"Call me more often, will you," Heart laughed as she hugged Adam tightly, "Especially since Axel's going back to America now."

Adam chuckled and placed a gentle hand on the top of her head, "I'll miss you, Soph."

They released their embrace and while Adam said his goodbye to Axel, Heart approached me with a friendly smile, "I'm glad I got to meet you, take care of him for me."

I couldn't say a word in reply so instead, I smiled back at her. They immediately left right after and I was alone with Adam once again in his apartment. Now, the uncertainty had made its presence known once again and I really thought we would be over it when he kissed me back in December.

There was a blanket of awkwardness that fell upon us. It was so uncomfortable that I felt like I was going to choke, but he realized that there was something wrong.

Though sadly, I couldn't say it out loud why I was being bothered. Even I knew it was a stupid reason.

"Sienna..." he trailed off, followed by a stiff cough. He was hesitating, probably afraid of the unknown conversation that might ensue.

We were going nowhere with this, "I need my uncle to check my progress on my book, will it be okay if I go next door?"

He let me go, knowing how the situation was. When I arrived next door, Emma was happily painting on a new canvas, Andy was nowhere to be seen, Uncle Levi was out as well, and Aunt Janine was on the dining table with stacks of manuscripts next to her laptop.

"Where's uncle?" I asked after dropping my bag on the couch and saying a quick hello to my aunt, "I want him to look over my progress."

Emma looked up from her painting, "He said that he had something to do at the university, he'll be back soon though."

Gesturing for her to continue on her work, I observed my aunt for a moment. She was busy reading over manuscript after manuscript, her pen twirling between her fingers as she made quick notes on each page. I've known her since I was born and I really admired her for being steadfast and strong, yet I couldn't understand why uncle willingly left America for her.

Taking out my laptop, I silently asked if I could sit from across her. I've always seen her as the serious aunt to Uncle Levi's playful vibe. She was easily frustrated by him but you could see that they still have that spark from when they first started going out.

From what I've heard, Andy was conceived before they got married. It wasn't a shotgun wedding to save their faces, but uncle proposed to her during the midst of the pregnancy and they got married a little bit after Andy turned one. That was when mom was pregnant with me and all of the wedding pictures showed her growing stomach underneath her lilac bridesmaid dress.

Aunt Janine had a good eye for detail and was an extremely intelligent woman. But why? I thought uncle adored his home country.

"I'm beginning to wonder why you're staring at me so intently, dear," she suddenly spoke, lifting her eyes from her the paper she was reading, "What's on your mind?"

"Why did you marry uncle?" I shot out all of a sudden. No need to beat around the bush.

Her eyebrows scrunched up at the unusual questions, but my inquiry certainly caught her daughter's attention. She dropped her paintbrush and wiped her hands on a piece of cloth before taking the seat next to mine.

She watched on with amusement as both Emma and I looked at her in anticipation – like we were little children again begging for her to read us a fairytale.

"Levi was very famous in our office, he was the newly signed author in our publisher and it was rumored among the ladies that he was quite attractive," she started, placing down the manuscript back on the pile, "Of course, I also wanted to have a glimpse of him. I was young, single, and many of my friends were already smitten."

I have seen photographs of the young Levi Kingsley and although he wasn't drop dead Adonis-type kind of handsome, he was above average looking and maybe his career as writer did boost up his charisma.

"He came in looking all serious and in a classic Levi moment, he tripped on the rubbish bin on his way in," she sighed affectionately at the memory, "The whole office went silent and maybe because I have been so stressed that whole week, but I just started laughing like it was my first time to ever see something funny. I was the only one who did and my coworkers were terrified for me."

This time, she was full-on grinning, which was contagious since Emma and I mirrored her expression, "Everything calmed down eventually and just before he left the office, he came over to me and asked me out."

"So dad asked you out because you laughed at his embarrassing moment?"

"I asked her out because nobody was that candid with me before," we heard uncle's voice answer for his wife. We turned around and he was smiling, his coat still on and the door wide open, "She talked me down during our first date, pointed out how arrogant I was, and told me straight on that she didn't want a relationship."

"Swoon worthy, mum," Emma laughed sarcastically, now looking at her father, "What did you do?"

"We had our differences but I convinced her that we can work around them," he answered, his tone full of adoration like he and his wife were back to being newlyweds, "Because that day in the office, I found somebody who was different and who made me look at myself from a different perspective. I told myself to never let her go."

I found somebody who was different and who made me look at myself from a different perspective. Now that sounded awfully familiar, didn't it?

"So you moved to England for her?" I couldn't help but ask.

"In order for a relationship you sometimes need to compromise," he told me, "I left my home country, but she said goodbye to her last name, her old hometown, and we decided to live here since I got a job offer at the university."

