Chapter 20 ~Jasmine~

"Smile! it's free therapy."

Iris's POV

"Aspen! Zander!" A feminine voice called out. I surveyed the living room for the source of the voice before a little girl probably between the age of six and seven years dressed in a snowflake patterned playsuit ran towards the boys. On seeing her, they both had huge smiles plastered on their faces.

I wasn't surprised at the look on Aspen's face but I was taken aback as I stared at Zander. I have never seen him smile like that before, I am so used to his emotionless face. He even has a one-sided dimple, he should really smile more.

Iris! You are staring like a creep.

Not that you weren't a creep before but stop making it obvious!

I snapped out of my mind conversation and stared at the scene in front of me. Aspen picked her up and showered her chubby cheeks with kisses as she giggled loudly.

"Aspen, Eww! stop." She giggled as Aspen glared at her playfully. I smiled at their cute display.

I finally noticed the resemblance between the two, they both had the same hazel eyes and she did look like the younger and cuter version of Aspen.

She will definitely be a heartbreaker when she's older.

She tried wiggling out of Aspen's arms, but Aspen laughed instead before placing her back on her feet. She ran towards Zander and he effortlessly picked her up and placed her on his hips as he kissed her forehead, making her smile.

She really had them wrapped around her tiny fingers.

"How's my little princess doing?" Zander asked tenderly as he tucked a lock of her brown hair behind an ear with his other hand.

"I am awesome, Nanny made blueberry muffins." She said excitingly and I laughed quietly. She seemed to have noticed my presence as she turned and stared at me.

After what seemed like forever but it was actually just a few seconds she spoke.

"Who is she?" She placed her small hand on the corner of Zander's ear in an attempt to whisper but we could all hear her and Aspen snickered quietly.

"She is our friend," Zander answered in the same manner as she did before.

I suddenly became flustered.

'She is our friend'. It echoed repeatedly in my ears.

Does he really consider me his friend? Nah, I don't think so, he probably said that, so the poor child won't think I am a serial killer.

"Really?" She questioned and Zander nodded and placed her back on the marble floor. She hid behind Zander's leg when she noticed I was walking towards her.

I took careful steps towards her and kneeled to her level.

"Hey, my name is Iris. What's yours?" I asked quietly. She looked up at both Aspen and Zander who gave her reassuring smiles and she turned back to me.

"My name is Jasmine." She answered shyly as she stared at her hands.

"That's a beautiful name, you know you remind me of Princess Jasmine in the Aladdin." Her head shot up as she smiled.

"I know that cartoon, and I like Jasmine, do you like Jasmine?" She asked with a huge smile and I couldn't help but smile back.

"Yes I totally love Jasmine and I love you already." I declared.

"Really!" She jumped excitingly and wrapped her small arms around my neck and I was taken aback for some seconds I looked up at the boys and they both had the same look as me.

I hugged her back and smiled. After a while, she slowly detached her arms from my neck with a huge smile plastered on her face.

"Aspen! Zander! can Iris play with us?" Her eyes sparkled with excitement as both Aspen and Zander stared with wide eyes.

Aspen cleared his throat and spoke. "Princess, Iris can't play right now. We have to do school work but I promise when I'm done we will watch something together." Aspen said tenderly as Jasmine pouted.

"Don't be mad princess, how about we go and have a taste of Nanny's blueberry muffins," Zander said which made her smile again.

"Let's go!" She exclaimed as she grabbed Zander's hands and ran to where the muffins were. I laughed and shook my head.

"Don't mind my little sis, I was really surprised she asked you to play and she even hugged you," Aspen muttered quietly with a look of surprise still evidence on his face.

"Wow! I guess y'all don't see that every day." I said and he nodded and was suddenly deep in thought.

He shook his head and forced a smile. "Anyways, let's get this stupid history project started." He scowled and I chuckled as we walked up the stairs to his study room.

We spent the next one-hour brainstorming and taking snacks breaks in between. After what seemed like an eternity we decided to stop for today.

"I don't even know why I'm offering history." Aspen groaned as he closed his laptop.

I chuckled. "Quit whining, we have gone quite far." I took another bite of the blueberry muffin.

God! this tastes like heaven.

"True!". He nodded.

"So, Aspen I have been meaning to ask you something," I said and he eyed me suspiciously but nodded giving me the go-ahead.

"What's up with you and Treasure?" I questioned.

He visibly went pale and avoided looking at me.

"Nothing." He gritted his teeth as he answered.

