TW: Small Mention of Racism Against Asians

The tension between the triplets was obvious to everyone around them for a few days; the awkward glances, the mean glares, the apologetic frowns. On Tuesday, Jaxon and Jayden rode to school together while Jaylen walked with Rayland. It was awkward at first but they eventually fell into a comfortable conversation.

When they walked into school together, multiple assumptions and accusations were thrown around but none were confirmed or denied. They both ignored them and moved on with their day.

After the twins' reunion, Ryan and Rayland both told their guardians about their discoveries. Lana (Twins' Mom) was joyous about how her children were reunited. If it wasn't for him, they would have never been separated. Lana was keeping track of Rayland to make sure she was safe after she left. She made sure to wait a few years to bring the twins together to prevent him from finding them.

Paul was surprised Rayland had a twin in the first place, Linda never told him. He started to realize she wasn't the same person he married and he was realizing it the hard way.

The next day, Paul and Lana met up to discuss the living situation for them. Lana knew it was too risky for the twins to live together, it was already risky for them even knowing each other. She gave an excuse that her sister had legal custody of her daughter and they agreed she would stay at her house for a week.

"I still can't believe you're here, like right next to me." Ryan breathed out in disbelief as they were walking to homeroom, Rayland rolled her eyes.

"You've been saying that for the past five minutes, weirdo." She playfully pushed him. He pushed her which caused her to topple into Max which caused him to crash backwards into Myles to the floor.

"Really?" They all stretched out, giving Ryan a deadpanned look, dusting themselves off the floor. He shrugged sheepishly, slowly backing away as Myles and Max started to chase him through the hallway which left Rayland with Weston.

"Your brother is something else." Weston shook his head chuckling, stretching his fingers through his tangled curls.

"Try sharing a womb with him." They both laughed. While they were laughing, Rayland felt a buzz from her pants pocket. She picked the phone up and the number she saw made the phone slip from her fingers to the ground, her hand was now trembling.

"Woah, you okay?" He chuckled, picking up her probably cracked phone up.

"Yeah, I'm good. It just scared me." She laughed, her voice was shaky and it was obvious, especially to her best friend something was off. He decided not to pry as they walked, he knew she would tell her if she wanted to.

But maybe he should've.

She blocked the number and made it on time for the next class.

"Maximus, for the last fucking time, fish cannot see air." Rayland groans in frustration at Max for the hundredth time.

"But hear me out, we can see water but we can't see air. Wouldn't it make sense that fish can't see water and they can see air." He exclaims, everybody at the lunch table gives him odd looks.

"No, it does not make sense. Air is physically impossible to see, for fish and humans." She tries to reason with him.

"How would you know, are you a fish?" He inquires, everybody face palms.

"I gotta go, I can't deal with this right now." Ryan excuses himself, shaking his head.

On his way, he witnessed three teenage boys laughing. He shrugged it off and walked down the hallway but was greeted with a short girl crying on the floor, immediately wiping her eyes when she noticed someone.

"Woah, are you okay?" Ryan asked as he got down to her level.

"No, I'm just being a baby. I'm fine, nothing important." She laughed off, it caused more tears to leak out of her dark eyes.

"Well obviously it must be important to have a pretty girl like you crying." She blushed and turned away causing Ryan to chuckle.

"It's really nothing, just some mean boys." Ryan reminded himself of the boys in the hallway laughing. "I ran into them by accident and they made fun of my eye shape because I was Asian, saying I was blind but it's whatever." Ryan now noticed the sleek black hair covering her eyes now. He tucked the hair behind her hair, admiring her pale skin and dark brown eyes.

"They must've been the blind ones if they couldn't see your beauty." Her before pale skin was now turning a crimson shade of red that she couldn't hide.

"Come on, I can introduce you to some of my friends." He held out his hand for her to take. She hesitantly took it as he guided her to the cafeteria.

"Ryan, did you kidnap the poor girl? What did he do, blackmail, threaten, whatever it is we can-" Alexander was interrupted by Ryan.

