"Jean, wake up! You've got a present at the front door!"

While Jean was curious as to what kind of present was at the door for her---she had absolutely no idea why she was getting a present in March, seeing as her birthday was not for another two months---her guard was inevitably starting to slowly ascend higher than ever because the only person, other than her close friends, who knew where she lived was Terry.

But why in the world would he, of all people, be sending her a gift? Unless it was some kind of take-me-back present but even if that were the case, she wouldn't take him back, not even if her life depended on it. That would be the last thing she'd ever do and she wasn't going to make the same mistake twice.

Terry was nothing compared to Sebastian. He was significantly incomparable to Sebastian---the latter was everything she could have ever wished for, the one she didn't know she'd been looking for her whole life.

He was everything Terry wasn't; thoughtful, humorous, passion-driven, loving, intelligent and undoubtedly and incomprehensibly understanding. The fact that he was so incredibly understanding has left her dumbfounded even till this day because she simply could not comprehend just how compassionate he was and how he'd continued to show her just how much he was committed to her.

While the pair still have yet to lay their cards on the table and make things official, they were both equally committed to one another despite not having verbally expressed it.

"Jean, it's 9am and you're usually up by now so please, for the love of God, emerge from your room and haul your ass to the door 'cause I'm pretty sure the delivery man hasn't had his breakfast yet so you gotta pity him!" Jon yelled from the other side of the door, startling his sister from her daze.

As a loud groan slipped past her lips, Jean forced herself out of bed, throwing the duvet away carelessly before reaching for her robe that was hanging on the back of her bedroom door. The minute she pulled her door open, she was greeted by a rather chirpy Jonathan, who was standing idly by with a bowl of cereal in his hand.

"Please stop being a creep. You're twenty-one, not two," Jean jested as she pushed past her brother, trudging down the wooden stairs of their home.

Jon was quick to his feet as he ran to keep up with his sister's pace, all the while making sure he didn't spill his precious cereal all over the floor because he knew that that would be bloody tragic---spilling cereal all over the floor and then having to worry about their little Yorkshire Terrier, Chester, 'cleaning' it all up.

"Aren't you gonna get the door?" Jon quizzed before shoving a spoonful of cereal into his mouth as he watched his sister reach for one of the empty glasses in the cabinet above the kitchen sink.

Jean shook her head slowly with a distant look in her eyes as she turned on the faucet, filling her glass with water to quench her thirst. "I'm not gonna get the door, Jon."

"What---why not? It's for you---"

"Well, since you already know that it's for me, why don't you be a dear and bring it in? Like you said, the poor delivery man probably hasn't had his breakfast yet."

Jonathan, being observant as ever, cocked his head to the right with his bowl of cereal still in his hands as he assessed his sister. She didn't seem too keen on the idea of there being a gift waiting for her on the other side of the door and while she was trying her best to shrug it off and play it cool---or more like she was trying her very best to conceal her true emotions---she had completely forgotten that her younger brother was one of the people who knew her inside out.

"Jean, what's going on?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," she muttered under her breath as she averted her gaze to the sleeves of her pyjamas.

"You and I both know that you know exactly what I'm talking about," Jon pressed, setting his cereal bowl on the kitchen counter as he took three cautious strides towards his sister.

As she turned around to lean against the kitchen sink, a heavy and shaky sigh slipped past her quivering lips. "There's only one other person," she started, swallowing the lump in her throat, "apart from the group, who knows where I live."

Realization quickly dawned upon Jon as soon as his sister had stated her reason for not wanting to answer the door, prompting him to take a sharp intake of breath before releasing it slowly. "Jean, you don't have to worry about that. It's been nearly ten months since you guys broke up and I highly doubt that an asshole like him would send you gifts for no apparent reason right now."

"What if it's not that kind of gift we're talking about?"

Jon furrowed his eyebrows in confusion before reaching out to grab a hold of his sister by the shoulders. "Even if he wants to send you 'messages' to taunt you like the fucking asshole he is and remind you that no guy would ever love you, he wouldn't do it like this because he's terrified of dad. And there's a good chance that dad may be the one to answer the door if that asshole was to have something delivered here. I know it's not much to be happy about since he's doing it so openly on Twitter and Instagram but you have me and a whole lot of people who love you and support you, and we will always have your back."

"You sure you're not the one who's twenty-seven?" Jean chuckled, her eyes brimming with tears as she earned a hearty and genuine chuckle from her little brother.

"I love you, sis," said Jon as he pulled his sister in for a hug, resting his head atop hers while he rubbed her back soothingly. "And so do a whole lot of other people, including Sebastian."

