A/N: Warning - potentially triggering language ahead: references to self harm and mental illness. 

Since we're here, a great big thank you to Shooka24 as usual. You, my dear, are a lifesaver. Guys, you're so lucky she's my beta. My rough drafts are disasters.  

Special shoutouts to: nancynuggets and zan8901 for upvoting! Thank you guys! I really appreciate you!

As usual, keep up the comments, they are super awesome. I read them all!

I want to give all of you readers a great big hug: readers who comment and upvote as well as the silent readers. I love and appreciate all of you! Much love <3. 

Enjoy the chapter!

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    Jordan carefully sank down on the sofa, two mugs of frothy hot chocolate in hand. She set one down next to her open laptop on the coffee table before beckoning Chen over and handing the second mug to him. Taking the mug gingerly, Chen sniffed cautiously at his drink, eyes brightening at the sweet smell.

    Leaving Chen to his own devices, Jordan picked up her laptop. She wondered if YG had fixed their servers yet. She smirked to herself, highly doubtful that they had. Jordan may have been out of the hacking game for two years, but she would never forget her own coding patterns so easily. Pressing a few keys, Jordan poked around the website and databases, satisfied that things were in the exact chaos that she had left them. Snickering to herself, Jordan reached towards the hot chocolate, craving its taste on her tongue.

    Before she could grab a hold of the mug, Chen splayed himself across the couch, pushing the laptop off of Jordan’s lap and onto the cushions next to her, replacing it with his head. Jordan spluttered at the now basically-permanent distance between her hand and her hot chocolate. Chen grinned up at her, eyes curling at the corners.

    He’d obviously enjoyed the hot chocolate, Jordan noticed with amusement. There was froth on the corners of his mouth, and a bit of the whipped cream she’d added as an afterthought had wound up on the tip of his nose. With a long-suffering sigh, Jordan wiped away the whipped cream on his nose and the froth at the corners of his mouth with her thumb. Jordan glanced left and right, looking for somewhere to wipe her hands. Chen rendered her unable to move, and she really didn’t feel like wiping her hands on her clothes or the couch.

    What she didn’t expect was Chen to grab her hand and the tip of her thumb into his mouth. Jordan froze, eyes as wide as saucers, at the feeling of his tongue flicking across her skin. She attempted, and failed miserably, to ignore the scarlet heat that was itching up her neck and onto her cheekbones.

    Jordan tried, desperately, to take it as the innocent gesture she was sure it was. Chen didn’t react any differently, simply letting go when there were no remains of the hot chocolate left. He closed his eyes and nuzzled into Jordan’s side with a soft sigh. Jordan couldn’t relax, even when she felt the gentle vibrations of Chen’s purring.

    How long she sat there for, Jordan didn’t know. She could have sat there shell-shocked for hours for all she knew. But sometime during that time period, Chen fell asleep, breaths evening out and sending out warm puffs of air across Jordan’s torso. Jordan glanced down at him, a small huff of amusement rising up from her chest when she saw his nose twitch at something in his dream.

    Jordan couldn’t help but wonder if Chen was actually part wolf. Most things that she’d seen so far seemed to indicate that he was part cat. Or kitten, specifically. It certainly seemed that way, given his previous behavior. Cats their owner’s fingers if there was leftover food, right? Jordan was going to have to bank on that to normalize what Chen had done earlier.

    Her mind was in a whirlwind and Jordan didn’t like it. She scowled at the one responsible, poking gently at his cheeks with half-hearted annoyance. With a huff, Jordan gave up on the idea of moving for the rest of the day. Knowing how long Chen liked to nap, she bade goodbye to the circulation in her thighs and settled in for the long haul. She adjusted her askew laptop so it sat semi-precariously on the arm of the sofa and sorted through what information she could with one hand. With the other, she subconsciously circles against the nape of Chen’s neck.

    So the afternoon quietly passed, with only the soft clicks of the keyboard and Chen’s unconscious purrs keeping Jordan company. It wasn’t until Jordan’s stomach growled loud enough to stir Chen out of his slumber that the two quietly shuffled over to the kitchen to put together dinner.

