Jasmine's Life Story.

[Tori]

Chapter One. --- Let the Party Begin.

End of the college year and the parties have only just begun. Twenty-one year old Holly and her few close friends were on their way to one of the parties which they were invited to by a few guys in their class. Nonetheless, the guys who invited them were not only good-looking, but charming as well. The girls were all dolled up in their tight, short dresses and heals and were dancing the night away at this party; drinking till they were crazy drunk and all. And then one of the guys, Nicolas, or Nic, as he preferred to be called, couldn’t help but stare at Holly throughout the whole night. Finally, he went up to her, clearly drunk as well, and asked for her hand for a few dances. Of course Holly said yes, and the next thing she knew, Nic had drowned the pretty American girl with nearly all the alcohol they had at that party. And soon enough, Nic was leading her to the upstairs room, locking the door behind them so no one could interrupt their precious time together.
“You know, babe. We’ve been kissing and dancing all night, I don’t even know your name.” Nic asked, caressing her cheek with his fingers, moving his lips down to her neck, kissing that next, with a few nibbles hear and there.
“Holly. M-My name’s Holly.” she managed to say, gasping every few seconds from the bites and nips Nic gave her. “What’s your name?”
Nic chuckled softly, kissing back up to her lips again, all while his hands were feeling up all over her body, only to make her breathing heavier. “Call me Nic.” he said simply, running his hands under her tight dress causing her to gasp louder.
“Nic.” Holly repeated softly, trying to catch her breath again while Nic was already undressing her, caressing her body from her lips to her thighs.

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Months passed after the party, and it seemed as though Holly and Nic were inseparable. Even if all they ever did was make-out and such. Nic had Holly all over him, which was exactly how he wanted it to be. Things have been weird for Holly though. She’s been feeling sick to her stomach lately, running to the toilet, feeling nauseous. It hit her then one day, that something really didn’t seem right. It’s been about two months, almost three, and Holly had suddenly realized that she’s been missing her menstrual cycle.
“Ah, shit.” she cursed to herself, with her head leaning in the toilet, having that nauseous feeling again. “I can’t be though...I-I can’t...” she puked up more of her breakfast, “...be pregnant.”
After getting cleaned up from that mornings unpleasant upchuck, Holly headed out the door to the nearest drugstore to pick up not just one, but four pregnancy tests. “You can never be too careful.” she mumbled to herself as she headed up to the cash register to pay, before rushing out of the store back to her own place.
Without making any pit-stops, Holly removed her pants, plopping down on the toilet seat whilst ripping open all four tests. After managing to pee on all four sticks, she set them beside her sink for the results to show while she went and plopped onto her bed, lying flat on her back. Right now, all she could think about was that if she really was pregnant, how would she tell Nic. They had been together for the past few months now, practically in love with each other, but she could never imagine them having a baby together....let alone at their age.
Minutes passed, and finally, the tests were revealed. Holly looked at each one closely and carefully, widening her eyes at each result. “That...that can’t be it.” she sighed, plopping down on her bed with the results still held tightly in her hand. “How am I gonna tell Nic this? Worst of all, how is he going to react?” she sighed, letting go of the test results leaving them lying on her bed while she curled up on her side in fetal position. She was starting to feel nauseous again, but not because of the pregnancy, no, this was something different.
The next couple days Holly laid in bed, not bothering to get up except for the bathroom. She was hardly ever hungry too. Her appetite has been changing rapidly lately, and it was bugging the crap out of her. Finally after two days alone in her small room, her phone began ringing. She thought about leaving it for the answering machine to get, but figuring it was probably Nic, she managed to drag her feet from one side of the room to the other, answering the phone. “Hello?” she answered, her voice not at all pleasantly awake just yet.
“Hey babe. Wanna come over and screw around?” said the man, Holly immediately knew was Nic.
She shrugged at first, before answering flatly, “Eh..I don’t know if I’m feeling up to it today Nic. Haven’t been feeling well lately.”
From the other side of the line, you could tell that Nic was frowning by the way he said, “Oh come on....” which turned out more into a whiny tone of voice. “Well, if you won’t come to me, then I’m coming to you. See you in five.” and he hung up.
Holly just stood there for a short moment, her arm wrapped tightly around her stomach before hanging up the phone. “Ohh.....” she whined, plopping back on her bed again, covering her face with a pillow. “Now I really gotta tell him..”
And sure enough, five minutes past by, and a loud knock at the front door was heard numerous times. Groaning, Holly got up from her bed again, dragging her feet outside her room to let Nic in. Almost immediately, Nic wrapped his arms around Holly’s middle kissing her with great passion, from her lips to her neck repeatedly. “Nic....” Holly pouted, trying to free herself from his grasp, but soon gave up on that idea knowing he wasn’t going to let her go that easily. “Nic, I-I have to tell you something.”
Nic tilted his head back up to face Holly when she spoke to him. “Mm..I love you too, Holly.” he said, figuring that’s what she wanted to tell him, and returned to kissing her body.
Holly continued fidgeting in his arms, trying to get free, as she said, “No, I mean, I love you too. But...that’s not what I wanted to tell you.” she tried saying, Nic only tilting his head back up again, waiting for her explanation. Holly took a deep breath, trying to drain out some of the nerves she had going on through her body before finally saying, “I’m pregnant.” Nic suddenly froze. Clearly he was speechless because he wasn’t even trying to hold Holly tightly against his body anymore. Holly bit her lip nervously. “I took four pregnancy tests a few days ago, and every single one of them said that I was pregnant....I’m sorry.” She really didn’t know what else to tell him, especially because his own facial expression stayed frozen and speechless.
“I...I don’t know what to say..” he finally said, Holly gazing down to their feet just then. “But...” Nic tilted her chin back up to face him. “I can say that I will stay and support you..no matter what.” Holly smiled at this, wrapping her arms around him tightly, not ever wanting to let go.

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“Nic, wait!!!” yelled Holly, chasing him out the door of her apartment.
“I told you, Holly! I’m not gonna put up with your crap anymore! I don’t care if your pregnant! Not like its my baby anyway!”
Holly was near the edge of tears now. “Nic, it is your baby!” she ran up to him, tugging on his arm. “I don’t care what you say, it is your baby, and it is your responsibility too!” she argued back, Nic swiping his arm out of Holly’s grasp.
“You’re a slut, Holly. That’s all you’ll ever be. I couldn’t tell you how many other guys could be the father, but its not me!” with that, Nic slammed the door of his car, speeding far away from Holly until she couldn’t see him anymore.
Holly slowly started bursting into tears now. “Yeah, well..good riddance. We don’t need you anyway.” Holly muttered, placing her hand on her stomach, looking down at it. “It’s okay little one. I’ll take care of you. Nothing will ever come between us. I promise.”

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Nine months past by quickly for Holly. She was in the hospital now, just finished giving birth to her new daughter. “Can I see my baby now?” she practically begged the doctors. But they declined her again, but just for a few more minutes. They had to finish cleaning off and checking the baby for her health conditions and whatnot. Finally, one of the doctor’s came in, with the baby girl in his arms, holding her out gently for Holly to hold next. “Oh my goodness.” she let out, her tears of happiness beginning to fall again. “My baby girl. My beautiful, beautiful baby girl.” she said as she kissed the baby’s forehead softly and carefully.
“You still need a name for the baby, miss.” one of the nurses pointed out.
Holly kept her gaze on the baby however, giving her answer some thought before answering, “Jasmine.” with a warm smile kept on her face. “A perfect name for a perfect little girl.”

[Tori]

Chapter Two. --- One Dangerous Family Reunion.

About a month has passed since little Jasmine’s second birthday, and both her and Holly were just as happy together as they were when Jasmine was first born. And although Holly has gone through some rough paths trying to find a job as well as taking care of her daughter, they’ve been lucky enough to have one of Holly’s closest friends help them out by loaning them money and offering to babysit Jasmine while Holly goes to work to earn some money for themselves.
While Jasmine was being watched by Holly’s friend, Bella though, an unusual knock at the door was heard. Cautiously, after setting Jasmine in her playpen, she went up to the door, looking through the peephole first to get an idea of who this mysterious person was. Furrowing her eyebrows some, she slowly unlocked and opened the door slightly open, peeking her eyes out to take a better look at the stranger. “¿Sí? ¿Puedo ayudarte?(Yes? Can I help you?)” she asked the mysterious man, estimating that he too spoke Spanish.
The man tilted his head to the side slightly, glancing up at the address once more, seeming almost positive that he had the right one. And then he took a closer look at Bella, squinting his eye at her in concentration, widening them again when he figured out it really was her. “Bella.” he spoke her name, in such of a Hispanic accent that he had. “You..remember me?” he questioned to her, only getting a head tilted response back from her. “Nic.” he introduced, motioning to himself, his accent showing more now.
Bella’s eyes widened, stepping back slightly when she too, finally recognized who he was. “Go away.” she simply told him, her English not being as well spoken as his.
Bella was about to slam the door in his face, but Nic’s foot stopped it from doing so. “Wait...” Bella paused, holding the door in her hands still, ready to slam the door on his foot if it was ever going to be needed. “Where’s Holly? She live here, still?”
“Why you want t’ know?” she asked in more of a cocky attitude now.
Nic sighed, looking down then back up to Bella, lifting his sunglasses up from his face, only to show her the apologetic look in his eyes. “I wanted to apologize to her.” he said simply.
But before Bella could reply any more, another body showed up behind Nic, suprising them both. “Apologize for what?” both bodies turned around to meet what seemed to be Holly, her arms locked on her hips with a stern look on her face. “For leaving me pregnant after you told me you would never leave me? Forget it. There’s no way I’m going to forgive you for that.” Bella smiled at Holly’s braveness, opening the door more just so Holly could shove her way through into her house. “Bella, take Jasmine to her room, I’ll be right there.” Holly told her friend, turning back to Nic once she was sure they were alone together. “Look. You can apologize all you want. But that’s not going to change anything. You lied to me. You left me and the baby. You don’t deserve to be forgiven.” she told him, her hands on her hips again.
“Holly, please. I know how much of a jerk I’ve been. And I don’t care if you never forgive me.” he sighed, attempting to grab Holly’s hands in his own, only to be rejected of that even. “I just want to meet my daughter, and actually be in her life. Please. I really am sorry.”
After throwing down his hands from even touching hers, she looked in his eyes, noticing that maybe he really was sorry. But something about what he said made her frown. “I thought you said that she wasn’t your daughter though. That I had slept with a bunch of other men? That I was a slut? Remember?” she snapped at him.
“I was wrong! Holly...I was angry and frustrated. I didn’t know what to do. I mean, that was what, a year ago?”
“--Two years ago. Jasmine is two now.” Holly interrupted.
“Fine. Two years ago. Which makes me even more stupid back then. Stupid and helpless.” he sighed again, “Please, at least let me see my..er, our daughter.”
It took some thought before Holly decided to let Nic in to see Jasmine then. And when they both walked into the nursery/Holly’s room, it was only to find that Jasmine was taking her afternoon nap peacefully in her crib. Holly cautiously led Nic up to the crib, letting him peek his head in to take a look at the sleeping baby girl that was indeed his daughter. “She’s beautiful.” was his first response to seeing the two year old.
Holly nodded, also looking at her daughter sleeping peacefully. “She has your looks, you know.” she couldn’t help but tell him, though it was already quite obvious that she did in fact look like her father. “Except for her eyes. She has blue eyes, like myself.”
Nic nodded and smiled deeper at every comment Holly mentioned about Jasmine’s looks. She really was beautiful, Jasmine was. “I bet she’s going to grow up to be just as beautiful as you, too.” he said at last, glancing up to Holly with a soft smile, only to get a smile back in return from her.
“I know she’ll be beautiful. All the guys will be chasing after her. Just like how her father was, all the ladies chasing after him.”

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“Mama! Mama, wake up! Time for school!” Jasmine shouted, whilst jumping up and down on her mothers bed excitedly.
Holly rolled over from her side to her stomach, a light groan escaping. “Okay, Jas. I’m up, I’m up. Why don’t you eat some cereal, and I’ll help you get dressed.” she told her six-year old, who excitedly jumped off the bed and headed out the door.
She stopped mid-way though, only to ask, “Where’s the cereal?”
Holly rolled back over on her back, leaning her head up to face Jasmine for a quick second. “Daddy should be in the kitchen. I’m sure he’ll help you with everything.” she waved her daughter off, before rubbing her own eyes awake and stretching as she crawled out of bed finally.
By the time she was up and dressed, and heading in the kitchen where she was greeted with a kiss by her newly-wed husband, she found Jasmine already almost done with her breakfast. “Damn, she eats just as fast as you do, Nic.” Holly couldn’t help but laugh out.
“Well, you did say she takes after me, right?” Nic teased back, kissing her again, before grabbing a seat at the table to eat his own breakfast.
Holly giggled. “Oh yeah, that’s right.” she turned her attention back to Jasmine then, seeing that she had finished her breakfast and was ready to get herself dressed for school. “Alright, Jas. Go ahead and get yourself dressed, I’ll be right there.” she told the little girl, kissing her head before letting her dash off. “Nic? You wouldn’t mind picking Jasmine up from school would you? I would, but I got a call from work saying that they would need me a bit longer than usual today.”
“Oh, not at all, baby. I’ll pick her up. It’s the least I could do.” Nic told Holly with a warm smile across his lips.
“Thanks, baby. I love you.” she said in response, kissing the top of his lips, before leaving to help Jasmine get herself the rest of the way ready for school.

☼

After school was finally let out, Nic was already patiently waiting for Jasmine just outside the doors, waving to her from his own car. Of course, Jasmine came running out of the building, heading straight towards her daddy’s car, jumping into her seat immediately. “Hi daddy!” she smiled widely, going in to buckle herself up, but ending up having her father do it for her. “Where’s mama?” she asked, after taking a second or two of looking in the front seat finding it was empty.
“Mommy had to work late, sweetie. But she asked daddy if he could come pick you up instead. So hear I am!” he smiled just as wide as Jasmine, who clapped her hands happily as Nic drove out of the school parking lot, and back towards the house.
It was a quiet ride back home, with an occasional small talk every now and then. But most of the time, Jasmine just kept her gaze out the window till they arrived back home, to where she was able to unbuckle herself from her booster seat, and hop out of the car, running up to the front door, waiting for Nic to come up to unlock it.
As soon as Jasmine was fed her after school snacks, and was busy finishing up her small amount of homework in her room, Nic couldn’t help but take a little peek, checking up on Jasmine. She really was a beautiful little lady; adorable and oh so innocent. Nic couldn’t help but think this way. All those thoughts crossing his mind, he came to the conclusion that when Jasmine was done with her work, he would come in and get to know his daughter a little more.
Nic knocked on Jasmine’s door lightly, “Hey, Jas. Can I come in?” he asked sweetly, getting a simple ‘yes’, or ‘Si’ response back from her, and he made his way over, sitting on her bed next to her. “You’ve been practicing your Spanish I see.” he said first, wrapping his arm around her for a fatherly hug, kissing the top of her head.
Jasmine nodded. “I’m even making a bunch more friends at school. They’ve been helping me most of all.” she grinned wider, adding in her own little mix of Spanish then, “Los mejores amigos!(The best of friends!)” with a small giggle attached to that.
Nic chuckled as well, “Muy bueno.(Very good.) You’re a fast learner.” he kissed her head again, Jasmine pulling herself closer to her father returning the hug herself.
“Like Mama says, I take after you.”
“Ah..but you have your mother’s beautiful eyes, though, Jas.” he reassured her, playfully pushing her flat on her back, tickling her sides soon after, getting a couple squeals out of her.
“Daaddyyy!” she squealed with laughter. “Stooop!” she laughed again, kicking her legs as he continued reaching his arms up her shirt to tickle her sides more. He couldn’t stop though. He moved his hands up to her flat chest, eventually reaching her armpits to continue the tickle torture, so as not to scare her too much with the sudden seductiveness he was giving her. “Daddyyy!” she squealed again, and Nic finally stopped tickling her, but kept his hands under her shirt. Nic looked at Jasmine, and Jasmine looked up at him, her head tilted slightly, wondering what he was doing or thinking now, already ready for in case he decided to tickle her again. “Daddy?” she started to ask him, but before he could even answer, they heard the door swing open with Holly entering the house. “Mama!” she changed her tone from curious to excited in less than a second, moving from Nic’s grasp in order to dash over to her mother for a hug.
Nic just stood up, a blank look on his face as he walked out of Jasmine’s room next. He watched the two girls hug each other excitedly, managing to pull up a weak smile himself. “Time will come. Time will soon come.” he muttered to himself before adding himself into the family hug that seemed to be going on.

