Identical Opposites

Chapter Twenty Four

Jem greeted Elena and Uncle Ken quite enthusiastically. He hugged Elena tightly and looked genuinely pleased to see her, Uncle Ken even managed to smile as Jem joked with him as well. It was reassuring to know that he wasn't in an uncomfortable home in the past few years.

But I didn't really feel like being glad.

Jun had been constantly pulling on his sleeves ever since I told Jem about him cutting. It made me even more guilty than I already was. He didn't even seem to notice that he was doing it. I finally snapped and grabbed his wrist tightly. "Stop." I said boldly "Please."

"What?" Jun looked at me, confused.

"Stop doing that."

"Hey boys!" Jem called out from the kitchen as he strolled into the living room. Jun and I instantly got up, making him laugh. "Sit!" He slumped down on the sofa "You don't need to get tense every time you see me like that."

"We're not tense." Jun smiled as we both sat down again "We're just a bit more excited than normal."

Jem laughed "My honour." He said it like he meant it "So boys, what have you both been up to so far? Together."

"We've been jumping from one place to the next, Jem." Jun grinned "Yun and I went from Brighton to Oxford and then to China."

"China?!" Jem sat up and stared at us in surprise "What the hell were you doing in China!"

"We met Uncle James." Jun continued "He told us where you were."

"And Oxford?"

"Jewel."

Jem held his breath and froze, blinking. "J-jewel...she's...how is she?"

I found myself frowning as Jun and I shared a look "She's engaged." We both said at the same time.

"What?!" Jem snapped as he got up. I found myself smiling when he stormed to the balcony and held a shovel that was thrown there "Point at the general direction and give me a name, I'm about to commit a crime." He said his signature quote. Apparently, our older brother was still always about to commit a crime.

Jun laughed and threw himself backwards on the sofa, I really loved it. "He's not a bad person don't worry!"

"He dared approach my sister without asking me first! And even got engaged to her! Oh I am so gonna kill him!"

"Sit down Jem." Jun said after he calmed down "Let us tell you everything."

Jem grumbled and threw the shovel aside, slumping on the sofa again, this time raising his leg on the coffee table. "I need you both to give me a proper excuse on why you met Jewel and her fiance and then came here, leaving both of them still engaged."

"What did you want us to do? Kill Theo?" I asked

"Theo? Is that his name? Sounds like an annoying person."

"Jem!" We both laughed.

"Whatever. How's Jewel? She was with you Jun right?"

Jun shook his head. "Thank God, no. She was far from Aunt Wilma. Jewel went to a boarding highschool for two years and then spent continuous 4 years in Oxford. I barely saw her."

"You were alone?" Jem asked in a whisper, putting down his leg and leaning forward, frowning.

"I'm okay." Jun tilted his head and smiled.

Jem dropped his head down and sighed. "What else? Uh, tell me anything about you guys. Mira. Tell me about her."

Jun looked at me and smiled as I felt myself brighten instantly. "Mira is almost four years old." I started, grinning at the little girl who looked up at the mention of her name. She laughed and ran to me, grabbing my knee and tilting her head, wondering what I was saying about her. "She only got a hearing aid recently so she doesn't know how to speak well yet but she can use sign language. Mira's very social and she loves meeting new people. She has narrow arteries around her heart and asthma. She got an open heart surgery recently and still takes a lot of medication because of it."