    The next few days were wrought with snowfall, piling new layers of sparkling white on top of the already existing blanket. Jordan trembled with anxiety at just the thought of driving in snowy conditions. The full moon wasn’t due for another couple of weeks, but if winters were always like this, she wasn’t sure how she was going to handle the drive into the mountains.

    Snowfall also meant a lot of shoveling. Jordan regretted not shoveling after the first snowstorm. She and Chen’s footsteps had tamped down a layer, making the task more difficult than necessary. The first couple of times it snowed, Jordan shoveled the driveway herself while Chen gamboled in the snow drifts, rendering her legs sore and exhausted. The third time, Jordan taught Chen to shovel, and watched in awe as he cleared off the driveway three times quicker than she had, with seemingly minimal effort. She should have taken advantage of his heightened strength earlier.

    Most days, like today, Jordan retreated from the world and fiddled around on her laptop for most of the day. On occasion, she checked on Chen through the window; he sometimes went on gallivanting adventures in their snowbanks. His adventures were varied and awesome. Sometimes, he tunneled through the snowdrifts. Sometimes, he created massive snow towers. Sometimes, he simply leaped around to his heart’s content.

Jordan hadn’t given a thought to her neighbor, however, and felt a stab of guilt as she saw Sylvia struggle to open her front door, before she gave up and made a quiet retreat back inside. She heaved herself up from where she was currently sitting on the couch and headed towards the garage. Retrieving a shovel, Jordan opened the garage door and shuffled down the still-slippery driveway over to Sylvia’s. The weather was chilly enough for Jordan to realize she hadn’t brought a coat, but wasn’t cold enough for her to go back inside.

    With a sigh, she started shoveling, letting her thoughts wander as she did the methodical work.

    Sylvia’s driveway was more difficult, with all of the accumulated snow. Jordan could only take the snow layer by layer, because she couldn’t hand the weight if she tried to take it from the bottom.

    “Jordan, dear! That’s not necessary!” Sylvia’s voice cut off Jordan’s work. The old woman poked her torso out from the front door. “I can call someone from the next street down, he usually helps me.”

    “Don’t worry about it, Sylvia, I live right there, it’s the least I can do. You’ve delivered food so many times anyways.” Jordan replied. She sent Sylvia a good-natured salute before setting back to work.

    Soon, Jordan was glad she didn’t bring a coat; she was sweating bullets. To her dismay, she was only about halfway through the driveway, and still had to dust off Sylvia’s patio. She could still see the old woman peering out from behind the door.

    Jordan nearly leaped a meter in the air when she felt a tap on her shoulder. She whirled around, shovel raised, then slumped in relief when she saw the person responsible.

    “Chen! I thought I told you to stop doing that!” She gasped. Chen, of course, didn’t respond, only raising a skeptical eyebrow at the shovel. He rolled his eyes and grabbed the shovel before proceeding to shovel the driveway at the same unearthly pace as before. Jordan stood there, awestruck. When did Chen learn to roll his eyes? Did he learn that from her? Jordan could only mentally shrug, thankful that he had the foresight to put on clothes this time. He was learning.

    “Jordan, come on inside!” She heard Sylvia call. She glanced up and saw Sylvia who was beckoning her inside. Precariously stepping through the thigh-high snowdrifts, Jordan bounded over to the door and retreated with Sylvia into the warmth of the house.

    “Stronger than he looks.” Sylvia grunted, peering out the window at Chen. Jordan chuckled, nodding. “Call him in when he’s finished, I’ll prepare some food for you two.”

    “Oh, you don’t have to.” Jordan immediately protested. “We’re live right next door, this wasn’t any trouble-”

    “I don’t want to hear it!” Sylvia cut her off. “I insist.” Sylvia didn’t wait for Jordan to reply, and whisked off into the kitchen. For an old lady, she could move surprisingly fast when she wanted to.