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“Mama, where are you going?” Ten-year old Jasmine asked her mother, who was heading out the door just then.
“Mama’s gotta do some errands, Jas. It shouldn’t take more than an hour.” she lowered her gaze to the girl now frowning, and stroked her hand lightly against Jasmine’s cheek. “I promise, sweetheart. You and daddy can find something fun to do while I’m gone, right?”
Jasmine shrugged at that question. Sure we can find something fun to do. He can at least. “I-I guess so.” she finally said, lowering her head back to the ground.
“Like I said, I won’t be long.” With that, Holly left Jasmine for the time being, in the house alone with her father.
Jasmine turned her body around, about to head to her room when she saw Nic’s own body blocking her path. She jerked her head up at him, a frown still across her lips. “D-daddy.” she stuttered out, stepping one foot back. “Um..” she started twiddling with her fingers some while looking down again. “I was just gonna go play in my room...if that’s alright with you.”
Nic smiled down at her, kneeling down to her level then. He placed his hand under her chin, lifting it up to face him. “Of course its alright baby girl.” he grinned. “Mind if I come along too? We could play together.” he suggested to her. Just as Jasmine was going to reject his offer though, Nic smiled wider, grabbing hold of her hand as he stood back up onto his feet again, leading her to her own room where he had closed the door behind them. “So...” he turned back around to face Jasmine. “What do you want to play? Tickle torture?” he asked, using his hands to mimic the game he had first played with her to get under her clothes.
Jasmine shook her head almost immediately at that suggestion. “N-no. I mean, I was just gonna, um..” she looked around her room, looking for something as innocent as can be for her to play with without having her father get any other ideas out of it. “Oh!” she dashed over to her doll house. “I was just gonna play with my..dolls.” she said slowly. She honestly wasn’t really into playing with her dolls anymore, but she really couldn’t think of anything else to name off that wouldn’t turn into anything dirty to her father.
“I see.” Nic nodded, looking over at the dollhouse before glancing back to Jasmine. “I’m sure we can still play together, though.”
Jasmine’s eyes widened. She was sure he would leave her alone then. “Um...o-okay.” she stuttered, unsure of what was going to happen this time. Nic grabbed one of the dolls out of Jasmine’s hands, leaving her with the girl and him with the guy doll. And they began to play....which of course in Nic’s way of playing, turned into a whole something else.

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“Aghh! Daaddyyyy...stop! ¡Alto!(Stop!)” Jasmine continued crying out, every time Nic reached further in her clothing. “Daddy, please!” she cried out again, tears beginning to fall from her eyes the more he did to her. Nic didn’t stop though, in fact, the only thing Nic did to Jasmine to make her be quiet was shush her, as well as digging his fingers in deeper into her, which only caused her to screech louder in pain.
“Shh! Jasmine, be quiet. I’m not hurting you that much and you know it.” he growled at her, pulling her closer to him, to get a better feel around her body. Jasmine continued to cry and squeal, only hoping that her mother would be home soon to save her. “Alright.” Nic sighed, removing his belongings out of her body, but still holding onto her tightly. “I’ve had my fun.” he kissed her head gently, acting as if nothing had happened, but Jasmine wouldn’t have it. She continued to whimper and cry, fidgeting in his arms trying to free herself. “Shhh! Jasmine, stop!” he scolded her, gripping her arms tighter, holding her closer and tighter against his body. “You won’t say anything to your mother, now will you?” Jasmine shook her head frantically. “This was just harmless fun now...wasn’t it?” Jasmine nodded her head frantically again. “Good. Now go play in the living room till your mother gets home. I’ll be there in a few.” he said calmly and subtly, releasing his grip from Jasmine, letting her practically escape from his clutches.
After cleaning himself up, as well as Jasmine’s room, making it seem as innocent as Jasmine was, he headed back out towards the living room where Jasmine sat on the couch with her eyes facing the floor and her hands folded in her lap. “Oh, Jasmine. Why do you look so sad? You’re gonna make mommy sad if she see’s you like this. Give me a smile, now.” he said, kneeling down to her level, smiling oh so sweetly to her, although it took Jasmine a while to do as she was told before she gave him a half a smile. Nic smiled to her, kissing her forehead once more before hearing the door unlock and Holly come bouncing into the house again.
And of course, like always, Jasmine was the first to leap to her feet and scream out, “Mama!!!” and dashed straight over to her, opening her arms out wide to give her a big hug.
Holly smiled even wider when she saw her daughters big blue eyes looking up at her during the hug. “Hi Jas!” she squealed out next, setting the bags down before pulling Jasmine in for a hug of her own.
“I missed you, mama.”
“Aww...I missed you too, sweetie.” Holly said to her child, surprised that Jasmine hadn’t let go of their hug yet, in fact, she was even squeezing Holly in her hug tighter now, not wanting to let go at all. So Holly did the same, managing to pick up the big girl into her arms to help with the hugging.

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“Feliz cumpleaños a mí, Feliz cumpleaños a mí....(Happy birthday to me...)” Jasmine continued singing to herself in the mirror as she continued getting ready for her big day. Today was the day she turned sixteen years old. An adult in her eyes, but to everyone else it was just another teenager ready to run wild. Jasmine was different though, from all those other teenagers in town. She never really bothered to cause or create trouble. She was more of the following the rules type of girl. Which is what her mother loved most about her.
She had just finished glossing up her lips before she heard a knock at the door, and before she could hesitate to answer or even freak out a bit about if it was her father, her mother answered for her. “Jas, can I come in?”
Jasmine let out a sigh of relief when she heard her mother’s voice, returning to her hair then, brushing out the ends. “Mhm. Come in mama.” she answered, Holly walking up behind her daughter with a smile held on her face.
“Happy birthday, sweetheart.” she smiled, kissing the top of her head before Jasmine grabbed the rest of her hair into a side pony-tail, tying it all together. “Gracias, mamá.” she smiled back, turning around to thank her properly with a long hug in her arms. “I love you.”
“I love you too, Jas.” Holly responded back, squeezing her in her arms tighter, seeming like she didn’t want to let go anytime soon.
Having it only be two minutes pass by, it seemed a lot longer to Jasmine. She wiggled slightly in her mother’s arms, struggling to break free to continue with her pampering. Holly couldn’t help but giggle at her daughter’s sudden urge to be free. “What? You don’t want to hug your mother anymore?” she teased, Jasmine only laughing with her in response.
“Well, I do have a few more things to take care of before the celebration, mama.” she giggled, finally breaking out of Holly’s grasp, and reaching over for her eyeliner next.
Holly just rolled her eyes playfully at her daughter. “Do you really need all that make-up, sweetheart? You know you look beautiful without it, right?”
Jasmine shook her head. “Not to me I don’t. Besides, sixteen is a big change for me. Big change means new look.” she told her mother, glancing back over to the mirror, carefully sliding the black eyeliner across her upper and lower eye-lid, followed by the eye-shadow and mascara.
Holly simply just shook her head with a small giggle, moving back to the door where she entered. “Well, hurry along then. You’re father and I have a surprise for you when you get down.” she left the room and Jasmine was back by herself again.
Right when her mother left too, was when Jasmine let out a slight scoff. “Right...of course daddy has a surprise for me.” she laughed out that thought. “Not even he is going to ruin this day for me. “Nop, no hoy.(Nope, not today)”
She finally brought out the courage that had been hiding in her chest, and finally made her way out of her room, her hair curled beautifully in a side pony-tail. Holly was the first to notice Jasmine come wandering down the hallway and into the kitchen with herself and Nic. When Nic saw her though, his facial expression seemed so calm and sincere, but inside, he was so anxious in waiting for just the right moment to get her alone again. Especially after seeing her this dressed up. “Hey, Jas! There’s our beautiful baby girl.” Holly exclaimed, opening her arms out wide to bring Jasmine in for another hug.
“Mama...” Jasmine giggled in sort of a soft groan. “No soy un bebé.(I’m not a baby anymore.) I’m sixteen, remember? No more baby stuff.” she teased her mother, kissing her cheek after her mother returned the kiss back to her own cheek.
Holly laughed as part of her response back to Jasmine. “I know...” she pouted playfully. “No matter how old you get though. Just remember that you’ll always be my baby.” she kissed her head, pulling her in for one last hug before Nic finally stepped up to the two for his share of love.
“That’s right, Jas.” he started, Jasmine nearly jumping back when she heard his voice behind her. “No matter what, you’ll always be our baby. We love you, Jas. Siempre te amaré.(We will always love you.)”
Jasmine just stood there speechless for a while, at least until Holly managed to snap her out of that trance of disbelief when she mentioned something about getting her dessert ready. “What? Mama! What dessert you makin’ for me?” she asked excitedly, immediately skipping over to the kitchen where Holly was, opening the fridge to pull out Jasmine’s surprise dessert.
“Now if I tell you, it wouldn’t be a surprise now will it?” her mother continued to tease, keeping her back to Jasmine in order to hide the dish from her, well, until Jasmine decided to dive in front of her mother just to see what it was.
She let out a loud gasp when she saw what it was. “Ooo~! Mama, my favorite!” she explained, glancing up at Holly before continuing to stare at the Flan dessert, then back up to Holly again with a wider grin on her face. “Te amo mamá!(I love you mama!)” and she kissed her cheek, careful not to startle her too much and end up dropping the Flan. That sure would be disastrous.

☼

After dinner was done with, the celebration was continuing on with presents next. Nic had mentioned, or rather asked Holly if he could be the one to present Jasmine with her present from them. Of course, being as innocent as Jasmine is, Holly agreed with that idea, seeing he had already missed Jasmine’s first two birthdays and would only be fair if he could at least give away one of her big presents to Jasmine himself. What Holly didn’t know though was that Nic unfortunately had something up his sleeve. Sure, he was going to present their gift to Jasmine, but he was also going to surprise her with a little gift of his own. “Jasmine. Hay un regalo que su madre y yo hemos estado esperando para darle.(There’s one gift that your mother and I have been waiting to give you.) Come.” He motioned for Jasmine to follow him to his room.
At first, Jasmine hesitated. What was it that he could be giving me? Surely nothing back...he said it was from mama too. Jasmine practically had to be given a push from her mother in order for her to follow her father where he was leading her to. Once they were both quietly in the room then, Nic hadn’t closed the door just yet, for he didn’t want to get Holly suspicious right away, nor Jasmine. He headed towards the bedside dresser, pulling out a set of new keys on a key chain which read in Spanish, Birthday Girl. He grabbed Jasmine’s hand gently, placing the keys in her hand before closing her hand back up firmly. “Feliz cumpleaños niña.(Happy birthday baby girl.)” he said softly, kissing her head just as gently.
Jasmine was definitely confused now. She opened her hand slightly, glancing at the keys she now possessed, and tilted her head slightly as she looked back up to her father once more. “I don’t get it. My gift is---”
“A car.” Nic interrupted gladly.
Jasmine’s face suddenly lit up, her eyes practically popping out of her skull. “A car?! Really??! Oh my gosh!” her giggle turning giddy now. “Thank you, daddy! ¡Gracias!” she closed her hand back up again, gripping the keys in her hand as she unknowingly hugged her father tightly.
“Estás niña bienvenida.(You’re welcome baby girl.)” he said simply, wrapping his arms around her middle, returning the hug next. That’s when he got a little too comfortable then. He started out casually hugging his daughter, giving her a small peck on the cheek. But then, soon enough he lowered one hand to her bottom, and the other over the back of her head, rubbing it so.
Jasmine furrowed her eyes then, confusingly. Oh no....This was exactly what I was hoping to avoid today. “Daddy...?”
Nic didn’t listen to her though. Instead, he ever so casually let go of Jasmine for the moment being, just to close the door tightly, and close the blinds to the window, before returning back to Jasmine again. He grabbed the keys in her hand only to toss them aside on the other end of the room. “Don’t worry, you’ll get your keys back. I just want to...” he wrapped himself around her body again, “give you your birthday present, from me.” he continued caressing her body with his hands, rubbing her legs with one hand and her back with the other. “Jasmine...” he breathed in her ear. “You really have grown to be a beautiful young lady...just like your mother.”
That’s when Jasmine had it. She pulled herself forcefully from Nic’s grasp, anger resting on her face as she spoke these next words to him. “Beautiful....and smarter too...” she kept her glare in his eyes, making sure he was hearing and understanding every word she was telling him. “I know what you’re gonna do, daddy. But...there’s no way in Hell that I’m going to just sit here and let you do your thing! I’m not a little kid anymore! I’m smarter, wiser, and stronger now. And I don’t care what you say, I’m going out there and telling mama the truth about you. About who you really are.”
Nic wasn’t the least bit worried though. Not by his own sixteen year old daughter anyway. “Jasmine, Jasmine, Jasmine...” he sighed, stepping closer to her, holding out his hand to grab hers only to be rejected once again. “Do you really feel like I’m taking advantage of you? Of my own daughter?” he shook his head after Jasmine’s short response of a look that seemed to have read, Do I really need to answer that question? “Jasmine, I love you. I love your mother. I may have been that horrible guy way back when. But I’ve changed. I’m different now, Jas.”
“Then...why are you still trying to get in my pants?” Jasmine was as confused as ever now. It showed clear on her face.
Nic stared blankly at Jasmine for a few seconds. And instead of answering Jasmine’s question, obviously trying to avoid the answer now, he just pulled her back into him, a lot more forcefully than before.
“Whoa..What are you---daddy, stop!” Jasmine tried wiggling out of his grip again, but failed at each attempt she made.
Nic, being more forceful about it now, tore out Jasmine’s hair scrunchy, letting her curly hair flow freely as he hurriedly ripped off her clothing next, followed by her bra and underwear. The next thing she knew, Nic had her pinned down onto the bed, while he too started shredding his clothes off next, tossing them over where he had thrown Jasmine’s. “Hold still...” he mumbled, struggling slightly with Jasmine’s body, trying to hold her bottom half still until he had entered her. Immediately Jasmine let out a loud gasp. It would of been a scream however if Nic hadn’t covered her face with a pillow to keep her sounds muffled. “Oh shut up...” he muttered again, pushing and pulling against her body, all while he was touching and feeling all about the rest of her body. He finally put his mouth to good use then, kissing up from her stomach, reaching up to her breast, sucking on the nipple while his hand cupped her other breast.
Although this hadn’t gone on for more than five or ten minutes, Jasmine felt like it had gone on for hours, given how tired she was from trying to wiggle free, even though that was just making the pain worse for herself. At last though, Nic finally released himself from Jasmine’s body, loosening his grip on her just a little bit, but not enough for her to escape. He leaned in closer to her then, whispering, “Now, mommy isn’t going to hear about this, right?” he asked her, his hand still covering her mouth, as she slowly nodded, agreeing with his statement. “And you’re going to act as though none of this even happened, right?” Jasmine slowly nodded again, her vision blurry from all the tears she let loose. “Good. I’m going to let you go now. But before I do...” he leaned closer so he was next to her ear to get his next few words clear in her head. “I must tell you that if you ever happen to tell your mother about this, and she goes calling the police like I know she would...Well...lets just say neither of you will be able to speak again.” Jasmine’s eyes remained wide, her tears remaining the same, cold and wet. She nodded frantically at the last bit, and as soon as she was let go, she immediately scooted off the bed, and redressed her naked body, and tied her tangled hair back in a side pony-tail.
She grabbed the keys that went with her new car she had gotten, and gave Nic one last stare-down before exiting the room and returning back to Holly, acting as though nothing had happened. Even though her eyes were still red and swollen from rubbing the last bit of tears out of them. Like a mother though, Holly gave one look at Jasmine, and instantly knew something was wrong. “Jas? Sweetie whats wrong?”
She couldn’t tell her mother what had happened, not after what her father told her what would happen if she did. So instead, she lied, mostly because Nic was coming up right behind them next. “It’s...it’s nothing. I’m fine.” she sniffed.
Nic looked down at her daughter, before at his wife, gently explaining her lie further on. “We just had a long talk together. I guess it got pretty emotional too. I forgot Jasmine was so sensitive. I’m sorry, sweetie.”
Of course, Holly believed him. She smiled at him, bringing Jasmine to her arms in a gentle warm hug only a mother could give their child. “Awe, don’t worry about it. She probably just got over excited from our gift.” she giggled lightly, kissing Jasmine’s forehead, before glancing down at the car keys she held in her hands. “Jas...sweetheart. Do you want to see your new car we got you?” Jasmine slowly nodded, a small grin managing to show again.
While Nic stayed inside then, the girls headed out front towards the red mustang convertible sitting and waiting for Jasmine to sit in it. Her eyes widened right away, her hands instantly moving up to her mouth in shock. “Oh my gosh. Mama, this is...this is mine?” she nearly chocked on her tears which were now full of joy.
Holly smiled sweetly at her daughter, nodding. “It’s all yours, baby girl.”
Jasmine was running her fingers across the side of the car, leaning in slightly over the open top to get a better view of the inside. “It’s perfect.” she grinned, looking back to her mother. “I love it. Gracias mamá. Gracias.” and she pulled herself into her mother’s arms for yet another long hug. Then something hit her. They were alone. Her father was inside. Now was the time to confront to her mother about what Nic did and has been doing to her these past years. Sure, she remembered clearly what he had told her back in the room. But by this point, she didn’t care. She had to say something. “Mama.” she started, her mother looking down at her gently. “I...I have to tell you something.”
Holly loosened her arms around Jasmine, looking down into her eyes, more concerned now than curious. “What is it, baby?”
Jasmine was near the edge of tears again, and now she couldn’t walk away. She had to tell her. “Da--daddy...he--he...” she stuttered out the first couple words, both ashamed and not sure of how to tell her exactly. “Daddy’s done...some bad things lately.” she sniffled back some extra tears, trying to hold in the lump in her throat for as long as she could before speaking again, “bad things...to me.” her voice was cracking now, and Holly hadn’t done anything but tighten her hold around Jasmine, shushing her quietly trying to soothe her. She told Jasmine that she didn’t have to go on if she didn’t want to, but Jasmine shook her head, denying that request, and continued anyway. No matter how painful it was to say. “Daddy has....um, touched me. And felt me in the most uncomfortable places possible. And..just earlier today....” she began to blubber again, barely being able to finish her last sentence fully. “H-he...ra--raped....m--me....”
As much as Holly didn’t want to believe her daughter, she had to. In fact, she truly did believe her. She had known Nic since her college days, and even when they had dated for nearly a year, he was still a stranger to her. She had always known something was up with him, but didn’t know what...until now. “Don’t worry, Jasmine. We’ll fix this. I--I’ll fix this.” she continued to soothe her gently, holding her close and tightly in her arms.
Now although Jasmine had tried warning her mother about what her father had told her, about what he would do to the both of them, that didn’t stop Holly from going back in the house and making a little private phone call to the police. Just as she hung up though, feeling like super mom or something, she turned around to find Nic there, staring at her, and with Jasmine held tightly in one arm while his free hand held one of the kitchen knives. Poor Jasmine just stood there in his arms, helpless, and unable to move without getting terribly hurt. “You know I didn’t want this to end like this.” Nic simply said to Holly, her eyes looking more and more terrified by the second.
“Nic...don’t. Please...don’t.” she begged him, her eyes already filled with tears as she couldn’t help but look at her poor innocent daughter just inches away from a knife.
“You know I wouldn’t if princess here didn’t blab to you. I knew that if she told you, you would immediately call the police. Which is why I had no choice but to threaten the both of you.” Just after he explained that to her then, he overheard Jasmine mumble something to him, “Tú eres el diablo.(You’re the devil.)”, she had said, Nic only smiling at that. “Oh well, thank you for the compliment sweat pea.” he sarcastically said, only to pull her even tighter in his grasp, causing her to gasp loudly, followed by Holly.
“Nic, please!” Holly exclaimed, “If you must torture anyone...please! ….T-torture me! Kill me instead!” she shouted out, Jasmine muffling out a frantic, “No!” while Nic just stood there smiling, well, smirking really.
“You really love this kid so much that you’d risk your life for her?” he scoffed. “Wow, Holly. Wow.” he tossed Jasmine aside, causing her to hit the ground hard, as he made his way closer to Holly. He moved his hand up to her cheek, caressing it softly, stroking his hand down to her arm to lightly grasp onto. “As you wish, my love.” was his last few words before he pressed the knife into her chest, letting blood trickle down to the ground as he pulled out the knife from her body, letting the dead body fall to the floor. He stepped over her body then, walking over to Jasmine next, who was still curled up against the wall in a fetal position, her body obviously paralyzed of what had just happened. “See? Now what did I tell you? Neither one of you is able to speak now, huh?” Nic continued to mock, Jasmine’s position shrinking into a smaller, tighter ball.
It hadn’t been long then, that the police arrived, barging through the front door, and seeing exactly what they needed to see. Dead body lying in the middle of the floor, mad man standing next to her holding a bloody knife, and an scared, innocent young girl curled up against the wall in a fetal position. Oh yeah, this was definitely a closed case. Nic was arrested for murder and child molestation, ending himself up in jail for a lifetime, and Jasmine was sent off to an orphanage to be adopted. And even though she got to keep her birthday present, being the car, that was the last thing she ever thought about. What she did think about, continuously, was that if she was ever going to get that one special family, that not only looked after her, but also really, truly cared for and loved her, and who didn’t just take advantage of her.

