"Da-"

Harper's small finger pointed straight at Jace.

Jace froze, the glass of water midway to his lips. Jade's heart stuttered, her breath catching in her throat. She looked from Harper's innocent, insistent gaze to Jace's face, which had gone utterly blank... a mask of stone dropping instantly over the subtle vulnerability she had just witnessed.

"Harper, honey, no, what are you saying." Jade said quickly, moving to scoop the baby up. Her voice was too loud, too quick as she tried to laugh, a dry, nervous sound. "Do you mean Dance?"

Jace went to set the glass down sharply on the counter, the clink echoing like a gunshot. He didn't look at either of them.

"It's getting late, and almost time for quite hours," he stated, his voice flat and dismissive, returning to the cold tone that had defined their relationship since he moved in. "You should be in your room."

He turned and walked back toward his own door.

Jade watched him go, cradling Harper close. The baby was unfazed, already chewing happily on a stray piece of her paper. But Jade's mind was reeling.

Da-?

It was the first time Harper had made any sound close to a real word. And it wasn't 'Ma' or 'Mama.' It was 'Da.? And she had pointed it straight at the exact man.

"Just babbling," Jade muttered to herself, but the word felt thin and unconvincing. Harper was almost a year old. And Babies often said mama before Dada... But Harper's own was different and the timing, the pointer finger, Jace's reaction... it was a cruel, perfectly timed coincidence.

Jade retreated to the safety of her bedroom. She put Harper in her crib and watched her for a long time, the shadow of the afternoon's near discovery still heavy in the air. Lying down, she stared up at the ceiling, the comforting weight of normalcy Mara had brought now replaced by a crushing sense of dread and soon she drifted to sleep.

The digital clock read 1:47 AM. When Harper started crying. The apartment was utterly still, the silence thick and heavy only Harper's cries could be heard.

Jade slipped out of bed to get her out of her crib, rocking her gently, whispering her name, and pacing the room. But Harper's cries only grew louder... sharper... almost painful.

Across the hall, Jace stirred in his sleep.

He sat up in bed, jaw clenched, temples throbbing. The cries pierced straight into his skull. He ran a hand over his face, frustrated, exhausted, praying for the noise to stop.

he couldn't storm into her room... that would be crossing the line. So, when the noise didn't stop, he stood and walked the living room instead, hoping distance would help.

But It didn't.

Instead, the crying followed him like a haunting echo.

He dropped onto the couch, pressing his palms to his eyes.

Then Jade came out... Harper in her arms, the baby's sobs finally softening. Jade looked equally exhausted, as her hair looked messy, and her eyes were red.

Jace sat up, glaring at them. "For fuck's sake, Jade," he burst out, frustration leaking through every word. "Can you and your daughter just let me sleep? Huh?"

Jade's head jerked slightly, as though slapped by the words. "I'm sorry," she whispered, voice barely there.

"It's 1:55 AM now!" he snapped. "I pay for a rented apartment... can't I get one proper night of sleep? I thought you said she doesn't disturb. If she keeps behaving like this, then take her to a damn hospital and get her checked."

Jade flinched, pulling Harper tighter against her chest. The baby, momentarily shocked by the harshness of the sound, let out a fresh wail.

His words were bullets. Sharp and Cruel. Laced with something Jade couldn't place... anger... or hatred?.

Jade stood there in the dim light, holding her baby like a shield, wondering if she had made the biggest mistake letting this man into her home.

Jace didn't wait for any response from Jade. As he scoffed and ran a frustrated hand through his hair, and stormed back to his room. His door slammed shut with the kind of force that made Harper flinch against Jade's shoulder.

The crying slowly faded... then disappeared completely.

And Jace, exhausted, frustrated, and mentally drained, finally drifted off to sleep.

By morning, the apartment was quiet.

Jade woke up, too early. His eyes were still gritty with fatigue. He stepped out of his room, pulling his shirt over his head, already running late for a critical check in with the developers.

He paused when he saw them.

Jade and Harper were curled up on the living room floor. Both still wearing last night's clothes. A thin blanket thrown over them like an afterthought.

Jade's head was awkwardly propped on the edge of the couch, while Harper snuggled tightly into Jade's chest, thumb in her mouth, breathing softly.

For a second... just a second... Jace's expression flickered. Something unreadable. Almost... guilt.

But he didn't let it stay.

He grabbed his keys, walked past them without a word, and left the apartment.