    Chen finished the driveway in minimal time, quickly starting on the patio when Jordan gestured to it. When he finished, Jordan came out and took the shovel from Chen, leaned it on the side of the house and brushed the residual snow off of his clothes. Just to check, Jordan held a palm up against his forehead. She shook her head; no sign of a decrease in temperature.

    “I made hot cocoa!” Sylvia called. “My special recipe, it’ll heat you right up.” Jordan tugged on Chen’s sleeve and led them in. She glanced at his face to gauge his reaction, but he seemed uncommonly relaxed.

    Jordan noticed a large portrait on the wall of the living room. She could see a younger Sylvia, standing next to a stoic young man. Chen walked right up to the portrait, narrowing his eyes at the male figure.

    “That’s my late husband, Taekwoon.” Sylvia responded when she noticed him. “You remind me of him, actually. Eternally quiet.” She carried a tray in both hands and set it on the kitchen table. Jordan and Chen joined her there, taking a seat on the wooden chairs.

    “His name’s Chen.” Jordan told her.

    “Chen! What a nice name!” Sylvia handed him a cup, which he accepted. “Sounds like a bolt of energy, for some reason.”

    “He’s like that on occasion.” Jordan deadpanned.

    “Ah, well. My grandchildren are always like that. Imagine all of them in this tiny house. It’s a miracle the place isn’t shattered by the time they leave.” Sylvia chuckled, taking a sip. “Not that I don’t enjoy it; the chaos is always better than an empty house. It’s ironic, that the place is even quieter without TaekWoon. I do miss him. He didn’t talk much, but the house is too silent without him.”

    Jordan frowned in concern at the nostalgia in the old woman’s tone. It hit her, suddenly, that the grandmotherly exterior hid a lonely woman inside.

    Chen seemed to sense the diminished mood. Jordan noticed his gaze soften as he regarded her. When Sylvia asked him if he liked the cocoa, he simply smiled, one of the most brilliant ones she’d seen since they’d arrived.

    Chen seemed attached to the old woman. For the next few days, whenever it snowed, he would go over without being told to shovel her driveway. It didn’t matter how much snow fell, whether it be a meter or a centimeter, he’d show up at the bottom of her driveway with a grin, shovel in hand.

    Jordan suspected that the incentive of a well-made meal also drew Chen in. She could not bring herself to say that she was the best cook in the world. Chen probably couldn't resist Sylvia’s excellent home-cooked meals nor the motherly way she regarded him. Somehow, Jordan would end up at Sylvia’s house, regardless of whether or not she’d helped shovel the driveway. Despite the massive language barrier, Chen understood Sylvia's requests to bring Jordan over and dragged her away from her computer and brought her next door.

    Jordan gave the woman infinite respect. Sylvia never forced Chen to respond to anything, simply responding to his physical cues. His silence was filled with her chatter; the two were an interesting duo. During their “conversations”, Sylvia would glance over her shoulder and ask him for his opinion. Of course, he didn’t understand, but he grinned widely whenever they made eye contact. The response was enough for Sylvia and she would continue to talk with him.

    Jordan always regarded their interactions with a fond smile. The two found themselves joining Sylvia for lunch and dinner on several occasions, much to her delight. Jordan added the old woman’s number to her cell phone, which made the contact list an all-time high of five numbers: Sylvia and each member of the research team.

    But they couldn't infringe on Sylvia’s hospitality all the time, and Chen always held his true appetite back when they ate with her. Whenever they returned home, Jordan still had to prepare a pound or two of pasta or a bag of chicken nuggets to really fill him up.

    Predictably, they ran out of food again, until the only thing left in the refrigerator was a bag of brussel sprouts that Chen refused to even touch and two eggs.

    Jordan contemplated Chen, who was currently examining the back of the television, still set on finding the hidden figures.

    He could probably handle himself fine with other humans, if their numerous encounters with Sylvia were any indication. Jordan chewed on her lip, contemplating the question of if she should take Chen shopping with her.

    In the end, she decided to try it.