[Tori]

Chapter Three. --- To Start Over Again.

After spending a year in the orphanage, Jasmine hasn’t really met too many friends there. Acquaintances maybe, but none really to call a friend. She was still too broken down to meet anyone new. About a month and a half before her eighteenth birthday then, she was told by one of the woman at the orphanage that someone was here to adopt her. She wasn’t too excited at first, seeing as she hadn’t been very trusting towards others lately. But when the time had come to actually meet the man, Toni, she managed to pull off a small smile for them.
When Jasmine went up to meet the man that was going to be her new father though, there was a younger guy standing beside him. His son, who he had adopted himself a year ago before Jasmine. Jasmine took a moment to just glance at each of the guys, not too sure of how to greet herself to them exactly. So she let them start off the introductions first. “Hi, Jasmine. It’s nice to meet you. I’m Toni. You’re new guardian.” he smiled softly to her, seeing that she still wasn’t warming up to them just yet. “Oh. This is David. You’re new brother.”
“Nice to meet you, too, Jasmine.” David nodded his head in his own little meet and greet way.
Jasmine simply nodded back to David, a slight smile still playing on her lips, trying not to be too rude to her new family. She couldn’t help but just stare though, she couldn’t give eye contact to them, so when they looked back at her, she almost immediately either looked down or away from them, twiddling her fingers nervously.
After that awkward meeting then, Jasmine grabbed her bag and other things before heading out the door following Toni and her new brother. Then she thought of something. If she was going to the states all of a sudden, then what would she do about her car. She had to ask about that, even if she promised herself not to say a word to them until they got to the house. “Um...Toni?” she asked softly, Toni turning to her with a smile. “Um..its just that, I have a car here, that I got for my birthday. And I-I was just wondering i-if...” she didn’t even have to finish her sentence then, because Toni had beaten her to the answer already.
“Oh, you won’t have to worry, Jasmine. The orphanage and I were already talking about that, and we agreed to have your car shipped by boat over to our place.” he explained to the worried girl. “Is that alright with you?” Jasmine nodded slowly to him, managing to play up a smile on her lips too. Although the only thing she was really worried about was how she would like her new family, in this new environment she’ll be living in. All her life, she’s lived in Guatemala. Never anywhere else. And she was just scared that either she wouldn’t like where she was going, or even if her new family was right for her.

▬▬▬▬▬☼▬▬▬▬▬

Five months of living in the states, Jasmine was finally just starting to get used to the place. As well as her new family. Everyone was so friendly here. They all clearly showed that they really cared for Jasmine, and they actually wanted to be around her and get to know her more. Her siblings were like her friends, really. It was something she’s been waiting for. Family she can trust. And although she didn’t have much friends outside of her family, her confidence boost was building enough so that she could actually go out and get to know the neighbors and such. And to make things even better, her car had finally arrived all the way from Guatemala. She was so ecstatic about it that she practically drove her “baby” everywhere she could. Well, after she got her U.S. licence anyway, which she had passed with flying colors.
A few weeks later then, Toni had adopted another girl from another state. And in Jasmine’s eyes, the girl looked just as scared and worried as she did when she first became a part of this family. She had learned the girl’s name not long after she arrived was Autumn. She was just one of those sweet, shy, and innocent girls that wasn’t too into meeting new people, kind of like how Jasmine was at first. That’s what made her want to have a little meet and greet with her.
Literally, a day after Autumn was getting settled in her new home, Jasmine simply enough just waltzed right up to her, giving her a friendly smile. “Hey..Autumn right? I’m Jasmine. It’s nice to meet you.”
Autumn just stood there, shyly, not sure what to do or say to this girl. But managed to mustered up some courage and at least say, “Hello.” to her, in her shy tone of voice she was known for having.
After spending time with Autumn though, and getting to know her a bit more, she really wasn’t as shy as she thought she was. She was the quiet type, that was for sure, but once you opened up to her, letting her know it was alright for her to do the same, she did. And soon enough, Jasmine and Autumn were inseparable.
They headed out to the movies one day, just the two of them, for a little one on one sister bonding, and when the movie was over, they headed out of the theater building. And as soon as they stepped foot outside, sure enough they saw Toni, leading another new kid back to the house. It seemed as though they were getting another brother, little brother by the look of it. So, of course Autumn was too shy to be the first to greet the new guy, and Jasmine was confident enough to be the first herself. Turns out, this pink-haired kid, Hiroshi, was from Japan. And of course Jasmine was all over having another foreign kid in her family, seeing as she’s one herself. So she had no problem introducing herself to him as well as the rest of the family to him. She even convinced him to teach her some of his own language, Japanese. She knew Spanish and English already, so why not learn a third language. He needed to be taught English himself anyways...so it was perfect.
After a month or so of more kids coming into the family, and with it being summer now, Jasmine figured it was a perfect time to head down to the local pool to splash around and maybe even get a nice tan. She offered Autumn first, since they were best friends, but Autumn had to turn it down today since she had already made plans for herself at the park to finish up a drawing or two she’d been working on. So Jasmine turned to Hiroshi next. He was more than happy to tag along. Hiroshi had really been getting attached to Jasmine lately too, another best friend Jasmine was getting you could say.
So they headed down to the pool, walked rather than drove there since it was such a beautiful day out, and it wasn’t too far away. The pool was unusually empty this time of day too, only two other kids and what seemed like their brother were there when they arrived. Lifting up her sunglasses, Jasmine smiled graciously, “Hm..not bad for summer.” she muttered to herself, glancing back to her eight year old brother, already getting ready to run into the pool. “Whoa! Hiroshi! 何かを忘れて？(Forgetting something?.)” The pink haired kid frowned when he was stopped, Jasmine holding onto his arm and pulling him back to her to quickly rub in the sunscreen all over his face and shoulders like a mother would do.
“Ah..okay, okay, 私は今行かなければできますか？(Can I go now?)” he asked, mixing in Japanese with his English, while trying to wiggle out of Jasmine’s grip still.
Jasmine giggled. “Come on, Hiroshi. You know English.” she urged the boy to practice.
Hiroshi groaned frustratedly, muttering out slowly and carefully, “Can I go now?” his accent still heavy as he spoke.
Jasmine nodded, finally letting go of his arm, letting him take off towards the pool with a running start. Right before he jumped in though, Jasmine managed to yell out to him, “何も私をはねていない！(No splashing me though!),” and Hiroshi quickly changed his position in the air from a cannon ball to a pencil dive, popping his head out of the water with a laugh. Jasmine giggled again, and shook her head and rolled her eyes playfully as she slid her sunglasses back down, and sat back in one of the pool chairs, to lotion herself next.
What she didn’t notice though was the guy not far across from her, looking about the same age as herself, seemed to be eyeing her a little bit. She hadn’t noticed though, and instead glanced over at Hiroshi once more, seeing he was already greeting himself to the two other boys in the pool, and she pulled out her magazine she brought with her to look at to help time go by, let alone keep herself from being bored in the sun.
Jasmine continued flipping through the pages of what was her Japan fashion magazine. She turned to the dresses section then, when she suddenly heard an unfamiliar voice call to her, as well as a shadow blocking her sun. She tilted her head up to find the boy from across the way standing in front of her now. “You like...Japan fashion too?” He seemed to have asked her, shyly in fact. “Oh yeah, I do. I hope to move there someday, actually.” she replied back to him, a small smile playing on her lips as she kept her gaze on the boy.
The boy only seemed to smile softly back to her, struggling at his next comment he told her then. “I’ve never been to Japan...but the fashion is really cool though.” he paused, thinking of what words to say next, seeing as he had trouble with some of the larger English words still. “I’m actually not that into fashion....but Asian style always interest me.”
Jasmine kept her smile on her face, keeping her gaze towards him as friendly and soft as she could. “I love the fashion they have.” she started saying, closing her magazine back up, still holding it in her lap before continuing, “Someday I want to design some of their clothes.” Sure it was a long-shot, but Jasmine has always dreamt big. Even if it seemed near impossible, she never stopped believing that someday, it just maybe would come true. Jasmine realized something then, the two of them seemed to have started a pretty steady conversation but neither of them even knew each other’s names. And looking as though this guy was the shy type, Jasmine would have to be the first to introduce herself. “I’m Jasmine by the way.” she smiled.
“Jasmine.” he repeated, liking the sound of that. “That’s pretty. My name is Lanh.” he grinned, before adding another thing in a bit nervously, licking his lips after, “Ah, but my English name is Drake. You can call me which ever one you want.”
“Hm..I think I like the name Lanh. It’s...different.” she smiled, “I like different.”
It was probably about a good twenty minutes that Jasmine was getting to know Lanh. From finding out that she was in fact a whole year older than him, to finding out that his sister was actually her roommate in the college dorms, even discussing their height difference within each other which was only an inch difference. Jasmine and Lanh were definitely hitting it off pretty damn well, that’s for sure. All that talk eventually lead to a bit of flirting, and then Jasmine eventually asking if Lanh and his own brothers would like to join her and Hiroshi for some pizza. Of course they agreed to that then, which made Jasmine smile wider with confidence.
They arrived to the Pizza Parlor not long after, and after they ordered their large pizza, having the guy set the tray of Italian goodness set in the middle of their table, Hiroshi was practically the first to grab the first slice, practically burning his hand. “Oww!” he screeched, sucking on his fingers. “That hot.”
“Well I sure hope its hot.” Jasmine laughed gleefully, “It just came out of the oven, remember?” she teased her little brother again, getting a glare as a response back from him, just as playfully.
The table had gotten quiet for a little bit then, with an occasional small talk and competition held by Hiroshi to see who can eat the most pepperonis, that he seemed to have challenged Lanh into. So while Jasmine was taking her time with her own slices, Lanh was busy being a child himself and competing against the kids in a who-can-eat-the-most-pizza contest. The whole time this was happening, Jasmine couldn’t help but laugh and shake her head. “Such children. You all are.” she teased, looking especially at Lanh with his mouth full and cheese slowly dripping off of his chin, causing Jasmine only to laugh more.
“What? I’m not a child...” Lanh pouted playfully, wiping his mouth off with a napkin after swallowing his last bite.
Jasmine just gave him a look. “You especially are an immature child.” she laughed, tapping his nose with her finger. She then noticed Hiroshi acting just the same, only eating at a much faster pace than Lanh ever was. “Hiroshi...please. Slow down. It’s not a race.”
“Yes it is...” Hiroshi muffled, taking another bite of his piece.
Jasmine made a more disgusted face at him then, “Hiroshi...that’s just gross. Please...slow down, chew, then swallow.” she told him again, this time, Hiroshi actually following directions. Well for about two minutes that is, then he just continued on with his little race with the other boys after taking a quick sip of soda. Jasmine simply just rolled her eyes, not bothering to try reason with him again.
“So, what are you doing later today?” Jasmine was completely caught off guard with this next question Lanh had suddenly asked her.
“Huh? Oh. Um...n-nothing, I guess. Why? What were you thinking of doing?”
“Um..I don’t know, maybe...we could catch a movie or something?” he shrugged, not really having planned any of this. After all, they had just met like, an hour or two ago.
Jasmine smiled at that suggestion. “That sounds good.” she agreed, glancing back at the boys scarfing down the food still. “Um..you think we should take these animals home first? Or...” she bit her lip lightly, “I mean, unless you meant for all of us to see a movie together...I mean, if you really did mean for it to be the two of us...tha--that’s fine too. I-I don’t mind.” she explained, for the first time, nervously. She hasn’t sounded this nervous in a long time either. Though it was probably because Lanh was all of a sudden asking her out on a date...that seemed to have surprised her a bit.
“Well...” Lanh gave a nervous laugh, rubbing the back of his neck as he spoke, “Uh, I was wondering if it could be just us...”
“Oh.” Jasmine simply said, biting her lip again. “Um..I..I’d love to, actually.” she admitted, her confidence slowly kicking back in again, “That sounds fun.” she finally settled a light smile back to him.
Lanh pulled up a wider smile up on his face then, quite relieved to hear that Jasmine agreed to his idea of...wait, was this a date? Jasmine couldn’t help but wonder that. They had literally just met and all, but hey, anything was possible right? She would be extra careful though, with some of the trust issues she’s had in her past, she didn’t want to end up getting hurt again. “Great!” he grinned, “So..maybe after we drop these guys off at home, we could meet at the theater or something?”
Jasmine smiled back up to him. “That...that sounds good. I like that plan.”

☼

Dropping Hiroshi back at the house wasn’t as easy as Jasmine hoped it would be. What with him continuously asking if he could go to the movies too. Jasmine tried telling him no, especially that Lanh wasn’t bringing his siblings along either. But Hiroshi just continued to pout, every time Jasmine tried to take a step out the door. Finally, after telling him that she would in fact, take Hiroshi to meet with his new friends some other day, she was finally able to free herself from babysitting duty, and drive herself out to the local movie theater she told Lanh she’d meet him at.
When she arrived there then, she hopped out of her car, heading towards the front of the building, while seeing no sign of Lanh just yet. She looked up at the show times to see what was playing then, only to realize later than there wasn’t really anything out playing that she really wanted to go see. She guessed the reason she even agreed on this unexpected date was so she could spend more time and get to know Lanh a bit more. She let out a soft sigh, looking around the parking lot again, seeing if Lanh was anywhere in sight. Not that she knew of he wasn’t, but Jasmine did notice a guy on a motorcycle pass by her. She shrugged, about to turn back around again when she noticed the guy that was riding that motorcycle, had taken off his helmet....it was Lanh! She raised her eyebrows raised and dropped her jaw in astonishment of what she was seeing right in front of her, this very moment. “Hey, sorry I’m late.” were his first words to her when he approached her with a smile.
Jasmine shook her head when he spoke then, snapping herself out of that trance she was in staring at him. “Oh, don’t worry about it. It...it’s fine. I was just--” she caught herself glancing back over at the motorcycle she saw him come in on, “I didn’t know you drove a motorcycle.” she returned her gaze back to him again.
“Oh..” Lanh chuckled, looking back at his bike then to Jasmine again with a light smirk curling to his lips just then. “Yeah, it’s for bringing in the girls. Guess it worked on you, huh?” he joked, shaking his head last minute when he saw Jasmine tilt her head slightly, “No, I’m just kidding. It was either save up for a motorcycle or drive my mom’s old soccer mom van.” he explained, shrugging slightly. “A couple of my other siblings had to do just that. So last summer, I worked at an internship and managed to save up enough to get that.” he motioned towards the motorcycle when he mentioned it.
Jasmine’s facial features started to relax then after he had explained himself truthfully. “Oh, I see.” she giggled, taking another short glance at the bike before returning back to the movie listings. “So, anyways...See anything interesting?”
Lanh glanced up at the listings as well, chuckling out lightly at the question he was asked. “Besides you, you mean?”
Jasmine laughed at that question returned back to her, shaking her head lightly. “Yes. Besides me.”
“Hm...” To be honest, Lanh wasn’t really seeing anything good up there either. “Um, not..not really.” he glanced back down at Jasmine, biting his lip. “How about you?”
Jasmine looked up at Lanh with a questionable look before replying, “Oh. Um...” she took a quick glance at the listings again before bringing her head back down to Lanh with a short sigh. “No. Not really.” she shrugged herself. “Maybe we can find something else to do? I’ve always wanted to ride on a motorcycle.” she bit her lip, wondering if it really was a good idea to let this guy she barely knew give her a ride around town.
Lanh grinned at the idea she shared. He liked that idea, perhaps a little too much though. “We could do that. Where would you like to go? Just around town or something?”
Jasmine nodded slowly, “Just a short ride. Then maybe we could head over to the coffee shop to relax and just...talk?”
“Sounds like a plan to me.” Lanh agreed, delicately taking her hand and leading her over to his bike, pulling out the extra helmet he had in the compartment under his seat, and handed it to her. Jasmine looked at the helmet she held in her hands for a little bit, just staring at her reflection. And of course Lanh couldn’t help but notice her struggle in deciding whether or not she really should get on this motorcycle with this guy who technically still was a stranger. “You sure you want to do this? I don’t want to force you into anything you don’t want to do.” he asked with a concerned look on his face.
Jasmine looked up from her gaze, her eyes still slightly wide with worry showing in them. She bit her lip nervously before replying back, “Yeah.” she placed the helmet over her head, making sure it was held on tightly. “I’m sure.” And with that answer, she swung her leg over the bike, wrapping her arms around Lanh’s waist tightly, ready for the rush of adrenaline to fill her up. It’s just a short ride. She kept telling herself as Lanh finally started up the engine, letting it roar for a few seconds before shooting out of the parking lot and onto the streets. Jasmine closed her eyes at the beginning, Of course, she’s never been on a motorcycle before, let alone let a strange boy take her a ride on one. But she knew what she was doing. She was older, wiser, and stronger than before. Even if things did get out of hand, and she doubted it would, she would be able to handle it herself. She knew she could; she hoped she could.