"Shut up, Xander. Guys, this is... wait, I just realized I don't know your name." Ryan looked at her expectantly, she slightly cowered.

"A-Aria." She mentally cursed herself for stuttering, she thought she already made a bad first impression on her potential new friends.

"This is Aria, and these are my friends, Weston, Matteo, Myles, Alexander, Max, and my twin sister Rayland." Aria waved and they all waved back, making Aria feel a bit better. She quietly sat down next to Ryan.

"You're not getting any lunch?" Ryan whispered, making sure only she could hear him to make her comfortable. She shook her head no, facing her head down to the table. After a few minutes of convincing and a stomach growl later, she eventually agreed to let Ryan get her lunch.

"So, tell us about yourself Aria." Max smiled, immediately making Aria cower. Rayland smacked the back of his head, he shrunk, rubbing the back of his head.

"Shut up, Maxi Pad. You're making her uncomfortable." She hissed, glaring at him.

"I bet that helped, Stingray." He retorted, smacking her head back.

Children, literal children.

Their heads both snapped when they heard a small giggle from the opposite side of the table. When she was heard, she smacked her hand on her mouth which made her laugh. Ryan walked up to the table with the salad she requested with a smile on his face, he was glad she was getting along with his friends and most importantly, his sister.

"Thank you." Aria weakly smiled at him, he smiled back at the sight of a smile on her face and waved off his actions.

Rayland watched their interaction with wiggly eyebrows and a cocky grin on her face.

Mission Aryan was a go.

-

"Are you sure you're ready for this?" Ryan asked Rayland again. She was standing outside of the house, ready to reunite with the mother she hadn't seen in eight years. She nodded surely, taking a deep breath before knocking on the white door.

Lana paced in the living room, anxiously awaiting the arrival of her children, so many emotions running through her head; happiness, excitement, but fearful. She was fearful that her only daughter hated her for what she was forced to do. She didn't want to but Rayland doesn't know that, and she never can.

She was interrupted by a knock on the door, she had been imagining the moment she would meet her daughter. Maybe a hug and a kiss or a curse and a yell. Another knock sounded through the house, causing Lana to hurry to the door.

She took a deep breath and opened the door, she saw her two carbon copies of each other standing side by side, Rayland was midway knock when the door swung open. Lana stared at her daughter and her similar features, the way her dark hair curled, her mesmerizing light brown eyes, and her tall frame- after proper nutrition in the past few months, she grew at least two more inches, more than she's grown in years.

Rayland stared at her mother and small memories started flooding her mind.

"It looks beautiful, mariposa." [Butterfly]

"What are you little rascals doing?"

"But what about the kids?"

"What happened, honey?"

"I love you, baby. I'm so sorry."

Rayland didn't realize she had been dozed off for a while until she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around to Ryan and he motioned for her to step inside. She slowly stepped inside taking a view of her surroundings. You were immediately greeted with a staircase, when you look to your left you see a brown couch, centered in front of a flat screen. To the right, there was a closed door.

"I'll show you around." Ryan suggested, pulling his sister along. Lana watched as her two kids ran past her without a word. Ryan had been distant with her for a couple of days and she had no idea why.

"Why'd you ignore Mom?" Rayland asked Ryan as they were sitting on his bedroom floor.

"If she would've taken you with her, you wouldn't have gotten in an accident." He crossed his arms, she gave him a look and let out a sigh.

"You and I both know that wasn't her fault and if it wasn't me, it would have been you. It doesn't matter because I'm still here right?" She asked, he huffed but nodded. She was about to continue but a phone call interrupted her. She looked down at the contact with her brows furrowed.

Unknown Caller

She declined the call and placed the phone back in her pocket.

Knives and forks scraping against plates even though not much is being eaten off the plates. The awkward glances and the small bites continued for half an hour, nobody having the courage to speak. They had been sitting in silence the whole meal and Rayland spoke up.

"Okay, I can't be in the middle of this anymore. It seems like you're more mad at her than I am." She exclaimed, trying to figure out what's been bothering her twin.

"I- I don't know." He sighed frustradley. Rayland gave him a look while Lana was still confused.

