TAINTED (book II)

XXIX

Noah glanced at Jade as she struggled to finish her breakfast. Jordan had mixed up some pieces of her favorite fruits with her favorite flavor of yoghurt. Jade's cheeks resembled a munchkin's as she tried her hardest to swallow the food down. Had the circumstances been different, Noah would have made fun of her but now he just felt bad for his sister. Last night had been one of those nights again.

Noah reached a point where he wished he could have those nightmares instead, just so he could kick those monsters' butts and warn to them to stay away from his sister.

It wasn't that Jade wasn't hungry, she'd gladly eat the strawberry flavored breakfast but she just didn't have the energy. Even chewing was too much to ask. She could barely sit up straight, ready to drop. She seemed exhausted to do anything lately and it didn't go unnoticed by her brothers.

Noah poured some juice in her Mowgli cup and put it down near her bowl. "Drink," he told her gently.

Jade wordlessly grabbed the drink, taking a few sips at a time until her stuffed mouth was empty. She let out a tired sigh as if merely eating was hard labor. Swiping the back of her hand across her mouth, she put the cup back down but miscalculated the distance between her hand and table.

Noah jumped back just in time to avoid getting juice all over his clothes. Jade on the other hand, wasn't lucky. He caught her lips wobble into a pout and quickly jumped in.

"Hey, it's okay," he reassured her, grabbing a handful of paper towel. He dabbed her lap where most of the juice had landed. Her leggings had soaked up most of it though and there was nothing else to do but to get a change of clothes.

Noah looked up abruptly when he heard Jade suck in a shaky breath. "Jordan's gonna be mad," she whimpered. He had just gotten her dressed and ready for school.

"Don't be silly," he chided with a clique of his tongue. "It was just an accident. Accidents happen."

That didn't seem to put her at ease as she bit down a silent sob, rubbing her hand across her teary eyes.

"Did you two finish your breakfast?" Jordan asked as he emerged from his room, dressed for the day. He clasped his watch around his wrist as he took in the sight in front of him. "Aw, what happened?"

"Jade accidently spilled juice all over herself," Noah explained, still working to clean up as much as he could.

Jordan pulled Jade's chair back to examine the damage when he heard her sniff. He crouched in front of her and grabbed her forearm, soothingly running the pad of his thumb across her skin. "Hey, what's wrong? Why are you crying, sweetheart?"

Jade avoided his gaze when he searched her face. She kept rubbing her eyes in an attempt to hide her face.

Noah rolled up another bunch of paper towel to clean up the floor. "She thinks you're gonna be mad at her."

"Jade, look at me." Jordan lightly squeezed her arm for her attention. "I'm not mad at you, I promise."

His baby sister's chest shuddered as she suppressed another sob.

Jordan sighed. He grabbed her under her arms and lifted her up to set her on the floor. Grabbing both of her wrists, he lowered her arms so he could finally meet her gaze. His heart broke at the guilt-stricken expression on her little face. But he saw more than that. Those weren't just tears from feeling bad, those were emotional tears caused by a whirlwind of sentiments. Poor thing was just not herself anymore, she was tired, easily agitated and fed up with it all.

"Let's get you changed, huh?" he suggested softly, running a hand over the back of her head down to her back to show he wasn't angry with her.

Jade still didn't meet his eye but nodded timidly.