Following her lead, Jaime began returning the weights to their rightful places. He thought about her question. Up until then, he hadn't really thought to share his past with anyone, or if he even could. No one knew about Jadyn and he wanted to keep it that way. Not for his sake, but for hers. He'd witnessed firsthand the cruelty of others and refused to give them the chance to try and hurt her.
But did he want to share things about himself. Open himself up and really let someone in? He glanced over at Rachel, chuckling as she wrinkled her nose when she picked up a discarded t-shirt he'd missed, and decided that with this girl, he did. And then he was talking.
He told her the basics first. How he was born in Lima, but that his parents divorced when he was six and he moved to live with his father and grandmother in Japan. He made sure to be very careful with his wording so that he wouldn't accidentally mention Jadyn, but once he started, he just couldn't seem to stop. He told her about seeing the ocean for the first time and what it was like to attend a private academy from such a young age.
He told her about how he had a thirst for knowledge, always looking to learn something new and how that led him to music. He told her about endless enthusiasm and that he would barely finish learning one instrument before picking up another, and that currently, he could play five. He told her about his father that was never there but that he didn't mind because that meant he got to live with his grandmother who always smelt like cherry blossoms, and how she was the one that taught him to fight, laughing when Rachel looked surprised.
But not all of the things he told her were happy memories. He also told her about how hard he'd tried not to cry when he had to leave his mother and how he wasn't sure he'd survived his grandmother's death. He explained how when he first returned to Lima, he missed home so much, it almost made him physically sick and how, even though he's gotten a lot better, he still writes his music in Japanese, simply because he misses the way it sounds.
"I'm sorry. I normally don't speak this much." He apologized when he realized just how long he'd been talking, a slight flush creeping up his neck and into his face. "Tell me about yourself as well, please?" He asked hopefully as he hefted one of the last few weights onto a nearby rack.