"I see." Jaden replied.

"You need help with that?" he asked.

"Any way I can assist in helping you get ahold of your friend? Even if it's just letting you use my phone?" he asked further.

"..." he was then silent, before thinking about something.

"Or I could buy you a new pair." he offered.

"I've never seen that brand before, but I can get you a really nice replacement pair."

Jaden thought again for a moment.

"Phone... phone..." he mumbled.

"OH! Shit, I did!" he realised, before exiting the room. He then returned a few seconds later, and handed it to her, the bottom left corner of the screen having some serious cracks in it, but it seemed otherwise it seemed fine.

And she saw it was at full charge.

"Yeah, plugged it in pretty early on in my crusade to clean this place up and make it like it was." he told her.

"...I know." Jaden replied.

"I'm sorry I wasn't able to do more for you." he apologised.

"I feel like crap because of this..." he then admitted, as Desiree received a response to her text. Or rather, several responses.

Payment later. Important things first. the first one read.

Are you okay? How badly are you doing right now? the second one asked.

Where are you? the third one inquired.

I'll be there ASAP. the fourth one told her.

And then silence. Seemed Leo was now taking a break from spamming her with messages.

Jaden sighed heavily.

"At least I managed THAT." he said.

"And I cleaned all of the blood and stains and stuff form your walls and floor and such." he told her.

"I cleaned up most of the mess, too, but there's still some organising that needs doing." he went on.

"But I prioritised the bedroom." he continued.

"...not sure WHY... but I did..."

Jaden shook his head.

"No need to talk about that now." he told her... stopping suddenly.

"...I feel like someone's-" he started to say, before Leo popped his head in through the door.

"Desiree!?" he exclaimed.

"...here." Jaden finished,

"Good heavens, are you okay!?' Leo asked as he rushed over to the young woman.

Jaden was just stunned for a moment.

"You... you're deaf...?" he said in a bit of a hushed tone.

Leo merely sighed and shook his head.

"ANYWAY!" he announced, trying to move things along.

"Let me take a look at your headphones." he told her, approaching and taking them from her.

"I'm going to go into the main area and work on them." he said. "I think you have some things to discuss with... with..." he went on, before pausing and looking at Jaden, realising he had no idea his name.

"Jaden." Jaden responded.

"Jaden." Leo parroted, looking back at Desiree, before leaving the room.

"...o-oh... oh, I see..." Jaden responded.

"I... well... that's..." he stammered, before pausing.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait..." he then said.

"HOW deaf?" he asked.

"I mean, you can hear me, I'm guessing?" he asked. "Or... or CAN you...?" he then wondered aloud, seemingly talking to HIMSELF now. "But... no, you know sign language... I assume that was sign language..." he went on.

"But... but the headphones... I mean... hearing... but..." he stammered further, before she saw him just collapse into a chair.

"My head..." he mumbled, leaning forward and massaging his temples.

While it wasn't anything huge, and probably wouldn't do much to ease her worries, the fact that he seemed to genuine about it made her wonder if her family would have truly decided to work with someone so... easily befuddled by something like this. That, and he was a dhampir, could they REALLY have been able to work with him? Also, Rene had already vouched for him in the past...

Jaden paused for a moment, and realised that her hearing had to have been REALLY bad if she hadn't reacted to anything he had just said and did.

Or... was she ignoring him? She heard him just fine when they went out for dinner. And the headphones. How could she use them if she was deaf? These questions swarmed and swirled in his mind, before he shook it vigorously to clear it.

He then sighed and made his way so that he was very close and in front of her.

"For what it's worth... I don't care?" he stated.

"Or... well, it doesn't matter, I guess is a better way to put it?" he clarified.

"I guess I'm just... confused..."

"...right." Jaden said.

"So. Just HOW deaf ARE you?" he asked her.

"And WHAT is with the headphones?" he asked further.

"Seriously, I... just... I am VERY confused." he admitted.

"How are headphones useful if you have to read lips and use sign language?"

Jaden was silent for a moment.

"Oh... oh!" he said.

"Really?" he asked.

She nodded in response.

"Wow, that's... that's pretty amazing, actually." he told her.

"Seriously, that is REALLY cool." he said further.

"Didn't think tech like that actually existed." he went on, pausing again. "Or are yours a one-of-a-kind deal?"