☼

It had only been about fifteen or twenty minutes and Lanh had already took Jasmine all over town, before making a pit stop at a nearby coffee shop they had passed once or twice before. “Hope you don’t mind a little pick up.” He finally said to her, looking back over his shoulder finding her burying her face in his backside. “I love this place. My cousin and I happened to come across it when we first moved here.”
Jasmine looked up slowly, glancing over at the shop in front of them. A light smile approached her lips, although you couldn’t see it with the helmet still covering her face. “I don’t mind.” she told him, slowly unwrapping herself from his body, carefully climbing off of the bike, and removing her helmet, shaking her hair a bit to keep it from flattening. “I’ve actually been here before. Pretty decent pricing, it has, too.” she mentioned to him, handing him the extra helmet for him to put away in the compartment.
“Really now?” Lanh asked, sounding more interested all of a sudden. “I pretty much like it for the music, and lack of people who come in.” he grinned, leading her to the entrance, holding the door open for her. “Perfect place to relax, don’t you think?”
Jasmine nodded, giggling lightly when he held the door open for her. “Thank you.”
Lanh nodded as well, letting the door close behind them as he led them both up to the counter next. “So...what kind of coffee do you like? I’m a Carmel Mocha type of person, personally.”
Jasmine looked up at the menu, seeing what they had to offer before deciding on her usual. “Well, a Mocha Frappuccino sounds pretty good.” she looked back at Lanh with a soft smile. “That’s what I normally get anyway.” she finished, looking down to grab her wallet from her purse, but when she looked up to give her order, Lanh beat her to it, paying for her drink. “Oh! No, you don’t have to do that. I would of payed for myself.”
Lanh held up his hand stopping her with a slight chuckle to his voice, “It’s fine. I don’t mind paying for you.” he grinned lightly to her, his eyes brightening up after he got done paying as if he remembered something. “Not to make fun of this place or anything, but the last time I’ve had an amazing cup of coffee was when my family and I vacationed in Korea. I still say no one can make my Caramel Mocha as good as Korea does it.” he grinned, closing his eyes momentarily before reopening them again smiling back to Jasmine.
“Korea, eh?” Jasmine crossed her arms and tilted her head interested in what he was saying, “I’ve always wanted to visit Korea, you know. Well,” she giggled, “technically I’ve wanted to travel across the world.” Then a thought came to mind, though it was totally far fetched and she wasn’t sure if she should mention to him now, especially when they hardly even knew each other still. But she mentioned it to him anyways. “Maybe we could visit there together sometime.”
Lanh smiled widely at this suggestion, clearly happy that Jasmine had mentioned that idea of hers. “That would be fun. I could give you a little tour of where we last visited.” he gave out a little wink at her, before heading back to the counter when their order was called up, and he handed Jasmine her drink, sipping his slowly.
“That would be fun!” Jasmine beamed at him, grabbing her drink from him delicately, taking a few sips before adding in, “Then maybe I could drag you to Japan after. That’s the one country I’ve always wanted to go visit.” she took another sip, “And it wouldn’t be any fun to visit a foreign country alone.” she hinted at him, Lanh immediately catching it with a smile and another wink they exchanged to each other.
During their time together, Jasmine and Lanh managed to talk about their future trip to Asia after college for their own gradation present to themselves, and somehow getting onto the fashion subject, which was Jasmine’s favorite subject to talk about. So you can imagine her talking on and on about it, whether it was American fashion, or Japan’s fashion, which was what she started favoring recently. They even managed to start another conversation about music, and Lanh’s own passion for the violin, talking about how Lanh would have to play Jasmine a song of his real soon. She was even able to listen to a few Korean songs and violin solos on his iPod. Surely, she was impressed, and now she really couldn’t wait to hear him play, let alone see him again.
A few more minutes passed by, and somehow, as they were caught up on the music conversation, Jasmine suddenly felt something warm touch her cheek. She touched her warm cheek lightly, looking up at Lanh then. Did...did he just kiss me? She bit her lip, managing to curl up a smile on her own lips before leaning over to return the kiss back softly on his lips this time. Lanh smiled in reaction to the kiss. “So, does this mean that we like each other?” he asked through a small chuckle.
Jasmine joined him with a light giggle as well. “It sure seems that way, doesn’t it?” she answered in sort of flirtatious way, moving a strand of her hair behind her ear. “You think, maybe you wanna go out with me sometime?” she finally asked.
“Oh, s-sure.” he stuttered out nervously, before adding in more confidently, “I’d really like that.” His fingers had trailed down to his iPod then as well as his eyes as if trying to find another song to play to break this awkward moment of theirs.
He held up another video for her to watch. Jasmine looked back at the screen, bobbing her head occasionally to the beat. “I like that one.” she complimented, looking up at Lanh again when the song was finished.
More minutes passed by on their continuous talk of music. Their drinks were long finished by the time Jasmine glanced at her phone, noticing it was already 9pm! “Oh! I should get going. My dad is probably wondering where I’m at by now.” she shrugged, already starting to get up from her seat. “Well, he will real soon anyway. I haven’t gotten a text from him yet, so that’s good news.” she let out a nervous chuckle.
Lanh smiled as well, getting up to walk Jasmine out the door back to the bike. “That probably is best anyway. My mom is probably expecting me now anyway.” he shrugged as well, placing a soft hand on her back, leading her back to his bike. “I can give you a lift back home if you’d like.”
Jasmine smiled back at him. “Thank you. But I think you better take me back to the theaters instead. My car is still parked there, you know.” she giggled, grabbing the helmet he had handed her just then, placing it carefully back over her head.
Once they were both settled on the bike, Lanh started off back in the streets, zooming past the cars until reaching the Movie Theater parking lot taking no more than five minutes to get there. “Here we are.” Lanh said, parking the bike momentarily to let Jasmine off, and to put the extra helmet back in the compartment, removing his own just to say goodbye to Jasmine properly.
“Thanks for the ride. And for the amazing day. I had a great time.” she smiled up at him.
“It was no problem at all.” Lanh grinned back, “I’m glad we got to meet. And...” he rubbed the back of his neck nervously, “Uhm...maybe, that is if you want to, we could see each other again, and like you mentioned before, go out on a--a date?”
Jasmine wasn’t even nervous this time, she smiled back at him, her head tilted to the side with her eyes gleaming back up at him. She leaned in towards him, kissing him softly on the lips again, but this time, making this one last a bit longer. When she pulled back then, she said in her most sweet tone, “I would love that.” and without saying anything else, Jasmine pulled out a pen from her bag, grabbing Lanh’s hand and holding it in her own, writing a number on it. Her number. When she finished, she slid the pen back in her bag, looking up at him softly and said, “Call me.” before she gave a final peck on his lips and heading off to her car to head back home, already anxious and excited for Lanh to give her a call.

▬▬▬▬▬☼▬▬▬▬▬

Only a week has gone past, and Jasmine already received an unknown call. Though she knew immediately who it was; Lanh. She had given him her phone number the past week, but he had never given her his. For she had vanished before giving him the chance to do so. She listened to the voicemail carefully, grinning wider and wider each time his voice was heard. She squealed in excitement when the message was over with, dancing excitedly in her room before finally adding in the number to her phone, and calling him back, letting him know she had got his message and that she had accepted his offer for tonight’s date he made at a last resort. Almost immediately, she ran downstairs to tell her father, Toni, before dashing back upstairs to get dressed and ready for her date. Since it was planned last minute, she had to get ready that much sooner, for she had no idea what to wear for the date. Not to mention she had to get her hair done into tighter curls than they already were, and doll herself up in make-up.
It didn’t seem much longer that after telling him where she lived, Lanh was already outside the house, knocking on the door, hoping that it was Jasmine who answered. Although he would probably have to meet her dad sooner or later, but still, just the idea of picking up this gorgeous girl for date was overwhelming to him.
To his liking, Jasmine opened the door, a huge smile playing on her face, as she greeted him. “Hey, you.” she said flirtatiously.
“Hey.” he said back, about to say more, but was stopped by a tall man approaching up behind Jasmine. Jasmine turned around, not at all surprised to find her father standing there with, not a frown, but a smile on his lips as well.
Aren’t you going to introduce me, Jas?” he asked playfully, nodding towards Lanh, who gulped down a lump in his throat.
Jasmine giggled lightly, “Sorry, daddy. This is Lanh. The guy I told you about.” she told, motioning from Toni to Lanh and vice-versa. “Lanh, this is my dad. You can just call him Toni. He prefers that.” she chuckled once more, grabbing hold of Lanh’s one hand while the other was busy shaking Toni’s.
“N-nice to meet you, Toni.” Lanh said, his voice shaking slightly.
“So, you’re the boy with the motorcycle. Jasmine sure told me all about you. And the night you two had together.” he snickered playfully, crossing his arms. “Just make sure you take good care of her, you hear? I wouldn’t want to see Jasmine in pieces again.” he told more seriously.
Jasmine blushed at that, groaning softly to herself, as her hand clutched tighter onto Lanh’s. “Again?” Lanh repeated, shaking his head then. He figured it would be best not to ask questions. “Will do, sir. Um..i-is there any specific time I should have her home by?”
Toni grinned, he liked this boy already. Though he still kept an eye on him. From hearing what happened to Jasmine as a kid, he sure didn’t want any of that repeating. “Ten the latest would be fine. You’re just going out to dinner, is that right?” Lanh nodded, as well as Jasmine. Toni nodded back to them, motioning in a way that said it was okay to leave now. “Have fun.” he waved to them, watching Jasmine practically pull Lanh outside, leaving Toni to shout belatedly to them, “Not too much fun though! Jasmine, you hear?” he called out, smiling when he heard Jasmine’s ‘Okay!’ and waved him off to go back in the house. But Toni would move until he saw the two ride out on the motorcycle and were completely out of sight before closing the door and returning to his work.

☼

It didn’t take them long before they arrived to the restaurant. Jasmine removed her helmet, handing it to Lanh to put away while she shook out her hair once more, making sure her curls weren’t flattening. And just like at the coffee shop, Lanh held the door open for Jasmine and headed for a table to sit at while they waited for a waitress to arrive to their table.
After ordering their drinks followed by their dinner meals soon after, Jasmine was the first to break the ice. “This is nice.” She slapped herself mentally after that one. It clearly wasn’t her best move to start up a conversation. But she wasn’t at all sure what else to say without seeming too awkward.
Luckily, Lanh went along with it, smiling at her in return. “It is.” he said, thanking the waitress for the drinks she handed them, taking a sip of his before continuing. “I’m glad you decided to come with me.”
“Well, to tell you the truth, I was waiting anxiously by the phone waiting for you to call,” she sipped on her own water, licking her lips before continuing, “and the one time I wasn’t with my phone, you called.” she laughed lightly, along with Lanh.
They kept a light conversation going until the food finally arrived. Which to Jasmine was a relief, because she was having trouble of coming up with something new to say, other than her usual giggle that she was sure he was getting tired of. They each started digging into their plates, their table probably being one of the quietest in the place. The only thing that seemed to be heard were the forks digging and clanking on the plates. After probably five minutes of silence then, Jasmine knew someone had to say something sooner or later. So she decided she would do it. “So, tell me more about yourself. I mean, apart from being from Vietnam and be really good at the violin.”
Lanh had to finish swallowing before reacting to the sudden conversation starter Jasmine started up. He wiped his mouth on his napkin before starting. “Well...I’m still trying to finish up high school, so I can get started on college life already.” he chuckled. “Even though I still have one more year to finish before graduating here. America school’s is very much different than Vietnam’s school’s. And apparently, I’m behind here, so I had to start a grade lower than most people my age would be in.” he took another bite of his meal, swallowing before saying again, “What about you? You’re probably starting college, huh?”
“Actually, I just gradated high school, you’re right about that.” her eyes were still wide from what he told her about the two school’s he’s been to being completely different. “I didn’t even know how different America could be from Vietnam though. I mean, that must suck. To have to start at a lower level than the people your age.” she shrugged, feeling sort of bad for already being so much ahead of Lanh. Even if it was just school.
Lanh waved his hand. “Nah, it’s fine. I mean, it does suck a bit. But, it is what it is.” he told her, taking a few more bites as did Jasmine. Then Lanh thought of something. Before they left Jasmine’s house, what did Toni mean by ‘in pieces again’? He figured it couldn’t be good, but he still couldn’t help but wonder what he meant by that. Did she have some sort of past that turned horribly wrong. He knew he had. But he was never so keen on telling just anyone about his past. He doubted Jasmine was either. But he just has to ask, it was killing him not knowing much more about her. “Um..Jasmine?” he started, immediately getting her attention with her head perking up, as she took a swallow of her water. “Back at the house. I mean, I know its none of my business or anything, but....what did your dad mean when he said he didn’t want to see you in pieces again?”
Jasmine stopped where she was at on her plate, setting her fork down with a soft sigh attached to that as well. Lanh opened his mouth again only to tell her that she didn’t have to tell him if it made her this uncomfortable, but Jasmine held up her hand, stopping him from speaking anymore. “It’s alright. I kind of figured you would ask about that anyway.” she sighed again, staring down at her food, not bothering to look up at Lanh, as if she were having a flashback of her childhood. “It’s sort of hard to explain really. Well..” she shrugged, “by hard, I mean I don’t normally like telling people about it. It’s all bad memories really. And the only good thing about it was....my mother.” she finally got the courage to look up in Lanh’s eyes at the mention of her mother. “My mom, or, as I liked to call her, mama, was a very loving and caring person. I loved mama. She took care of me when I needed her most, and made sure I was under great care not only at home but at school too.” she gazed back at her food for a moment before tilting her head back up to face Lanh’s. “It all seems very happy, I know. But what I really don’t like to talk about was, my father.” she paused for a moment, holding back tears that started to form from all the sudden memories flooding back into her mind again. She continued talking about her past to Lanh, all through her childhood explaining what her father ended up doing to her, and also what he ended up doing to her mother soon after she found out the horrific news and called the police soon after. She paused several moments however to sniffle away more tears, and wipe the wetness on her face. Lanh’s face had remained the same; more shocked than anything, until Jasmine came to the end of the story to where her father was thrown in jail for life and she was sent to the orphanage where Toni had adopted her from nearly a year later.
There was a moment of silence and tears, the tears coming more from Jasmine, before Lanh said anything. His jaw was still dropped slightly from all the shock running through him. “Jas..I--” he nearly lost his train of thoughts, “I’m so sorry.” he finally got out, reaching his hand out across the table to grab hers in comfort.
“‘S--okay.” she managed to squeak out, still crying softly, but still felt better once Lanh’s hand was in hers. She gave it a squeeze in return, managing a small smile to appear on the corner of her lips then. She opened her mouth to add something in then, still blubbering slightly however. “I-I should be the one w-who should be s-sorry.” she took in short inhales before continuing on. “We’re on our first date, and I ruin it by blubbering like a baby.” she started catching her breath again, able to speak more clearly again.
Lanh shook his head. “Jasmine, don’t say that. It’s not your fault. If anyone, it’s mine.” he sighed, looking down at their hands locked together now, before looking back up in Jasmine’s ice blue, but still moist eyes. “I was the one who asked you about it.” he sighed, looking down again. “I guess I shouldn’t of asked such a personal question. And all I was trying to do was get to know you better.”
Jasmine sniffed once more, tilting her head slightly at his explanation. “Lanh, no.” she placed her other hand over his hand still covering hers. “I’m...I’m actually glad you asked me about it.” she admitted, slowly getting her confidence back again. “Because if you haven’t, you still wouldn’t of known much of anything about me except for my love of fashion and traveling.” she managed letting out a small giggle at that.
Lanh smiled at her. She really was something. Perhaps she is the one he ends up with. He was already falling more in love with her to begin with.
After finishing up their meal more quietly again, Lanh took care of the check, and checked the time on his phone. It was starting to close in at ten already. Sliding his phone back in his pocket, and setting a tip down on the table, Lanh stood up to his feet, reaching a hand out to Jasmine saying, “Come on. Let’s get you home.” And Jasmine followed suit. She placed her helmet back over her head before swinging over on the bike, grabbing hold of Lanh’s waist tightly before they headed back off to the house.
Once they made it back to Jasmine’s place. Lanh, like the gentleman he was, walked Jasmine up to the door, pulling her in for a warm hug before saying goodbye. “I’m really glad you decided to come, Jasmine.” He tilted his head back to face Jasmine, again with an apologetic look on her face. “And again...I’m sorry I--”
“Stop it.” Jasmine interrupted. “I told you, I’m actually glad you brought it up.” she hugged him back, kissing him gently on the cheek. “Now you know more about me.”
Lanh pulled up a soft smile on his face then, glad to know she was okay, let alone, breathing normally again. It wasn’t long then until Lanh leaned in closer, Jasmine doing just the same, having their lips lock onto each other, Jasmine’s arms wrapped around Lanh soon after, and Lanh’s arms around Jasmine’s waist. They kept like that probably for nearly a minute now, before Jasmine lifted her head up, mostly for air. “Lanh...” Jasmine suddenly said, low like a whisper. “We’ll see each other again, won’t we?”
Lanh tilted his head, wondering what made her ask such a thing. However, he didn’t ask any further questions, instead he simply said to her, “Jasmine. I don’t think I would be able to stand to be away from you for more than a day.”