"I love you too but I still hate the fact that you're younger and taller than me," Jean playfully complained as she lightly pushed her brother away, ignoring what he said about Sebastian being one of the people who loved her because she didn't want to dwell on that too much at the moment. "It's not fair."

Jon merely rolled his eyes at Jean's complaints as he ushered her out of the kitchen, snatching the empty glass from her hand. "Go get the door and put the poor delivery man out of his misery, for God's sake. He's been waiting for a good twenty minutes."

The minute Jean got to their front door and pulled it open, the delivery man---who looked like he was in his forties---whipped around in a flash and presented her with a bouquet of white carnations and pink hydrangeas, topped with a white card that was decorated with gold borders on a translucent stick.

At first, she was taken aback because she certainly wasn't expecting a bouquet of her favourite flowers to be shoved into her face but the feeling immediately dissipated as soon as she had come to a realization that these flowers were perhaps from a certain man who was currently residing in New York---who was approximately 2500 miles away from where she was.

"These are for you, Miss," the delivery man said, handing the bouquet of flowers over to Jean.

She reached out with careful yet trembling hands, her eyes glistening with tears as the smile on her face grew with each passing second. The delivery man heard her chuckle softly to herself and it sounded as though she couldn't believe her eyes---that she couldn't believe these bunch of lovely looking flowers were for her. He simpered at her reaction before softly asking for her to sign off on the clipboard he had.

"Whoever this guy is, he must really like you," the delivery man piped up after tucking his clipboard beneath his arm and pocketing his pen. "These came from my wife's shop and golly, I remember her coming home and tellin' me that she'd spoken to probably the most fastidious yet devoted man on Earth 'cause he was being so precise and detailed on what he wanted your bouquet to look like, the delivery time and date, what colour the ribbon should be. . ." he trailed off, smiling to himself. Jean stared at the delivery man in awe before averting her gaze to the bouquet in her hands while she imagined Sebastian pacing in his living room, on the phone as he placed an order for a bouquet of her favourite flowers.

"He really likes you if he was willing to go through all of that and judging by the look on your face, you must really like him, too."

At his last comment, Jean's head shot up in a heartbeat because she hadn't expected him to be so direct with it and say what was on his mind. "You have a good day now and enjoy your flowers! Be sure to care for them." And with that, the delivery man took his leave and made his way back to his van while Jean turned around and closed the door behind her.

Jon, who was now on the couch with his elbows propped up on the arm rest, smiled knowingly as he watched his sister saunter over to where he was with her nose buried in the bouquet of white carnations and pink hydrangeas. The second his sister plopped down on to the empty seat beside him, he scooted over and nudged at her to read what was written on the card that was still sticking out from above the flowers.

Jean, having completely forgotten about the card, plucked it off the tip of the translucent stick and gently flipped it open with her thumbs.

Dearest mermaid girl,

I hope you were not too cranky this morning 'cause I know that you usually sleep in a little on Sundays but I couldn't pick any other day to have this bouquet of flowers delivered to you. The reason being that Sundays have quickly become my favourite ever since I met you back in Helen.

They remind me of the morning we went for waffles and they remind me of the look you had in your eyes when we were at the park. You trusted me enough to share a few details about your life albeit only having known me for a total of four days and so did I. And that meant a lot to me, it still does.

You're so special, Jean. I hope you know that and even if I have to spend the rest of my life reminding you just how special you are, I will. I know we're taking things slow but I just thought that you should receive something as beautiful as you on a Sunday morning. x

Have an amazing and productive week, beautiful. x

Love,
Seb

"Man, you guys aren't even officially dating yet and already is he sending you a bunch of flowers with a sweet message attached to it," Jon playfully groaned, throwing his head back as a sigh slipped past his lips. "You guys are so adorable that it's actually gross. Anyway, you should probably text him---"

The second Jon lifted his head up from the headrest, he stopped himself mid-sentence as he was met with the sight of his sister beaming at her phone screen while she tapped away giddily. A warm and genuine smile tugged at the corners of his lips as he quietly got up from the couch, deciding that it'd be best if he left his sister alone with her phone because he knew just who she was shooting a text to.

He'd noticed her shift in demeanour these past couple of months, the significant elevation in her mood and the smile that was plastered on her face---it was a genuine one rather than the ones she had been feigning before Sebastian came along and to say that he was extremely relieved and happy for Jean was a blatant understatement because he hasn't seen his sister this happy for months of end.

"It's so good to finally be able to see you smile like this," Jon mumbled to himself before turning around and heading into the kitchen with that same smile still plastered on his face.

---
a/n; raise your hand if you think that seb & jean are really cute tgt and that jon is the best brother ever 🙋🏻‍♀️