I raised my eyebrows and scoffed. "That doesn't seem like Nothing, anytime you two are in the same breathing space, there's an obvious tension."

"Look, it's complicated." He sighed and rubbed his forehead with both his right index finger and thumb.

"You are the one making it complicated, I don't know what happened between you two but you guys are my friends and I don't want to be caught between you two and I don't like that way you guys act like kids." I retorted.

"It's just hard and I don't think Treasure would want to speak to me." He frowned.

"Ugh! You two keep assuming, I asked her once and she said the same thing. I am very sure it's just misunderstanding and miscommunication that caused all these. It's obvious you both are hurting from whatever happened." I explained.

"I guess you are right." He inhaled sharply.

"Whatever it is, it's gonna be alright." I placed my hands on his palms and squeezed lightly.

Before he could say anything in return, the door burst open and Zander stared at both of us before looking at our joined hands. For a second, I saw a slight emotion flash through his eyes but he went back to his emotionless face. He clenched his jaw and walked into the room.

"Am I interrupting something?" Zander asked and motioned towards our hands and Aspen immediately withdrew his hands from mine like he was touching fire. I gave both of them a questioning look.

Aspen cleared his throat. "Nothing, we were just talking. We are done for today, right Iris?" Aspen said quickly and I just nodded my head.

"I guess I should get going then," I whispered and packed my stuff.

"Wait! I promised Chris that I will take you home safely." Aspen said and I shook my head.

"Don't worry, I can find my way." I retorted.

"Don't worry, I can take Iris home. Remember what you promised Jasmine." Zander said with gritted teeth like he was forced to make a sure statement.

"Oh right! Iris, I think you should let Zander take you home."

"Okay," I said.

"Great!" Zander whispered.

We walked out of the study room in awkward silence to the living room. As we step into the living room, I saw a giggling Jasmine running around while two maids breathlessly were trying to catch her.

"Jasmine, you need to take your medication." The older maid probably in her mid-fifties said breathlessly.

Jasmine stopped in her track as soon as she spotted us, her face lightened, even more, pulling the corners of her lips into a smile. She ran towards me and hugged my legs.

"Sir Aspen, I'm so sorry. We tried persuading her but she didn't want to take a medication." The other maid said apologetically and bowed her head.

"It's fine." Aspen sighed.

"Jasmine, you really need to take your medication." Zander pleaded and she shook her head.

"No! It always tastes like dead bugs." She scowled and held onto my legs tightly.

I knelt to her height and tuck a strand of hair behind her ears.

"Princess! you need to take your medication. If you don't you will be sick and that will make your brother sad. Don't you want to play with your big brother and Zander?" I said quietly and she had a look of guilt on her face.

"I don't want to make him sad." She whispered sadly.

"Good, so take this medication okay. Just close your eyes and imagine it tastes like ice cream and candies." I said and she nodded profoundly with a small smile.

I gestured towards the maid holding the tray containing her medications and a bottle of water. She stared at me for a second before looking at Aspen who just nodded, before giving me the tray.

My eyes widened as I stared at the tray. I suddenly understand the little girl's pain, there were so many drugs on the tray. It must really be scary. I wanted to ask Aspen why she was on such medications but I decided to shut my trap, it wasn't in my place to ask.

After persuading her to take all the drugs on the tray, everyone breathes out a sigh of relief.

The maids cleared everything and took her back to her room so she could sleep. I was surprised at how fast she suddenly felt sleepy.

Both Aspen and Zander suddenly started a quiet conversation. Being the curious girl, I tried eavesdropping but I couldn't hear a thing. After a while, Aspen walked both Zander and I to his car.

"Iris, thank you so much for everything," Aspen said.

"No problem." I shrugged.

"I don't think you understand, Jasmine is not someone that likes to talk to people, and as you can see she's kind of sick but I am grateful for what you did back there. For the first in a long time, she was actually free with someone else. So thank you once again." He smiled sadly and I walked up to him and hugged him.

"Dude, it's fine. I really like her though, so don't get jealous when she's getting all my attention." I joked and he laughed unwrapping his arms from me.

"Take care man," Zander said as both of them did the usual bro hug.

"You too, bye!" Aspen saluted as both Zander and I entered his car.

I inhaled the familiar scent of his car as I buckled my seat belt.

This is gonna be one long ride!

***

Hey, it's ibby again!

Quick question: What do you think is wrong with Jasmine?

Comment your thought, vote, and share.

Love ibby.