I knew from the start that I had to make some sacrifices, I always expected it, yet I never wanted to do it.

"I could have easily rejected him and just went on to marry a man who wouldn't have to make so many adjustments to both of our lives, but I don't regret anything," Aunt Janine smiled and I knew in an instant that this was genuine. She wasn't the type to go all mushy, unlike her daughter who was a hopeless romantic, but in that moment, she showed to us how much she loved my uncle, "Being in a relationship is a decision and I am confident to say that I made the right choice."

With those words, I jumped up to my feet. Emma flinched slightly at my fast movements but neither of her parents gave out any surprised reactions. Instead, they shared a knowing look and Uncle Levi even stepped to the side in order to let me through.

"How did you know?" I couldn't help but ask.

He chuckled, shrugging nonchalantly, "I know you more than you think. That, and you're exactly like your mother."

"Which means?"

"She took a month after your father proposed before she gave him her answer, and all I had to was to look her straight in the eye and ask her if there was any other man, would she still choose him."

If there was any other man, would I still choose him?

Whatever vigor that ignited in me died down. To my uncle's surprise, I slowly went back to my seat and resumed back to my typing as if all of his pep talk never happened.

"Wait, what happened?" he questioned out loud, his hands in the air.

I blinked up at him and sent a sad smile, "I guess you don't know me more than you think."

I did not love Adam – I liked him, I was infatuated by him, I think he was a very handsome and kind guy. But if he thinks some romantic speech like that would have me pounding on his door, then he got another thing coming.

Because I wasn't like him and Aunt Janine who went through ups and downs before finally deciding to settle down on one place, I wasn't like my parents who took almost a month after the proposal before agreeing to get married.

No, I was just a girl who was still trying to find her way through life. Against all my initial beliefs, I did not need a man for me to suddenly jump up and remember that I was who I was.

But I just needed to find myself again.

Relationships and all that jazz were always fun when did right, but I didn't want my uncle to say straight up that I was going to choose Adam out of all the men out there when we barely went to any dates.

"At least you got one thing right," Aunt Janine laughed towards her husband, "She's exactly like her mother – she knows what she wants."

And she was right in that respect.

"Now I need to go on and prepare dinner," she sighed, closing the manuscript she was reading, "Andy's bringing a girl home."

"Andy's bringing a girl home?" I repeated in disbelief and I turned to Emma for confirmation.

She nodded, also repressing her amusement, "They've been seeing each other for a while now but this is also the first time I'm going to meet her."

"We're never going to let him live this down," I giggled, closing my laptop so I could help my aunt with the cooking.

"Be nice," Uncle Levi warned playfully, "I'm sure he has enough teasing from one sister, but now he practically has two."

Emma high fived me and the both of us continued on with dinner. We were thankful for the open floor plan so the kitchen was nowhere near cramped. Though we did fight for counter space but aside from that, it was fun cooking with both of them.

We were in the middle of setting up the table when the door swung open. I was carefully carrying the dish that had the salad Emma whipped up and I almost dropped it when I saw the figure my cousin was holding hands with.

Uncle Levi blocked her view of us by being the first to greet her but that didn't erase the fact that I was shocked beyond belief. I first set down the bowl on the table because for one, I knew that Emma would freak if I dropped it.

But once I did, I screeched at the top of my lungs, "Julia?!"

Both her and Andy stilled at my loud outburst. All of the people in the room turned to me, my relatives all with questionable expression but my roommate had now paled at the sight of me.

"Sienna?"

---------------

To be honest, I just wanted to write a little bit more of our side characters because most of you guys know that I adore writing extra chapters about other characters. So on that note...

Question: Which character/s should I make an extra chapter about?

P.S. Please, I beg of you, stay home. Remember, the scariest thing about COVID-19 is the fact that it's new, doctors and scientists are still figuring their way around it. However it behave similar to the common flu, you're vulnerable to it if you have a low immune system but if you're perfectly healthy, your body can most likely combat the virus, but still take precautions. If you do have to go out, wear a mask (but also don't hoard those because healthy workers need them desperately). Also, calm down with the panic buying. Nothing good will come if you sit there with your little fortress of toilet paper (btw bidet and/or tabo is way superior so I thank my asian self) and a thousand food stuff that you probably won't be able to consume and will just go to waste. 

Proper hand washing is essential, also don't forget your hand sanitizer and  alcohol. Avoid touching your face because the virus is distributed through body fluids so the eyes, nose, and mouth are very susceptible places of transmission. 

Don't forget your vitamins. Vitamin C is good, but Vitamin A and Zinc are great for protecting you in this case. Take care of yourselves! 

Sincerely, a tired med student who is in hibernation thanks to all the suspensions.