he would lose his son like he lost his wife. Hearing that everything was fine, that his son was happy… Mathew almost droves to Ryder's house to show his gratitude. The only reason why he did do so was because Jake convinced him by telling him that Ryder wasn't home right now. Mathew was unable to stop his tears for they were tears of relief.

Jeremy wasn't in any better state himself. He loved Jake for he considered him like his brother. The only reason why he didn't break down in tears like Mathew was because he didn't want to give Leah a fright.

After the touching moment was over, Jake had to face the wrath of the two for worrying them to death. Only then did Jake start to understand that all had happened was actually real.

Jake smiled and put the phone back in his pocket. He lifted his head right on time to see Ryder running to him with a wide smile on her face. The girl he has liked and loved for so long, threw herself on his arms, wrapping her arms around his neck tight. The happiness this simple thing brought was unexplainable.

"Did you miss me that much?” Jake chuckled when Ryder's cold nose buried in his neck.

Ryder nodded. "I have been a third wheel for half the day. I was miserable."

She pulled back and saw Jake's smiling face. That smile made her unable to breath. Her heart beat faster against her chest as if trying to leap out. That handsome face was his should never have a sad expression on. Should never be washed by tears. Her Jake was so handsome when smiling. Lethally handsome.

Ryder just made up her mind to kiss that handsome face when her plans were ruined by a roar coming from behind her.

"RYDER QUIN! YOU EXPLAIN TO ME… now…” Jasmine was roaring in anger despite her heavy breathing, but when she noticed Jake, her voice quieted down, turning into a barely audible whimper. She saw Jake. Saw his arm around Ryder's waist. Then her gaze fell on Ryder. Then back at Jake. Jasmine clearly recognized both of the people in front of her but her brain couldn't quite process the two of them together… being so fucking intimate. A strange outbreak of panic left Jasmine unable to say anything. She was panicking for she felt her brain was about to catch on fire from data overload.

Jasmine was still dealing with the functioning issues her brain was having when two more people showed up one after another. Remy and Aiden.

Unlike Jasmine, Remy only took a glance at Jake and gave him one of those "bro" nods. After all, he didn't care much about rumors, nor was he aware of them for he didn't have anyone to hear them from before he started hanging out with Jasmine and Ryder. He didn't have the slightest idea who Jake was or the rumors about him. He just saw a guy hugging Ryder and labeled him as Midnight. Done. Just like that.

The one who had the most violent reaction was Aiden. The moment he saw Ryder not being angry or disgusted with his brother, an unexplainable and unreasonable anger set all his reason on fire and he started yelling at Jake before even getting close to him. "WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING HERE!”

The smile on Ryder's face fell and the only thing that kept her without moving was Jake's hand on her wrist. She didn't know what Jake was thinking, but for some reason that was pretty laughable and quite cute to Ryder, he pushed her behind his back, hiding her from Aiden's eyes.

But such movements only angered Aiden even more. Even though he knew he had no right to be angry, he didn't care. All he cared about was to embarrass his brother in front of the girl that turned him down for the fucked-up mess Jake was.

“I TOLD YOU NOT TO SHOW YOUR FACE HERE AGAIN. HAVEN'T YOU EMBARRASSED ME ENOUGH? OR DID YOU FORGET TO TAKE YOUR PILLS TODAY?”

Jasmine and Remy were completely dumbfounded. The students that were getting out of school didn't dare stopping to spectate for Aiden was the basketball team's captain and he was pretty furious. Who dared to spectate such wrath? What if he snapped and turned on them?

Jake on the other hand was used to such behavior. It wasn't the first time Aiden acted like this and most likely it won't be the last. The only times when he wouldn't tolerate this childish behavior was when Aiden dared mentioning their mother as if her death was nothing.

But how could he expect that his lovely and gentle Ry, who was like a little kitten in his eyes, would fucking go ballistic not giving anyone time to react? Before he could realize what was happening, the girl he was trying to hide away from the fight, had shoved him out of the way and punched Aiden right on his face so hard the latter lost his balance and fell on the ground completely dumbfounded.

It took Aiden a few minutes to come to the realization that the one who punched him was actually Ryder and not Jake. His nose started bleeding and all the rage he had two minutes ago was extinguished to nothing.

Remy and Jasmine, who had never seen Ryder like this before were even more dumbfounded. Jasmine had it worse. She still had to come in terms with Jake being Midnight when her daughter had suddenly put to good use her boxing lessons, throwing a praise worthy punch at Aiden. From all these years of friendship, Jasmine knew Ryder had a high level of tolerance mostly because she either didn't care or was too lazy to care. She was constantly warned by Ryder that her running out of patience would be pretty ugly, but Jasmine always thought Ryder was trying to sound tough. Only now did she believe her.

Henry was right after all.

She was just like her mother. So vicious.

"If you talk to him like that one more time, I will be fucking ruin your face!” Ryder yelled at Aiden who was still sitting on the ground. Then she grabbed Jake's hand and pulled him away. With her anger still not completely gone, she turned to Remy and Jasmine and yelled at them without realizing it. "What are you two gawking there for? Move!”

Jasmine jumped up in fright. "Remind me to never provoke her." She whispered at Remy.

"Same goes with you."

Fucking hell, who said Jasmine was scary? Ryder was clearly the scary one. His Jasmine was just a little chipmunk trying to play houses with fucking Godzilla. God damn it.

Ryder finally calmed down after the four of them had walked for quite a while. She didn't regret punching Aiden, but she felt ashamed for showing such side of her to Jake. What if he was angry? After all Aiden was still his brother…

When Jake noticed that her pace had slowed down, he pulled Ryder to a stop and took a good look at her hand. The skin on her knuckles had broken and were bloody from the strong impact of her punch. Seeing this Jake couldn't help but frown. "You didn't have to do that."

Suddenly Ryder was angry again. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN I DIDN'T HAVE TO? WAS I SUPPOSED TO LET HIM TALK TO YOU LIKE THAT?”

Jake found this amusing. Yet a helpless smile turned up the corner of his lips when facing this ferocious side of Ryder.

"He's just being childish." Jake tried to calm her down, but his words only angered her more.

"HOW IS THAT AN EXCUSE? I WON'T TOLERATE ANYONE TALKING SHIT ABOUT YOU."

Jake chuckled and cupped her face. He leaned over and pressed his lips against her softly. Ryder felt as if having cold water poured on her, the anger from before pitifully vanishing as her mind went blank. Her heartbeat went out of control. Jake's lips were warm and soft, still curved in the smile his light chuckle left behind as they moved against hers. This kiss was different from her pecks that felt rather childish when compared to it. The wet warmth of Jake's mouth started a new kind of fire in her that set her heart ablaze.

"Fucking hell, they're kissing!” Jasmine exclaimed covering her eyes. She and Remy were left behind since the pace Ryder was walking with could almost classify as a half-run. By the time they caught up, these two had started kissing.

Ryder pulled back from Jake's embrace, blushing but not quite knowing why. Was it because of the kiss or because of getting caught kissing? She recalled the softness of Jake's lips and her cheeks heat up even more. Nope. Definitely because of the kiss.

“So, Jake is Midnight?” Jasmine asked. She's still trying to process this.

Ryder nodded proudly, hugging Jake's waist. "Yup. Isn't he handsome?”