    “Chen!” She called, catching his attention. He carefully extracted himself from the cords coming out of the TV and walked over. “Coat. Shoes.” She said. Over the past couple of days, Jordan had taught him nearly everything in the house, expanding his vocabulary. Chen pouted at the prospect of putting on clothes, but slowly dragged himself up the stairs. Jordan rolled her eyes, and retreated upstairs to get her outerwear was well.

    When she got upstairs, she could see through the doorway that Chen was standing by the bedroom window. When she entered the room, he dashed up to her and pointed outside. She raised an eyebrow. Chen pointed to the two of them and then pointed outside.

    Oh, he figured out where they were going. Jordan nodded, and reached for her coat.

    Her motions were stopped, however, when Chen got to the coat first, and started rubbing it on the sides of his neck. Jordan froze, questioning the full grown man currently rubbing a coat against his skin. He sniffed at it, seemingly satisfied, and then approached Jordan. She backed up suspiciously, eyes wide. Chen gently cupped her jaw with his hands before rubbing the insides of his wrists against the sides of her neck.

    Jordan’s eyes flickered aimlessly back and forth. She had no idea what was going on. She stayed frozen until Chen stopped, sniffed at her, and then ran back downstairs.

    Well, that was weird.

    Jordan regretted bringing Chen to the store immediately after they stepped through the doors.

    For one, there were far more people than she thought would be at a supermarket in the middle of a weekday. Chen only had exposure to one old lady. And to be honest, she didn’t think that there would be more than the occasional person at this time.

    Secondly, Jordan was used to the sights and sounds of a supermarket. She forgot that everything would be so new to Chen. There were new sights, new colors, new sounds, new smells, there was so much that Chen was curious about. Immediately, Chen started to dash off in a random direction, deterred only by Jordan’s hand yanking down on the collar of his coat.

    Chen looked at her, a pout pursing his lips but Jordan wasn’t going to fall for it this time. She made him hold onto the cart, where she could always see him. She hated treating him like a child, but she was terrified at the potential consequences.

    For the most part, things went fine. Jordan ignored the odd looks they received when Chen sniffed at everything on the store shelves. She couldn’t care less what they thought at the moment. Jordan let Chen toss whatever he found interesting in the cart. She wasn’t sure what she was going to do with a - she checked the label - kiwano, but she knew how to navigate the internet, she could figure it out. They made their way through the produce and fruit section towards their last stop, the meat section. This was where Jordan was the most nervous, seeing at Chen got overexcited at the prospect of meat on the best of days.

    But Chen was oddly silent when they got to the meat counter, almost hiding behind Jordan when they approached the glass. Jordan glanced at him curiously, noticing how his vision flickered between the butcher and something behind him. Ignoring the way the butcher was waiting for her, she looked past him, and noticed the massive meat slicers that Chen was eyeing. Praying that he wouldn't cause a ruckus, Jordan requested what she wanted as quickly as possible. She heard the rustle of plastic, inferring that Chen was rifling through his selections in the cart.

    Once everything was wrapped and labeled, Jordan took the brown packages from the butcher and dumped them into the cart.

    “Alright, Chen. Time to go.” She muttered, wheeling the cart towards check-out, Chen trailing after her. There was only one register open, so she got in line, reaching behind her to tug Chen closer to her. Anxiously tapping her foot, Jordan pulled out her cell phone to check the time before looking forward again. She could feel Chen pulling a bit against her hold, and wished that the guy at the register could go just a bit faster. She heard an odd crunch sound out behind her, but was too preoccupied to investigate.

    “Excuse me, have you paid for that?” A voice boomed out from behind her. Jordan flinched, whirling around. Her eyes widened in horror when she saw the apple in Chen’s hands, with a bite taken out of it. “Excuse me.” The man pointed at the apple. “You have to pay for the merchandise first before you consume it.”

    Jordan struggled for words, but any sound got caught halfway up . When did he get a hold of the apple? Why did he eat it-well, Jordan had never told him he couldn’t eat anything.

    Chen, obviously didn’t understand, once he saw the manager point at the apple, he defensively held it closer to him, shaking his head.