"When we first left, I was so mad at Mom for leaving you, I didn't talk to her for a week. Seeing your face again just brought back bad emotions I guess." He shrugged, staring down at his plate.

"Look, I know honey and I'm sorry but you know I had no choice." She tried to explain but not before she was cut off by her son.

"No Mom, I don't know. If you would've taken her instead of me, she wouldn't have been the one in an accident." He exclaimed, Lana was about to respond but one word caught her attention.

"Wait, what accident?" Lana spoke out for the first time. Ryan looked at her and immediately felt guilty for blaming her. Deep down he knew it wasn't her fault but he wanted- needed someone to blame.

"I got into a car accident six years ago, the one that Dad died in." She shrugged, Lana's heart dropped. Her first love, her children's father, was dead.

It wasn't supposed to end like this.

They stayed silent for the rest of the night.

Knives and forks scraping against plates even though not much is being eaten off the plates. This was their first meal as a family without Rayland. As much as some of the boys hated to admit, they missed having her there. Before she was there, they all ate dinner separately, barely talking to each other on a daily basis. She helped this fragmented family in more ways than she could even imagine without even realizing.

Everyone noticed the tension between the triplets and it started to get awkward after all their fights, they decided they would figure it out at the table.

"So what's your guys' problem?" Blake interrupted the dense silence, everyone at the table glared at him.

"I'm not the one with the problem." Jaylen gritted, his anger obviously directed to Jayden. The rest of the family was shocked, Jaylen was not one to speak out. Everyone's eyes shifted to Jayden, waiting for a rebuttal.

"Yeah, because I'm always the problem." Jayden rolled his eyes, waving his arms dramatically in the air.

"Yeah, maybe you are." Jaylen retorted back, glaring at his brother.

"Okay, how did this start?" Paul asked, trying to relieve the undeniable tension at the dinner table.

"He-" They both started at the same time. After ten minutes of arguing, absolutely nothing was accomplished. Paul decided to send them to the 'Resolution Room'. It was a room created when the boys weren't getting along. They hadn't had to use it since they were fourteen. Despite the protests, they were both forced into the empty room.

After twenty minutes of silence, Jaylen spoke.

"What's your problem with her?" He shrugged, Jayden didn't know how to answer. There was no justifiable answer.

"I don't have a problem with her." He sighed, Jaylen's eyes widened, he wasn't expecting that answer. Jayden was one of the most stubborn people you could ever meet, it wasn't often that he admits his wrongs.

"I have a problem with myself. I realized she wasn't the problem, I was." He sighed, putting his head down to the floor.

"I fucked up, like I always do. I fucked up and like always, and I don't know how to fix it. You have been there for me through everything and- and the one time you express your feelings, I completely ignore you like the shitty brother I am." Jayden admitted, ashamed of his behavior. Jaylen was in a state of shock.

"I'm sorry for everytime that I was disregarding your feelings, I didn't realize I was until you snapped." He apologized. In all seventeen years of his existence, this was the third time in his life he heard him apologize.

"Okay listen, we all know sometimes you can be a shithole," He laughed. "But one thing you're not is a shitty brother. Anyone would be lucky to have a big brother like you, you just have to show her that."

"And I'm sorry I snapped at you." Jaylen apologized.

"And you had every right, it was my fault." Jayden confessed.

"No but seriously, it was my fault." Jaylen responded.

"No, it was my fault."

"No, it was mine."

All of a sudden, they both laughed.

"I love you, Jay." Jaylen admitted, Jayden rolled his eyes at his brother.

"Don't go all mushy on me, bro." He joked, Jaylen smiled, opening his arms, inviting his arms for a hug. Jayden rolled his eyes but eventually gave in.

"I love you too, JJ."

"You okay now?" Jaylen asked, pulling away from his brother.

"Am I okay? You're the one that wanted the hug dimwit." He pushed Jaylen, showing a confused glance.

"But I'm not the one who needed it."

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2420 Words

End scene inspired by @lemon_pops

Any thoughts?