A knock

The house became very quiet again. The night breeze swooshed in gently from the open window blowing her hair up a little.

"It might be late but I need some time out."

In the confusion she picks her headset and walks out of the house. The hallway was dead with silence. The light bulbs still had a bit of warmth. The autumn season this year didn't fade out with the cold coming in as expected.

She clogged her pajamas and gave her arms a soft embrace then heaved a heavy sigh.

She dragged her feet downstairs and soon, she was sitting on the steps leading to the apartment.

She wondered what gave her the courage to sit outside at that hour. Usually, she loved staying indoors and keeping her privacy but the heat of the whole drama from the house kept her restless.

"This will do," she said to herself.

She quickly picked up her phone and went straight to w******p to chat up the caller.

It was Mara. The text went:

"Hey girlie, sorry I had to go check on my baby. What's the update?"

" I found you a job. I don't really know if you're going to like it but I think it's worth the try!"

She made to jump and scream but only let out a squeak when she realized she was outside, it was quite late and neighbors were still sleeping.

"Are you serious? Shut... up! No way! Do you know how elevated I feel right now? It's like I've got ants in my pants!"

"Yeah I know, it's something that calls for you to be happy. Anyways l, that's it. I gotta go to bed now, I have work early this morning.

"Hmmm, what would I have done without a friend like you? Sometimes I just feel like doing one small task for you wouldn't equate to all that you've done for me. Thanks a lot Mara,"

"Yeah" 

"Uhm, how about I bring Harper over, while I go job hunting?"

But the message didn't go through. Mara had already gone offline.

"Yeah, tots! It's cool" Jade said to herself and began playing titanium by Sia.

Just then, something clicked in her head like she remembered something and she stood up and walked back inside.

She got to the room and found out that the room was unexplainably freezing and she left the window open. Harper was shivering in her cot. She instantly threw her headset and phone on the bed.

"Oh crap!" She hurriedly closed the windows and covered her properly.

"Dang it Jade! Put yourself together, how could you be this careless just because you were caught up with thoughts,"

She fell on her back on the bed and stared at the ceiling endlessly. She was back to the spiral she was trying to avoid.

Her thoughts were now becoming louder than the silence in the room.

Jace held the baby for long and he was paying attention to the very details she was trying to avoid. Was Jace going to find out about it?

What if he pressures me about her again?

"No, I'm not gonna let him come so close ever again. I don't care what Harper thinks, I'll stick to what I have planned out. 

She's gonna have to leave the house in a few days. Nothing should bring them close to each other." She soliloquized softly, still staring at the ceiling and waiting for sleep to come but it didn't.

******

Beep! Beep!!

It was Jace's wrist watch ringing out the alarm he set. It was eight am already and he was on his laptop.

He raised his wrist and looked into it, then gave a smirk. He was expecting something and that day, he was to close a deal with some clients.

Jade opened the door and walked straight to the kitchen on getting to the door, she found Jace still giving the smirk into his system. She rolled her eyes and walked straight to her corner without saying a word to him with the intention of minding her business.

She turned on the coffee mixer and started with doing the dishes and wiping the surface of the kitchen unit. She tried to maintain a mean countenance even if Jace wasn't going to look her way.

She had made up her mind to not allow any sort of connection. She fought the drive to stay awake and the need to be asleep but none won, she was caught in between and found herself at the break of daylight. 

Jace was still focused on his laptop, Punching the buttons on it like he was playing his favorite song on a keyboard. 

He used his left hand to lift the mug and took a sip from it,then carefully placed it in the table, his eyes still fixed on the laptop screen.

Jade, still focused on the cleaning walked back inside the room. She checked on Harper who was still sleeping then she picked her headset and turned up the volume, then she walked back into the kitchen.

Jace now began to notice the seriousness and the fact that Jade had unusually kept quiet and said nothing as she would have or perhaps broken the silence on other days.

He moved his eyes slowly up, noticing her in her very attracting night short and how focused she was without looking at him for a bit. He tried not to move his neck to avoid her noticing. He moved his eyes back to the screen, still behind the shades he was putting on.

"What's really going on? Is she avoiding me?" He asked himself in his thoughts.

The silence was beginning to get louder but Jade was lost in the world of her songs and had already left the kitchen to continue her chores in the other part of the house which she marked as hers.

Jace stood up and walked to the sitting room, watching her engrossed with so much seriousness.

"You wake up at 8am and then walk past without saying a word and you're all serious with your chores?" He said leaning his back against the wall but he didn't get any response but more seriousness without a budge.

 He didn't want to ruin all the attitude he had just put up so he walked to the kitchen and turned on the tap in the sink while the dishes were still in.

He walked over to where she was and gave her a gentle tap on her back. She was carrying a bowl of water and was using a wet towel to clean the small side stool but the tap startled her and she ended up spilling the water.

"Crap! Look what you just did!" She said aloud giving a slightly annoyed look.

He signalled her to take off the headset. Deep inside her mind, she knew she had won the battle.

"What do you want?" She asked sternly keeping her arms folded.

"Whoa, someone's going crazy. I've been trying to call your attention. You left the water in the kitchen on and it's gonna overflow if you don't go check it real quick. Well take a chill pill. How's Harper doing?"

"She's fine," she said walking quickly to the kitchen without looking back at him.

Just then his watch beeped again. It was time for his meeting. He wondered why the cold attitude from Jade but he couldn't explain it.

He took his laptop and was about walking in when a knock came to the door.

"Who could that be? I'm not expecting anyone." J

ade said to herself 

Jace equally stood still, then gave her a smirk while turning towards the door.