[Tori]

Chapter Four. --- So Many Surprises!

“Autumn, come on. You have to go!” Said Jasmine, urging her foster sister into meeting with her boyfriend for an unexpected date. “The text said ‘ASAP’ after all, you know.”
“Will you come with me though?” Autumn asked shyly, staring down at her text before looking back at Jasmine, biting her lip at her response clear in her face. “It’s at the Blanche Theater! And I don’t even know where that’s at!”
Jasmine continued staring at her sister wide-eyed. “Liar.” she scoffed, crossing her arms at her. “Autumn, you gotta get over this shyness sometime. I mean, I would of thought you would of gotten somewhat more confident with even having a boyfriend.”
Autumn shrugged. “I’m just not as outgoing or confident as you are.” she mumbled out, just loud enough for Jasmine to hear.
Jasmine has had enough with this silly argument of theirs, and she pulled Autumn by the hand up to her room, motioning for her to sit on the bed so Jasmine could dig through Autumn’s closet for tonight’s date she apparently had to be forced to go to while accompanied by Jasmine. “Here.” she tossed a pair of blue skinny jeans and a cropped top over to Autumn, along with a pair of black flats to slip on her feet. “Get dressed, brush your hair out, and we are going to that theater to meet Junsu. I’ll be waiting downstairs.” Jasmine left the room, closing the door to give Autumn time and space to clean herself up.
It took her a little bit to get moving at first, but after a short moment of thoughts, she got dressed and ready for tonight’s date. Once she was done and finished with her hair and a touch of make-up added to her, she headed downstairs to meet Jasmine. “Okay, let’s go.” she said in almost a whisper, not stopping until she made it out the door and to Jasmine’s car, waiting for her to unlock it.
“What? You want me to drive too?” Jasmine couldn’t help but scoff, pulling out her keys and hitting the button to which had unlocked all the doors.
Autumn shrugged, “Well, my car is almost out of gas anyway, and I just thought we would make it there faster by using your car without making an extra stop.” she said, partly telling the truth. Jasmine rolled her eyes playfully, sliding into the car when Autumn did, and pulled out of the driveway, starting towards their destination.
They made it to the theater within ten minutes, and just as Jasmine was about to park, she spotted something familiar. A motorcycle! She parked the car, and took a closer look at the bike through her window. Only one person she knew rode that specific motorcycle. “Lanh’s here?!” she exclaimed, causing Autumn to look too.
“I didn’t know Lanh would be here too.”
“Only one way to find out then, isn’t there?” Jasmine commented back, slipping out of the car with Autumn, as they made their way towards the theater entrance alongside each other.
As soon as they entered the large room, they too weren’t the only one’s left frozen in shock and excitement. Junsu, who was standing on stage with a microphone at hand, and Lanh, who was sitting at the Piano, also were caught staring at their girlfriends. It was more Jasmine and Lanh who were left staring though, as Junsu had to poke Lanh to grab his attention again, and he started the melody on the piano. After a few notes then, Junsu began to sing.
The girls hadn’t taken their eyes off of their boyfriends since they had walked in the theater. And now that they joined in together in this song, neither one of them could look any other direction but forward, their ears were now glued to the sounds echoing throughout the place. Towards the end of the song, Autumn’s eyes began welling up with tears, more so with joy and happiness than anything else. Jasmine just smiled the whole time, and looked down at her sister when the song was over. She rubbed her back soothingly with her fingertips, giving her a quick side hug, kissing her head like a mother would do, and whispered in her ear. “Glad you decided to come now?” Autumn was still frozen, she couldn’t even nod properly. She bit her lip into a shy smile, wiping her tears on her arm before slowly making her approach to the stage where Junsu had hopped off from. Jasmine too, walked over to give her own boyfriend a hug.
“I love you, Junsu.” was all the words Autumn could say this moment. “That...that was amazing.” she sniffled the rest out.
“사랑해, Autumn.” Junsu replied back to her, in his own language of saying ‘I love you’. Autumn knew exactly what he had said though, despite the fact that she didn’t know much of Korean. ‘I love you’ was one of the phrases Junsu indeed taught her.
Back over with Jasmine and Lanh then, after hugging and giving each other sweet little kisses, Lanh spoke first. “I didn’t expect you to be here...” he said with a smile still formed on his lips. “But you got to see me play piano, like I promised you would.”
Jasmine grinned wider at that statement. “Well, Autumn wanted me to tag along anyway. I wasn’t even expecting to come inside, but I saw your motorcycle and got curious as to what was going on exactly.” She giggled. “I’m glad I came in though. Lanh, you played beautifully,” She hugged him tighter, “I love you.” She finished, giving him a kiss on the lips, letting him return the kiss back to her. “Maybe next time you could teach me how to play.”
Lanh smiled wider at her. “I love you too, Jasmine. And yes..” he chuckled. “I would love to teach you something on the piano. Perhaps another love song?” he suggested, with Jasmine immediately agreeing to that with a light giggle attached to it.
While Jasmine and Lanh continued talking and sharing kisses with each other then, Autumn managed to say something else to help get rid of the awkwardness between her and Junsu. “You were amazing Junsu. I...” a light flush appeared on her cheeks, biting her lip, trying to find the next few words to say. “I’m just so amazed you really would go through all this work...for me.”
Junsu couldn’t stop smiling at her. “It not problem. I miss you a lot. 보고싶었어요.” he told her, repeating ‘I missed you’ in Korean.
“I’ve missed you too.” She ended up hugging him tighter, just so she could be closer to him.
“So, it was perfect?” Junsu added in, his nerves kicking in a little again. “You liked a lot?”
Autumn giggled at Junsu’s awkwardness. It sort of reminded her of herself. Which was just one of the reasons why she liked him so much. “Yes, it was perfect.” She smiled even deeper, pulling her face to his chest, listening to his heartbeat as if it were waves crashing on a beach. “And I loved every minute of it.”
“Goo--”
“Junsu, do you want to go on a double date?” Lanh interrupted Junsu, causing him to look back as well as Autumn, more subtly than him.
“Double date?” Junsu asked, tilting his head to the side.
“Yeah..you know, the both of us, out together with our girlfriends.” Lanh explained.
“Ohh~ It’s up to the girls.” Junsu replied back, not really feeling like thinking about it. He looked back down at Autumn for her answer then.
“Oh. Um..I don’t mind.” she answered, more in her soft tone of voice. She just knew that this was Jasmine’s idea, but she didn’t even want to think of what she was thinking of doing after this date.
Junsu nodded, looking back to Jasmine for her answer. “Hey, it was my idea, so I’m all up for it.” Jasmine laughed.
I knew it!
The two couples started their way out the door, then Autumn decided to just come out with it. “Where were you thinking of going on a double date anyway?” she asked her sister.
“Hm? Oh, I don’t know, probably something simple and fun like a dinner or something.” she answered, not really looking at Autumn directly, for she was too occupied with flirting with her boyfriend, tangling herself up in his arms.
“Oh.” Autumn furrowed her eyebrows. Many thoughts filled her head now. One of them being, How can she be so cool and confident when I’ve been in a relationship longer than she has?

☼

So after deciding that Lanh would take Jasmine to the restaraunt on his bike, and Junsu would walk with Autumn there, they headed off. But what Junsu and Autumn didn’t know though, was that Jasmine and Lanh had already made a plan to ditch the shy couple, in order for not only them to get more alone time to boost up their confidence, but so Jasmine and Lanh could get some alone time too. Which was what they wanted more of anyway.
“So where we headin’ to first?” Jasmine asked, slipping on her helmet just after they saw Autumn and Junsu disappear around the corner.
“Hmm...how about you choose?” Said Lanh, fastening his own helmet on his head, and waiting for Jasmine to swing her leg over on the motorcycle next.
Jasmine did just that, and wrapped her arms around his middle, with her chin resting on his shoulder, showing she was ready to go. “Um....oh! How about the park? I think I’ve got an idea of what we could do there.” she told him with a wink, even though he couldn’t see her face in the position they were in on the bike.
“As you wish.” Lanh simply said, starting up the bike before zooming out of the parking lot and into the streets towards the park itself.
With it barely even taking them ten minutes to reach the park, maybe even five minutes, Lanh parked the bike, and turned off the engine finally saying, “We’re here.”
“So we are.” Jasmine replied, hopping off the bike before slipping off her helmet to shake her hair out in the breeze, letting the curls settle back in again. She handed Lanh the extra helmet to put away, and just as soon as he did, she grabbed his arm, pulling him towards the biggest, shadiest tree.
Lanh laughed as he was pulled along. “So, what’s here?” he finally asked, looking around the park, before he was pulled in closer to Jasmine again.
“Well, there’s us.” Jasmine hinted, inching her lips closer to his. “Alone. That’s all I could ever ask for anyway.” she told him, giving him small kisses on the lips, slowly turning them into longer kisses.
Lanh smiled, returning the kisses, before slowly turning it into a make-out session. In between kisses though, he lifted his head up to whisper, “I kind of like this better than lunch...”
Jasmine chuckled, “I thought you would.” She kissed down to his neck, returning the kisses back up to his lips. “Just what we needed too. Some alone time.” she added in.
“Exactly.” Lanh simply said, continuing the kisses, running his hand through her long locks of curls next.
Not even two minutes later then, Jasmine felt a vibrate in her front pocket. Pulling out of the many kisses she was giving, she pulled out her phone to see who had texted her. “It’s Autumn.” she said, only partly surprised. “Should I respond?”
Lanh, with his arms still around Jasmine, keeping her close, simply nodded to her and said, “Just say we got stuck in traffic and to start eating without us.” And he continued kissing her cheek and nibbling at her ear, while she texted her sister back.
Once that was done with, Jasmine slid her phone back in her pocket, and returned with her own business, wrapping her arms around Lanh’s neck, and started kissing at his neck again, with small nibbles to his own ear as well.
About fifteen minutes later, give or take, Jasmine and Lanh were now cuddled on the ground, Jasmine in Lanh’s lap while Lanh continued pulling Jasmine in closer for much deeper and passionate kisses. And she did the same. The further they went though, the more cautious Jasmine was starting to get. It wasn’t much longer then when Jasmine started getting full flashbacks of her childhood, causing her to freeze up in Lanh’s arms, wide-eyes and all. Lanh of course noticed this right away, and pulled away only slightly, to see what was wrong. He was guessing it was her past, but he could never be too sure.
“What’s wrong, Jas?” he asked cautiously, kissing her head once more with great care.
At first, Jasmine stayed frozen with her mind still settled on the flashback. But as soon as Lanh kissed her again, she snapped herself back into the present, looking up at Lanh, her eyes looking like they could tear up any moment now. “Lanh...” she said softly, feeling her voice start to crack slightly. And as a response to that, she buried her head in Lanh’s chest for comfort, as if Lanh would know exactly what was up by having her just lay on him like that.
And he did. Lanh frowned a bit, holding Jasmine closer to him as she curled her body in tighter. He gave her back a light stroke with his fingers soothingly before saying, “It’s okay, Jasmine,” with as much of a calm voice as he could show. “Don’t worry. As long as I’m here, no one will be able to hurt you.” he promised her, kissing the top of her head gently.
After hearing what Lanh had to say then, even in those short words, Jasmine knew now that Lanh was the one. The one she could count on, the one that would love her in return, the one that she would always be able to trust. And with a longer pause than expected, Jasmine managed to tilt her head back up to face his, and whisper softly, “I love you.”

▬▬▬▬▬☼▬▬▬▬▬

“Storms sure to be a brewing tonight, folks. So be sure to tuck in your children tightly in their beds, and hope that this major storm doesn’t come through your town.”
Toni sat watching the news late in the evening, and as soon as Jasmine came in from her night out with Lanh, he insisted that she’d grab her dinner plate and head straight to her room. No questions, no explanations, nothing. Jasmine wondered if she had done something wrong. She’s never seen Toni this uptight and worried before. Wait...was it Lanh? He did get her home on time, right? These questions filled Jasmine’s mind as she gathered her plate full of food, and headed up to her room.
After finishing up her plate, she thought she’d stop in to see Autumn who was stuck in her room as well. She gave a light knock at her door before entering, sitting beside her on her bed. “Hey, girlie. What’re you up to?” she asked, watching Autumn finish up a carrot stick before returning to her drawing pad she was holding onto. She seemed to be drawing, but from where Jasmine was, it looked like Autumn was more thinking than anything.
Autumn looked up suddenly when she felt a hand lightly brush against her back. “Oh, hey. Um, nothing really..just doing a bit of drawing.” she stared back at her blank page, holding her pencil gently in her hand. “H-how was your date with Lanh?”
Jasmine smiled. “It was good.” She looked down at the blank page as well. “So how many drawings have you done today, so far? I’d love to have a look at them.” Jasmine said, moving her fingers from her sister’s backside, to the edge of the page, looking as though she wanted to look through the book herself.
Autumn declined that offer though, hesitating a bit when she answered back, “U-um...I didn’t really do that much.” she bit her lip slightly, “Actually...I didn’t do any today....”
Jasmine’s eyes widened. Ever since she and Autumn knew each other, Autumn has always had new drawings made each and everyday. Whether they were paintings and fully shaded drawings, or sketches and doodles. So something really must have been on Autumn’s mind if she hadn’t even doodled anything. If she even did that, anyway. “Nothing?” Jasmine said shocked. “But...you always have something. Don’t you at least have a doodle or something?”
“Um...” Autumn held her drawing book closer to her chest then, clutching it tighter as she spoke. “Well, I-I’m sure I have one doodle page. But, its just a doodle. It’s nothing...really.”
Autumn tried her best to persuade Jasmine to drop the subject already, but she wouldn’t have it. Jasmine’s eyes gazed back at the book her sister was clutching onto, not taking her eyes off it as if in deep thought. Then it hit her. But she had to look in the book to make sure her thoughts were correct. “I’m sure their fine, Autumn. Can’t I just get a glance of it?” Autumn shook her head hesitantly in response. Jasmine knew she wasn’t going to get a better answer than that, so she did what she had to do. When Autumn seemed distracted enough, Jasmine swiped her art book from her hands, falling backwards onto the bed with Autumn coming flying over with her, trying to retrieve it back with little squeals and whines to go with it. “Come on, Autumn, I just want to see a few pages!” Jasmine called out, pushing Autumn back off of her for the third time, finally able to get enough room to open to the page with the doodles scribbled on the page that marked down today’s date.
Autumn continued to pout like a little kid when Jasmine hadn’t listened to her, and just continued to look down at the doodle. After taking it all in, Jasmine looked up with Autumn more with awe than anything. “Autumn...” she said in a soft voice. “This is so cute!”
Of course, Autumn blushed at these words. “I-I didn’t know what else to draw. And that seemed to be the only thing on my mind...” she said softly, gazing back over to the heart-filled page Jasmine continued to admire over. The part Jasmine couldn’t keep her eyes off of the most was the giant heart in the middle of the page with the two figures on the inside. The boy in the picture seeming to be hovering over the girl in a gentle and warm hug behind her. Jasmine smiled, taking in the beauty in this simple sketch before closing it back up and handing it back over to Autumn just before pulling her into a warm hug of her own.
Moments later, after having a small and subtle sisterly chat, Autumn was the first to notice something strange; or heard, anyway. “What is that?” she questioned, slowly making her way towards her bedroom window, looking down and out from the second floor she was on. Nothing out of the ordinary now, but--wait a minute. “Jasmine!” she gasped, jumping back slightly, having Jasmine take a look at what there was to see.
Gasping as well, she pushed Autumn back behind her, protectively, before grabbing her hand and pulling her down beside her bed, nearly under it. “Stay here, Autumn! I’m gonna get Toni, see what it is we need to do.”
But as soon as Autumn heard those last words Jasmine spoke, she shook her head, immediately grabbing her wrist, and pulling her back down. “No! Jasmine! What if its the same storm I was in! I don’t want to lose you too!” she cried out, panicking more now that the wind was growing louder and nearer.
“Autumn, I’ll be fine. I’m not leaving the house, I’m just going to get Toni from downstairs.” she told her sister, forcing herself out of Autumn’s grip again. “I’ll be right back, I promise.” But at those words, a tree had crashed down in front of their house, followed by a few more around town. It was then, Jasmine realized, that it was best that she’d stay well hidden with Autumn till the storm passed. Especially since with Autumn’s past experience with a hurricane, it would be even better to not leave her now.
It must of been hours until Autumn had finally calmed down even a little bit, given that she was still pretty shaken up about the whole thing. Looking as though the storm was starting to pass through, Jasmine brought up the courage to pull Autumn up with her to their feet, and make their way downstairs to meet Toni and the others who seemed to also be heading in the same direction.
Once everyone was in the living room, children, babies, and all, Toni grabbed the emergency supply kits, and attempted to calmly soothe everyone down. That is, until the hurricane decided to run past them again, causing loud crashes to burst in the windows, breaking down even more trees and objects. Everyone began yelling and stumbling over each other trying to find a place to duck and hide under. Especially the little ones. David, Max, and Katie’s kids were all bawling in their arms, all three of them trying to soothe and protect their children. Toni was now with Jasmine, soothing Autumn who was being cradled in Jasmine’s arms on the floor.