    “Sir, do you understand me?” When Chen gave no response other than a wide-eyed look of apprehension, the manager got closer to his face, enunciating every word. “DO. YOU. UNDERSTAND. ME?” Chen flinched at the noise, glancing at Jordan for help. Finally, words came out and Jordan hurried to Chen’s side, pulling him behind her.

    “I’m sorry sir, he didn’t know. I’ll pay for it when it’s our turn at the cashier. I’m really sorry about that.”

    “How does he not know?” The manager shouted. “How does he not know how this works?”

    “He just isn’t aware-”

    “Isn’t aware? Is he retarded or something?” The manager spat. Jordan froze, a red haze very slowly floating across the corners of her vision.

    How dare he.

    “Excuse me?” Jordan asked, voice filled with steel. “What did you just call him?”

    “I just called him retarded. He’s an idiot. Do you have a problem with that?” Jordan resisted the urge to retaliate. She didn’t want to argue. An argument was going to get them nowhere, she knew that. She didn’t want to argue, she just wanted to get out. She just wanted Chen, who was watching the exchange with fear in his eyes, to get out, and not witness the hideous side of humanity.

    “Yes, I have a problem with that. That was completely unnecessary. I told you I would pay for it, and I will. You don’t need to verbally abuse your customers.”

“What, little girl, can’t handle a stern conversation? Are you worried that if I keep yelling at you you’re going to start cutting again?” The manager mocked. Jordan felt ice counteract the fire pouring through her veins and subconsciously tugged her sleeve down. “Yeah, don’t think I didn’t see that, you freak. I bet you were going to use some sob story to get out of paying for it anyways.”

Jordan took a deep inhale, temporarily stilling her shaking limbs. She ignored the heartbeat she could hear thundering through her eardrums. She felt a slight brush of blazing warmth against the inside of her wrist, hesitant fingertips brushing against her skin. Jordan instinctively held onto Chen’s hand, squeezing hard.

“I think you’ve made it perfectly clear that we’re not welcome here as customers.” She intoned, looking the manager straight in the eye. “So we’ll leave.” Jordan glanced down at his nametag. “But rest assured, Josh, after I leave this store, good luck keeping this job or getting any job for the rest of your life. You won’t get away with that kind of derogatory language again, not to mention your careless regard of mental illness.” Jordan rifled through her wallet, fished out a bill and shoved it into the manager’s chest. “For the ing apple.” She shoved the cart away and tugged on Chen’s hand, pulling until they were out of the store and into the parking lot.

Jordan didn’t remember sticking the key into the ignition, she didn’t remember driving back to the house. But she did remember fleeing into the house, collapsing against the wall next to the door.

Painful, wrenching sobs tore themselves from her chest. Jordan would like to say that she didn’t know why she was crying. But she knew.

She was so disappointed. She was so ing disappointed in everything.

The world had not changed in the two years she had been gone.

    She cried at the memory of a man who raised his voice and insulted someone who couldn’t say or do anything in his own defense. She cried at the memory of a man pointing and demeaning the scars of the worst moment in her life.

    She cried for the display of the utter lack of humanity that she had just witnessed.

    Jordan felt hands cup the sides of her head, gently tilting her face up. She met his eyes, eyes that reflected her sadness, but had another unknown emotion swimming in them. She hiccuped roughly and wiped at her cheeks, trying to bat his hands away.

    He removed his palms briefly, eyebrows tilting in concern. Jordan shook her head, chest still heaving. She curled her knees up to her chest and buried her face in her arms. She felt a light pressure against the back of her head before she felt Chen’s presence fade from the room.

    She couldn’t look at him. How could she look at him right after that heart-crushing show of prejudice and ignorance. How could she convince him to try to assimilate himself into human society when she was a part of the humanity that treated him so badly? How could he still even dream of comforting her?

    Jordan heaved herself up and walked towards the living room. Chen was curled up hesitantly on the couch, perking up as Jordan entered the room. She avoided looking at him, looking instead towards the windows. She needed to be away for a moment, away from Chen.

