TBATE Duality

Chapter 48

JADE LEYWIN POV

"Jade... Jade.... JADE WAKE UP!!!"

"Ugh... What?" I stirred awake

"Wake up and get dressed, we're going to eat breakfast together" Mai declared

"Eh? Why?" I asked still half asleep

"Because I barely saw you in the past 2 weeks" she said simply before exiting my room

It was true that we haven't seen each other since I was insanely busy between Council meetings, helping Gideon and helping the Lances I had little to no free time to speak of also it didn't help that for some reason Mai seemed to always be with my parents and I wasn't ready to talk to them, after everything that happened that day I just pushed my feelings aside and focused on work

Getting out of the bed I headed for the bathroom and after a quick shower I dried myself using wind magic before dressing up in plain clothes, just a long sleeved t-shirt and a pair of loose pants, since the temperature in the Castle was always set at 17 °C regardless of the season or the weather this was enough

Walking out of my room I found Mai standing beside the door waiting for me while leaning on the wall, taking a look at her I noticed she was dressed rather well, not exactly formal but not as shabby as me, she was wearing a white shirt buttoned up to the first button with a turquoise skirt decorated with small frills which started on her abdomen just below her chest and went down to her ankles, her hair were done in a loose braid that rested on her left shoulder

She hooked my left arm with her right one and we started walking down the hallway headed towards the cafeteria, reaching the door I stopped, I knew my parents were there and apparently they were alone, no one else was in the cafeteria, not even the maids

"You know what? Why don't we just ask the maids to bring something to my room, we can eat there and have some privacy" I said as I turned around and tried to go back to my room, Mai didn't move an inch she turned around and took my face in her hands

"Jade I know you already sensed your parents in there and I'm the one who asked elder Virion to close off the cafeteria for the morning" she told me staring  me dead in the eyes

"I'm not ready to face them again, not yet"

"Jade, I will always be your ally, I will always take your side and stand right beside you but running away won't help you and it won't help them either, you've never been a coward, you can do this I'll be here right next to you if you need help okay?"

"Okay" I whispered

I took a deep breath and we entered the cafeteria, mom and dad were sitting at one of the tables, it was set for four people since Ellie was in the training grounds, we approached the table

"Good morning mother, father" Mai greeted and sat down

"M-morning mo-Alice, Reynolds" I said as I sat down as well, I couldn't bring myself to call them mom and dad out loud

"Morning Jade" they replied

A heavy awkward silence fell down on us, none of us knew what to say so we just sat there, the tension completely closed my stomach so I didn't eat either I just sat there looking at the table not daring to raise my gaze

"Jade, look at them" Mai told me with a gentle tone

I raised my gaze and I could see mom and dad sitting there right in front of me looking abject and I felt my heart sink

"Ehm, uhm, well ehm..."

"I'M SO SORRY!!!" mom yelled interrupting my incoherent blabbering as she shot up from her seat circled around the table and took me into a hug