☼

The rest of the night hadn’t changed. Everyone was still in panic of what was happening, some curling up in fetal positions, one of them being Autumn still. The house was a mess from the hurricane smashing the place, completely wrecking the whole town. Once Toni saw that the hurricane seemed to have finally passed, he moved from Jasmine and Autumn, over to the television, lifting it back up from its side with David’s help, seeing as one light bulb started to slowly flicker back on again; but just the one. After plugging the t.v. back in, with a few sparks coming out of the outlet as he did so, the t.v. came back alive again, and soon enough they were able to watch the news again.
From the picture on the t.v. continually going fuzzy and the audio going in and out, they all managed to hear what was going on with the rest of the town. Obviously much of the town and many other houses and cars were destroyed in the hurricane. But what caught the family’s attention the most was how many of the residents hadn’t made it through. The tattered and torn down house fell even quieter for the longest time. Each one of them thinking and wondering if it had been any of their close friends that had died in this tragedy.

☼

The next day didn’t seem very pretty either. The town was still trashed and torn from the hurricane, and many of the neighbor’s were still crying over their losses. And who wouldn’t blame them? Even in the Fosterlings, they lost a few kids. But after shaking off some of the tears and sadness from them, and although they were all still scared and worried about where they would live now, Toni called for a family meeting. As soon as everyone was gathered in their still torn and badly damaged living room, Toni stood up, making his announcement of moving to another town. “I’ve gotten a bunch of calls, and one of them really grabbed my attention. They said the best town to move over to is Riverside. I’ve looked the place up, and it doesn’t seem that bad of a place at all. So, I told them to save us a permanent home to move in to.”
“What’s Riverside like?” asked the first person brave enough to speak up, being Anne.
Toni smlied at her, followed by to everyone else. “Well, from what I’ve read and heard about it, its similar to MAB Town, perhaps slightly bigger, but relatively the same. Good schools, good neighborhood, excellent diners and restaurants--”
“An’ a pwaygwound?” piped in David’s two-year old daughter, Brooklyn, who was still latching onto her fathers leg.
“Even a playground, Brooklyn.” he smiled down at the little girl who smiled just as widely but still hesitantly back.
During the next couple days, everyone took time locating their stuff that wasn’t damaged during the hurricane, which wasn’t much, and all set out in the two cars left that had hardly been damaged at all, due to the fact that they were both locked away in the two-car garage. Toni’s and David’s. Sure they still had a few scratches and perhaps a couple dents, but they were still alive enough to drive across the severely damaged town and onto a new one they would soon call home.
Once everyone was packed (no one had more than one bag on them) and was set to go in each one of the cars, they set off. They snagged a few bumps in the roads, and had to go around quite a few trees and such but they were soon out of that miserable town and on the highway towards the new town.

☼

It took a good couple of days until the whole family made it to their destination. Many ooo’s and awes filled the car by the younger kids as they drove through their new town, looking for the right street to turn onto to meet their new permanent home.
“Max and I are gonna head towards the apartments, Toni. Look for a place for us and the kids.” David told, and Toni giving him the go ahead as people started sliding out of the cars except for Max with Arielle who stayed in their seats in David’s truck. They headed down the street to turn on the other while the rest of the family went on separate tours of their new home.
Of course, Jasmine and Autumn went around as one, Autumn still being a bit shaken from the hurricane. “I hope Junsu’s okay.” she couldn’t help but mumble out, Jasmine pulling her in for a hug.
“I’m sure he is, Autumn. I’m sure he is.” She tried comforting her, even though she was indeed thinking exactly the same way for her own boyfriend, Lanh. Where was he now? Was he hurt? Did he--? Her thoughts got interrupted by Autumn’s sudden tug to be set free of her grasp, though their arms were still linked together as they started their tour through the living room, in the kitchen, down the hall, and peeking in some of the bathrooms before they found the bedrooms upstairs.
“It’s so big.”
“It is.” Jasmine nodded to Autumn’s comment, not taking her gaze off of the gigantic house that was soon to be filled with furniture and goodies. Then again, the more Jasmine thought about it, she wouldn’t really be staying at this house as much as she hoped she would. She would be transferring to the new local University in town, and possibly living in the dorms there. Same went for Autumn as well, she would be starting college this coming semester. It was still nice though, to know that you had a place to stay at when it came to holidays and summer and even when they graduate college.
After everyone had taken their tour of the house, as well as chosen their rooms and brought their things in, everyone started to unpack. Toni left them all to head down to the store to meet up with David so they could get some fresh furniture, since all their previous stuff was still destroyed and tattered back in the old house. New house, meant new life. Jasmine only hoped that this new life still had Lanh in it.
Jasmine and Autumn had picked rooms next to each other of course, and as soon as they were both done unpacking, they started out on a new adventure; the town. They went from passing the mall, checking out the beach from afar, to the coffee shop, in no less than fifteen minutes! Then adding in another ten minutes they headed down to the park after, leading them into the town’s forest which then led them down to the lake. It looked much more clean than the one in MAB town, that was for sure. Not like they wanted to go for a swim in it anyway, but it still looked pretty with the light reflecting off of it.
The next couple of months hadn’t really changed, Autumn stayed by Jasmine’s side nearly all the time. She didn’t mind the company, she got to walk around the University’s campus with Autumn, who would be joining her there soon, and they got their registration done and classes sorted out. Once the semester ended though, Jasmine had been doing some thinking, and decided to talk to Autumn about it, explaining how she wanted to get more time to herself, to gather her thoughts for a bit, without having to worry about interruptions. Autumn hesitantly agreed to this, and Jasmine even suggested that this would be a good time to work on some drawings at the park or somewhere. Again, Autumn agreed to this plan hesitantly, and Jasmine went on slipping on her new red bikini she had bought the other day while shopping around with Autumn, and grabbed her beach wrap to wrap around her bottom half. She grabbed her bag and keys to her new car Toni managed to get each of the college students, even if they were used cars; and she started towards the beach to clear her head of things. More about Lanh than anything.
She got her parking space, and walked down the warm sandy beach, and spread her towel across the sand before lying on it herself. She grabbed her sunglasses, and started spreading some lotion across her body. She was about to lay down then, when she suddenly thought of something. Grabbing her phone out of her bag, she started typing out a new message.
Hey babe. Just wondering how you were doing...and that i miss you.
She looked up at the nearest lifeguard tower then, before continuing.
In case you happen to be in a place called riverside...I'm at the beach, by the #7 lifeguard tower. I really miss you. xoxo Jas
A single tear fell down her cheek from behind her sunglasses as she sent the text. “I really hope he’s alright.” she muttered to herself, before wiping away the stray tear and finally lying down on her towel, tossing her phone back in the bag.
A moment later, underneath the warm summery sun, Jasmine was just nearly asleep now, and hadn’t even noticed her phone going off from receiving a new message; from her boyfriend! Not knowing this however, Jasmine remained in her relaxed position, continuing to tan her long, lean, “perfect” body as she was told by some.
Something didn’t feel right then. The sun; she wasn’t feeling the warmth of it like she had been. Wrinkling her forehead, and squinting her eyes open, she noticed a figure standing over her. A man. At first, her heart nearly skipped a beat, her mind suddenly for some reason going back on her past again. But when this man spoke though, Jasmine’s frown became a smile once again. ‘Hey there, gorgeous.’ The man had said to her. And, almost instantly, Jasmine knew who this man was. “Lanh?” she finally spoke out in question, leaning upright and pushing her sunglasses to the top of her head to see him more clearly. And with a sudden gasp escaping her lips, she let out a shriek of excitement. “Oh my gosh!” She had barely gotten to her feet before she tackled him down in the sand with a hug. “I-I can’t believe you’re here!” she squealed again, leaning back down to kiss him deeply. Something she’s been wanting to do for some time now.
Lanh couldn’t help but give out a smile and a light laugh at being tackled to the ground. The only words he seemed to be able to say then were, “Hey...” With another light laugh. This was apparently just as overwhelming for him as it was for her.
Jasmine continued to smile back at him, lifting her head back up again with her hands dug into the sand on either side of him. “I’ve missed you.” she told him finally, tilting her head slightly when she gave him another peck on the lips. “I was worried something might of happened to you. I...er, I don’t really trust text messages as much as I do with real life situations.” she bit her lip lightly.
“Fair enough.” Lanh said, raising his eyebrows, “It’s easy to lie over text messages. Oh,” he gazed over to his new bike, pointing to it. “There is one casualty.”
Jasmine nodded, looking over to where he was pointing then. Her eyes suddenly went wide when she saw what he was pointing obviously to. “Dios mío! (My god!)” she gasped, looking back to Lanh, her eyes still wide with shock. “You got a new bike?! H-how? I mean, how did you afford it? It looks...” Her gaze met back at the bike. “expensive.”
Lanh laughed, “It was! It’s a freakin’ Ducati. Almost thirteen thousand dollars.” He couldn’t help but brag, not even holding back his proud smile he had on his face. He wrapped his arms around Jasmine’s backside, squeezing her closer to him. “It’s why I couldn’t meet with you sooner. I’m sorry.” he frowned, an apologetic look on his face. “I just...We got here, and on the way from the airport, I saw her.” he shrugged.
Jasmine’s eyes widened even more after hearing the price, not even realizing she mumbled out, “Damn.” while he continued to talk. She returned a smile to him then, showing her forgiveness before lurking over to view the bike again. “Oh I see now. You’re obviously cheating on me with the bike. You are so sweet.” she teased, kissing his nose, giggling at his reaction to the kiss by scrunching up his nose.
Lanh laughed with her, shoving her playfully before telling her just as teasingly, “Hey, don’t hate. After all, you’re the only person I love.” He snuggled her closer, kissing her back. “You two should learn to get along. After all, I ride her often.” he winked.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Jasmine rolled her eyes playfully, smirking at him just as playfully. “I bet you do. And you’ll have to give me a ride on her sometime soon. I’m always up for a wild ride.” she winked back.
Lanh laughed, agreeing with her completely. “I’m sure I’ll be giving you plenty of rides on her too.” he smiled at her, adjusting himself in the sand a bit before letting her lay comfortably on top of him. He kissed her lightly on the cheek. “Damn I missed you.”
Jasmine giggled, resting her chin on his chest now with that big stupid grin still plastered on her face. “I’ve missed you too.” She kissed him back just as softly, with her hand moving up to stroke the cheek she kissed, caressing it softly with her fingertips. “I missed everything about you. And I was scared.” Her voice slowly started to crack during those last four words said. And she tried her hardest not to show too much emotion. Not now anyway.
“I said I was sorry.” Lanh said simply in a cute tone, moving his own hand up to meet hers.
“I know you did.” She looked away before gazing back into his eyes again, this time with a more worried look in her eyes. “But it doesn’t change how I felt. I was worried that something had happened to you. I was afraid....” she stopped, catching herself from repeating her past to him.
The moment continued on with Lanh comforting her, soothing her, and making promises her that he intended to keep. Then they somehow got on the conversation of what their future would be like. Having stable jobs, raising kids, living the life of an old married couple. Time flew by that day, the sun was beating on them, the soothing sound of the waves crashing onto the beach, it’s no wonder Jasmine suddenly fell asleep right then, still snuggled up in Lanh’s arms.
Then, just how Jasmine had feared, she started having the nightmare. It started out in a long, dark, scary tunnel. As most nightmares would be likely to start at. Then, as soon as Jasmine had gotten out of the tunnel, she was in none other than her old home, back in Guatemala. It was quiet, as if she was in there alone. She walked through the living room, but stopped abruptly at the sudden sound of a scream. A woman’s scream. “It couldn’t be.” Jasmine muttered, rushing towards the first bedroom the screams were leading her into. “Mom?” Jasmine gasped, clasping her hands over her mouth, tears already streaming down her face as she saw her mother lying in the corner of the room, in the fetal position, wearing nothing but her undergarments. “Jasmine!” she screamed, and Jasmine instantly came running to her mother’s side, hugging her, soothing her, but most importantly asking her what was going on. Who did this to her. Or more importantly, who would do this to her.
She slowly turned her head only to find the one person she has always dreaded, she has always hated, she has always feared. The man walked closer to the two girls, more looking at Jasmine than her mother. Her mother screamed again, as if she were in pain. Jasmine kept her mother close to her, hugging her closer as she kept her narrow eyes on the man; who indeed was Jasmine’s father. “Jasmine...” he started. “Get...away from me.” Jasmine interrupted, her voice more firm than shaky now. But then, just as she said that, her mother who was in her arms, seemed to suddenly vanish into thin air. “Mom!” she screamed in terror, piercing her eyes back to her father again. “You’re mom isn’t here to protect you anymore, Jas.” he began, closing in on Jasmine, rubbing his hand over her thigh in a sexual manner. “No one can protect you...not even that despicable, low-life, chump boyfriend of yours...” “Don’t you dare bring up Lanh!” Jasmine screamed, slapping his hand away from her, which only ended with him slapping Jasmine back and continuing running his hand up her shirt. “Why are you even going out with such a fool anyway? He doesn’t love you.....not like I do...” Jasmine struggled against him, every time she tried pushing him off her, he just climbed back on. His hand now reached her breast, massaging it. Jasmine gasped at the sudden pressure given up top. “Lanh is, more of a man than you’ll ever be!” she tried again, this time, ripping her father off of her, and punching him off of her. “He cares for me...he watches over for me...” her hands were still in fists, she was finally gaining some of her confidence back again. “...He loves me.” Her father did only nothing but smirk at her. Then, without warning, he leaped up towards her, grabbing her and holding her tightly against his body, and pressed his lips hard on hers, really forcing that kiss of his by slamming his tongue down her throat.
Back on the beach, Jasmine was whining and squirming all about Lanh, continually mumbling words that didn’t make sense. After Lanh managed to wake her up completely then, Jasmine laid their motionless; unable to move or speak or even think. She was practically hyperventilating with sweat pouring off her head. As soon as she noticed Lanh there with his arms still wrapped around her soothingly, she buried her head into his chest, bawling. “Lanh...” she finally managed to say, her voice still muffled in his chest. “Please...please don’t leave me. Yo--you have to p-promise me that you w-won’t leave me...ever.”
Lanh nodded, rubbing her back soothingly, and kissed her head gently. “I promise you Jasmine, as long as I’m here, and I always will be, nothing and no one will ever be able to hurt you.” he kissed her head again softly, running his gentle fingers over her back soothingly.
After a having that long, but peaceful silence, of the two cuddled up to each other, they decided it was probably time to head somewhere with less sand and more time together. So they headed their separate ways to their homes, until around fifteen minutes later, which would be when Lanh would be picking up Jasmine on his new motorcycle.
Jasmine practically sped home, making nearly all green lights, which only took her no more than five or ten minutes to get home and change. She grabbed a pair of skinny jeans and heals as well as a cute top before heading in the bathroom to brush her hair out of that beach nest she was beginning to form, and reapplied some make-up to top it all off. By the time she was finished getting ready, she still had about five minutes to spare. However, after hearing an engine roar come up her street, she looked out her window and found that Lanh seemed to have been ready a bit early as well. Smiling, she rushed down the stairs, grabbing her bag and phone on her way down, and shouted out to Toni, “Going out with Lanh, dad! Won’t be home late!” And after a simple “okay!” being answered back to her, Jasmine was out the door heading towards her boyfriend. “Did you even go to your house yet?” She couldn’t help but laugh out. “Or did you just follow me all the way back here?” She teased again.
”I followed you here.” The young man teased back to her, holding his helmet under his arm, gesturing towards his black tank top next, speaking more seriously but still in a sweet smile. “I changed, see?” Jasmine smiled back at him, and pulled herself into his arms, giggling lightly when Lanh whispered, “You look really cute in that.” Without letting go of her.
“Why, thank you.” Jasmine said, nuzzling her head in his chest before pecking at his jawbone. She reached around his body for the extra helmet lying on his bike seat, and kissed him once more before gently placing the helmet over her head, as Lanh did the same soon after her.
Once they were good and ready in their seats then, Lanh started up the engine and with Jasmine’s arms wrapped tightly around his waist, he jolted off into the streets and off to their next destination. Even if Jasmine really had no idea where they were off to exactly. Lanh must of knew though, because he hadn’t slowed down or even hesitated a turn once since they left the house.
“Lanh, where are we going?” Jasmine finally asked at a red light, making sure to yell loud enough over the bike’s engine.
Lanh turned his head just so slightly towards Jasmine, giving her a small smile in return at first, even if she could see that through the helmet. “You’ll see.” Was all he said to her. Jasmine frowned at that answer. She wanted to ask him again, perhaps even beg him to tell her, but she figured that would ruin the big surprise for her. Not to mention the light turned green, and they revved off again.
They pulled into the parking lot of their destination then. Jasmine lifted her helmet off her head to get a better look of where they exactly were. “Oh~” she said simply, hopping off the bike and handing the helmet to her boyfriend to put away.
“How’s a cold treat sound on a hot summers day?” Lanh asked, locking everything up and grabbing Jasmine’s hand before holding the door open for her to the inside of the local Frozen Yogurt shop in town.
Jasmine grinned, thanking him for holding the door open before stepping inside the air-conditioned room. “It’s perfect.” she smiled at him, reaching up to kiss his lips before returning to the flavors they had to choose from.
After grabbing their cups of frozen treats, Lanh led Jasmine to a table to sit down at, and they began munching at their treats. “So....” Jasmine finally said, after a few moments of silence. “Back at the beach...” she started, looking down to stir around her yogurt before looking back up at him again, “When the water came up to our feet, I couldn’t help but notice a sudden....fear on your face.” She noticed Lanh’s face turning ever so slightly red then, his eyes widening just a bit. “I mean, I don’t mean to butt into your business or anything, I guess I’m just...worried. It just looked like you wanted to get away from the water as quickly as possible.” she returned to her cup, continuing to mix it with a spoon before taking another bite and looking up to Lanh again for his answer. If he ever gave her one anyway.
Lanh remained his gaze down in his cup. “Well, I guess since you told me your past. It would only be fair for me to do the same.” he said softly, slowly looking back up in his girlfriend’s eyes delicately. Jasmine returned the gaze into his eyes, her eyebrows furrowed as if showing she were confused already.
So Lanh told Jasmine about what happened when he was a kid. About how his father got lost at sea when he was just seven. And how his mother would join the search and rescue team, going days and nights without seeing Lanh again. He told her how his fathers boat was found, but as soon as the search and rescue team were about to relay the mission, a storm hit them, causing the boat to sink them all, leaving Lanh alone in an orphanage soon after that dreadful day. “And ever since then, I’ve had thalassophobia; fear of the ocean.” he finished telling her, returning his gaze back at his treat, but not bothering to finish it.
Jasmine’s face hasn’t changed at all throughout the story she was told. It stayed still, and full of worry. She was speechless you could say, for a short moment after Lanh finished. “Lanh, I...” she started, looking down with a soft sigh, and biting her lip after.
Lanh however, managed to pull up a smile to his face and reach across the table to grasp onto Jasmine’s hand warmly. “It’s okay. Now we know more about each other.” Jasmine felt a tear trickle down her cheek unexpectedly, and squeezed her grasp of Lanh’s hand so slightly. “Jasmine....” he started saying again, getting Jasmine to lift her head up to face him again, her eyes still filling up with water. “We’ll get through this. I promise you. As long as I’m your boyfriend, nothing will come between us. Nothing bad will ever happen to us.”