Quietly, Jordan turned back around, opened the front door and sat down on the front steps, oblivious to the cold cement. Sniffling, she wrapped her arms around her knees and contemplated her surroundings. She needed to vent but she had no outlet. She missed SeokJin. She missed having someone to talk to. All she had was a research team, and her neighbor. Jordan paused at the thought, eyes settling on the house next door.

She shouldn’t. Jordan knew that she shouldn’t impose like she was about to. But the possibility of a listening ear overrode her care for decorum, and Jordan soon found herself walking down the sidewalk towards Sylvia’s home.

    Sylvia was surprised when she found a teary-eyed Jordan on her doorstep. But the surprise didn’t hinder her grandmotherly instincts from leading Jordan inside and planting her onto the couch.

    “Hang on, darling, let me get you some tea.” She bustled into her tiny kitchen, pulling a mug out of a cabinet and searching for her special brew. Jordan sank deeper into the soft pillows of the couch, wiping the seemingly never-ending trickle of tears off her cheekbones. She glanced around the living room, finding comfort in the warm colors and soft textures that were symbols of the house that had so quickly become nearly a second home to her.

Jordan’s eyes settled on the little table in front of the couch that was covered in picture frames full of smiling faces. She’d never looked at the individual frames before, and leaned in closer to take them in.

“Here we go.” Sylvia hurried in, dragging Jordan’s attention from the photos. She held two teacups in one hand and a teapot, clad in a tea cozy, in the other. She scooted a couple of pictures frames to the side to make room before pouring the tea out. “This was Taekwoon’s favorite tea. I was saving it for a special occasion, but this seemed appropriate. He always drank it when he needed calming down.” She sat down next to Jordan, handing a cup to her. “Now, what sends you running to an old lady like me? Who wronged you, darling?” Jordan shuffled, sinking further into the couch.

“Not me, per say.” Jordan croaked. “Just,” she cleared . “I forgot how mean people could be.” Jordan took a sip, nose slightly clearing with the soothing scent. “I took Chen to the store and just-” Jordan tried to clear the lump in , “He did something wrong. People didn’t understand, and they didn’t give me the chance to give an explanation.” Jordan felt the pressure behind her eyelids building. “I’m trying so hard to not get frustrated with him. I never explained to him that what he did was wrong, and I can’t expect him to know. I can’t be mad! I just don’t know what to do. I’m so angry with myself right now-”

“Jordan,” Sylvia laid a hand on Jordan’s ankle. She turned towards her, but seemed to reconsider and faced back forwards again. She reached forward, gently picking up a small picture that was dwarfed by the larger frames. She handed it to Jordan, who scanned over the familiar face. “That’s me and TaekWoon.” Sylvia murmured.

Sylvia did not look much different in real life. In the photo, her hair was an inky black, not dotted with slivers of grey and white. Her face was devoid of wrinkles and divots, instead smooth with youth. But her smile was familiar, as was the light shining from her eyes. The man next to her was beaming, unlike his aloof portraiture hanging on the wall. It changed his entire demeanor, transforming him into someone warm and bashful.

“TaekWoon never did talk much. Sometimes he could go an entire day and say five words total. We knew each other since childhood, so I was kind of used to it. I chattered enough for the two of us, as it was.” Sylvia cleared . “But other people were never so forgiving. People called him autistic, said that he had problems, threw slurs at him. They didn’t realize that that his quietness was just a part of him.

“When he asked me on a date, in his quiet, quiet way. I was over the moon; he actually talked to me first!” Sylvia chuckled to herself, a smile twitching at . “But later in our relationship, things weren’t always nice. Fights were inevitable and they were difficult. I would be frustrated because he would just walk away, and he was frustrated because he could never express himself correctly.” Sylvia leaned back, turning to look at Jordan.