Jade woke two hours later, her back aching from the floor. Harper still slept peacefully beside her.

She groaned, stretched, and then looked around the messy apartment.

"That's it," she muttered, surveying the slightly disheveled living space. "I am not a cleaner in this house."

She grabbed an easy-dry marker and marched to the small whiteboard she kept in the kitchen for grocery lists. She meticulously divided the apartment. The living room...theirs, Harper's room... hers, The kitchen... shared.

She drew a hard line. Jace's Room, Jace's Hallway, The Utility Closet, The Second Bathroom. She circled the last three areas boldly.

JACE'S RESPONSIBILITY.

"His mess, his side," she whispered, dragging Jace's clothes, shoes, and empty water bottles to one corner. "My mess, my side."

She cleaned her portion of the house spotless... and left Jace's exactly as it was.

A perfect line of separation.

Evening came so fast.

When Jace returned, he stepped inside and stopped.

He blinked.

The left side of the apartment was sparkling.

The right side... his side... looked like an hurricane had passed through.

Jade stepped out of the kitchen and handed him a folded paper.

"Those are your chores," she said simply.

Jace scoffed. "What is this? For what?"

"For the mess you create, I've been doing the cleaning for days now." Jade replied. "Rule number two... equal contribution. Remember?"

Jace glared at her, jaw ticking.

But the rule was real.

And she caught him with it.

"Fine," he muttered.

He grabbed a mop with the attitude of someone holding a weapon and started cleaning.

Night came again. And Harper started crying.

It was a sharp, high pitched wail that was impossible to ignore. Jade tried the usual tricks, rocking, shushing, singing off-key. But the cry continued, piercing and relentless.

This went on for two more nights. Two nights of fractured sleep, not just for Jade, but also for Jace in the apartment.

On the third night, shortly after 2 AM, the crying reached a frantic pitch. Jade was pacing, her patience evaporated,and Jace on the other hand was fed up... He shot out of his bed, furious, sleep-deprived, and stormed into Jade's room without knocking.

Jace barged into her room, his face dark with fury, his hair mussed from interrupted sleep.

"Where the fuck is her father?" he hissed, rubbing his temples violently. "Maybe she wants her daddy! This is insane, Jade!"

Jade froze, clutching Harper closer. The question hit too close, too hard. "You mind your own business, Jace," she spat back, her voice low and dangerous. "Get out of my room now!"

"Mind my...? I can't sleep!" he yelled, dropping his voice immediately for fear of pissing Harper up more, but the aggression was still there. "This thing has been crying for three straight nights! It's ridiculous! It's a silly cry! Can't you just give her a bottle or something?"

"Silly cry?" Jade repeated quietly, voice trembling with disbelief as she dropped Harper to the ground. "She's a baby, Jace! What do you expect her to do? File a complaint?"

They glared at each other, breaths heavy.

And then, just as suddenly, the crying stopped.

Jade and Jace paused their hostilities, looking down.

Harper was silent. She wasn't looking at Jade. She was staring past her, stretching forth her tiny hands to Jace.

Then she started to giggle. A wet, joyous sound.

"See?" Jade breathed, pushing Jace toward the door. "Now, get out!"

Jace turned, his anger returning.

The moment his back was to her, Harper let out a heartbroken, shuddering sob and started wailing again, louder than before.

Jace froze. He looked over his shoulder to little Harper.

Harper's tears vanished. Her face split into a delighted, gummy smile, her arms outstretched again, beckoning to him.

Jade cursed under her breath. "Oh, come on."

Harper stretched her chubby arms toward him again, making soft excited noises.

And something in Jace's fury melted Completely.

as he knelt down... hesitated... then opened his arms.

Bang!

The door of Jade's room closed behind her.

She walked back into the room and let herself fall freely to sit on the bed.

Jace turned and gave her a wide look with a brow raised.

"What?" She asked

"You didn't think the sound of the bang would have terrified her?" He inquired while patting Harper on her back.

She rolled her eyes, folds her arms Then forced a smile which was obvious.

"I'm fine, I can be like that most times." she responded.

"How often do you do that?" He asked again, turning slowly to her.

"You know what, nevermind."

He mimicked her, keeping a weird look with his tongue which stuck out a little and then he let out a scoff.

Harper let out a giggle that softens the atmosphere. She placed her small fingers on his lips hoping to get his tongue and he quickly withdrew it in.