[Tori]

Chapter Five. --- Last Chance for One Last Dance.

“Jasmine Fosterling.” As Jasmine’s name was soon called, a part of her inside just wanted to die and go to heaven. This was just way too overwhelming for her to handle. She closed her eyes for a moment and took a few deep breaths before stepping up the very few steps to the stage, shook hands with the man, and gratefully took the rolled up parchment that was handed to her and returned to her seat, not even aware of the great amount of applause and cheers coming from her section of the bleachers. Today, Jasmine is a college graduate.
“Congratulations Jas!” said Lanh first, Jasmine’s long-time boyfriend of three years. He was the first to run up to congratulate Jasmine, giving her amorous hugs and kisses just before the rest of her friends and family showed up behind him. They too congratulated her like no other. Her father, Toni, gave her a hug as well, kissing her on her forehead like the proud father he was. While Autumn hadn’t left neither Jasmine’s or her now fiance’s side.
“Congratulations sis.” Autumn said herself, getting her fair share of hugs as well. “You’re going to come to my graduation too, right?” she suddenly asked, slipping out a small giggle and a light blush splashed on her cheeks.
Jasmine laughed with her, “Are you kidding me? Of course I’ll come to yours, Autumn! I wouldn’t miss it for the world!”
Autumn blushed harder. She certainly hadn’t changed much like Jasmine had. Still shy, still a bit of an introvert, and clingy to her fiance at times. But becoming more independent. Unlike Jasmine, who has gained more confidence than ever before, was braver, didn’t take crap from anyone to her or her family, and she was smarter. Well, considering she’s taken up another new language as well as improved on many of her fashion designs.
For the rest of the day then, was about Jasmine, and Jasmine only. There was much chatting, laughing and just all together having fun. Especially when the kids decided to jump in on the adults conversations.
“Ahhhhh!!!!” called out the first child. One of the Katie’s four year old twin boys, Kyle. “I’m gonna get youuu!!!!”
“Noo!” cried out the other twin, Connor, who was trying to get away from him, dodging each person he nearly ran into, until he suddenly got swooped up in his own mother’s arms. “Mommy!” he cried, immediately climbing all over her body, trying to keep away from Kyle who was nearing to a stop at his mother’s feet.
“Oh. Hi mommy.” he said as innocently as possible.
Katie narrowed her eyes at him, that clearly spoke a warning to him. Kyle then ran back to the group where Jasmine was with Autumn, Max, David, and his cousins.
Arielle, Max’s almost three year old daughter, was the first to notice Kyle join in. “Kyle!” she squeaked a smile out, clapping in his sudden appearance.
“What did you do now, Kyle?” piped in the five year old diva, Brooklyn, or David’s daughter. “Why don’t you be nice to Connor for once. Or to anyone, really.” she mocked. Kyle, like usual, ignored his cousin, and continued laying across the carpet, making funny faces at his newest cousin Matt, in Max’s arms, as well as possibly plotting his next troublesome scheme.
During the end of the get together, David and Max were getting ready to leave back to their apartment with the kids, and Lanh had to leave soon anyway to his own family. Just after Lanh left though, and just before Max and David were leaving, Toni called everyone back in the living room for one last present for Jasmine. Jasmine, for once in a long time, started blushing. “Dad...” she muttered, shaking her head subtly. “Dad, you don’t have to. Really.”
Toni laughed, unlike everyone else, who just stood there just as confused as Jasmine. “This particular present,” he started saying, walking backwards to the counter, picking up an envelope and holding it up for all to see, “just came in the mail. Yesterday.”
The whole room went wide-eyed, especially Jasmine, who stepped forward slightly, trying to get a better look at the strange envelope. “What is it?” she couldn’t help but ask.
“Well..I don’t know what it exactly says inside, but.....” he extended his hand out to Jasmine, “I’m sure its something great.” he smiled to his daughter, watching her hesitantly take it, and open it anxiously.
Reading only two or three of the lines written down, Jasmine threw her head back up to her family in amazement. “I made it!” she shouted enthusiastically, with most of her siblings tried either scooting closer to look at it themselves or shout something like, ‘What? Made what?’ “I’m...” Jasmine looked down at the letter her shaking hands were holding before looking back up to her family in excitement. “I’m going to Japan.” she said softly at first, before shouting louder, “I GOT AN INTERNSHIP! I’M GOING TO JAPAN!”
The next few weeks were definitely exciting for Jasmine. In fact, not even a week after she got her internship, Lanh had asked her to move in with him! The only thing that was bringing her down though was, Jasmine never actually told Lanh about the internship. She had meant to, but what with all the excitement with her family congratulating her and having many dinners people had asked to take her out to, it sort of slipped her mind.
Jasmine promised herself that on her next date with Lanh, she would most definitely tell him about it. About how she would have to live in Japan for two years.

☼

A month later, Jasmine had finally gotten moved and situated with Lanh in their own tiny apartment. And while Lanh was away, Jasmine guessed helping his family with something, she received an unexpected text from him.

Will be home no later than 6. But do me a favor baby...put on something nice. Got a surprise for you ;)

Jasmine took a minute to reread the text over and over again. Put on something nice? Whenever Lanh sent a text to Jasmine saying something like this, he usually meant he had reservations or something. But what was the surprise? Jasmine was surely baffled at this.
However, she did as she as she was told, and got ready. She took a quick shower, dried and styled her hair in her usual curls, did her make up and nails, and slipped on one of her date dresses. One of which she made herself.
At about 5:45pm Jasmine received another text from Lanh. This one saying:

Meet me at coble fine dining. Youll get your surprise there. <3

Again, Jasmine stared at the message for a little bit before tucking it back in her purse and grabbed her keys and headed out the door to her car. Before she left however, she looked at her phone once again, rereading the texts her boyfriend had sent her. “How big of a surprise is this?” she asked herself, putting her phone back in her purse and backed out of the driveway at last, heading towards the restaurant.
The place looked deserted at first. Except for a car or two plus Lanh’s motorcycle parked outside the entrance. “What is this?” she asked herself again, more confused than ever before. But she did trust him, so she checked her hair and makeup once more before sliding out of the car, and slowly making way to the entrance.
Jasmine had only taken two steps into the dark restaurant before lights started clearing up at a piano nearby. Jasmine’s eyes widened, and lit up even more when she saw Lanh himself sitting at the piano and looking back at his beautiful girlfriend with tears filling in her eyes. “Lanh..?”
Lanh didn’t say anything though. Instead, he put his finger up to his lips telling her to not say another word, and then, he placed his fingers on the keys, and began playing. It didn’t really surprise Jasmine too much that Lanh surprised her with a song on the piano. But what did surprise her, was when he suddenly started to sing the song.
During the song, Jasmine stood there, speechless, and with water quickly forming in her eyes which then fell down her cheeks. Just his voice. Not just the words. But hearing his voice, like this, meant so much to her. Here and Now. She heard him sing out repeatedly as he reached the end. She opened her mouth again when he had finished, but was caught up with the moment that she almost missed him slowly walking up to her with such grace, and bent down to the floor on one knee while pulling out a little black box from the inside of his jacket pocket. Jasmine’s hand was now trembling over her mouth, tears of bliss running down her cheeks still. And, as a greater gasp come out of Jasmine’s mouth, Lanh opened the box, keeping his gaze in her tear stained eyes, and asked softly, “Jasmine. Will you marry me?”
Again, Jasmine’s mouth remained open slightly, but no words were able to come out for another moment. She flickered her eyes from the ring back to Lanh’s eyes, to the ring and back to his eyes again. Finally, after a moment of hesitation, she was finally able to let out, in barely a whisper, “Yes.” More tears fell down her cheeks as her smile grew into a wide toothy grin. She watched carefully as he took the ring from the box and held on to her already shaking hand, and slowly slid the ring on her delicate little ring finger. And again, Jasmine was speechless. Although she did manage to choke out the words, “Oh Lanh.” after a sniffle, “I love you.” And immediately wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing all over his face repeatedly. She had nearly forgotten what she wanted to tell him in the first place. But she knew, in the back of her mind, that she would have to tell him about the internship soon.
As soon as the whole emotion fest was over with, or at least calmed down a bit, Lanh led Jasmine over to their special table which had already been lit with candles all around followed by flowers and spot lights and such. “This is so beautiful.” Jasmine finally said. Her smile hasn’t faded at all since she walked through the doors of the restaurant. Every once in a while, Jasmine couldn’t even help but glance down at the silver ring on her finger, smiling even wider at the thought that she would be getting married sooner than she had hoped.
“I’m glad you’re enjoying your surprise.” Lanh said simply with a smile just as wide shooting back to her.
That’s when Jasmine soon realized they didn’t have menus with them. “Um, Lanh?” she asked, already looking around. “Where’s our menus? We are eating here, aren’t we?” she asked again, looking back at Lanh with the most questionable look on her face.
Lanh couldn’t help but laugh slightly. “Actually...I took the time to order our food beforehand. It should be coming any second now.”
Jasmine simply tilted her head at the answer given. But sure enough, the food was indeed on its way out, being carried by several waiters and waitresses. It was like being in a palace to Jasmine, she was a princess and these were her servants. There was no way she could say no to all of this. So she smiled back at each one of the waiters handling their food and beverages, and thanked them before they headed back to the kitchen again. “Wow.” was all she could say, glancing back at Lanh with wide eyes. It was practically a buffet mixture of Mexican and Vietnamese food. Both of which Jasmine loved!
They were in the middle of their meal, enjoying each other’s company, when it suddenly dawned on Jasmine. She had nearly forgotten about her own news for Lanh! “Hey, Lanh?” she started out, wiping her napkin over her mouth before continuing. “I almost forgot, I have some news to tell you too.” Lanh’s face moved in a more curious look now, eager to know what Jasmine had in store for him. “Actually, I think it’d be best if I just show you.” she wiped her hands on her napkin again before digging in her purse pulling out a folded piece of paper. She handed it over the table to him, anxious to know what his reaction will be.
Lanh wiped his mouth as well, before grabbing the slip he was handed. He unfolded the paper cautiously, careful to not rip or wrinkle it in any way than it already was. And, just as Jasmine had expected, it took Lanh only the first two sentences to realize what the big news was. He looked up at Jasmine wide-eyed in excitement. “That’s great, Jas!” he reread the paper once more before handing it back to her gently. “I’m so proud of you!” It didn’t take Lanh long then until he realized the new look on Jasmine’s face. “Japan’s pretty far, though. I mean, don’t get me wrong. I’m really happy for you. I really am. It’s just....” he looked down at his plate before glancing back up with a worried face. “I’m gonna really miss you.” he bit his lip.
“I’m gonna miss you, too.” was all Jasmine could say at the moment, her eyes turning into worry as well. “I’ll come down for the holidays though.” she said reassuringly, both for Lanh, and herself. “And once you graduate, you’ll be able to come visit me...right?”
“Are you kidding? Of course I will!” Lanh’s voice changed then from worried to excitement in a matter of seconds. “Jasmine,” he continued on, reaching over to her hand, “I said this once, and I’ll say this again. Nothing will come between us. Not even fuckin’ Japan.” he chuckled over the last part, figured they could both use some good cursing humor about now.
Jasmine giggled as well. Lanh was right. She knew he was. After all, its not like they would never get to talk to each other again. They still had their phones, and texting, and even facebook. This was no where near the end of the world. This was a new beginning. A newer, better beginning Jasmine thought. “I love you, Lanh.”
“I love you too, Jasmine.”

[Tori]

Chapter Six. --- Nothing Can Stop Me Now.

”You are worthless. Who would want someone like you? You, are just a stupid, helpless, little girl.” “No I’m not!” Jasmine squeaked, for she was just a little girl again. “I’m much smarter, stronger, and braver now.” she continued to speak, only to have the man before her begin laughing cold-heartily again. “Stupid girl! You’re weak! You are nothing! Nothing! Ha!” Jasmine began to tear up just then, but not because of sadness, no. This was her anger getting ready to burst. “NO! I AM SOMETHING! I AM SMARTER! AND STRONGER AND BRAVER! JUST WAIT AND SEE! I’M GOING TO JAPAN AND GETTING MARRIED TO THE ONE I LOVE! AND NOT EVEN YOU CAN STOP ME FROM MY SUCCESS!” Again, the man laughed mercilessly. “You stupid girl. You really think that stupid boy loves you? He doesn’t.” Jasmine felt her heart pounding more than ever now. “He doesn’t love you,” his grin widened viciously, “You really are stupid, aren’t ya? He’s using you...he doesn’t love you....” his voice started fading out in echos just then. “He never loved you. Not like me. You’re useless....you’re worthless....” The farther away the voice got the more Jasmine tried chasing after it, just wanting to get her revenge. Just then, a voice, a different voice, called to her. “Jasmine...Jas? Jasmine, wake up. You’re having a nightmare.” Jasmine couldn’t come out of it though. She was still too occupied searching for that cruel voice that had vanished long ago.

“NO!” Jasmine screamed out, her body now sitting upright drenched in sweat, and Lanh laying beside her, trying to pull her close against him again.
“Jasmine, it’s okay. You’re alright. It was just a dream.” he said again, this time achieving his goal of pulling her back over him, which didn’t take much considering Jasmine practically flew back to Lanh, with tears running down her face.
“Lanh! Oh, Lanh...it was--it was awful! It---it was him again. I tried fighting back, I really did. H-he just wouldn’t quit. I-I didn’t know what to do! Lanh...please--please make it stop. I don’t want this to happen anymore.”
Lanh could understand Jasmine’s rambling. He pulled her closer and tighter into his warm body and rocked her gently while rubbing her back soothingly and kissed her gently. “It’s alright, Jas. It’s over now. I’m here.” he really didn’t know much else to say than that. But he figured it was just enough because Jasmine started calming down bit by bit. He continued rocking and stroking her gently. “Baby...” he started to say, but Jasmine looked up at him all teary eyed, which made him stop.
“Wha-what if the nightmares continue in Japan? Y-you won’t be there. Lanh...I-I won’t last. Please...please come with me to Japan.”
Lanh frowned. “Baby...you know I wish I could. But I have school here.” he kissed her gently on the forehead. “Besides....you’ll be fine. You won’t completely be alone. I’ll have my phone on me at all times, so you’ll be able to contact me whenever you like.” he moved his hand up to her wet face, stroking her cheek gently with his thumb. “It’ll be fine. And I promise to come visit you during the holidays. How’s that?” he kissed her lips softly.
Jasmine closed her eyes during that soft kiss, then reopened them again with her frown still in place. “It won’t be the same. It won’t be the same during the nights where I curl up next to you. Or when you whisper you love me in my ear every night before I go to sleep. And..you won’t be there to comfort me when I have another nightmare like this. It just won’t be the same.”
“I know sweetheart.” Lanh’s frown came back to his face, realizing that Jasmine was right. It won’t be the same. “We’ll make this work though, alright?” Jasmine nodded subtly before lying her head back on Lanh’s chest. He stroked her head gently and gave her a sweet kiss on her head before whispering in her ear. “I love you, Jasmine.” and they both fell back asleep for the rest of the night till morning, peacefully.

