Day Twenty-six: Interacting with family members

All conversation is spoken in English unless said otherwise

Saguru leaned down so he could speak into her ear. "It doesn't matter how long I've known you," he said. "I will never get used to your family."

Taylor gave him a surprised look. "Really?" She asked, tilting her head slightly as she looked up and down the long table. "This is actually kind of tame, especially since not all of my cousins are here."

Tame, she says. Halfway to chaos, he claims, with her grandparents, mother and father, four cousins with their children, and her twin brothers. Both of which, mind you, take it upon themselves to examine Saguru at all points of time to make sure he won't do anything bad to their sister. And that means that they never looked away from him once during dinner. It would have freaked him out if they hadn't done it every other meeting they've had with him.

She moved so she could whisper in his ear, speaking in Japanese so the family wouldn't understand her. She eyed her brothers who eyed her in return "I love my family so much, but I would rather be on our vacation at Tokyo instead of here."

"We can always reschedule," He told her quietly in Japanese as well, frowning as her brothers turned their gaze to him. "Just enjoy your time with your family while it lasts."

"You know, Saguru," Nick said coolly, leaning forward on his elbows. "It's rude to speak in foreign languages in front of people who can't understand you."

"You know, Nick." Taylor responded before Saguru could react. "It's rude to listen in on other people's conversations, but that doesn't stop you and Jason from doing it."

"You know, Taylor." Jason replied, taking the same stance his brother did. "It's rude to talk down to your elders like that."

"Elders, huh?" Taylor mused, staring at them. "Well, I suppose I can see it, your hairline is receding after all." Their hands shot to run a hand through their hair, eyes wide. They turned towards each other with nervous eyes before narrowing them and turning back to Taylor. She had a mocking smirk on her face.

"Receding hairline?" Jason- or perhaps it was Nick- mused.

"It's like your one to talk-" The other continued on. They tilted their heads the same way.

"After all, your face-

"-Is still such a baby face!"

"Do you still get stopped before entering something eighteen and up?" One of them asked.

"Maybe she does when trying to see a PG-13 movie." The other recommended. They turned towards each other.

"Nick, that's thirteen and up, not eighteen and up." Jason said.

"I suppose you're right," Nick agreed. They turned to look at Taylor again, who glared at them in return. "But I suppose it still works, right?"

"Right."

"Such a baby face."

There was a beat of silence. "Mom!" Taylor whined, turning to the older side of the table. "Jason and Nick are doing that creepy thing where they finish each other's sentences again!"

"Play nice, kids." Her mother said, not even looking at their side of the table. "Now, mother, back to what we were talking about."

Taylor's jaw dropped and Saguru couldn't help but chuckle. She frowned and crossed her arms, mumbling. "We're not children."

"No, children wouldn't have boyfriends." Jason said. He picked up his water and eyed Saguru again. "Now, Saguru, we have a few questions for you."

Taylor nearly choked on air but Saguru kept a cool figure. "Alright, go ahead and ask away."

"No! Jason, Nick, you two already asked these questions!" Taylor hissed.

"No, we didn't." Nick proclaimed.

"You stopped us before we could and changed the topic." Jason reminded her.

"Just let them get the questions out of the way." Saguru told her. It'll be easier this way, his eyes said. Taylor stared at him before sighing and waving her hand for them to continue.

"Alright, first question." Jason said, holding one finger up.

"Why are you dating our sister?" Nick asked.

"There are mutual feelings of infatuation between the two of us," Saguru answered easily. "And we both agreed that because of these feelings it would only be right for us to date."

Jason nodded in acceptance and Nick continued. "What is your religious orientation?"

"I'm an atheist."

"You know, it's always good to have Jesus Christ in your life." Jason mentioned. Taylor's chair squeaked as she stood and she pointed an accusing finger at him.

"You're an atheist too, damn it! Both of you are!" She exclaimed.

"Taylor, be quiet or you're going to sit at the kids table." Her father said, shooting a harsh look towards them. Taylor winced and sat down quietly. Saguru lightly squeezed her thigh for reassurance before putting both of his hands back on the table for her brothers to see.

"Where do you live?"

"I'm aware that you've been to my house before to drop off Taylor."

"How many people did you date before you started dating Taylor?"

"I believe that the number of people I may or may not have dated before your sister doesn't matter since I'm dating her now, especially since I wouldn't date them again and she trusts that I will stay loyal just as I trust that she would." Saguru answered. Taylor nodded her head in acceptance. "But the answer is three."

"Would you like to have kids one day?"

Saguru went silent and Taylor watched him, curious about his answer. Finally, he raised his eyes and stared at them directly. "I'm fine either way," He said. "I would like children, yes, but I am also fine without having any since Taylor doesn't want any."

Taylor's face turned red. "W-what?" Children? Children would mean marriage. Marrying Saguru? She would be lying if she said that she hasn't thought about it, more recent than before, but still…

The twins stared at him for a moment before Jason asked his first question. "Do you like classical music, Saguru?" Taylor sighed, covering her face with her hands. Thank you for changing the topic.

Saguru smiled. "It's one of my favorite genres."

Jason nodded. "Mine too. Taylor, would you like to play something for us to listen to?"

"No, I'm eating." She grabbed her drink, letting the rim of the cup half-cover her face.

Nick shrugged and stood. "Alright, then I'll play."

"No, you will not!"

"Aunt Taylor gets mad if you touch her piano without permission!" Tori spoke up from the kid's table. They turned to see the children watching them.

"Mm-hmm! She yelled at us when we only touched it!" Tyler agreed. Jason mock gasped.

"Taylor! Yelling at poor Tyler and Tori like that!" He put the back of his hand to his forehead and leaned back. "I'm so astonished, I think I'm going to faint!"

"Oh, my dear Jason!" Nick said, taking his cup and walking over to the piano. "I feel as if we need to get to the bottom of this! And the only way to do that is to go to the source of the problem!"

"Do not bring drinks to my piano!" Taylor snarled, standing up again. Saguru looked at her and back to her brothers.

"Perhaps you should just sit back down, both of you." Saguru told him warily.

Nick ignored him. "What, do you not drink at your piano?"

"I do, but you won't!" Nick slowly moved towards the instrument. "Nicholas, I swear to god if you continue towards that piano I will end you!" They stared at each other.

"It's rude to threaten people." Jason said. Nick took another step towards the piano. Taylor dashed towards the doorway and grabbed an instrument case- because God forbid they actually put it where they're supposed to- and quickly opened it and pulled out a violin. Nick narrowed his eyes as she held the front side for him to see, her finger hooking around one of the strings.

It's odd how the only ones who are watching this spectacle are and Jason, Saguru thought. Apparently this was a common enough occurrence for no one else to care.

Nick placed his cup on the piano. The string pulled taut. He held his dirty fingers for her to see and placed it on the keys.

The string snapped as soon as keys were pressed. Two people shrieked at once and ran to their respective instruments. "You dirtied my piano!"

"You broke my string!"

"You dirtied my piano!"

"You broke my string!"

"Just buy another one! What am I going to do to my piano now?!"

"Oh, I don't know, clean it?"

"Nothing can rid the markings you did to my precious baby!"

"If you two don't settle down now you're going to sit at the kids table!"

"We aren't children!"

No, Saguru thought as he took a drink of his water. This wasn't halfway to chaos, it was chaos.