He held her closer

"Uh... you like that huh?" He released a tender smile and cuddled her which made her laugh. He repeated the face and the mimicry and she giggled the more.

Jade didn't have any other option than to dance with the rhythm in the room.

She couldn't control the joy that emanated from within her, she only let out a soft chuckle while maintaining her position on the bed.

She began to think and reflect on the joys of motherhood. How lovely it would have been if this was truly what her home looked like but she wouldn't risk it as.

How Jace would have been the perfect father figure to her precious Harper. She watched as both of them were carried away in their world of play until Jace almost stumbled over the chair in the room.

Harper was frightened only for a little while before she bounced back to the very first giggle that softened Jade and Jace again.

It was innocent and shrill.

"Careful! I wouldn't forgive you if she gets hurt" She warned and quickly made for the rocky chair by the corner.

"So what if I get hurt? What are you going to do?" Jace stopped, the smile gradually fading from his face to a more relaxed and serene look.

"Definitely, I ain't gonna give a damn about you, that's because you aren't my problem. You are a problem to yourself only, my child is my priority. Plus, if you fall, you too won't know how to hold her.

Please.. the chair, before you step into another mess. I won't clean it up even if it's not your fault." she offered.

"Hmm, interesting" Jace muttered and sat on the rocky chair now patting Harper who was now calm and rested gently on his chest.

He felt his chest tighten as the baby already started dozing.

"How can she be this calm on me, a total stranger? Well it happens" he thought to himself.

A deafening silence crept into the room and dropped dead. Jade rose gently and walked to the window, counting her steps and being very careful to not make one wrong move to show how she was feeling.

Everything around felt like it was spinning. "How can I be gradually moving back into this loop I've been trying to avoid? There's nothing else for me here." her inner voice whispered to her.

The air in the room was beginning to feel like there was a strange gas pumped in, so she walked to the window to look at the view of the night.

She held the bars of the louvre and pressed her face against it, shutting her eyelids tight against each other.

Jace was lost in his own world with his face fixed at a spot and his hands still patting Harper who was already asleep.

He swallowed hard and tried to remember how the closeness got to that point.

His mind started washing up the incident of the past hours to the present.

At last he broke the silence but only mumbled to himself.

"Did you say something?" Jade asked, turning her head slowly to look at his direction with her hands still holding the louvre. She'd been silently listening while trying to absorb the pain within her.

"It's just strange, I mean everything."

He said, still maintaining the angle of his gaze in that particular direction he had been looking at.

"What's strange?" She asked

"Why'd she have to say Da, pointing at me and..." he was cut short by Jade almost immediately.

"...and babies do say strange things. Perhaps that was another sound or she probably wanted to do something funny. Brush that off."

She wasn't agitated, she just sternly remained calm with her hands now folded against each other and she looked at him straight in the eye.

"Brush it off?" He asked and raised a brow.

"Yeah.." just as she was about to walk towards the baby drawer, her phone rang. As soon as she checked the caller, she gasped aloud.

Jace was already dozing off while still tapping Harper and rocking the chair.

He turned his head a little and chewed a little for two seconds then steadied back in the rocking chair.

She took the phone outside and gently closed the door behind her.

"Hey, sup babe,you called in quite late."

"Yeah, I know. Guess what?" the caller responded with enthusiasm.

"What now? You are making me feel nudgy in my stomach." she moaned raising her head up.

"C'mon, just try. Give it a thought,"

"Just say it already or you forget about it. Who wakes up someone in the morning and starts asking them to guess?" she began to feel irritated.

"Alright lollipop, this is it... I was scrolling through my website tonight and I think I found something that might interest you."

"You're still not saying what it is..." Just then, her door knob squeaked open, she turned her head and Jace Sticks his head about to say a word, she flagged him down and begged him to keep quiet, but he almost seemed stubborn

"What?" He asked confused with his sleepy eyes.

"What I'm trying to say is that I... is someone with you?"

"I'll give you a call later girl, I think my neighbors are at it again." she lied.

She hung up and turned to face him almost in a hushed tone.

"What is wrong with you?"

"Well I don't sleep in your room!" He blatantly said and brushed her off, walked into the kitchen, poured himself a glass of water and gulped down.

She watched him all the while in despair and her eyes followed him until he entered his room and closed the door behind him.

"Urgh! He almost ruined it"

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 whatsapp 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." Jade said to herself

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