☼

After that rough night, Jasmine and Lanh had slept in till nearly noon. Lanh was the first to wake, and had tip-toed out of bed so as to not wake up Jasmine, went to the bathroom, and headed out in the kitchen to get a late breakfast ready for the two of them. He figured he’d wait till Jasmine was ready to wake on her own. She needed all the rest she could get right now.
“Lanh...?” Jasmine moaned, stretching her arms out above her before tiredly rubbing her eyes awake only to find that Lanh wasn’t where she’d expected him to be. “Lanh?” she called in a soft voice. She shrugged her shoulders, and went about her business to the bathroom before heading out to the kitchen herself.
Lanh had just been spreading some butter on two pieces of toast by the time he noticed Jasmine. “Oh. Hey there, sleepyhead.” he smiled warmly, leaning over to give her a peck on the lips before grabbing the two plates in front of him and carried them over to the table setting Jasmine’s in her usual spot. “Sleep alright?”
At first, Jasmine’s eyes lit up as soon as the smell of her breakfast passed her nostrils, and she followed it to her spot at the table. “It was okay. Much better dreams after that horrible nightmare, that’s for sure.” she shrugged.
Lanh gave her a gentle smile before heading back to the fridge to pour some orange juice for the both of them next. He handed her her drink with gentle care, as he sat back down in his seat again. “Well, that’s good.” he took a sip of his drink before grabbing a strip of bacon off his plate and taking a bite out of that next. “So, anything you might want to do today? Besides, pack that is...”
Jasmine had to think long and hard about that. What was it did she want to do today? It was her last day before she left to Japan. Her last day with Lanh till who knows when. She wanted this day to be special. Special. That was it. Jasmine knew exactly what she wanted to do today. “I think I have an idea of what we could do today.” she said simply. Lanh raised his eyebrows while chewing his meal at this statement, wondering what her idea was exactly.
“Jasmine, are you sure about this? You know, we don’t have to do this if you don’t think you’re ready.” Lanh tried explaining to Jasmine, who seemed to have ignored his question and instead continued to comb her fingers through his hair, with her legs wrapped around his body while laying on top of him in their bed.
“I’m sure.” she said simply, kissing down his neck delicately, with her hands trailing down to the rim of his pants, with even more ease and hesitance, and her breathing shaking even more with nervousness.
As much as Lanh wanted to reject all of this even after attempting to push Jasmine away gently, she still insisted on continuing with their actions in bed. So, he went along with it, and followed Jasmine’s movements, kissing as she did, undressing when she did, and as soon as they were both in the momentum, Lanh entered inside Jasmine.
About an hour or so later, Lanh laid flat on his back, his arms outstretched around Jasmine as she was curled up against his side resting her head against his bare chest. Lanh began stroking against Jasmine’s arm up towards her cheek as he laid a gentle kiss on top of her head. Jasmine looked up at Lanh just after the kiss, smiling up at him gratefully. “Thank you.” was all she could say, and kissed the top of his lips softly.
Lanh smiled back, giving a slight nod in return before saying, “Love you, Jas.” and pulled her in tighter against his chest.

☼

It felt like the rest of the week went by so slow for Jasmine. Packing, packing, kissing Lanh, packing, going out with Lanh, packing, sleeping with Lanh, and more packing! Luckily she would be able to get a few naps in on the plane ride to Japan. But at the same time, she just hoped she didn’t have any nightmares while she was away, let alone on the plane ride there. After saying her goodbyes to Toni, Autumn and all her other friends and family, Lanh volunteered to drive her out to the airport. Not surprisingly, the car ride there was awkwardly quiet. By the time they got there, Lanh parked the car and did his thing with opening Jasmine’s door as well as helping her with her luggage. Even then, the only thing Lanh got out of Jasmine was either a smile or a small “Thank you.”
Finally, as Lanh and Jasmine were saying their own goodbyes in hugs, Lanh was the first to break the ice in actual words. “Have a safe flight, baby.” It wasn’t much, but by his tone, it showed how much he would miss her. This made Jasmine cling onto Lanh even tighter than before, her tears finally escaping her eyes and falling down her face and onto Lanh’s shirt. “It’ll be fine, Jas. Call me as much as you want. As much as you need.”
Jasmine nodded, her throat starting to clog up as she could barely breath now. “Wha--what...what if I have nightmares again? You won’t be there, Lanh.” she cried out, her arms wrapped around his neck with their bodies pressing together as closly as they could get.
“Like I said, Jas. Call me. Even if its midnight all the way over here. Even if I’m stuck in the middle of class. I’ll always make time for you.” he stroked his fingers up across her cheeks, wiping her tears away with his jacket sleeve as she gave another sniffle.
“You promise?”
Lanh grinned wider, kissing her forehead lightly before replying back in a whisper, “I promise.” and he kissed her lips next. Which must of calmed her down a little bit considering she kissed him back, with a bit more passion and pressure into it.
The next thing they knew then, an announcement was made saying the next flight to Japan would be leaving in no less than twenty minutes. Jasmine’s eyes hadn’t left Lanh’s once. Who knew when they would see each other again, face to face. “Come on, I’ll help you check-in your bags.” Lanh finally said, kissing her nose once more before grabbing her bags and headed towards the check-in before saying their last minute goodbyes again.
Saying goodbye to her family was hard enough for Jasmine, but to say goodbye to her fiance....that was heartbreaking. Even if he told her numerous times to call her whenever she pleased, even if it was ten times a day, he would accept it. But like Jasmine kept telling him in return, it wouldn’t ever be the same than actually being together in person. And it was true. Lanh agreed that much.
So while on the long airplane trip, instead of sleeping like most people were doing, Jasmine sat there, twiddling her phone in her hands and stared out the window. She glanced at her phone a few times which was turned off momentarily until the pilot allowed phones to be turned on again. She bit her lip. She wanted to call Lanh already, just to hear his voice. She didn’t want to fall asleep for fear of having nightmares on the plane. So she tossed her phone in her bag in the empty seat next to her and pulled out her Japanese handbook she and Hiroshi read together so as to improve her accent and vocabulary on the language. She whispered and mouthed each of the words slowly to herself to make sure she was saying each one perfectly.
After hopping off one plane to transfer to the next, Jasmine got to the end of the book within an hour to spare before she arrived in her destination. She put her book back in her bag and pulled out her phone once again, fiddling with it again, wondering when she’ll be able to call Lanh again. She had been able to talk to him in between flights, but it was one call too short before her second plane was ready to board passengers. She just wished he would of been able to come along with her. Then again, she did want him to get his education and finish his years in college. There was just no possible way that she could get everything she wanted at this point in time. After all, she was more than thrilled that she had gotten an internship to one of the greatest fashion industries in Japan! She just wished she had someone to share this excitement with while all the way across the country.

▬▬▬▬▬☼▬▬▬▬▬

After three months of living in Japan, not only has Jasmine found it beautiful in every way, she’s also improved so much on the Japanese language. It’s helped her so many times whether its directions, or striking up good conversations with others. And although she’s been missing Lanh dreadfully, she’s been trying to not let that stop her. She’s still been getting a hold of him on her phone, texting and calling, even facebooking sometimes. Unfortunately, it wasn’t as much as she hoped it would be due to how much work she had to put in at her internship. It was worth it though, it was definitely worth it.

”Mom?” Jasmine found her shaking her dead mother on the kitchen floor, trying to wake her up from her dead sleep. “Mom, wake up.” Tears began streaming down her cheeks faster then. “Come on, mom. Don’t leave me. Not now. I need you.” she sobbed harder. “What have I told you, stupid girl?” said a familiar voice, causing Jasmine to perk her head back up from her mothers chest. “She won’t wake up. She never will. Why do you keep trying?” he said again, only making Jasmine more furious now. “How could you?” The man laughed. “How could I? I don’t know what you mean....” he got closer to Jasmine’s face, showing his own face in the light finally. “She deserved it.” he smirked at her, his nose just inches away from hers. “Face it. If it wasn’t for you...your precious mother could still be alive. It’s too bad too...cause then you would of never met that idiot you call a boyfriend.” Jasmine felt steam rising up in her head now. She practically exploded on him when she shouted back, “It wasn’t my fault! And don’t you dare call Lanh an idiot! He’s the one that got me up on my feet to begin with! In fact, if it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t be able to stand up to you to begin with! He’s the one that got my courage back! He’s the one that really cares about me! And he’s the one that I’m going to marry!” Again, the man, known as her father, laughed, not seeming the least bit intimidated. “Please....You haven’t even slept with him yet..” he scoffed, moving his hand through Jasmine’s hair seductively before having it swatted away again. “What have I told you, Jas? He doesn’t love you...not like I do anyway....” Jasmine backed away slightly from him. “Love me? You raped me. You’re the one who forced yourself into me!” she felt her anger rise again. “You don’t know what love is! You...” she got stopped by her father’s laughing again. That was really starting to annoy her now. “Come on, Jas.” he stepped closer to her, caressing his lips over hers as Jasmine cringed backwards. She wasn’t sure of what to do now. “You know you don’t mean any of that stuff....you know you...” he kissed her cheek just inches away from her lips, “love it. Love me.” “NO!” Jasmine pushed him away, attempting to run for it, but was too slow for her father. He grabbed a tight hold of her wrist as he pushed her against a wall, both his hands on her wrists now. Jasmine shook her head all over the place, as if that would help, but her father pressed his lips down onto hers forcefully, and pressed his body against hers. Somehow then, Jasmine had found the both of them naked, and her father was now forcing himself inside her yet again. It didn’t take much but a gasp of breath and a ear piercing scream to wake her up just then.

She woke with a start, her face and body full of sweat as she was gasping for air. She felt her body, looking under the covers, to be sure she was still fully clothed in her pajamas. She was of course, and as soon as she caught her breath, not even looking that it was three o’clock in the morning, she grabbed her phone off the dresser and immediately called up Lanh for comfort. “Lanh?” she said, as soon as his charming voice was heard.
“What’s up, Jas? I would of thought for sure you would be sleeping at this time.”
Jasmine swallowed a lump in her throat. “Yes. I would be...but.....”
That long pause worried Lanh even more then. “Sweetheart, what is it? Did you...did you have another nightmare?” He sort of figured that was it, what else could it be?
Jasmine nodded, even though she knew he couldn’t see her, she couldn’t get the words out of her mouth just yet. After taking a few more quick sobbing breaths, she replied back, “He was in it.” she knew Lanh knew what she meant, she didn’t even bother to explain who ‘He’ was. “Lanh...I tried to back him out of my dreams...I yelled and fought..but....” tears got in the way of her speaking again, and she couldn’t even finish her sentence.
However, Lanh didn’t need her to finish her sentence to know what she meant. “Jasmine...” even Lanh was trying to find the right words to comfort her. Jasmine knew that by the tone of his voice, and didn’t try to pressure him anymore to calm her down. She knew what he wanted to say. She knew he wanted more than anything to fly up there just to give her a warm hug, kiss her forehead, and tell her it was going to be okay. “Jasmine, I know we’re clear across the country, in completely different time zones and all, and I know I’ve repeated myself a million times before...but I’ll just say it a million and one times more. I love you Jas, and nothing, not even the ocean or even your father can come between us. You know I would do anything for you, right?”
Again, Jasmine nodded, and replied softly, “I know. I love you too, Lanh.” she sniffled, swallowing another lump in her throat. Even a few moments of silences on the phone was comforting Jasmine. Just as long as she knew he was there on the other line, she felt better already.
They were on the phone with each other for at least another half hour or so before Lanh had to leave to class. And of course, he offered to let Jasmine text him whenever she needed him, even if it was during class. He would return the text immediately, he cared that much. And that just made Jasmine’s night so much better.

☼

So after calling Lanh a lot more frequently than usual, December finally came. Which meant, Christmas was almost here. Which also meant, Jasmine would have the chance to ask Lanh to come visit her. It didn’t seem like she would be able to have much of a break while in Japan anyway, so why not have her boyfriend come to her? So after she got finished with one of her tasks, she headed back to her apartment and immediately called up Lanh. While the phone rang, Jasmine couldn’t help but look over at her engagement ring once more, as she always did whenever she was on the phone with her fiance. Lanh answered after the, probably fourth or fifth ring, and Jasmine’s eyes just lit up with excitement. “Hey Lanh! So, I was wondering when your winter break started. ‘Cause, well, I was hoping you’d be able to come up to visit me.”
Lanh grinned into the phone, before answering right away. “I’d love to come up there, Jas. And, actually, I just got on winter break today. I’ll see about coming up there by next week. Promise.”
“Really?” Jasmine’s eyes lit up even brighter at his answer. “Oh, awesome! I can’t wait to see you, babe. I miss you.”
“I miss you too, love.”
Suddenly Jasmine felt herself getting all choked up again. Not over anything sad or frustrating such as her nightmares she’s been having lately, but more so of excitement of finally seeing her fiance after so long. Yeah, things were finally starting to look up for Jasmine.

☼

“Three! Two! One! Happy New Year!” shouted the crowd of people surrounding the couple. Most of the crowd shouting in Japanese, while only a few were speaking English. And just as all the other couples began kissing one another, Jasmine and Lanh did just the same. Jasmine’s arms wrapped around her fiance’s, their lips pressing against each other hard, as if it were the very last(or first) kiss they would give each other. “I love you, Lanh.”
“I love you too, Jasmine.”
Just then, not even five minutes later, while they were heading back to Jasmine’s apartment, Jasmine felt an uneasiness in the pit of her stomach. A nauseous feeling. Lanh noticed this then, by the look on her face...the pain look on her face. “You think we should see if any hospitals are open?” Lanh asked worriedly.
Jasmine groaned once again, gritting her teeth while one arm was over her stomach and the other was wrapped tightly around Lanh. “I..I don’t know. I haven’t been feeling well all week. Maybe I’m just getting sicker.”
Lanh nodded, suddenly recalling Jasmine having uneasy stomach problems during the week he’s been there. “I think that’s a sign saying we should take you to the doctor’s then.” Lanh told her, steering her back around towards the local hospital just two blocks away.
After they signed themselves in, they were led into their room and not even ten minutes later, the doctor came in. Of course he had spoken nothing but Japanese, and Jasmine was the only one to understand and speak it. They had done many tests, and after getting the final results from the last few, the last sentence the doctor told her only made her eyes widen. “あなたが妊娠している.(You’re pregnant.)”
“What did he say, Jas?”
But Jasmine couldn’t bring herself to say anything except, “It’s just the stomach flu.” she glanced back to Lanh again, looking more serious.
Lanh just nodded, deciding to believe his fiance by the stern look on her face. He led her out of the hospital soon after Jasmine had asked the doctor a few more questions such as how far along she was. Turns out, she was two months pregnant. This worried her for sure now. She wouldn’t be able to hide this from Lanh for too long before the lump in her belly starts to show. She decided she would definitely tell him before he leaves. The day before he leaves. That way she could get enough time to gather her thoughts before spilling the beans.
Finally, after many deep thoughts and cuddles in bed with Lanh, Jasmine was finally ready to tell him. Or she thought she was anyway. She knew she had to though, since the next time she would see him she would be much bigger, and she didn’t want him to think she slept with some other guy or something. So during their breakfast, before Lanh had to leave to the airport, Jasmine perked her eyes up from her plate to Lanh’s eyes. “Lanh...there’s something I have to tell you.”
Lanh’s eyes grew worried now. “What is it?”
Jasmine bit back her lip, placing one hand over her stomach which was just barely starting to form a small bump. “Well, you remember when we went to the hospital? For my...stomach flu?” Lanh nodded. “Well...I wasn’t exactly telling you the truth then.”
“What do you mean? You’re not sick?” Lanh was really confused now. What was it that Jasmine was trying to tell him?
“Well....” Jasmine tugged at the bottom of her shirt then, as she started feeling pain shooting in her stomach again. “I’m...Lanh, I’m...pregnant.”
Lanh just sat there, staring at Jasmine, not sure of how to respond to that. He tilted his head slightly to the side, managing to open his mouth slightly, but only stutters came out.
“I’m sorry. I wanted to tell you at the hospital. But I was still in as much shock as you are now.”
Lanh remained silent, sucking on his bottom lip before reaching out for Jasmine’s free hand. “Jas...” he started saying, his voice still a bit shaky. He let out a sigh before continuing, as if that would help some. “Its true. I am in a lot of shock right now. I mean, I never would of imagined this would happen so suddenly.”
Jasmine looked back down at the hand Lanh was holding onto, tightening her grip slightly for support. “I know. I don’t think either of us were expecting this to happen so soon.” Jasmine bit her lip again, slowly looking back up in Lanh’s softened eyes. “The doctor said I was about two months pregnant.” she explained, Lanh giving a light nod in response.
After breakfast, the couple went ahead and got dressed before heading down to the airport for Lanh’s flight back to the states. “Lanh...” Jasmine started up again.
“Hm?”
“You think you could...um, not tell my dad or anyone about....me being pregnant?”
Lanh tilted his head again in confusion. “But...they’re just going to find out anyway, right? I mean, when you come back home with a large belly sticking out.”
“I know. I just...I want it to be a....surprise, I guess.” she shrugged. “I would rather have them all see it for themselves rather than having you tell them.” Lanh agreed with that. They both figured it would be kind of awkward, having the guy tell everyone that he knocked up his girlfriend. It was better for them to find out from Jasmine herself. Even if she wouldn’t really have to say anything for them to figure out what happened. “So...you promise?”
Lanh smiled, tilting her chin upwards with just two of his fingers. “I promise.” and he gently pressed his lips against hers. “Take care of that baby of ours, now. I love you.”
Jasmine giggled lightly, kissing him back. “I love you, too. And I’ll do my best to keep this little one safe.”
With that, the couple did their final kiss goodbye before Lanh disappeared onto the plane back home, and Jasmine was again left alone in Japan. Then again, she never really considered herself alone anymore.