“Look at me rambling again. My point is: a major part of a relationship is acknowledging that both sides struggle. You are frustrated. And I’m willing to bet that Chen is frustrated that he can’t express himself to you. But make sure you understand this, Jordan. You are both allowed to be frustrated, because you both are facing problems you didn’t expect to encounter. All you can do is communicate in your own way.”

In the back of her head, Jordan wanted to strike down the parallel that Sylvia seemed to have drawn. But Jordan didn’t feel like telling Sylvia that she and Chen weren’t in a relationship. She had a feeling Sylvia wouldn’t believe her anyways. She shoved the thought to the side, thankful that she did feel better, slightly calmed by Sylvia’s story.

“I’ve been ... away for two years because I tried doing something good.” Jordan phrased slowly, trying not to reveal too much. “But nothing’s really changed. Humans are just as cruel as they were before; I just really wished that Chen didn’t have to bear witness to it.” Sylvia sighed, patting Jordan’s cheek.

“I’m not going to ask where you’ve been, Jordan. You’ve got pain in your eyes no child should have. I’ve seen that from the start.” She leaned in closer. “But it seems that Chen does seem to bring a certain sunshine to your life, no matter what the other people say. First let that light seep in, then face the darkness outside.”

Jordan approached the front door of the house, her shoulders lighter than before. She paused before twisting the doorknob, not knowing what to expect when she walked through the doorway. She doubted that Chen had gone to bed, not with the way she’d walked out the door unannounced. With a sigh, Jordan pushed open the door.

Immediately, there was a scuffle and Jordan saw Chen enter her field of view. He darted up to her, brushing his hands against her face and shoulders, almost as if he was checking her for injuries. Jordan caught one of his hands with hers and squeezed softly, sending him a small smile. She let go and turned to head upstairs.

She walked straight past the bathroom, wanting only the sweet solace of the feather comforter. Even though she was feeling better, the day needed to end. Jordan nudged the bedroom door open with her hip, changed into sleeping shorts and a t-shirt, and unceremoniously collapsed on her bed.

Jordan immediately relaxed into the feeling of soft fabric against her skin, yanking the comforter up to her chin. She gathered her bearings, targeting the positives in her immediate circumstances, even if they were small. She focused on the mattress that molded into the contour of her back and compared it to the old paper-thin sleeping mat in prison. She relished the smooth slide of cotton when she remembered the scratch of her over-starched prison uniform. She laid her eyes on the soothing beige ceiling, probably built with a wholesome wood foundation. It wasn’t cold concrete, any available warmth into its core.

Things are alright right now, she reminded herself. As for the ignorance and prejudice of the people at the store, well, the experiment she was in was meant to address those exact problems. She was, and would, tackle those issues too.

A soft sound induced Jordan to look over the edge of the comforter. Chen stood there, eyes downcast and shoulders slumped. His eyes flickered at the bed and then to the floor, hesitation leaking from his every pore. Jordan rolled her eyes, scooted to the side, and raised the comforter. She patted the mattress in invitation.

He didn’t jump enthusiastically onto the mattress like he normally would. He tentatively tugged off the shirt he seemingly forgot to remove earlier and slid underneath the comforter. Jordan let it fall, turning to face him with a stern look.

She didn’t like the somber look on his face; it didn't suit him. With her index fingers, she tugged the corners of his mouth up, forcing a small, cat-like grin. The sorrowful expression eyes didn’t cease, however, so Jordan stopped with a wistful exhale, dropping her eyes.

Her eyes were forced up again, however, when she felt the warmth of Chen’s palm on the side of her neck. He leaned in, brushing his nose against hers. Their gazes didn’t shift, still fixed on each other. Slowly, Chen pressed their foreheads together and closed his eyes.

Jordan let her eyelids fall and took the action for what she knew it was: an apology.

Chen opened his eyes as Jordan moved. She maneuvered herself an inch or two lower onto the mattress before scooting herself closer and snuggling into his side. The tension leaked from Chen’s torso as he slipped his forearm under her head and rested a palm on her waist. Jordan simply closed her eyes and hugged him closer.

All Jordan could hope was that he understood her message:

You have nothing to apologize for.